A FRIGHTENING RULING OF THE EUROPEAN "COURT" OF "HUMAN RIGHTS".

Over at American Thinker, something extremely important gave a bright blip on Thomas Panis' radar:

"IN EUROPE, FEELINGS OF MUSLIMS NOW OFFICIALLY TRUMP FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

According to the European Court of Human Rights, the feelings of Muslims are more important than liberty. A critique of the Religion of Peace can be deemed a threat to “religious peace.” Becket Adams explains in the Washington Examiner:



~ The European Court of Human Rights ruled this week that defaming the Prophet Muhammad is not protected speech. More specifically, the court said an “Austrian woman’s conviction for calling the prophet of Islam a pedophile didn’t breach her freedom of speech,” the Associated Press reported.

The ECHR explained in its ruling that Austrian courts had “carefully balanced her right to freedom of expression with the right of others to have their religious feelings protected.” The woman explained in 2009 during a seminar discussion that the Prophet Muhammad’s marriage to a six-year-old girl was basically “pedophilia.”

"A 56-year-old and a 6-year-old? What do you call that? Give me an example? What do we call it, if it is not pedophilia?" she said.



... In 2008 and 2009, the Austrian citizen Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff held a series of seminars concerning Islam in Vienna (Austria). One of the topics was the famous 6-year old child bride of Muhammad (Aïsha). At some point she said that “... Muhammed liked to do it with little children”.

In ways that are becoming frighteningly common in the Old World, the PC-police donned its armor and Sabaditsch-Wolff was convicted by an Austrian court because she had “insulted religion.” (If you are interested in the details of this show-trial: Gatestone Institute ran a good article about it). Having the choice between a 480 euros fine (about 550 dollars) and 60 days in prison, the accused chose a third option: the European Court of Human Rights. She argued that religious groups should tolerate criticism, and that her statements served the public debate and were not intended as insults.

This European Court made a historic decision on 25 October 2018 by stating that the Austrian conviction was not in violation of article 10 of the European convention: freedom of speech has its limits.



~ “The Court found in conclusion that in the instant case the domestic courts carefully balanced the applicant’s right to freedom of expression with the rights of others to have their religious feelings protected, and to have religious peace preserved in Austrian society.”



This conclusion should give every freedom loving person pause. It is a sentence so frightening, so important and so far-reaching that it is worth further analysis. The court’s conclusion says that freedom of speech is not absolute, but should be balanced against..


1. “... the rights of others to have their religious feelings protected,”

2. “... and to have religious peace preserved in Austrian society.”


As for the first point: we all know who these “others” are. Although insulting Christianity has been a favorite pastime of the higher educated in Western Europe since the French Revolution, it rarely leads to convictions. There are no shrieking Buddhists protesting in Paris, calling for violence against infidel non-Buddhists. It is also worth noting that the court does not mention “religious rights.” It mentions religious “feelings”. How do you define that? Isn’t every form of critique slightly hurting to someone’s feelings? Isn’t that what freedom of speech is all about?

But it becomes truly creepy when we read the second point: freedom of expression has to be weighed against the right “...to have religious peace preserved in Austrian society.” The Court of Human Rights hereby confirms the fears of many libertarians and conservatives in Europe: that critique of these “others” (i.e., Muslims) may lead to a breakdown of the fragile peace that now exists, thanks to mass immigration, in every large European city. We all know where this kind of appeasement leads to.

What this shameful episode shows is that the legal elites of the faltering European Union have a complete different idea about liberty, as compared to the ideas of the Founding Fathers in the USA. In pursuit of a European “Bill of Rights” large treaties were signed, great speeches held and supranational institutions were created. But when push comes to shove, freedom of speech, one of the basic liberties -- maybe the most fundamental one of them all -- is deemed less important than the feelings of Muslims. Moreover, ironically, critique of the “Religion of Peace” is now deemed a threat to “religious peace.”

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a paedophile is:

"someone who is sexually interested in children"

Muhammad was worse than that. According to his followers, women included, who consider him "The Perfect Man", he fucked Aisha when she was nine (We will just have to take the koranic scholars' word for it that he didn't penetrate her when she was six). Anyway, if an adult fucks a child, he or she is not merely a paedophile, but a child molester as well:





Muhammad was a pedophile AND a child molester. Besides a plethora of other unsavory things, of course.


This is a scandalous ruling by people who not only live in ivory towers but who deliberately abuse their power to destroy the lives of those whose rights they are supposed to protect. The time has come to judge the judges. As they apparently refuse to listen, let it be known that when their self-constructed trainwreck derails, they will, just like their colleague ideologues in politics, the media and what passes for the cultural sector, have to pay their fair share for the disasters they deliberately inflicted on Europe.


MFBB.

DEMOCRATS IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 2018...

Nuff said, and I even said nothing.


MFBB.

A DAY OUT IN THE ARDENNES.

The weather was glorious last weekend, so I figured I'd head out to the Ardennes for what was possibly the last time this year. The rest of the family wasn't in the mood - they don't know what's good for them. So me was accompanied only by myself and I.


Cruising on the good ole E411 somewhere between Custinne and Wanlin:




View on the Chateau de Bouillon, once the home of Godfrey of Bouillon, the 'Belgian' crusader. Pic taken from somewhere below the Point de Vue de la Ramonette.




