Biden Quotes ‘Holy Qur’an’ in Ramadan Greeting, says ‘Muslim Americans Have Enriched Our Country Since Our Founding’

Joe Biden sent Muslims greetings for Ramadan on Monday, and apparently Old Joe’s handlers are worried that maybe the Syria bombing or the appeasement of Iran have alienated the president’s largely Sunni (and Muslim Brotherhood) base of support, as whoever wrote the greeting for him went heavy on the Islamopandering. The statement started out well enough: “Jill and I send our warmest greetings and best wishes to Muslim communities in the United States and around the world. Ramadan Kareem.” That’s “have a noble Ramadan,” you racist Islamophobic yahoos. Let Old “Despacito” Joe teach you how to be truly multicultural!

Biden’s Ramadan statement immediately went into the victimhood mode so favored by Islamic groups in the U.S. such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR): “As many of our fellow Americans begin fasting tomorrow,” the statement continued, “we are reminded of how difficult this year has been. In this pandemic, friends and loved ones cannot yet gather together in celebration and congregation, and far too many families will sit down for iftar with loved ones missing.”

Has Biden issued a statement on any occasion or in any context lamenting how difficult it was for Christians to gather for Easter and attend church?

Anyway, after that Biden’s ghostwriter laid it on even thicker: “Muslim Americans have enriched our country since our founding. They are as diverse and vibrant as the America they have helped build.”

“Diverse” and “vibrant”! You can tell that whoever wrote this hasn’t had an original thought in this century, and probably not in the last one, either. Was Biden’s ghostwriter anxious to knock this thing out and break for lunch, and so loaded it up with leftist buzzwords and called it a day?

And there it is again: “Muslim Americans have enriched our country since our founding.” State Department wonk Ned Price recently said this as well, claiming that Arab-Americans’ contributions to the US “are as old as America itself.” Obama started this particular ball rolling, claiming in 2016 that “Islam has always been part of America. Starting in colonial times, many of the slaves brought here from Africa were Muslim. And even in their bondage, some kept their faith alive. A few even won their freedom and became known to many Americans.”

Repetition won’t make this claim true. The claim that the slaves were Muslims, or a significant percentage of them were Muslims, is increasingly common. In fact, however, this is unlikely, as the African slavers were Muslims, and a Muslim generally does not enslave a fellow Muslim, just the Qur’an’s prohibits a Muslim from killing another Muslim (4:92). (There are Muslims who are born into slavery in countries such as Mauritania, but that is a different phenomenon from capturing and enslaving someone.)

And who were these other Muslims who have enriched America since its founding? In his 2016 speech, Obama offered two examples besides his claim about the slaves: “Muslim Americans worked on Henry Ford’s assembly line, cranking out cars. A Muslim American designed the skyscrapers of Chicago.”

That’s wonderful, but does it really amount to enriching America since its founding? It actually testifies to a presence that was rather scanty and slight. Were any of the Founding Fathers Muslim? Any of the presidents? Any of the early political figures? Any titans of industry, great inventors, anyone at all? No.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/robert-spencer/2021/04/15/biden-quotes-holy-quran-in-ramadan-greeting-says-muslim-americans-have-enriched-our-country-since-our-founding-n1440285

First high-level Greek-Turkish diplomatic talks in a year descend into verbal spat during news conference

A press conference by the Turkish and Greek foreign ministers after a key meeting on Thursday quickly descended into an exchange of mutual accusations, suggesting the two states still have plenty of issues to settle.

Tensions have been running particularly high between the two NATO members since last August, when Ankara sent a research vessel into disputed waters in the Eastern Mediterranean, believed to be rich with natural resources. The move saw both countries escalate and mobilize military vessels and planes. Ankara eventually recalled its research ship, but Athens kept actively campaigning for the EU to slap "meaningful" sanctions on Turkey over its aggressive behavior.

