This….is….excellent: via Paul Joseph Watson on YouTube:
Tag: Fascism
Inching Closer to the Mark
WSJ reports that now some businesses are refusing to take cash money in America and in the U.K.:
Sam Schreiber was mid-shampoo at a Drybar blow-dry salon in Los Angeles when someone from the front desk approached her stylist with an emergency: a woman was trying to pay for her blow-out with cash.
“There was this beat of silence,” says Ms. Schreiber, 33 years old. “She literally brought $40.”
More and more businesses like Drybar don’t want your money—the paper kind at least. It’s making things awkward for those who come ill prepared. After all, you can’t give back a hairdo, an already dressed salad or the two beers you already drank.
The salad chain Sweetgreen has stopped accepting cash in nearly all its locations. Most Dig Inns—which serve locally sourced, healthy fast food—won’t take your bills either. Starbucks went cashless at a Seattle location in January, and at some pubs in the U.K., you can no longer get a pint with pound notes. The practice of not accepting cash has become popular enough to catch the attention of American lawmakers.
Ms. Schreiber was tempted to wait and see how the Drybar employees would handle the situation with the customer, who had no credit or debit card with her; instead, she intervened from the shampoo bowl. “I said, ‘I can just pay for her and she can give me cash or Venmo me,’ ” she says.
A few moments later, one of the employees came back to hand her the $40 and expressed thanks on behalf of the stranger. The staff also offered her a second mimosa, which are free to customers. “I kind of wanted to be, like, I should get a free updo or something,” she says. “I basically was…the bank for them.” Drybar declined to comment.
Hmmm… Now where have I heard this before?
And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
(Revelation 13:11-18 KJV)
It’s happening, slowly but surely.
Update: Here it is in graphic form:
Hate Speech, Jews, Christians and the end times
Postings like this usually get me into trouble. But, it needs to be said. Could you imagine a WASP, like me, saying this about the Jews?
The roar of outrage would be deafening.
Via mondoweiss:
Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan said yesterday: “Palestinians have to understand they won’t have a state & Israel will rule over them.”
The report is in Hebrew from Udi Segal of Israeli Channel 10, as translated by David Sheen on Facebook and Emily Hauser.
Ben-Dahan referred to Palestinians as animals in 2013, according to the Times of Israel:
“To me, they are like animals, they aren’t human.”
Ben Dahan told Maariv that homosexual Jews were superior [to]gentiles — gay or straight.
“A Jew always has a much higher soul than a gentile, even if he is a homosexual,” he said
the occidental observer also observes:
At TOO we have felt something of a duty to document instances where prominent, mainstream Jewish figures have publicly expressed the traditional Jewish view of a qualitative superiority of Jews to non-Jews. Previous examples include the late Lubavitcher leader, Menachem Schneerson of New York who was honored by President Reagan in 1983 (“The Gentile does not want anything. He waits to be told what the Jew wants!”; we have a case of . . . a totally different species. . . . The body of a Jewish person is of a totally different quality from the body of [members] of all nations of the world).
Another well-known example is Sephardic leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s statement that “Goyim were born only to serve us.” As the previous link shows, such statements are pervasive on the ethno-religious right in Israel, often by very prominent mainstream figures.
The most important fact, via TOO is this:
It goes without saying at a US government official stating the superiority of his group would be out of a job the next day. But Dahan’s statement will not be covered in the US media, so it will not affect support for Israel among the less than human non-Jewish American public.
This above, is why I am not a big fan of the Zionists and the Christian-Zionist movement at all. However, to be clear; I am really not on board with the White Nationalists, White supremacists or any of that sort of “white identity” crowd — this is because much of what those people believe is just recycled bigoted nonsense that I, as a Christian cannot agree with.