After getting off the La Ramonette crest and through Bouillon's Arboretum - which sadly, isn't such a big deal anymore since it's in the process of being overgrown by, guess what, trees, I came across the Monument des Fusillés. Seems you can't get nowhere in the Ardennes or sometime, somewhere, you are reminded of WWII. It was on this spot that on the 21st of July 1944 three men from Bouillon were cowardly shot by the Gestapo on orders of Léon Degrelle, the prewar Rex strongman and Belgium's most notorious nazi. The names of the hapless souls are René Pierlot, Henri Bodard, and Louis Bodard. As I said a prayer, I wondered about the circumstances of their tragic deaths. Degrelle was from Bouillon, and obviously, felt quite attached to the region of his birth (indeed, while in Spain after the war he ventured the desire to be buried on the nearby Tombeau du Géant, a famous landmark). The liberation of this part of Belgium was only a little more than two months away. Was Degrelle, foreseeing the imminent forced departure of his overlords, exacting revenge on compatriots who had stubbornly refused to accept his vision of a Belgium as part of the Third Reich? Was he pissed off because just the day before, his beloved Fuehrer had narrowly escaped death at the hands of Von Stauffenberg? Who will tell?




Then it was off to the Rocher du Pendu, a rocky promontory overlooking the Semois river. Rocher du Pendu means Rock of the Hanged, and an anecdote I came across years ago was this: once upon a time a farmer from Corbion who had earned a good deal of money with the sale of his cows on Bouillon's cattle market, foolishly wasted his earnings on drinking and gambling in that town's cafés. Getting sober again on the rocky path towards Corbion, which passes this very spot, he became overcome with fear at the reaction of his wife, who reportedly was an ancestor of Victoria Bissell Brown. So he hung himself, end of story.




Majestic firs, straight as an arrow, on the path towards Corbion:




Point de vue de l'Ecaillère. Below is La Grande Prairie.




A view on the Moulin de l'Epine from the Pic du Diable. Although I failed to see what was so devilish about this spot.




Descending towards the Semois, like a mirage, after some time the Abbaye de Cordemois. Which has architectural elements reminding me of the Abbaye d'Orval.




It was time to wrap up the walk. Besides, the sun was slowly setting.




The calm waters of the Semois. Perhaps some 30 kloms further - I would have to check it out - it flows into France where the name is spelled Semoy.




Almost back in Bouillon. The traffic arrangement is peculiar. What is in effect a mini "beltway" around town passes through a tunnel under the castle's keep.




A view on the Chateau. Must have been quite impenetrable defenses in its time. I read somewhere that in the 17th century, Vauban also left his mark.




Driving back, I couldn't resist making a small detour to watch Frahan sitting quietly on its peninsula in a Semois bend. Pic taken from the heights of Rochehaut:




And then it was back to Chateau Outlaw!



MFBB.

MEET HEATHER SAWYER.

This from September already, must have overlooked it. Via The Political Insider:

"The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing involving Brett Kavanaugh and accuser Christine Blasey Ford has just begun. Chairman Chuck Grassley spoke first, giving an overview of the allegations, and how Democrats have done everything they could to delay Ford’s testimony until today.

After Grassley spoke, Dianne Feinstein took the mic to try to present her narrative, and defend herself against the (true) allegations that she withheld Ford’s letter alleging sexual assault from the Senate until weeks ago. If the goal was to get to the truth of such allegations, you’d think its something Democrats would’ve led with when Feinstein learned of the alleged assault in July. Of course, if the allegations were true and derailed Kavanaugh’s confirmation, Republicans would just put forward another nominee. The reason Democrats are trying to delay anything relating to examining these allegations is a desperate attempt to push back a SCOTUS vote until past the midterms (in which Democrats will hope to pick up some seats).

During her opening testimony, Feinstein tried to suggest otherwise, claiming that she held the letter accusing Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct in confidence at the request of Ford. “She wanted this held confidential, and I held it confidential up to a point the witness was willing to come forward…How women are treated in the U.S. with this kind of concern is really wanting a lot of reform.”

But here’s the thing: it’s one of Feinstein’s staffers that made the letter public in the first place. Feinstein staffer Heather Sawyer leaked Ford’s letter to the media in violation of Senate Rule 29(5)."

And who would that Heather Sawyer person be?




Ah... ah... ah...

Oooooo-kay. I understand. Well, cheer up Americans! Your tax dollars at work to pay for the wages - we may assume relatively lavish ones - of stellar, productive, in-dis-pen-sable citizens like Madam Sawyer!


The left. Such a predictable, hopelessly nondiverse bunch.



MFBB.

RECOMMENDED VIDEOS: THE REBEL MEDIA'S JACK BUCKBY ON POLAND.

A lot of bruhaha over the past years - intensifying now, actually - about Poland supposedly being on a slippery path towards a soft dictatorship, what with PiS, the ruling Law and Order party, wanting to implement several changes to the country's constitution.

I admit that I don't know the full extent of all the changes PiS wants in Poland's constitution, other than that rulings of the Constitutional Tribunal - Poland's Supreme Court, so to say - would require a two thirds majority, which sounds actually as if PiS would be making it harder for itself to pass legislation, and that it wants term limits to the Constitutional Tribunal's members. And to be honest, that sounds only reasonable to me. No matter how much I look forward to Brett Kavanaugh serving as a Conservative Judge on the US's SC for at least 20 years to come, I do not think justices should sit on the SC until they drop dead. Same goes for the supreme courts of any country.

Now, the EU Commission, the main instigator of the negative news, is as usual its hypocritic self because in 2015, when PO (the Civic Platform, Polands center left ruling party at the time) wanted to quickly fill up the Constitutional Tribunal with PO-friendly justices right before elections they were basically scheduled to lose, they said nothing. The importance of PO hastily filling the seats before an electoral defeat would have made it impossible, cannot be overestimated, because had they had their way, of the Constitutional Tribunal's 15 justices 14 (!) would have been PO men and women. It's an angle to the story that is com-ple-te-ly underreported. All we hear is that Kaczynski and Co. are new autocrats. So outrageous was PO's move at the time that the new Polish President, Andrzej Duda, refused to swear in these judges.

