Roger Daltrey, 76, has said he is proud of the British public for their resilience in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The Who frontman admitted he would “clap all day long” for the nation’s healthcare workers and frontline staff, but blamed experts for creating confusion over the lockdown.

Despite being in a high-risk age group, the English rocker said he would not be told to stay in by anyone.

The musician commented: “I live in the countryside so it’s a lot easier, I cannot imagine what it must be like stuck in London in a flat with a couple of kids.

“I’m not moaning about anything but equally as a 76-year-old, I’m not going to be told by anybody to stay in.”

“Go f*** yourselves. We can’t wrap ourselves in cotton wool,” he added.

The songwriter went on to say that it was scientists rather than the Government who were causing confusion for the general public amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Roger said: “For every academic that’s telling us one thing on the science, there’s any equally academic scientist on the other side of the fence saying: ‘No, you’re wrong and this what we should do.’

“No wonder the public’s confused, no wonder the Government’s confused and no wonder that, all around the world, there are different results on how we’re getting through it.”

He continued, comparing different countries would be like comparing “apples and oranges”.

But he went on to praise British public for their resilience amid the on-going crisis.

“I’m very proud of us for that, and again our frontline clinicians and clinical care workers, I’ll clap all day long for,” he added.

The veteran rocker said he was worried about those affected by the pandemic, particularly musicians who now found themselves out of work.

He said: “I do feel sorry for young musicians, and you know also, orchestral musicians, these people that have studied for years and years and years to play in orchestras.

“They’re all out of work – the road crews, the truck drivers, the lighting people, the whole industry is sitting on its fingers, it’s horrendous.”

The Who are among numerous bands and pop stars who have been forced to postpone concerts because of the coronavirus pandemic.

As the patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, Roger heads the charity’s annual concert series at the Royal Albert Hall.

This year the charity is facing an estimated £1 million fundraising hole, as charity events across the country are cancelled or postponed.

To raise additional funds, Bonnie Tyler and Lorraine Crosby have released a version of their 2005 duet Through Thick And Thin (I’ll Stand By You), with all profits going to the charity.

https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/1283429/Roger-Daltrey-The-Who-coronavirus-lockdown-uk-government-latest-news-update

Eastern Jerusalem-based head of the EU’s mission to the ‘West Bank’ and Gaza Strip, Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, sent a letter to Ramallah-based Palestinian NGO Network March 30 stating that while terrorist groups on black-listed EU lists are not eligible for Euro tax support, “a natural person affiliated to, sympathizing with, or supporting any of the groups mentioned in the EU restrictive lists is not excluded from benefiting from EU-funded activities“.The Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned the EU ambassador to Israel in response to von Burgsdorff opening the door to grantees affiliated with blacklisted groups.

Joining the protest, 35 MEPs belonging to conservative parties wrote to EU Foreign Policy Representative Josep Borrell to ”express our grave concern” about the suggestion that “persons affiliated or sympathizing with terrorist groups may participate in EU activities and receive EU funding. We are dismayed with the suggestion that – after long-standing efforts which led to the introduction of robust assurances that no EU funding may be funnelled to the benefit of terrorist activities, groups, persons or their affiliates – the ‘clarification’ by Mr. Kühn von Burgsdorff provides a roadmap on how to ircumvent EU counter-terrorism financing legislation.”

By doing so, von Burgsdorff’s letter “goes against the word and the spirit of EU law, EU funding requirements” as well as the EU’s fight against terrorism, the letter said. “We strongly support the EU’s commitment to nurture a free, independent and non-violent Palestinian civil society and a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mr Kühn von Burgsdorff’s letter runs counter to those exact objectives.”

The MEPs called on the EU Foreign Policy Rep “to retract the communication, provide a clarification that no EU funds may be used – either directly or indirectly – to support terrorist activities, groups, persons, or their affiliates, in line with EU law.”