And this is not the only point of contention between the sides, which also have conflicting claims over air space, the island of Cyprus, and the status of several islands in the Aegean Sea, among other things.

The first visit of Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias to Ankara since the outbreak of the Mediterannean crisis was seen as an opportunity to start improving bilateral relations, but things didn't go totally smoothly.

The press conference after his meeting with Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglum started in a positive manner, with the Greek guest offering support to Turkey's bid to join the EU and speaking positively about resetting ties.

But moods changed instantly when Dendias stressed that violations of Greek sovereignty by Turkey would be countered with sanctions.

"Greece's position is clear. Turkey has violated international law and maritime law in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean," he said, while also blaming Ankara for repeatedly flying its aircraft through Greek airspace.

Cavusoglu didn't mince words in his response, rejecting Dendias's claims and labeling them "unacceptable."

"You come out here, and try to accuse Turkey, to give a message to your country. It is not possible for me to accept this," he said.

The Turkish FM insisted that his country hadn't infringed on Greek sovereignty in its exploration and drilling work, and also accused Athens of pushing back migrants in the Aegean.

"When we get into mutual accusations, we have a lot to tell each other. If you want to continue these arguments, tensions, you can [and] we will do so as well," Cavusoglu added.

Despite the exchange, both ministers expressed a readiness to continue their efforts to resolve the differences at the negotiating table.

Intel Director Haines Warns China Plans to Challenge US’ ‘Presumed Leadership’ in Space

Although the US formed its Space Force on the pretext that its space-based assets were endangered by Russian and Chinese weapons, critics have denounced the move as a boon to US defense contractors, and pointed to the USSF’s role in heading off Chinese technological competition.

Speaking before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines told lawmakers “as a general matter, that China is focused on achieving leadership in space, in fact, as compared to the United States and has been working hard on a variety of different efforts in this area to try to contest what has been presumed [to be] our leadership in these areas.”

In its recently published 2021 threat assessment, Haines’ office (ODNI) warns that China is the “top threat” faced by the US in terms of technological competitiveness, and frets that China may soon seek to challenge US dominance of space.

“Beijing is working to match or exceed US capabilities in space to gain the military, economic and prestige benefits that Washington has accrued from space leadership,” the report says. “Counterspace operations will be integral to potential military campaigns by the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] and China has counterspace-weapons capabilities intended to target US and allied satellites.”

According to the ODNI, China's new modular space station is expected to be operational between 2022 and 2024, which will serve as a base for further space exploration on the Moon and beyond. The Tianhe core module is expected to be launched this year. The PLA is also expanding its own network of 138 communication, navigation, and reconnaissance satellites to become broadly comparable to those of the United States, which are considered essential to any Pentagon warfighting effort and thus require defense. These, the report says, will “erode the US military’s information advantage.”

The report also says that China “continues to train its military space elements” to field ground-based and space-based anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons, including missiles intended to shoot down US satellites and lasers intended to blind or damage equipment on them.

In 2007, China tested a direct-ascent ASAT missile, a modified medium-range ballistic missile that deployed a kinetic kill vehicle to destroy a Chinese satellite 534 miles up. Since then, the US has accused China of disguising several other weapons tests as being scientific in nature.

As Sputnik has reported, the US military has tested and developed ground-based, air-fired, and space-based ASAT weapons for decades, making Washington’s objections to the supposed militarization of space laughable. Indeed, since China’s test, the US has tested an ASAT missile of its own, shooting down a US spy satellite with an SM-3 missile fired from a US Navy destroyer in 2008.

However, the US Space Force’s doctrinal documents make clear that the US’ real strategic concern isn’t space being militarized, it’s the risk the US could lose its longstanding dominance of the space domain.

“We can no longer assume that our space superiority is a given,” Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. "Jay" Raymond told the House Armed Services Committee's Strategic Forces Subcommittee in February 2020. “If deterrence fails, we must be ready to fight for space superiority."