We are three years further now and PiS continues to try to implement judicial reforms. Without going too much into detail, these reforms have, understandably, their supporters and their detractors. As to whether they constitute a danger to democracy that would, in my opinion, be a serious overstatement. The EU did and said nothing when in 2011 the PO-led government apprehended PO-critical journalists, and suddenly, while nothing like that has happened under PiS yet, democracy would be in danger? It only makes sense if you realize that Poland's PM at the time, PO founder Donald Tusk, has been... Chairman of the European Council, one of the three EU top jobs, since 2014. Tusk is an outspoken EU hack, a fact which was already well known back in 2011. In other words, the EU is only critical vis-à-vis European governments who don't sing their tune - which is a no brainer, of course.

Poland under PiS now pushing through constitutional changes do not seem to me to be any different from a US President using his privilege to nominate SC justices. Obama appointed Sotomayor and Kagan, known for their very leftist stance. As much as I loathe Obama, he used his constitutional right. Now the pendulum has swung and President Trump has appointed Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, making the SC majority conservative. How would this be that much different from what's happening in Poland?

Then there's so much consternation about PiS's Media Law. Laughable, if you see to what extent the European governments use their state broadcasters to force leftist narratives on their populations. I live in Belgium, I know of what I am speaking. The State Broadcaster is the regime mouthpiece, basta. And these same governments are now accusing Poland of being... undemocratic? Ridiculous!


Anyway, here's some videos by The Rebel Media's Jack Buckby, who offers an alterative viewpoint to what you find in MSM:











As for Polish youth, dunno. Looks like Buckby got to interview a couple of right stuff guys there, for from what I see Polish youth is relatively laid back. I think I got some right to speak, since I'm married to a gal from Poland and I visit at least once a year. What I notice is that church attendance among youth is in steep decline. And my brother-in-law is as leftist as they get.

On the other hand, there was that gigantic human chain thing to remind Poland of its Christian roots and warn of Europe's islamization. It was a colossal event which did mobilize tens of thousands of youths - unthinkable in Western Europe.

So I think it's indeed still fair to say that 'Poland is not lost yet'.

And may well be, yet another time, Europe's Savior.



MFBB.

ON THIS DAY IN 1947: CHUCK YEAGER BREAKS SOUND BARRIER.

On this day in 1947, Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in level flight. Via Space.com:





His Bell X-1 was a rocket engine–powered aircraft, first conceived in 1944, and designed and built in 1945. In his successful attempt to break the sound barrier, he reached Mach 1.06 (700 miles per hour, or 1,100 km/h), but by no means had the X1 reached its limits, because a year after, it achieved a speed of nearly 1,000 miles per hour (1,600 km/h).

It should be noted that some sources list another man to first break the sound barrier: German test pilot Heini Dittmar, who on 6 July 1944 in Messerschmitt Komet Me 163B V18 would have reached an even higher speed than Yeager, 1,130 km/h (700 mph), but whether he flew high enough to make the flight supersonic is unclear. The speed of sound, commonly referred to as Mach 1, varies with altitude (actually, rather the temperature at particular altitude) and is highest at sea level, where Mach 1.0 equals about 1225 km/h (761 mph). At 30000 ft Mach 1.0 is reached much faster, at 1091 km/h (678 mph). However, German records do not mention a sonic boom during Dittmar's flight, and in any case by that time in the war they probably weren't interested in breaking records.


You can get some idea of what it must have been for Yeager and colleagues to attain hitherto unmatched (manned) speeds in this video clip from the movie The Right Stuff:





The Bell X1's engine was Reaction Motors's XLR11, company designation RMI 6000C4, the first liquid-propellant rocket engine developed in the US. It used ethylalcohol and liquid oxygen as propellants and generated a maximum thrust of 6,000 lbf (27 kN). Each of the four combustion chambers produced 1,500 lbf (6.7 kN) of thrust. The XLR11 was not throttleable but each chamber could be turned on and off individually. At the 0:18 mark in the video above you see the character playing Yeager turning all four of them on simultaneously. One wonders about the shocks to the structure and the implications of the asymmetrical thrust in case of individual turning on and off. I suppose that when using only two of the four, pilots were advised to use either the horizontally arranged thrusters or else the vertical ones. (It should be noted that the engine powering the Me163, the Walter HWK 509, could be throttled).







Pending development of a more powerful engine, in 1959 and 1960, a pair of XLR11-RM-13's mounted on top of one another were used as an interim power plant for the first X-15's. These XLR11's were boosted to 2,000 lbf (8.9 kN) of thrust per chamber for a total of 16,000 lbf (71 kN = 2 x 4 x 8.9kN).




In NOV 1960, the combination was replaced by a single XLR99 engine, but at 67kN it produced actually less thrust than the 8 combustion chambers of the two XLR11's:




MFBB.

RECOMMENDED READS: PATRICIA MCCARTHY ON TOXIC FEMINISM.

Over at American Thinker, a spot on article by Patricia McCarthy: "Toxic masculinity? Try toxic feminists...they hate men!"

"Kiss Me Kate was a wonderful remake of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, which was set in the late 1500s. It is the story of a strong and difficult woman and the man who loved her. One of the most hilarious songs from the 1953 musical is "I Hate Men." Here is the first verse:


I hate men.
I can't abide 'em even now and then.
Than ever marry one of them, I'd rest a maiden rather,
For husbands are a boring lot and only give you bother.
Of course, I'm awfully glad that Mother had to marry Father,
But I hate men.


In the film, the song is funny. People have enjoyed humor from the days of Shakespeare through the glorious musicals of the 1950s and then some...until now.

The American left has completely lost any sense of humor. Things that used to be funny are now microaggressions or triggers, cultural appropriation or racist. Now they loathe the First Amendment and want speech they don't like proscribed.