However, I believe that it is very important for Christians to know, that these people are the supposedly, the same people who put Jesus Christ, the Messiah of the World and of all Christendom, to a rigged trial and to the cross of Calvary. Jesus said the following:
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. (Matthew 10:16 KJV)
Part of that wisdom is to know who your enemies are and in this case; these are enemies of born-again believers like myself. It is a true tragic thing, that Christians, in this apostate age, have been lulled into a coma type state and have been conned into believe that somehow, believe that believe these things, as quoted above, are somehow or another their friends. It is a lie and it is one that will destroy the believer, if he does not wake up.
Jesus also said this:
But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. (Matthew 10:17-20 KJV)
Most Christians mistakenly believe that this was simply Jesus informing his disciples that they would have to endure persecution, which they did and most people believe that Jesus was prophesying about the tribulation. Well, I am sorry to tell you; but this was a general prophecy to ALL Christians! As everyone who reads this blog knows, the “speech police” are in full control as to what is “acceptable free speech.” Most of those groups — the ADL, Southern Poverty Law Center, ACLU, and organizations like AIPAC are controlling the media.
My question you is this, How long before these groups are able to exert enough pressure to have laws passed that will regulate what people, like myself, can publish to a blog? How long will it be before anyone, that happens to disagree with their worldview, will be tossed in jail and accused of “hate speech?” I mean, Christian Bakers are already being persecuted for not Baking a wedding cake for a gay couple. So, how long is it, before Christian Conservative bloggers, like myself, who do not tow the Christian Zionist line, find their blogs seized and themselves jailed on charges of “hate speech?”
My answer is this: It is coming. Maybe not tomorrow or the day after. Maybe not even in the next few years. However, it is coming and when it does, it will be considered acceptable; except to people like me and maybe you. They will call us “extremists.” Heck, they do that now! I am not well liked by the neoconservatives, as they see me as a racist, an anti-Semite and all the other idiotic labels that they put on me.
In fact, I believe that before the Lord comes back for His Church, which by the way, is going to happen sooner than you think! — things for Fundamental Baptists like myself, are going to get worse, before they get better. In fact, I have said this before on this blog; but it bares repeating —- I believe that before the Lord comes back for His Church, that Fundamental Baptists, like me, that still believe in the King James Bible are going to be meeting in secret, in basements of houses, for fear of being arrested. My friends, it is coming and I do see that on horizon!
The Bible says:
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:13 KJV)
My friends, I have seen this personally myself! I have been a Born-Again Christian since 1982. I was 9 years old. 34 years ago. Things were so much different back then. Notice how much the world, television, music and basically everything else, has changed? This is not by accident, this is the normal course of sin, it never gets better; it only gets worse and worse. This is not my personal opinion, that is Biblical truth.
We, as believers do have hope, and it is this:
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. – (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 KJV)
That above, is our blessed hope. But, before that happens, things here, are going to get much, much worse for believers like myself. Those who are not a part of the great apostasy will be hunted, arrested and imprisoned for their faith. It is coming, and it is not too far off. Marxists will, as the ones quoted above, will be part of that.
Know your enemies and prepare yourselves now. Work, while it is light. For darkness is coming, very soon.
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:14-17 KJV)
Open Message to Charles Foster Johnson of Little Green Footballs
After reading this blog posting here.
There is only one thing that I can truly say and to make the point, I shall use the words of someone who you most likely watch every night….or at least used to, when he was still on the airwaves.
There was a time, when I actually did respect your opinions. There was a time, when I actually was foolish enough to actually believe that somehow or another you were some sort of legitimate voice of criticism of the extreme Christian right and the fascist idiocy that sometimes happens in those ranks. That time has sadly come and went away. You Mr. Johnson have proven yourself to me to be as intolerant, as incompetent, mildly incoherent and ignorantly fascist; as some of the very buffoons that you criticize.
You use the term “ignorant religious fanatics” that alone is one of the biggest fascist statements of intolerance of Religion ever uttered by someone who is an American. You sir, made your mark as someone who blogged against the intolerance of radical Muslims, who sought to push their maddening agenda of a sick and backward Religion upon the rest of America on September 11, 2001. Now, it seems that you have joined the ranks of those bastards with your blog. The only difference is, you are intolerant of anyone who disagrees with your idiotic narrow-minded worldview.