Beijing has rejected Washington’s claims it seeks to dominate space. Last May, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Ren Guoqiang denounced the US for pursuing an arms race in space, saying it would “negatively affect global strategic stability."

"Separate countries have created space military forces, under the pretext of a threat coming from other countries, but in reality in pursuit of military superiority in space," Ren told reporters at the time. "We call upon these countries to adhere to a reasonable and responsible approach, prevent space from becoming a new battleground, and to jointly protect sustainable peace in space.”

https://sputniknews.com/military/202104161082644338-intel-director-haines-warns-china-plans-to-challenge-us-presumed-leadership-in-space/

Listen to the guest at 16:50

https://youtu.be/3UM4hfxl6FU

EU Parliament session gets chaotic as MEP accused of 'fake news' for daring to question OPCW on whistleblower scandal

Despite whistleblower leaks casting doubts on the OPCW’s findings, the EU Parliament is determined to enforce the organization’s anti-Assad line on Syria. MEP Mick Wallace was accused of spreading “fake news” when he spoke out.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has taken an intense interest in Syria’s civil war, and has accused President Bashar Assad of deploying chemical weapons against his own people on several occasions. Its conclusions have twice been used to justify US military action against Syria, and a new OPCW report on Monday found “reasonable grounds” to suspect that a Syrian Army helicopter dropped chemical weapons on the town of Saraqib in 2018.

The OPCW’s reports are good news for Western interventionists, but the organization is not without its critics.

Mick Wallace, an Irish MEP, is among them. When OPCW Director-General Fernando Arias addressed the European Parliament Subcommittee of Security and Defence on Thursday, Wallace accused the OPCW of squashing evidence that Assad may not have been behind one particularly heinous 2018 attack in Douma, near Damascus.

“Why will you not heed calls from renowned international figures…to meet with all the investigators?” Wallace asked Arias. “This problem is not going away. Are you going to investigate all aspects in a transparent manner?"

He is far from a lone crank. Whistleblower testimony and internal documents suggest that the OPCW suppressed “key information about chemical analyses, toxicology consultations, ballistics studies, and witness testimonies” relating to the Douma attack, in order to “favor a preordained conclusion,” in the words of one panel of skeptics. A scientific paper challenging the OPCW’s conclusion was shelved following an outcry from Bellingcat, and one director within the OPCW worried that were the truth to get out, it could aid Russia, an ally of Assad. Furthermore, while multiple whistleblowers have come forward to dispute the OPCW’s findings, more have been “frightened into silence,” one claimed last year.

Wallace also accused Arias of ignoring a “false leak,” made to the BBC and the NATO-affiliated Bellingcat, which he claimed was used to discredit former OPCW Director-General José Bustani, who disagrees with Arias’ blaming of Assad for the Douma attack.

https://www.rt.com/news/521143-eu-parliament-opcw-fake-news/

Children who want puberty blockers CAN rely on parental consent, England's health service says in new guidance

Kids under 16 who have been prescribed puberty blockers may rely on parental consent to maintain access to the life-changing meds instead of seeking court approval, England's National Health Service (NHS) has said in new guidance.

The new advice was published on Thursday by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust in London, which operates the UK's only gender identity development service (GIDS) for children.

Transgender children under 16 previously required a clinician and a High Court application in order to access puberty blockers, which suppress the release of hormones that affect developments such as periods, breast growth and facial hair growth.

But the new NHS guidance means that kids who are already on the drugs will only require parental consent as long as the child, parents and doctors agree that continued prescription is “in the child's best interests.”

However, the continued supply of puberty blockers will also require the backing of a new independent professional review group that is to be set up as an “interim measure” in response to recent court rulings.

Reacting to the NHS news, UK transgender children's charity Mermaids said in a statement it is “concerned” both about the time the review group may take to assess cases, and for children who want the drugs but aren't supported by their parents.

The NHS's decision is in response to two UK court rulings, one of which backed parental consent in puberty blocker access and another which said under-16s are unlikely to be able to give informed consent themselves.