"I hate men" is the mantra of our radicalized modern feminists, only it's not one bit funny. Their college experience, their entire education, has been all about race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and the evils of toxic masculinity. The history books and the literature they are assigned must have a race, class, gender, or social justice emphasis. Books that were written before the mandates of political correctness were discarded long ago. Their women's studies profs aver that "the nuclear family is the most destructive institution in the West."

In other words, they have been carefully taught to hate men, especially white men. White men should be killed and castrated. (Another lyric from the song: "They should be kept like piggies in a pen.") No white man should be president or gain a seat on the Supreme Court. Why? Because they are all evil perpetrators of that ancient scold, patriarchy. Meanwhile, hundreds of women (and men, children) mounted their "Slut Walk" in downtown Los Angeles. They objectify themselves and then blame men for objectifying women. How's that for sanctimonious hypocrisy?

The disgraceful behavior of all those demented women protesting the confirmation of Judge Kavanugh these past two weeks was appalling. As Megan Fox has written, they have set the cause of women back a hundred years. These women perceive themselves as victims of a horrific male-dominated world, as though they were characters in The Handmaid's Tale, a silly dystopian novel and TV series beloved by the left. They are ridiculous.

Misandry, hatred of men, especially white men, is the defining characteristic of the left these days, particularly these toxic feminists. Why are progressives so intent upon convincing women to see men as victimizers? How does this serve their agenda? Impossible to grasp, but it is what they do: pit the groups they relegate people to against each other. This is a defining difference between the left and the right: the left does not recognize individuals, only groups by race, class, and sex or sexual orientation. Character is of no interest to leftists. The right sees individuals, not skin color, not class, not sexual orientation, and judges by character.

That the left's campaign against men is destructive to our culture, to marriage, to the future of our civilization does not enter leftists' consciousness. All they really care about is preserving their right to abortion on demand. Hard to figure, since they hate men so much. Will they ever really need an abortion?

The left, not only here, but around the world, is about one thing: power. Leftists crave power in order to control how we live and how we think, what we drive, what we eat, how we educate our kids. They've done a bang-up job over the last two generations.

That there are enough women who are recruitable for the ridiculous protests in D.C. these past two weeks is pathetic. It is a tragedy that so many young women are no longer capable of thinking for themselves. So mind-numbed, so blinkered by the indoctrination of their professors in colleges like the one Christine Blasey Ford "teaches" at, they are incapable of any critical thinking at all.

This is why Blasey Ford assumed she could submarine Kavanaugh's nomination with a ridiculously vague, wholly uncorroborated allegation of groping thirty-six years ago. So immersed in the culture of victimhood and identity politics, it likely never occurred to Ford that there are people who do still value the tenet of "innocent until proven guilty." Her crowd of toxic feminists who hate men actually thought her obviously fabricated and unprovable accusation would sink the Kavanaugh nomination. They never gave a thought to the terrible damage they were doing to a good man and his family.

This is how insidiously powerful such women think they are. They dress up in silly Handmaid's Tale costumes and think that is going to change minds and shame men. What it did is infuriate millions of regular people who do not separate people into victim groups, by skin color or sex. Most Americans judge people by their integrity, by how they treat others.

Conservative women love their men, their sons, their fathers and brothers. That is why they are so horrified by those angry, screaming mobs of man-hating women. That is why conservative, man-loving women are so much happier than these deluded harpies. "But, ladies, you must answer, too, what would we do without 'em?"

Mrs McCarthy's article reminded me of a news item I spotted about one month ago, the "Statement Festival" in Gothenburg, Sweden. Via The Independent (no less):

"A “cis man-free” festival has been held in Sweden, in response to a string of alleged sexual assaults at the country’s biggest music festival.​

The Statement music festival in Gothenburg claims to be the world’s first major music gathering for women, transgender and non-binary people only. It took place on Friday 31 August and Saturday 1 September at Bananpiren in Gothenburg.

Swedish comedian Emma Knyckare came up with the idea after reports of multiple sexual offences at Bravalla festival last year and in 2016. The event was crowd-funded with more than 300,000 donations.



Emma Knyckare, organizer of the festival. What better place for people who have gone completely bananas than to hold a festival at Banana Pier?


“The whole area is free of cis-men,” Ms Knyckare told Euronews. “We work exclusively with women, non-binary and transgender persons. This ranges from artists to catering to security personnel.”

Cisgender is the term applied to an individual whose gender matches their assigned sex at birth. A trans or non-binary person is someone whose gender or gender identity is different to their birth-assigned sex.




What a pathetic bunch of vile creatures. If anyone still doubted it, leftism *is* a mental disease. Sheesh, look at them! Would you do any of them, even if stone drunk?


“No one will be questioned at the entrance,” Ms Knyckare said, when asked how organisers were going to stop men getting in. She said that the festival was working with a specialised security company to develop a specialised “access system”.

However, she called the festival a “reaction” to the problem of sexual assault at music events, “not the solution”.

Bravalla festival 2018 was cancelled after widespread sexual assault cases at the event in 2017 and 2016.

​“Certain men... apparently cannot behave. It’s a shame. We have therefore decided to cancel Bråvalla 2018” organisers said.

So certain men cannot behave hmmmm? What kind of men would that be? These well groomed, civil, polite, eloquent chaps photographed during and after recent violent riots in Sweden:





Or this rowdy mysoginist macho bunch?





How typical for feminazis to resort to a non-solution, holding a men-free festival, instead of acknowledging the obvious. It's even a non starter. For if they had allowed the specimen on the photo above to enter, it would still have been a woman-only event.



MFBB.

GOP AD: "THE LEFT: AN UNHINGED MOB."

But you ain't seen nothing yet. Wait until RBG retires!


MFBB.

RECOMMENDED VIDEOS: HIKING UP THE GREAT GABLE.