Let me also give you a sober and somber warning. If by chance that this Government did capitulate to the demands of radical Islam and did begin rounding up dissenters; you would be one of the first ones that they would come and get. You with your secular worldview and anti-Religious bigotry. You would be the first to go. At least, with Christians, we do believe in something. They would target us last; but you, and your pony-tailed rock and roll look — you would be deemed a greater threat than us.
Remember that Johnson. In your quest to be an enlightened one — you have become, what you once fought against.
Tell me Johnson, when do you start bashing Muslims and Jews? When do you start bashing and persecuting the Roman Catholics? As it seems that you are playing the harlot for the unbelieving crowd. I get it, you like an easy target, the Christians, the one crowd that will not fight back; the WASP’s. (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) Funny you refer to their beliefs as “right-wing fundamentalist hooey.” Funny thing is, most of that of which you refer to in your asinine posting is mainline Evangelical Conservative Christian beliefs. You would not know Fundamentalist doctrine, if it bit you on your rather large behind.
Which brings me to my last point. You never were a person who wanting to fight for freedom. You were looking out for number one — your own self. Which is the agenda of most unbelievers —- themselves. You like a few of the idiots in the “right-wing” blogosphere, are out for one thing and one thing alone — themselves — and they will step on anything and anyone, who gets in their way. I know, I have been stepped on by them, more than once. Funny thing is, most of the claim to be Christians. But, in all honestly, most of them, who are “Holier than Thou” — would not know Jesus Christ, if he bit them on their behinds.
So, take comfort Johnson. You have much in common with the right.
Freedom's Phoenix Decides to Stab me in the back
As some of you might know. I submit articles over at a Libertarian website called Freedom’s Phoenix. I discovered the site after Pastor Chuck Baldwin mentioned it in one of his commentaries that he writes.
Now that I look back on it. I was quite the fool for using this sort of a site to attempt to drive traffic to my Blog. I should have known better. I thought at various times, that driving traffic to my blog from a site like this would come back to haunt me. My fears were not unfounded. Because I have been delivered the ultimate stab in the back, by the editors of that website.
Here is the TRUE and FULL story. On Thursday, the editor of Freedom’s Phoenix linked to a group of articles published by the Libertarian Leftist Lew Rockwell. As some of you know, I have issues with Lew’s stance on the Military. Well, I made a comment on Freedom’s Phoenix about this submission. Every since that happened, none of my articles, at all have been on the front page. of this website.
Here are the e-mails between me and the editor of Freedom’s Phoenix, now you tell me, who the lying bastard is:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Received: by 10.229.86.85 with HTTP; Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:14:22 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:14:22 -0400
Delivered-To: tpblogeditor@gmail.com
Message-ID: <c3a04f3c0907241214h7f883a8am9b32b77cfc1e9e9c@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Freedom’s Pheonix
From: Paleo Pat <tpblogeditor@gmail.com>
To: Ernest Hancock <ernesthancock@cox.net>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=0016364eee146ca846046f78693b
–0016364eee146ca846046f78693b
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Mr. Handock,
I noticed that my submissions have not been on front page. Has my opinion of
Lew Rockwell angered you or something?
I agree with his Economic positions. I simply disagree with his
Anti-Military stance.
So, am I banished from the front page now?
-Chuck Adkins AKA PaleoPat
His Response, which took like an hour; I guess he had to get his story straight or something:
Chuck,
Bottomline is this….
The summary text about what your linked article/entry is about allows for 1000 characters (250 of these show up on the front page). The reason for this is so our readers know what they are getting before opening the package.
“Missiles launched,… Details at Eleven” is sooooo not us.
While a more complete summary doesn’t guarantee your placement on the Front Page, not providing an accurate and complete description will guarantee that it will not.
Just so that we are clear.