The Family Division of the High Court ruled last month that parents can consent to their child being given the drugs, in a case funded by legal campaign group the Good Law Project, which has also funded challenges against the UK government.

This case concerned a transgender 15-year-old girl, known as XY, whose parents were seeking clarification about consenting to their daughter's treatment in the wake of a previous court ruling.

https://www.rt.com/uk/521152-uk-parents-consent-puberty-blockers/

House passes bill to combat gender pay gap

The House passed legislation on Thursday aimed at reducing gender-based pay discrimination and increasing employer accountability.

Lawmakers approved the bill, titled the Paycheck Fairness Act, 217-210, with one Republican joining with Democrats in support.

House Democrats previously passed the legislation two years ago, but it never got traction in the Republican-controlled Senate. Even though Democrats now hold the Senate majority, it's unclear whether the bill will be able to secure enough votes to overcome a GOP filibuster.

Under the legislation, employers would be limited to justifying pay differentials in wage discrimination claims to "bona fide" factors such as education, training or experience and would be prohibited from retaliating against employees who compare salaries. Employers would also be barred from inquiring about prospective employees' salary histories during the hiring process.

The bill would further direct the Labor Department to establish a grant program providing negotiation skills and training for girls and women.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee who has introduced the bill in every session of Congress since 1997, argued that the measures outlined in the legislation would help close the gender pay gap.

"I cannot tell you how difficult it has been to break through on something so simple, so simple: Men and women in the same job deserve the same pay," DeLauro said during House floor debate.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women made about 82 percent of men's earnings in 2020. The gap is wider for women of color: Black and Latina women with bachelor's degrees make 65 percent while Black women with advanced degrees earned 70 percent compared with white men at the same education level.

Republicans warned that the requirements in the legislation would be overly burdensome for employers and mostly serve to inspire scores of lawsuits. They also noted that some of the gender pay gap can be attributed to women choosing careers that allow for more flexible schedules so they have more time to care for their families.

"Women should not be paid less than men for the same work. That is not up for debate," said Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.), the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee. But the bill, Foxx argued, "is a false promise that creates opportunities and advantages only for trial lawyers looking for easy payouts while causing irreparable harm to employers."

"This bill purports to champion equality for women. Yet it disregards the 40 percent of small businesses owned by women that will be forced to implement pay policies found in government-run workplaces and be stuck paying through the nose in compliance costs if this bill passes," Foxx added.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) offered an alternative amendment that would protect employers from liability if it completes a wage analysis audit to determine if there are pay gaps among its workers. It would have also similarly restricted employers from relying on prospective employees' salary histories unless the person self-discloses during the interview process.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/548521-house-passes-bill-to-combat-gender-pay-gap

Federal Government Caught Buying ‘Fresh’ Flesh Of Aborted Babies Who Could Have Survived As Preemies

Americans should be outraged their government participates in the wide-scale human trafficking operation that created a market for harvesting the organs of murdered infants.

This article contains disturbing information about human dismemberment.

Last week, legal accountability group Judicial Watch dropped a bombshell: a nearly 600-page report proving the U.S. government has been buying and trafficking “fresh” aborted baby body parts. These body parts, purchased by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to “humanize” mice and test biologic drugs in scientific experiments, came from babies up to 24-weeks-old gestation, just weeks from being born.

While Americans may be used to hearing pro-lifers beat the warning drum on abortion groups harvesting baby bodies and selling them for research, (who hasn’t heard of the lawsuit against David Daleiden, who exposed Planned Parenthood haggling over baby lungs and livers at dinner parties?) this time, the U.S. government was the one trafficking baby parts.

Recent emails uncovered by Judicial Watch between FDA employees and the California-based Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR) prove the agency spent tens of thousands of dollars buying aborted babies for unethical scientific experiments between 2012 and 2018. In 2018, the Trump administration terminated the contract, halting government fetal tissue research due to concerns the contracts were unlawful. Judicial Watch’s new FOIA Request adds 575 pages of records to its existing 2019 lawsuit against the agency.