One can't let him or herself be cast down by too much negativity. It's been a bit too much lately, world is going bonkers. So my mind wandered off to more interesting realms - for me at least: hiking up some nice hilltop for instance.

One of these is the Great Gable in the west of the Lake District, Cumbria, UK. At 899 m (2,949 ft) it is not yet a Munro; in these parts, they call 'em Marilyns.

To be sure, I never went up Great Gable although I definitely intend to do so one day, hopefully sooner than later. Closest I came was in 2013 when I went up the parent peak, Scafell Pike, which at 978 m, or 3,209 ft, passes the 3,000 ft mark making it a Munro.

I recently discovered the British Mountaineering Club is compiling nice short videos detailing hikes up Munros, Marilyns and the likes. Here's the one describing the climb up the Great Gable:





Here's the view from Westmorland Cairn, almost on top of the Great Gable:





So named after two brothers who erected it in 1876 to mark what they claimed was the finest view in the whole of the Lake District. On a sunny day, or even a half-sunny, it's hard to disagree.


In the distance you can see Wast Water, which reportedly is England's deepest body of water.


Can't wait to get back there.


MFBB.

A NEW MOSQUE IN THE WORKS FOR BARCELONA.

Yet another nail in the coffin of Christianity in Europe. Via Voice of Europe:

"The Muslim leaders of Europe and Asia have laid the foundations of a new bureau that will study the building of a great mosque in the city of Barcelona.

As part of the meeting between spiritual leaders from different countries held this Monday in Barcelona, the principal imams of Europe and Asia area have decided to study the suitability of building a great mosque in Barcelona.

The forum’s president, Malik Abderrahman Ruiz, lamented that Barcelona, despite being “the city with the largest Muslim community in Spain,” does not have a representative mosque, and that is why it is necessary to “carry out a large-scale project”.

During the meeting convened by the “European Muslim Forum” there were also in favour of promoting the Muslim presence in culture, economy, politics and institutions.

Barcelona will be the headquarters of this bureau because it has been considered an “ideal” place. In other words, it will act as a beachhead for Spain’s Islamisation, since Catalonia has almost 25% of all Spain’s Muslim population.

This bureau will also be dedicated to promoting cultural activities, promote relations with institutions and foster social action – especially in favour of immigrants. Leading the meeting was Abdul Vakhed Niyazov, president of the public arm of the Russian Mufti Council.

Niyazov has explained that “Barcelona is a big city with a large Muslim population” and that, unlike the mosques that now exist, they are working to make the new mosque “emblematic and beautiful”.

Only 3 years ago there had been rumours that Barcelona’s old bull ring would be converted into a super-mosque. Now Barcelona has a far more radically left wing mayor, Ms Ada Colau of the far left “Barcelona en Comú” Party (affiliated with Unidos Podemos), and she is very likely to give the go-ahead to this, given her track record."

I briefly mentioned Ada Colau in the previous post, Shithole Paris. From what I've read so far about Colau it's, say, 97 per cent certain she will give the green light for this newest mosque project. In the photo below, she's the woman to the left:




Another extreme leftist whacko fighting male "oppression" from Bio Spanish men - while simultaneously rolling out the red carpet for wifebeaters and clitoridectomists.


Europe is committing suicide before my very eyes.



MFBB.

SHITHOLE PARIS.

If you still think of Paris as the City of Light, think again. Paul Joseph Watson has the goods:





It's true. Our daughter visted there last year with school, and upon coming back told us Paris is dirty. As always, if you import the Third World you become the Third World.

I myself haven't been there since 2000. I was too upset with Saint-Denis, where I encountered, if memory serves, only two or so genuine Frenchmen. The rest wore djellabas. Now, that was 2000. I don't want to think what Saint-Denis looks like now. Oh wait, there's some footage in Watson's video.

Like San Francisco and London, things are going from very bad to much worse when the somewhat normals vying to be burgomaster have to give way to the parasites. In Paris, a fine example of the latter category is Anne Hidalgo, a leftist twat if ever there was one, formerly a deputy of Bertrand Delanoë, Paris' first openly gay mayor, like Hidalgo a socialist. Though truth to be told, Barcelona's Ada Colau is offering stiff competition.

Now, here is a small info sample to help you get to know Mme. Hidalgo, via The Independent no less:

"The Socialist mayor of Paris has said she wants to make all public transport free in order to reduce air pollution.

Anne Hidalgo announced plans for a study into the feasibility of free city-wide transport.

She told the French daily newspaper Los Echos many of world's big cities were looking into developing clean mobility and boost air quality by reducing the number of cars on the roads."

Yeah, I'm sure that will help. To The Independent's credit, it does mention that "the Regional transport authority cautions such a move would hit taxpayers". No shit Sherlock, who would have thunk it?

Anyway...


If you're planning a visit to Paris, do it now, cause the way it is going you will soon need poop maps like in SF.


MFBB.

THE TERRIFYING CONSEQUENCES OF THE UN MIGRATION PACT.

In case you missed it, last summer the text of the United Nations Migration Pact became available. That pact is, officially at least, a UN effort to "manage the millions of migrants moving from country to country, overcoming “mistrust” and “difficult” issues", according to Reuters.

The UN Migration Pact "aims to make migration safe and orderly amid issues of national sovereignty and international cooperation", according to U.N. officials. And the impetus to draft this Pact "came after the migration crisis in Europe in 2015, which saw the biggest influx of refugees and migrants since World War Two". The same officials "concluded" that "the crisis strained resources and triggered fear of foreigners and nationalist tensions."

If all goes according to plan, the UN Migration Pact will come into effect in December.

Gerd Schultze-Rhonhof is a retired Major General of the Bundeswehr, the German army.

He analyzed the text.

His chilling conclusion for his own country is that implementation of the Pact will result in Germany becoming an authoritarian Islamic and African nation in two generations. Via The Rebel Media:





More info on this sham of a pact, of which the net result will be the destruction of Western countries, can be found in the following videos.