Peace,
Ernie
To which I replied:
to Ernest Hancock <ernesthancock@cox.net>
cc editor@freedomsphoenix.com,
Publisher@freedomsphoenix.com,
Thomas Costanzo <sales@freedomsphoenix.com>
date Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 8:47 PM
subject Re: Writing for FreedomsPhoenix
mailed-by gmail.com
Oh, is that all? I wasn’t sure. I thought perhaps there were other mitigating factors here. I’ll have to put more details in there.. My apologies.
I also sent, which I forgot to send the first time:
Ernest Hancock <ernesthancock@cox.net>
cc editor@freedomsphoenix.com,
Publisher@freedomsphoenix.com,
Thomas Costanzo <sales@freedomsphoenix.com>
date Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 9:03 PM
subject Re: Writing for FreedomsPhoenix
mailed-by gmail.com
Something else I forgot to Add. I guess, I’ve been so busy trying to generate content for the Blog, to maintain the hit level, that I was kind of fluffing off on the important. Sorry about that! I guess I should finish with what I want to put on my Blog THEN come to FP and to the entries.
This is typical of me, always in a hurry.
Thanks,
Then I wrote this:
Well, I fixed the one’s that were submitted today. If that is not good enough for you sir. Then I do not know what to tell you. I still believe that this is not about my entries, that this about my comments about Lew Rockwell Yesterday.
Just because I am not some sniveling Anti-Military person, I am automatically labeled a “Neo-Con”, which is just another name for “Jew-Hater”.
Anyhow, I guess you cannot please everyone.
Be Well,
Ernest finally writes back the following:
from Ernest Hancock <ernesthancock@cox.net>
to Paleo Pat <tpblogeditor@gmail.com>
cc editor@freedomsphoenix.com,
Publisher@freedomsphoenix.com,
Thomas Costanzo <sales@freedomsphoenix.com>
date Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 9:48 PM
subject RE: Writing for FreedomsPhoenix
mailed-by cox.net
WTF?
You made a comment about Lew??? Don’t ever assume that I read anything other than your headline and summary (if that).
I am under ABSOLUTLY NO obligation to allow anyone posting abilities on the site. I allow your views (whatever they are) because once I start censoring ‘opinions’, where does it stop?
But I will censor for quality. Full and accurate headlines with a complete summary and a creative and relevant graphic will go a long way to getting you published on the front page. Traffic is then built by a quality transfer of information and opinion. This I can’t help you with.
Step up your game, the field is starting to get crowded and we will be more selective in what makes the front page due to a high volume of participation…. It’s that free-market thing J
Ernie
I end this conversation with the following:
From Paleo Pat <tpblogeditor@gmail.com>
to Ernest Hancock <ernesthancock@cox.net>
date Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 10:01 PM
subject Re: Writing for FreedomsPhoenix
mailed-by gmail.com
You sir, are a lying bastard.
I am removing your FREE AD that I have on my site and I will not be submitting articles to your site. again, ever.
You know DAMN FUCKING WELL why I am not making the front page. I’ve written shorter descriptions before and NOW you are becoming “More selective”, What kind of a God damned fool do you really honestly play me for; you Anti-America, Anti-Military fucking bastard!
Further more, I will be writing a blog posting, with MY and YOUR e-mails with a FULL description of what has happened here.
When my Conservative friends get done spreading the word, of how you have decided to SCREW ME OVER, you will have wished you have never screwed with me pal, you picked the wrong person to do this to, I assure you of that. You will be lucky if you even have a site when I am done with you.
Further more, the first thing tomorrow morning, I am putting in a phone call to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Informing them, of the of the articles on this site that encourage people not to cooperate with the police and use Deadly force against them, if one deems necessary. Yes, I have seen them, and yes, I was shocked. You have a right to know, that I am doing it. So, I’m telling you, I’m dropping a dime on ya. You stab me in the back, I stab YOU in the back.
Enjoy yourself in jail…
-Chuck Adkins
Http://www.politicalbyline.com
Yes, I do intend to call the FBI office here in Detroit Monday. (Not tomorrow as I originally wrote.) Yes, I have seen questionable content on that site, that made me a little jittery and would give the FBI a reason to want to talk to Ernie.