Caught Red-Handed

This is not the first time ABR has been in the spotlight, as the company was under congressional investigation for its long-standing involvement in fetal tissue trafficking. One of the oldest fetal tissue procurement firms, the company makes millions every year by harvesting organs like lungs, livers, eyeballs, and brains from aborted babies and re-selling them at a profit.

Emails between FDA officials and ABR employees reveal disturbing conversations as they collaborate to buy and sell aborted fetuses. Records indicate ABR was paid $12,000 upfront per baby, some survivable out of the womb, between the gestational age of 16-24 weeks. Most purchases are for intact thymuses and livers shipped “Fresh; on wet ice.”

With the callousness of picking a cut of meat from a butcher shop, an FDA doctor requests tissue samples be procured from a baby boy, as they claim “It is strongly preferred to have a male fetus if at all possible … [but] undetermined sex or female is better than no tissue.”

Even more appalling is an ABR employee complaining about the difficulty of identifying the sex of aborted babies. “We only check external genitalia and if it’s not there … we have no way of telling.” The fact techs are unable to identify the sex of aborted babies is no surprise to those familiar with the barbaric nature of abortion procedures, which require clinic staff to piece together mangled remains of babies after their limbs and organs are torn apart.

As if these casual orders weren’t horrific enough, more emails confirm that the FDA bought organs of babies who were aborted well after 20 weeks gestation, after the time a baby usually can survive outside the womb. If nothing else, this confirms the reality of late-term abortions in the United States, which pro-abortion cheerleaders have denied for decades.

https://thefederalist.com/2021/04/15/federal-government-caught-buying-fresh-flesh-of-aborted-babies-who-could-have-survived-as-preemies/

Hillary’s Attorney Marc Elias Inserts Himself Into the Arizona Senate Audit of Maricopa County – Is Using His Massive Network to Broaden His Attack – What Are They Hiding?

The national Democratic machine is in panic mode over the upcoming Arizona Senate’s Maricopa County ballot audit.

Last week the Democrats sent in its national fixer, attorney Marc Elias’s firm Perkins Coie to throw around threats and make the audit go away. Today Elias took to the media in his effort to bad-mouth the audit.

The stakes are astronomical for the Dems, after all, the November 3, 2020 election steal gained them the presidency and control of Congress.

The swing states in which the 2020 election steal occurred are key to uncovering the truth and proving the fraud in the election and Arizona is one of those states.

Today Elias published a piece on the far-left “Democracy Docket” website.

Republicans in the Arizona state senate are determined to carry on with yet another unnecessary audit of the Maricopa County 2020 election results. They’ve hired private firms to conduct the audit, including one led by a conspiracy theorist who has promoted Trump’s Big Lie and other election fraud fantasies. And now, the state senate is accepting outside donations to fund the audit—mere days after Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed new legislation banning private donations to county administrators to help support timely, safe and secure elections, a move Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) said was “to satisfy the conspiracy theorists within his own party.”

Elias goes on to claim it is unfair that the Senate is soliciting funds to help pay for the audit, but neglects to mention the audit is costing more money because the corrupt Maricopa County Board of Supervisors won’t allow the Senate to perform their audit in the facility where the ballots are housed. Elias also doesn’t mention that the Board of Supervisors wasted tens of thousands of dollars on two garbage audits that provided no value other than to provide the Supervisors the clean bill of health they wished for.

Clearly from the start, Elias and the Democrats and their friends are trying desperately to hide something.

The Senate will be conducting an audit of the 2020 Maricopa County elections because the Maricopa Board of Supervisors utterly refused in its responsibilities in delivering a transparent, honest, and accurate audit for Maricopa County citizens.