First, some analysis of the texts by Martin Sellner and Brittany Pettibone:





Hungary - of course, Hungary - pulled out already. As all sane nations should:





It is no surprise that in August, Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton also ruled out that Australia would sign the pact.


Mr Dutton cited his main concerns, which are only normal:


* The pact encourages governments to develop "education" campaigns for the media to encourage "positive narratives about migrants and migration in order to counteract discrimination, ­racism and xenophobia”.

* Especially European countries would lose their identities after being flooded by millions of undocumented immigrants.

* With regards to Australia, he said the pact would undermine the government's efforts to crack down on people smugglers.


As in so many issues since January 2017, the most encouraging sign came from the United States, which already in DEC 2017 made it clear they would not sign it:







With so many issues capturing the attention of the Western populations, it is easy to overlook the gigantic impact ratifying this sham of a "pact" will have on our societies. I highly suspect that the almost complete radio silence about this topic is deliberate, in that our media, over-whel-ming-ly leftist and globalist, expressly put a damper on coverage lest the ensuing unrest among authochon populations would endager the passing of the pact, due in December.

Contact therefore any politician you might now, above the municipal level or even of that level if otherwise you know no others, and cite your concerns. Confront him or her with the terrifying consequences of the pact, once gigantic fluxes in the order of tens of millions of unskilled welfare seekers and social security tourists will be aided, organized and set in motion towards our countries by the UN.

I might add that the time to analyze the UN itself and reform it is LONG OVERDUE. It is crystal clear that this supranational organization is acting more and more as an agent on behalf of its failed state members to demand "compensation" for supposed western "sins", and as a facilitator for global "wealth redistribution".

And in especially western countries, politicans who want to keep their societies intact, should take note of this highly undesirable evolution of the UN, and prepare... if it refuses reform...

... to quit it altogether.



MFBB.

SATURDAY NIGHT GODLEY AND CREME, QUEEN.

In the spirit of reconciliation after the past tumultuous weeks, I decided to make this a bipartisan Saturday Night Music.


Four our democrat friends, Godley and Creme with Cry. Album The History Mix Volume 1 (1985).





English rock duo consisting of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, both ex 10CC.



For the Republicans, here's Queen with We are the Champions. Album News of the World (1977).





My favourite band member is Brian May. Apart from being an iconic rock star (who as a 16 yo designed and built, together with his father Harold, his own guitar, the Red Special) he's also an accomplished astrophyscist and some kind of a Conservative.



Gute Nacht und Schadenfreude!



MFBB.

I LOVE THE SMELL OF LIBERAL TEARS IN THE MORNING.

Over at CNN Prof Julian Zelizer tries to cope with imminent mental breakdown by offering an explanation:

"(CNN)For all the chaos of the Trump White House, the GOP remains adroit at using the levers of power in our modern political system. Senate Democrats and Republicans are not even playing the same kind of game. The GOP comes to work ready for full-contact boxing while Democrats were setting up for a friendly game of checkers."

Hey, I'm not making this up. Our Princeton Prof from the Putting Empty Bags Upright faculty did write:

"... while Democrats were setting up for a friendly game of checkers."

Look! It stands there ☝☝☝☝!!! Just LOOK 👆👆👆👆👆👆!!!!



Prof Zelizer is a curious case. At least a broken clock is right twice a day. Poor Prof Zelizer manages only half of that:

"This was an extremely costly lesson for the Democrats to learn, and it is not the first time they have been schooled. The confirmation could very well be the factor that saves Republican control of the Senate and it cemented a long-term shift in the court that will have severe repercussions on a number of issues ranging from abortion rights to executive power."

You betcha!


MFBB.

RECOMMENDED READS: HEATHER MAC DONALD'S "THE DIVERSITY DELUSION".

Via Fox News, already from 5 SEP, but as hot a topic as never before:

"America is in crisis, from the university to the workplace. Toxic ideas first spread by higher education have undermined humanistic values, fueled intolerance, and widened divisions in our larger culture. Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton? Oppressive. American history? Tyranny. Professors correcting grammar and spelling, or employers hiring by merit? Racist and sexist. Students emerge into the working world believing that human beings are defined by their skin color, gender, and sexual preference, and that oppression based on these characteristics is the American experience. Speech that challenges these campus orthodoxies is silenced with brute force.

The Diversity Delusion argues that the root of this problem is the belief in America’s endemic racism and sexism, a belief that has engendered a metastasizing diversity bureaucracy in society and academia. Diversity commissars denounce meritocratic standards as discriminatory, enforce hiring quotas, and teach students and adults alike to think of themselves as perpetual victims. From #MeToo mania that blurs flirtations with criminal acts, to implicit bias and diversity compliance training that sees racism in every interaction, Heather Mac Donald argues that we are creating a nation of narrowed minds, primed for grievance, and that we are putting our competitive edge at risk.

But there is hope in the works of authors, composers, and artists who have long inspired the best in us. Compiling the author’s decades of research and writing on the subject, The Diversity Delusion calls for a return to the classical liberal pursuits of open-minded inquiry and expression, by which everyone can discover a common humanity..."

Here is Heather Mac Donald giving a lecture on her book at Hillsdale College:





Video via The Rebel Media.


You can buy the book here.



MFBB.

LOCKHEED MARTIN UNVEILS CONCEPT FOR REUSABLE MOON LANDER SHUTTLING BETWEEN GATEWAY SPACE STATION AND LUNAR SURFACE.

Via Space.com:

"This isn't your grandfather's lunar lander.

Today (Oct. 3), aerospace giant Lockheed Martin revealed its concept for a reusable, single-stage spaceship capable of ferrying four astronauts between lunar orbit and the surface of the moon.