You see. I never felt that Ernie was obligated to put my postings on the front page. But I never thought Ernie would decide all of the sudden to start rejecting my submissions, on the basis of Partisanship. But it appears that this is the little game that Ernie wants to play with me. That is fine, but I also have the right to inform my readers, and yes, I do have a good number of them; of Ernie’s little game. Ernie might think he is slick, but this Man is not quite that stupid. I understand loyalty and I understand partisanship. But I just do not understand the need to lie about it. I knew my days were limited at that sight when I decided to go after Lew and the Libertarian Left/Anti-Military Conservatives like Jack Hunter.
It is a pity, as it was a great thing…..while it lasted. 🙁 I wish now, that I had never signed up with that idiotic website. :pissedoff:
John Stossel takes on Liberal Propagandist Michael Moore
I happen to like John Stossel; because he dares to take on the Liberals. Not in a mean or nasty way. But by simply stating the truth.
He writes about Michael Moore’s latest Movie:
Michael Moore has been working on another documentary. This time, he’s taking on capitalism:
“The wealthy, at some point, decided they didn’t have enough wealth. They wanted more — a lot more. So they systematically set about to fleece the American people out of their hard-earned money.”
How ridiculous is that? The wealthy, and everyone else, almost always decide that they don’t have enough wealth. People ask their bosses for raises. We invest in stocks hoping for bigger returns than Treasury Bonds bring. “Greed” is a constant. The beauty of free markets, when government doesn’t meddle in them, is that they turn this greed into a phenomenal force for good. The way to win big money is to serve your customers well. Profit-seeking entrepreneurs have given us better products, shorter work days, extended lives, and more opportunities to write the script of our own life.
He goes on…:
Moore also fails to understand is that it was not “capitalism” run amok that caused today’s financial problems. In reality, it was a combination of ill-conceived government policies and an overzealous Federal Reserve artificially lowering interest rates to fuel a bubble in the housing market. Then it was government that took money from taxpayers and forced banks to accept it.
Moore ought to understand that, because he makes a good point when he says his movie will be about “the biggest robbery in the history of this country – the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions.”
That is indeed robbery. It sure doesn’t sound like capitalism.
Nope, sounds more like socialized Healthcare or simply Socialism in general; to me.
Mike Tennant writing over at Lew Rockwell’s Blog chimes in:
According to the press release you linked, Chris, “Moore has made three of the top six highest-grossing documentaries of all time,” which presumably means he has accumulated a great deal of wealth. Apparently, since he continues to foist his so-called documentaries on an unsuspecting public, Moore has decided that he doesn’t have enough wealth. He wants more–a lot more.
Like most anti-capitalists, Moore has no problem personally profiting from his own endeavors while demonizing other successful persons and attempting to have them dispossessed of their wealth. The good news is that Moore ultimately has to answer to the marketplace and thus may find himself begging for work from the very people he now condemns if enough of his audience members wake up to the fact that he’s a charlatan and stop shelling out their increasingly scarce cash for his celluloid propaganda.
Mike is right on point; that is exactly how the socialists in America are. The Socialist left wants to preach to America, how evil, rotten, nasty and no good the evil capitalist system is; all the whole pocketing a profit from their lectures, Movies and the books that they just happen to make a profit at. It is more of that “Yea for me, but Nay for thee”, type of mentality and outright hypocritical nonsense that the Far Socialist left is known for.
The troubling thing about it, is this; these knuckle-headed socialists basically control the Democratic Party and it’s message. Hence my reasoning for not wanting anything to do with them or their Party any longer.
Give me Capitalism, Freedom and Liberty or Give Me Death!
Others: Wake up America
Next time someone tells you that Islam is a Religion of peace; Show them this video
The Synopsis of this video:
This is a video of David Wood and Nabeel Qureshi asking questions at Arabfest, Dearborn. The date is June 21st, 2009. There was a booth at the festival which had a banner titled “Islam: Got Questions? Get Answers.” From their table, we picked up a pamphlet claiming that Islam promotes peace. We noticed that it was full of poor logic and errors, so we decided to make a video refuting it. We went to the booth that gave us the pamphlet to give them the opportunity to defend their claims. Security, however, stepped in and forced us to turn off our camera.
