All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Seven Places To Try Traditional Syrian Dishes: LAist

According to the Arab American Institute, California has the highest Arab American population in the United States, and the state is home to the largest community of Syrians in the nation. City Data estimates that nearly 14,000 Syrians live in Glendale, 1,400 more live in Burbank, and tens-of-thousands are scattered around Los Angeles and Orange counties.The main cultural hubs of the Syrian community are in Van Nuys and Anaheim (where it’s centered mainly on a stretch of Brookhurst Street that has become known as Little Arabia).Nahla Kayali of Access California Services, one of the largest refugee resettlement organizations in the state, told LAist that the Syrian community has deep roots throughout many industries, including real estate development, construction, medical research, and entertainment. And according to a representative of the Islamic Center of Claremont who spoke to LAist, the Syrian community has shied from the spotlight until recently, when the civil war compelled many Syrian Americans to step out in support of new immigrants.

Source: Seven Places To Try Traditional Syrian Dishes: LAist

Two-thirds of Britons believe Trump is ‘threat to international stability’ | US news | The Guardian

Almost two-thirds of the British public believe Donald Trump is a threat to international stability and a clear majority believe he will be a bad president, according to an Opinium/Observer poll conducted during his tumultuous second week in office.

Source: Two-thirds of Britons believe Trump is ‘threat to international stability’ | US news | The Guardian

′Der Spiegel′ magazine sparks furor as cover depicts Trump beheading Lady Liberty | News | DW.COM | 04.02.2017

It depicts a recognizable figure of Trump holding up the bleeding head of the Statue of Liberty in one hand, and a bloodstained knife in the other. In this week’s editorial, “Der Spiegel” editor-in-chief Klaus Brinkbäumer dubbed the president “Nero Trump,” after the notoriously brutal ancient Roman emperor.Trump’s action and pose depicted on the cover clearly invokes that of Islamist terrorist – and that was always its intention.The cover’s illustrator, Edel Rodriguez, a Cuban political refugee in the US, told the “Washington Post” newspaper that he was prompted to channel his anger into the piece of art following Trump’s visa ban. “It’s a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol,” Rodriguez said. “And clearly, lately, what’s associated with beheadings is ISIS, so there’s a comparison. Both sides are extremists, so I’m just making a comparison between them.”

Source: ′Der Spiegel′ magazine sparks furor as cover depicts Trump beheading Lady Liberty | News | DW.COM | 04.02.2017

Lying US defence chief brands Iran ‘biggest sponsor of terrorism’ as tensions flare – France 24

Iran is to deploy missiles for a Revolutionary Guards exercise Saturday in a show of defiance, while the US defense secretary on the same day called Iran the world’s “single biggest state sponsor of terrorism.

Source: US defence chief brands Iran ‘biggest sponsor of terrorism’ as tensions flare – France 24

A.T.F. Plans to Send More Agents to Chicago to Curb Violence – The New York Times Times misses point of Trump’s plan to normalize stepped up war on Black-American men and cities with Democratic Mayors!

Adam Collins, a spokesman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, said on Friday night that city officials had not been told about the plans for additional federal agents but that the mayor would be glad for their help.“We have received no word from the federal government to confirm these reports, but it would be welcome news if the administration has indeed agreed to one of Mayor Emanuel’s requests for federal resources,” Mr. Collins said. “We remain hopeful that they will also provide added D.E.A. and F.B.I. agents, that they will boost the prosecution rate for federal gun crimes in Chicago, and that they will provide funding for successful violence prevention efforts.”

Trump’s top EU pick warns German media of ‘seismic shift’ in ties – The Local

He said Trump preferred to deal bilaterally with European countries rather than the bloc as whole, adding that “frankly, this also gives us the upper hand”.He also reiterated his view that the European common currency was a mistake and that, if he were working for an investment bank, he would “bet against the euro”.European Parliament leaders on Thursday urged the EU to reject Malloch if he is named Trump’s ambassador to Brussels, calling him hostile to the bloc.The leaders of the main parliamentary groups said Malloch, whom they called Trump’s likely choice, has openly backed the dissolution of the European Union much like the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Source: Trump’s top EU pick warns German media of ‘seismic shift’ in ties – The Local

Saturday Open Thread | Rep. Joaquin Castro: Trump Could Be Impeached If He Overstepped Authority On Travel Ban | 3CHICSPOLITICO

Combined with an administration that has repeatedly lied, Democrats remain skeptical. If the White House has indeed directed CBP to ignore the rulings, “there should be a resolution of censure. And if he does it again, there should be articles of impeachment,” Castro said.Castro said he is increasingly concerned with Trump’s consolidation of power within the White House. “There’s no longer any checks and balances,” Castro said, adding that if Trump is indeed flouting court orders, “you’re basically living in a military junta.”