For comparison, the expendable lunar lander that NASA used during the Apollo program carried two people and weighed 4.7 tons (4.3 metric tons) without propellant. Lockheed's craft would weigh 24 tons (22 metric tons) dry and tip the scales at 68 tons (62 metric tons) when fully fueled. [Lunar Legacy: 45 Apollo Moon Mission Photos]

The Lockheed lander would use as its home base the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, a small space station that NASA aims to start building near the moon in 2022.





The lander would depart from the Gateway, taking astronauts and up to 1.1 tons (1 metric tons) of cargo down to the lunar surface, according to a newly published Lockheed white paper. The craft (and crew) could stay on the surface for up to two weeks, then launch back to the Gateway without the need to refuel. (The lander would be refueled between missions — eventually, perhaps, with propellant derived from water ice extracted from the moon or asteroids.)

The lander design leverages many technologies from the Orion capsule, which Lockheed is building for NASA. Orion and the Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket, which is also in development, will help astronauts explore deep-space destinations, such as the moon and Mars, NASA officials have said.

"There's a lot of development that we've accomplished on Orion, so that helps," Tim Cichan, space exploration architect at Lockheed Martin Space, told Space.com. (Cichan presented the lunar-lander concept today at the International Astronautical Congress in Bremen, Germany.)

Orion already has one flight under its belt, an uncrewed test mission to Earth orbit in December 2014. NASA intends to fly the capsule again in 2020, on an uncrewed flight called Exploration Mission 1 that will also serve as the SLS' debut. (The 2014 Orion flight employed a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket.) On EM-1, Orion will loop around the moon and spend about three weeks in space. The first crewed Orion-SLS flight, Exploration Mission 2, is currently targeted for 2023."

And here's the craft:





Fully reusable, so unlike in the Apollo program the lander would go up and down in one piece. 14 meters high, single stage. Capable of carrying up to four astronauts to the Moon's surface, where they would be able to stay for a fortnight max. Equipped with a lift elevator platform to help the crew descend from the cabin to the surface. Dry mass 22 metric tons. "Wet" - i.e. fully fuelled with 40 tons of LOX and hydrogen - over 62 tons. The preliminary design uses four RL10 engines, but other ones could be employed. Refueling either on the Moon's surface or in orbit. Capable of at least 5 to 10 flights.


But just as interesting is the Gateway concept. Indeed, such a heavy lander is obviously not meant to be taken on the flight Earth-Moon, but as a shuttle between an orbiting space station and the lunar surface.

Also via Space.com:

"NASA plans to build and visit the Gateway using the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket and Orion deep-space capsule, both of which are still in development.

The first piece of the 55-ton (50 metric tons) outpost, its power and propulsion element (PPE), is currently scheduled to lift off in 2022. Other key components, such as a robotic arm, a crew habitat module and an airlock, will follow in relatively short order, if all goes according to plan. The Gateway could be ready to accommodate astronauts by the mid-2020s, NASA officials have said.

Those crewmembers won't have nearly as much room to roam as they do on the 440-ton (400 metric tons), Earth-orbiting International Space Station (ISS). As currently envisioned, the Gateway will feature a minimum of 1,942 cubic feet (55 cubic meters) of habitable volume, compared to the 13,696 cubic feet (388 cubic m) on the ISS.

The ISS typically houses six crewmembers at a time, who serve missions of five to six months apiece. And these missions overlap; rotating international crews have occupied the ISS continuously lsince November of 2000."

"The Gateway, however, will support a maximum of four crewmembers at a time, and they will be more or less isolated, living and working at the station for 30- to 90-day stints. Because getting NASA astronauts out to lunar orbit will require expensive (and, therefore, relatively infrequent) SLS-Orion launches, the Gateway will likely be uninhabited for most of the year — unless other users want to take advantage of the outpost, that is.

"It doesn't have to be U.S. crew. We're trying to use interoperability standards for both the docking, power, avionics, a lot of other systems," John Guidi, deputy director of the Advanced Exploration Systems division of NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, said in June during a presentation with the space agency's Future In-Space Operations (FISO) working group.

"The attempt there is to open up the ability for other nations, other companies, to dock," Guidi added. "They would have to bring their own resources. We won't have food, water, etc. available for everybody. We're just planning enough for our missions. But that is a capability we want to have in this Gateway.""

We are nearing the 50th Anniversary of the first Moon landing. It is high time to go back - and beyond.


MFBB.

MARSEILLE, FRANCE DESCENDING INTO CHAOS.

If you import the Third World, you become the Third World.


MFBB.

CULTURAL ENRICHMENT IN KORTRIJK, BELGIUM AND FRANKFURT A/O, GERMANY.

It's easy for stuff like this to slip under the radar. Every day there's news left and right testifying to the insanity of a Europe letting itself be invaded while insisting all will be well because, multiculturalism and stuff. Why, just today in Kortrijk, Belgistan, two people, a young man and a woman, were found stabbed to death. Turned out the murderer was an Afghan. One of the victims, the male, was another Afghan. The theory is now that it's probably a matter of rivalry. Presumably a homegrown tw*t fell in love with Afghan #1 and Afghan #2 was not pleased:





Progress! But enough about that, back in time one month, the news that slipped under the radar you know. At the end of August a group of ten young Syrians attacked nightclub Frosch [Frog, MFBB] in Frankfurt an der Oder. There was a nineties party going on. Two arabs had gotten into a war of words with guests. They started to provoke other partygoers. Then things got out of hand: "We are arabs, we will kill you all".