The conservatives in the EU parliament are split into three factions, the European People’s Party (EPP), the European Conservatives and Reformers faction (ECR) and the Identity & Democracy faction.

The letter was initiated by MEPs Charlie Weimers and Anna Fotyga of the ECR faction and it was signed by the follwing MEPs:

Andrius Kubilius, Rasa Juknevičienė, Miriam Lexmann, Ivan Štefanec, Tomáš Zdechovský and Milan Zver of the EPP faction;

Mazaly Aguilar, Derk-Jan Eppink, Karol Karski, Peter Lundgren, Beata Mazurek, Margarita De La Pisa Carrión, Elżbieta Rafalska, Rob Rooken, Robert Roos, Bert-Jan Ruissen, Jessica Stegrud, Hermann Tertsch, Veronika Vrecionová, Alexandr Vondra, Witold Waszczykowski, Anna Zalewska and Kosma Złotowski of the ECR faction;

Christine Anderson, Lars Patrick Berg, Nicolaus Fest, Gianna Gancia, Maximilian Krah, Joachim Kuhs, Jaak Madison and Jörg Meuthen of the I&D faction;

Frédérique Ries, of the Renew Europe faction and independent MEP Dorien Rookmaker.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/280350

French pro-migrant groups have denounced “racist” comments online following the murder of migrant aid association head Jean Dussine, who was killed by an Afghan migrant earlier this week.

Jacques Declosmenil, president of the Saint-Lois committee of the Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Between Peoples (MRAP) labelled the comments posted to social media after the death of the activist “unacceptable and obnoxious.”

“[S]ome take advantage of this to make an entire community bear the responsibility of a man whose motives are not known,” he said, referring to the fact the murderer of Mr Dussine is an Afghan migrant, France Bleu reports.

“We are seeing the development of a discourse that says that immigrants are criminals, murderers, bandits,” he added and said his group was considering reporting online commenters to the police for hate speech.

63-year-old activist Jean Dussine was found bludgeoned to death in his home in the city of Cherbourg on May 12th with reports alleging he had been killed while sleeping.

French prosecutor Yves Le Clair stated that the Afghan broke into the house of the activist to murder him saying, “There are no traces of reciprocal violence. You would think that Jean Dussine did not have time to defend himself.” The 21-year-old Afghan national later confessed to the murder following his arrest.

The murder is not the first time a pro-migrant activist has been killed by a migrant since the height of the 2015 migrant crisis.

In September of last year 27-year-old Audrey Coignard was found dead in her home after being stabbed a dozen times. Her former boyfriend, a Sudanese national, was later arrested in connection with the murder.

In 2018, Germany saw a similar case involving a 28-year-old pro-migrant activist named Sophia Lösche, who went missing in June of that year while hitchhiking. Her body was found a short time later in Spain near ther city of Bilbao.

A 40-year-old Moroccan truck driver was later arrested in connection to the murder and allegedly admitted to placing her body near a petrol station.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/05/17/leftist-groups-decry-racist-comments-after-pro-migrant-charity-head-murdered-by-migrant/

By William DiPuccio

Is it possible for Islam to undermine and replace the core values of Western civilization? By core values, I’m referring to deeply held principles such as inalienable rights, religious and personal freedom, equality of the sexes, free speech, and the separation of religion and state.

According to some, even posing this question places you in the company of conspiracy theorists and “Islamophobes.” Perhaps that accusation would be true if we assumed that all Muslims are engaged in an effort to bring North America and Europe under Muslim rule. But, Islam is not a monolithic faith and many Muslims who live in the West have internalized Western values. Some have even championed the cause of human rights within Islam.

There is, however, a substantial minority of Muslims in our midst who adhere closely to the teachings of traditional Islam (albeit with some modern adaptations) and believe that every nation must submit to Allah’s rule. They seek to do this by gradually implementing some form of sharia in society, one precept at a time, blurring the line between mosque and state. In their view, the only legitimate form of government is an Islamic theocracy ruled by a caliph- -that is, a successor to Muhammad. These Muslims are often referred to as “Islamists.” Based on an analysis of surveys conducted by Pew Research, globally, over two-thirds of Muslims are Islamists. 