The Senate has hired four teams to conduct the audit, led by Cyber Ninjas. According to AZCentral,

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/04/breaking-exclusive-hillarys-attorney-marc-elias-inserted-arizona-senate-audit-maricopa-county-using-massive-network-attack/

Nancy Pelosi Lobbies Biden to Accept More Refugees: ‘Moral Responsibility’

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) urged President Joe Biden on Thursday to accept more refugees into the United States, claiming that America has a “moral responsibility” to do so.

Pelosi told reporters during a press conference at the Capitol, “We have a moral responsibility in the world — as every other country does, too — to receive refugees who have a well-founded fear of persecution or harm [if they] return to their own country.”

Shortly after his inauguration, Biden promised to restore the “badly damaged” refugee resettlement program. During fiscal year 2016, America accepted at least 85,000 refugees. Trump, during his administration, cut the number down to 15,000. Since Biden has not signed a presidential determination for refugee admissions in 2021, Trump’s lower refugee figure will stay in place.

Biden has promised to bring the refugee cap up to 125,000 by October 1.

However, his delay in lifting the cap has received criticism from Democrats.

“We have to recognize our moral responsibility, as we see other countries take in refugees. I think right now we have — well, it’s a very few thousand. And we have to increase that number,” Pelosi said.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said, “I am disappointed that President Biden has yet to officially increase the refugee admissions target.”

“There is no justification to delay providing safe haven for these refugees who have already been vetted and approved to come to the United States,” she added.

CNN reported Thursday that Biden has resisted calls to lift the refugee program cap due to the political optics of raising the refugee cap while the southern border faces a migrant crisis.

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) said, “The refugee issue is pretty bleak right now. We need realistic numbers. These are people who come to our country in an orderly way. … In a way, it is part of an overall strategy to prevent the unpredictable flow. The numbers are important to get at a realistic level.”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/04/15/nancy-pelosi-lobbies-biden-to-accept-more-refugees-moral-responsibility/

For Diggers

U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General

https://oig.justice.gov/reports

FBI Records: The Vault

https://vault.fbi.gov/

Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/

Discover the TRUTH About the COVID-19 / 2020 Chaos One Button At a Time

https://timetofreeamerica.com/

Declassified Documents

https://anino.page/kagbabe

FOIA Documents

https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/

Qresearch search engine

https://qresear.ch/

Vault 7: CIA Hacking Tools

https://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1/cms/page_39714844.html

Wikileaks

https://wikileaks.org/

Experts warn Scotland faces tax rises or spending cuts to fund Nicola Sturgeon's election pledge to give Scots a FOUR DAY week, free dentists, billions more for the NHS and a new independence vote - as opponents brand it a 'list of future broken promises'

First minister vowed to make going to the dentist free and tens of billion for frontline NHS and social care

Also confirmed plans for a new independence referendum within five years if she wins May's Holyrood vote

Outlined plan for 'minimum income guarantee' to become 'Citizens' Basic Income' in independent Scotland

But while pledging to open the cash taps she also vowed to freeze income tax rates and bands for five years

Scots Tory leader Douglass Ross branded manifesto 'irrelevant', saying: 'It is a list of future broken promises'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9474027/Nicola-Sturgeon-vows-make-transformational-multibillion-pound-boost-spending-NHS.html

Security concerns raised over US shipping migrants across country without proper ID

The top Republican on the House Committee on Homeland Security is raising concerns that the Biden administration is shipping migrants to cities across the US without properly identifying them first.

New York Rep. John Katko, in an interview with The Post, expressed worries that the rush to get migrants out of overcrowded facilities at the US-Mexico border will create major security risks.

“They’re getting so many people coming in that they can’t process them, so what they’re doing is they’re just pushing him out of the facility as fast as they can,” he said Thursday.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is also using grant funding for NGOs to instead pay for the transportation of migrants, including airline and bus fare, a Homeland Security Committee spokesperson told The Post.

More

https://nypost.com/2021/04/15/security-concerns-raised-over-us-shipping-migrants-across-country-without-proper-id/