We left the booth, received advice from police, and found out that the actions of the security guards were illegal. We went back to the booth to record a potential answer again. Realizing that the Muslims present had no answer, we left.
When we came outside, we were asked some questions by two young men, who had been sent by security to entrap us. While we responded to them, festival security started assaulting us, as you will see in this video. The conclusion of this video is a mob of festival security attacking our cameras, pushing us back, kicking our legs, and lying to the police.
We ask you, is it a coincidence that the city with the highest percentage of Muslims in the United States is the city where Christianity is not allowed to be represented (let alone preached) on a public sidewalk? Is it coincidence that in this city, people will say “No way!” when we say “This is the United States of America”?
Is this what will happen when Islam takes over the United States?
You see Ladies and Gents, THIS is what celebrating diversity does to you. It gets you attacked by Islamic terrorist THUGS! Rick Warren and his purpose driven life, “Let’s love everyone and not judge”, kind of Christianity is just that; it celebrates diversity. Islam, a religion of peace….. What a lie! 😡 This is why, if I ever was going to film, I would go armed. Any security person who approached me and tried to hurt me, would be killed.
Enjoy this video! (Via Gateway Pundit)
WAKE UP AMERICA to the LIE OF ISLAM!
Video: Something to make you think
This an excellent video: (Via True Conservatives on Facebook)
The Iran Situation Continued
Iranian Twitter users, inside and outside of Iran: (Via I Like Patterns)
Bushehr:
Rasht:
Shiraz:
Tehran:
Kamyar
madyar
Amin Abbaspour
Abdul-Azim Mohammed
Farhad
Parham Doustdar
Mohammad Ramezanpour
crash
Sajjad A. Mohammed
Yashar Khazdouzian
Mohamadreza
S T
Iran Election 2009
TehranBureau.com
MirHossein Mousavi
jim sciutto
Raymond Jahan
Parastoo
Thomas Erdbrink
Bahador Nooraei B.
William Yong
Bahram K
Alireza
persiankiwi
HamedUnknown:
mary moto
Alavi
duckdaotsu
Farnam B. (not Tehran)
Gita (not Tehran)
Iran
Shahrzad
Pouyan
mehdi assadi
VahidOutside Iran:
Muhammad Ghaffari
TwitPersia
Vote for Iran
Naseem Faqihi
RK
Elizabeth Tsurkov
Nasser Weddady
fustat
Neysan Schaefer
Neysan Zolzer
Update #2: Christopher Hitchens on the Election in Iran and he does not mince words!
Update #3: U.K. Times Reports:
Chanting Allahu akbar” — God is greatest — and “Ahmadi, we love you” the army of hardliners poured into central Tehran in a massive show of strength for President Ahmadinejad.
After a weekend of violence by supporters of his relatively moderate challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, this was an exercise designed to reclaim the capital’s streets in the name of the establishment.
“The protesters are lying. There was no cheating,” declared Farang Kamalwand, 39, a woman in a chador who had travelled 450 miles by bus from Lorestan.
“We came to prove to people outside this country that we love and support our President,” said Karamollah Rahimi, a builder who had spent nine hours travelling from Lordegan
[…]
The exuberance of last week, when Mr Mousavi appeared to be heading for a spectacular victory, turned to terror in the space of a few hours on Friday night as the regime unleashed its forces on the opposition.
All weekend, late into the night, squads of 30 or 40 riot police tore round the capital on motorbikes, roaring along pavements when the roads were blocked, and waded into crowds of chanting Mousavi supporters with their batons. Others charged up streets on foot, or rode around in black Toyota Land Cruisers. They used teargas, rubber bullets and stun grenades, and by Saturday night they had been joined by marauding bands of basiji — volunteer paramilitaries — waving the national flag and chanting Ahmadinejad slogans.