But, how many Islamists are there in North America, and do they really pose a threat? There are no direct polling numbers for measuring Islamism, but using responses to individual questions from different polls, we can approximate the number of Islamists. According to a 2017 poll by Pew Research, 31% of U.S. Muslims believe there is only one true way to interpret their religion and 38% believe that traditional understandings of Islam are all they need. A 2015 Canadian poll showed more dramatic results: 42% of Canadian Muslims said that Islam is “irreconcilable” with the West. 

Even more telling, is a 2012 poll by Wenzel Strategies.¹ In that poll, 73% of American Muslims said that if the Constitution and sharia law conflict in any way, a Muslim should follow the Constitution (20% were not sure). But, when asked if sharia should be the supreme law of the land, 32% agreed. The Wentzel poll also revealed that, 58% of Muslim-Americans believe that criticism of Islam or Muhammad should not be permitted under the First Amendment, and 46% say that those who engage in such criticism should face criminal charges. 

Since specific questions relating to sharia and free speech are a more reliable gauge for identifying Islamist behavior than broad philosophical questions which are open to multiple interpretations, we can conclude, based on the Wenzel poll, that 32% to 58% of American Muslims are Islamists (assuming this poll is reliable). This aligns with the 42% of Canadian Muslims who said that Islam is “irreconcilable” with the West, and with the 38% of Muslims, identified in the Pew poll, who believe that traditional understandings of Islam are all they need.

What this means is rendered academic: Take nearly any mosque, any Muslim neighborhood, or any Muslim demographic group, and it is virtually certain that a percentage of the sample population will work towards the implementation of sharia law in society and, in rare cases, even commit violent acts in the name of Islam.

“But,” someone will object, “there were only 3.45 million Muslims in the U.S. in 2017, comprising 1.1% of the population. Even if half of U.S. Muslims are Islamists, we are talking about a population group numbering less than 2 million out of 326 million. Such a small population of Muslims, no matter how determined, would have little chance of making headway against the prevailing culture.” 

The mistaken assumption behind this objection is that a group’s influence is proportional to its numbers. Yet, consider the dramatic, legal and social gains made by gays and lesbians who comprise, at most, 4.5% of the population. Same-sex marriage, unthinkable 20 years ago, is now the law of the land. Though transgenders, made up only 0.6% of the population in 2016, their cause is highlighted in the media everyday and their participation in society has garnered substantial popular and legal support in the last few years. 

The same is true for Islamists. Their small numbers belie their influence. In my book, Can Islam Transform the West?, I present several lines of evidence to support this, including the Islamist impact on free speech, their antisemitism, their propagation of hate, and their influence on Congress and American universities. In this article, we will consider only one of these elements: Free speech. 

Free speech is a right guaranteed under the First Amendment. Traditional Islam does not have such a right. In fact, Islamic blasphemy laws prescribe severe punishment and even execution for those who criticize Islam or Muhammad. A substantial number American Muslims have been influenced by these blasphemy laws. According to the 2012 Wentzel poll, mentioned above, though 90% of Muslims in America agree with the First Amendment, 58% also believe that criticism of Islam or Muhammad should not be permitted under the First Amendment, 46% agree that those who criticize or parody Islam in the U.S. should face criminal charges (17% not sure), and 12% agree that those who criticize or parody Islam should be put to death (9% not sure). The poll also revealed that 43% of Muslim-Americans believe that U.S. citizens do not have a right to evangelize Muslims (28% not sure).

Though most Muslims do not engage in terrorism, a number of terrorist threats and attacks on Western targets have been provoked by words or pictures which some Muslims found offensive. The most infamous of these confrontations is the Charlie Hebdo massacre of 2015 in which 12 staff members of the French magazine were gunned down in retaliation for publishing satirical images of the Prophet Muhammad. That same year, two terrorists were killed in an attempted attack at an exhibit in Garland, Texas which featured cartoon images of Muhammad.