They left "Frosch", only to come back with around 8 other Syrian "youths" and armed with iron bars. They started to pelt stones and..., oh, read it yourself, via Morgenpost:

"Frankfurt/Oder. Eine Gruppe junger polizeibekannter Flüchtlinge hat in Frankfurt/Oder den Club "Frosch" mit Eisenstangen und Messern angegriffen. Das bestätigte eine Polizeisprecherin der Berliner Morgenpost. Den Angaben zufolge ereignete sich der Übergriff bereits in der Nacht von Sonnabend auf Sonntag. Im Club "Frosch" wurde zu der Zeit eine 90er-Jahre-Party gefeiert. Zwei Syrer hatten laut übereinstimmenden Angaben von Polizei und Staatsanwaltschaft zunächst im Club Streit mit Partygästen begonnen, vor allem mit einem Deutschen waren sie aneinandergeraten. "Die Männer haben angefangen, feiernde Gäste zu provozieren und zu bedrängen", sagte Clubbetreiber Dirk Schöbe der Berliner Morgenpost. Laut Oberstaatsanwalt Ulrich Scherding riefen die Männer: "Wir sind Araber, wir töten euch alle." Das sagte Scherding am Freitag der Morgenpost.

Zunächst hätten die beiden Männer den Club nach dem Streit verlassen, wo sie aber dem Oberstaatsanwalt zufolge Freunde und Bekannte verständigten, die innerhalb kürzester Zeit am Club eingetroffen seien. Nach Polizeiangaben fanden sich zehn Personen zusammen, die mit Eisenstangen und Messern bewaffnet waren. Laut Staatsanwaltschaft drohten die Männer draußen vor dem Club stehenden Besuchern: "Wir bringen euch um, wir stechen euch ab." Sie riefen laut Oberstaatsanwalt Scherding auch "Allahu akbar" (Gott ist groß). So schildert es auch Dirk Schöbe. "Sie kamen plötzlich angestürmt, gingen auf die Gäste los. Wir konnten erst gar nicht begreifen, was wir da sahen, was passierte."

"Im Vorraum waren Menschen in Panik, haben geschrien"
Die aggressiven Männer zerschlugen Scheiben der Diskothek und warfen Steine auf das Gebäude. "Besucher wurden angegriffen, geschlagen und mit Steinen beworfen", sagte Oberstaatsanwalt Scherding der Berliner Morgenpost. Polizisten beschrieben die Stimmung vor Ort als "tumultartig" und "aufgeheizt".

"Es waren Kriegsszenen", sagte Dirk Schöbe der Berliner Morgenpost. "Wir haben 90er gefeiert - und plötzlich befanden wir uns im Kriegsgebiet, nicht mehr in unserer Heimatstadt. Es war gespenstisch, die 'Allahu akbar'-Rufe, die Aggressivität, die dumpfen Schläge, die Schreie von Menschen.""

"These were scenes from a war zone", said Dirk Schoebe to Berliner Morgenpost. "We were doing a nineties party - and suddenly we found ourselves in a war zone, not in our Heimat city anymore. It was ghostly, the "Allahu Akbar" shouting, the agression, the muffled beats, people crying."

Here's a video courtesy of Gates of Vienna:





Good God. Where is all this going to end?



MFBB.

A DAY OUT IN THE ARDENNES: LIEGE AND SOLWASTER.

Because we can't keep complaining about muslims or socialists forever, it's good to catch some fresh air now and then. Once upon a time, a semi-regular contribution on my exploits in the Ardennes was a fixed staple on this here blog, but the last one dates from a couple of years ago already. Anyway, with sunny weather and zilch chance on rain, plus the daughter also willing to go, I thought it might be a good idea to head south again after a long pause. And so we did.

But first a short stop in Liége, la 'Cité Ardente'.


The Tour Paradis, or Tour des Finances de Liège, a brand new building housing some 1,100 fonctionnaires of the Ministry of Finance. Not that high, only 118 meters, but of a peculiar design.






Nearby is the main station of Liège, Liège Guillemins, designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava:





And then it was off to Solwaster, a tiny village perhaps halfway between Liège and the German border, at the edge of the Parc National des Hautes Fagnes. There's a modest walk there, No. 57 (dark blue rectangles), only 9 kilometers long, but commendable as a warmup exercise for tougher stuff. Also, quite nice because following the picturesque Statte brook (a tributary of the Hoëgne river, which seems to actually be a nicer place according to this bloke) for much of the way AND excellent signals, no risk whatsoever of getting lost. Sorry for the mediocre photography, I'm still using a geriatric iPhone4.





At some point we came across a peculiar rock formation rising some 20 meters above the Statte valley. This is the Rocher de Bilisse, about 500 million years old, so smack in the middle (give or take 10 million years) of the Cambrian. Very interesting since in fact having been pushed up through leverage from later sedimentary layers nearby, deposited between 280 (Permian) and 400
(Devonian) Ma ago.






A view on Solwaster from a ridge actually higher up the Rocher de Bilisse:






And finally back to the village. Landscape not so stunning as along the Semois further south, but it was worth the oxygen cure.






MFBB.

SATURDAY NIGHT LEVEL 42, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE.

Level 42 with Guaranteed. Album Guaranteed (1991).





Instantly recognizable as a Level 42 song because of King's slap style on the bass and Mike Lindup's falsetto voice, but now both Gould Bros. are gone (Phil would return for a short while towards the end of the decade). The album was recorded on the Isle of Wight, where Level 42 formed in 1979.



Now for some psychedelic rock. A number by Jefferson Airplane, White Rabbit. See it as a homage to Marty Balin, the primary founder of JA. From the album Surrealistic Pillow (1967).





Balin launched Jefferson Airplane from The Matrix, a pizzeria-turned-nightclub in San Francisco. His band became the vanguard of the San Francisco Sound. This song was written by Grace Slick, ex The Great Society. She's quite hot huh?

Anyway, Mr Balin shuffled off this mortal coil on 27 SEP. God bless, and RIP.


Goede nacht.



MFBB.