Source: Saturday Open Thread | Rep. Joaquin Castro: Trump Could Be Impeached If He Overstepped Authority On Travel Ban | 3CHICSPOLITICO

Is the Swedish Deputy Prime Minister’s All-Women Photo Trolling Donald Trump? – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

Isabella Lövin @IsabellaLovinJust signed referral of Swedish law, binding all future governments to net zero emissions by 2045. For a safer and better future.

Source: Is the Swedish Deputy Prime Minister’s All-Women Photo Trolling Donald Trump? – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

Not ‘Lone Wolves’ After All: How ISIS Guides World’s Terror Plots From Afar – The New York Times – how true? don’t know but some rings true…

While a reliance on local amateurs has allowed the Islamic State to announce that it can stage terrorism around the world, it has also led to many failed attacks.Instead of opening fire on a church, Mr. Ghlam shot himself in the leg. Instead of laying waste to a music festival this past summer, the Islamic State recruit in Germany detonated his bomb prematurely, killing only himself.The same thing happened the day before the end of Ramadan on July 2 inside a police compound in Indonesia, where another remotely guided attacker hit the switch on his crudely assembled suicide vest.“He didn’t even knock over the flowerpot on the ledge next to where he blew himself up,” said Sidney Jones, director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict.Indonesian officials say that the suicide bomber had been incited to attack by Bahrun Naim, a 33-year-old Indonesian man who is now one of the Islamic State’s most prolific cyberplanners, operating from the group’s capital in Raqqa, Syria.Initially, Mr. Naim wired money to families in Indonesia to pay for travel to Syria, officials said. Later, the bank transfers he sent were to be used to buy the chemicals needed to build explosives, according to the interrogation records of his recruits.In just over a year, the young men he was in contact with attempted at least six attacks, targeting a police post, a Buddhist temple and a church, as well as foreigners visiting the country. In November, a college dropout who the police said had at least been initially in contact with Mr. Naim was arrested as he prepared to attack the embassy of Myanmar. In his home, the police recovered a quantity of explosives that could have resulted in a blast twice as powerful as the 2002 Bali bombing, which killed 202 people, the police spokesman told local news media.Yet nearly all of the plots attributed to Mr. Naim have failed. And it was human error that finally led to the arrest of Amriki’s followers in Hyderabad.The plot began to unravel in June after the men were instructed to collect a 10-kilogram bag of ammonium nitrate left beside a canal next to mile marker No. 9 on the Vijayawada Highway.They returned to Mr. Mohammed’s home to begin preparing a bomb, but could not figure out how to replicate the steps in the instructional YouTube video sent to them by the handler. “We could not succeed in making powder, as it became jellylike paste,” Mr. Yazdani lamented, according to the transcript of his interrogation.They tried using a tea strainer. They tried heating it longer. They began talking on their cellphones about their efforts to “cook the rice.”By then, the police were wiretapping their calls and suspected that all the food talk was a crude attempt at misdirection. Early on June 29, the police banged on the door of Mr. Mohammed’s home.In his bedroom, they found the half-cooked explosive in his refrigerator.

Former Norwegian prime minister stopped by new US entry controls – The Local

Former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik was stopped by US border control agents at Washington Dulles Airport on Wednesday and questioned for roughly an hour before being granted permission to enter the country.Bondevik had flown to Washington DC to attend the National Prayer Breakfast but an Iranian visa in his diplomatic passport led to difficulties at the airport.  “It took about an hour. They started asking me why I had been in Iran and why I was coming to the United States. There should be no reason to fear a former prime minister who has been on official visits to the country several times before,” Bondevik told TV2.  US President Donald Trump recently introduced a ban on entry for people from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran. Bondevik said his passport with the Iranian stamp has never given him problems upon entering the US before Trump’s executive order.

Source: Former Norwegian prime minister stopped by new US entry controls – The Local