Islamists have come to realize that they don’t need to change one jot or tittle of the U.S. Constitution or European human rights laws to suppress criticism of Islam, they only have to render those rights ineffective. Their plan is working. Following the Charlie Hebdo attack, 42% of the French people wanted the press to avoid publishing cartoons that would upset the Muslim community. 

Overall, the mainstream, Western media, both in Europe and the U.S., have responded to such attacks with fear and self-censorship. You will find little, if any, serious criticism of Muslims and Islamic beliefs in these sources, much less cartoons or satire about Muhammad. Unwittingly, nearly every major media outlet and publisher- -both electronic and print, both popular and academic- -are acting in dutiful compliance to traditional Islam’s blasphemy laws.

The impact of Islamism on free speech goes beyond the media. Islamists have aligned themselves with Progressives in Europe and America to suppress criticism of Islam by labeling nearly all criticism, even reasoned criticism, as “Islamophobic, racist, and bigoted.” 

Forsaking the time-honored tradition of free speech in the West, hate speech laws in Europe and Canada, along with speech codes on social media, and in businesses and universities here in the U.S., have made it more difficult or virtually impossible to criticize Islam without incurring considerable social, financial, and even legal consequences (e.g., legal harassment, fines). Facebook and YouTube now routinely ban, financially punish, or suspend critics of Islamism including prominent ex-Muslims like Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

In our society there is a collective punishment for those who criticize Islam. Critics risk being defamed, labeled as bigots, boycotted, harassed, threatened, and even physically attacked. This is how Islamic blasphemy laws are entering the West through the back door. Free speech rights are suffering the death of a thousand cuts. 

To repeat the question I posed at the outset: Is it possible for Islam to eventually undermine and replace the core values of Western civilization? The answer, based on the evidence presented here, is that it is not only possible, but it is happening in plain sight. And, it will continue as long as we empower Islamists by our ignorance, indifference, and lack of courage.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/05/are_islamists_undermining_the_west.html

Here’s an easy game to play.

You say, “Obama”. I say, “Racist”. Eight years of this nonsense has long since inured everyone to Obama’s magical ability to tie any random thing to racism. But we did get a break for four years only for the Lightbringer to return with his magical racism.

“A disease like this just spotlights the underlying inequalities and extra burdens that black communities have historically had to deal with in this country. We see it in the disproportionate impact of covid-19 on our communities, just as we see it when a black man goes for a jog, and some folks feel like they can stop and question and shoot him if he doesn’t submit to their questioning,” Obama blathered.

Obviously Obama was watching CNN coverage of the Aubrey case and thinking about how many riots he could stirred up. But really, the coronavirus is racist?

Yes, it’s had a disproportionate impact on the black community. Also on the Jewish community. Not because the virus is anti-Semitic. We’re still not sure why men are more likely to die of it than women. It’s probably not because the virus is sexist.

But Barry is a one trick pony. And this is his one trick.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2020/05/obama-coronavirus-racist-daniel-greenfield/

Despite France dealing with the economic, psychological and human suffering wrought by the coronavirus, President Emmanuel Macron is moving forward with controversial plans to authorize the teaching of Arabic in schools across the nation in cooperation with Tunisian authorities. 
 On May 2, at the same time France was preparing to first week of the lockdown, a decree was published in relation to teaching Arabic in schools, which was signed by Macron, the Prime Minister Édouard Philippe and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, according to French outlet Valeurs Actuelles.
 The law states that France “in cooperation with Tunisian authorities” would provide “additional education in the Arabic language”. Tunisia will also have a direct role in selecting teachers for the program in France. “Depending on the needs of the language course, the government of the Tunisian Republic will select Tunisian teachers,” the text of the law reads. According to the law, this educational option would ensure “linguistic diversity” in France and would initiate the teaching for Arabic in French schools from the 1st grade. Arabic is the second most spoken language in France, with between 3 to 4 million speakers. 
 Under the new law, the option to study Arabic would be made available to French students all the way up until university. Although optional, the decree specifies that the results from Arabic courses will be taken into account when evaluating each student. Not limited to simply learning Arabic, students will also study Arabic culture and civilization and “notable elements of Tunisian culture”.