Nobody was spared. The Times witnessed an old woman in a long black chador being beaten in a doorway after she hurled insults at the police, a teacher clubbed to the ground by a basij as he tried to protect his demonstrating students and countless protesters carried away with blood streaming from their wounds.
One human rights activist called it a “Tehran Tiananmen”, referring to China’s brutal suppression of pro-democracy demonstrators in 1989.
Mousavi aides accused the regime of mounting a “coup détat”. His supporters retaliated by throwing stones, smashing windows, setting fire to buses and rubbish skips, and making barricades of burning tyres. “Mousavi is our President,” they chanted, and “What happened to our vote?” It was the worst unrest in the capital since the student riots of 1999.
There were reports of demonstrations in Tabriz, Siraz and other Iranian cities, but they were impossible to confirm because the regime all but shut down the telephone system. It blocked text messages, Facebook and several opposition websites to prevent Mousavi supporters from mobilising en masse.
The BBC and other news websites were jammed. Foreign journalists were denied extensions to their visas, ensuring that most would have to leave today or tomorrow.
Opposition newspapers were ordered to carry positive headlines dwelling on Friday’s massive turnout, but some refused. One that supports Mousavi ran a story about Mother’s Day on its front page by way of protest. Another, which supported Mehdi Karoubi, another of the four candidates, mocked the election with a headline proclaiming: “Karoubi comes fifth”. IRIB, the monopoly state broadcaster, has scarcely mentioned the riots.
Mousavi supporters are torn between fury, fear and despair. The green ribbons, headbands, shirts and bandanas with which so many were festooned last week have vanished — to wear them now would invite a beating.
Such nice people those Iranian Government thugs, no? 🙄
Update #4: ABC News International Reports:
A spokesman for Iranian presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi says his camp will keep pushing to change the results of Friday’s election that gave incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad a landslide win.
“We are going to stay in the streets and ask the mullahs to give fatwas that Ahmedinejad is not our president. We are going to ask the Leader, through the will of the people, to change his mind,” said Mostafa Makhmalbaf, who is speaking to the foreign press on Mousavi’s behalf from his home in Paris.
“I don’t think we can do a total Revolution in Iran but we can make some change,” he told ABC News, describing what would be an unprecedented reversal for the Islamic Republic.
Mousavi’s campaign claims the announced outcome, which gave Ahmedinejad 63 percent of the vote, was fraudulent.
Ahmedinejad and state election officials, some of them his appointees, have said the election was fair and accurate, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed Ahmedinejad’s landslide win on Saturday morning. “The most magnificent contemporary election took place on Friday in Iran … to us this [complaint] lacks any legal base, and to our nation as well it is without any legal value,” Ahmedinejad said today at a victory press conference. International observers have pointed to irregularities; the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, noted a handful of concerns including a lack of data made available to support the overall count.
Makhmalbaf said the campaign urged governments around the world not to accept Ahmedinejad’s election as president.
“He is a coup d’etat man,” said Makhmalbaf, referring to the election results as “a state of fascism.”
Mousavi has called for the results to be dismissed and a new vote taken. His camp has planned a rally for Monday, marching from Tehran’s Engelab to Azadi Squares. Mousavi himself and former President Mohamed Khatami, his political backer, plan to attend the event.
Over the weekend, protests were met with a harsh response from riot police, who attacked demonstrators with batons and tear gas.
“People are like fire nowadays. Whatever Ahmedinejad does it will be worse. Saturday morning the city was in shock. Now in the coming days you’ll see a change,” Makhmalbaf said.
Makhmalbaf clarified rumors that Mousavi was under house arrest, saying there was no official detention but that police were keeping watch on his home, exerting enough pressure to keep him indoors.
Read the rest of that one, it is quite interesting.
Closing this Live Blog and will post more, as it comes in.
Update #5: Part III of this Blog is here
The Southern Avenger on "The Mexican Flu"
How the news coverage of the swine flu isn’t so much indicative of any serious crisis, but the mainstream media’s corporate and government, PC sensibilities.