‘The Arabization and Islamization of France is on the march’

Since the publication of the decree, indignation has flourished on all sides across social networks. On May 2, Jean Messiha, part of the National Rally, produced a statement on Twitter slamming the new law. “By decree of April 30, 2020, the anti-national government plans to teach Arabic from elementary school at an age when children barely discover the French language. The Arabization and Islamization of France is on the march,” Messiha wrote.
 For his part, Belkacem Lounès, former Rhône-Alpes EELV regional advisor and ardent defender of the Berber cause, attacked the minister violently on the Facebook page of Berbères TV, “We wonder what objective is pursuing the Minister of National education and the French government? Is this a way to appease, even to attract the sympathy of Islamists from here and elsewhere for whom Arabic is the sacred language of the Koran?” Tensions about possible implementation of the law have been flaring on and off for nearly two years. In September of last year, Hakim El Karoui, essayist and founder of the Muslim Association for Islam in France, published a report in which he advocated teaching Arabic at school. According to him, integrating the language of Muhammad into the school system would allow the central state’s monopoly of learning be brought into a more local and community setting.
A few days later, Jean-Michel Blanquer, who had just been appointed Minister of National Education, claimed that he was won over by the proposal from El Karoui, writing, “We must give prestige to these languages. Arabic is a great literary language which should not only be learned by people of North African origin or from Arabic-speaking countries. It is this qualitative strategy that we will pursue.”
Marine Le Pen, president of the National Rally, vigorously rejected Blanquer’s proposal, saying, “Of course, there is a great Arab culture, but here is France, and I want us to learn French culture.” Politicians like Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, president of Debout la France, told BFM TV, “This is the beginning of a fatal track for the country. I do not want the Arabization of France.” The idea behind the decree actually dates back to a Franco-Tunisian agreement from March 31, 2017, initiated by Minister of National Education Najat Vallaud-Belkacem at the time for former Prime Minister François Hollande. Vallaud-Belkacem had previously denounced Greco-Latin language lessons, referring to them as elitist.

rmx.news/article/article/the-islamization-of-france-is-on-the-march-french-government-launches-plans-to-teach-arabic-in-schools

Travel restrictions imposed in many countries due to the Coronavirus crisis have had a beneficial effect: illegal immigration has been greatly reduced. But with the gradual deconfinement of European countries, the continent may have to face an upsurge in migratory traffic, reported French daily Le Figaro.

The newspaper cited an alert from the European police agency Europol. “Migration flows decreased during the confinements linked to Covid-19” , the migrants finding themselves “to a large extent” unable to move, noted Europol in a report published on Friday 15 May.

“Relaxation of travel and movement restrictions will likely lead to an increase in the movements of irregular migrants, both facilitated and non-facilitated,” the agency based in The Hague warned. In addition, Europol has observed a change in operating mode for migrant smugglers, due to the reinforced border controls within the European Union. The means of travel were thus gradually transferred from the airways to the land and sea routes. “Small boats are increasingly used to cross river borders. Migrants are also smuggled in, hidden in freight vehicles and freight trains that still cross borders,” explained the agency.

Travel restrictions in Europe could also complicate the use of seasonal labor in the agricultural sector and increase the demand for clandestine migrants already present in certain regions, Europol warned. The agency also fears that the closure of establishments offering sexual services in countries where these activities are regulated will intensify sexual exploitation.

freewestmedia.com/2020/05/17/will-deconfinement-explode-migrant-flows/