Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From Russia Today
Gay people not ‘born that way,’ sexual orientation not fixed – US study
Published time: 23 Aug, 2016 13:05
© Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
A cross-discipline study has challenged the belief that human sexuality and gender identity are determined by biology and remain fixed, saying that there is no scientific proof of this. The study cautioned against drastic medical treatment for transgender children.
The notion that sexual orientation is predetermined by biology is an important part of the current LGBT discourse. If a person has no choice over whether to be gay or not, society cannot demand that he or she be straight, so the argument goes.
But regardless of its political worth, the “born this way” paradigm is not backed up by sufficient scientific data, according to a new paper published in the autumn issue of the New Atlantis, a journal focusing on political, societal and ethical ramifications of technological advances.
The study does not claim that being gay is a choice, merely that stating the opposite may be wrong.
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From The Times of Israel
In latest hedge, Trump says immigration laws can be softened
Continuing his full-court press for staunchly Democratic minority votes, GOP candidate insists ‘we’re not looking to hurt people’
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that he is open to “softening” laws dealing with immigrants in the country illegally, the latest sign that the Republican presidential nominee is considering easing the hardline stance he has taken since the beginning of his campaign.
Trump, taping a town hall in Austin, Texas, for Fox News, was asked by moderator Sean Hannity if he would change current statutes to accommodate law-abiding citizens or longtime residents who have raised children in the United States.
“There certainly can be a softening because we’re not looking to hurt people,” Trump answered. “We want people — we have some great people in this country.”
“We are going to follow the laws of this country,” he added.
Trump has repeatedly declared that if elected, he would deport the 11 million people living in the US illegally. But he has hedged his stance in recent days, and during the taping he ruminated aloud about the fairness of breaking up families. He even polled the audience about what they would do about the crucial policy.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
France’s Sarkozy to run for 2017 presidential election
“I have decided to be a candidate for the 2017 presidential election. I felt I had the strength to lead this battle at a troubled time in our history,” Sarkozy wrote on his social media pages ahead of the publication of a book called “Everything for France” on Wednesday.
A hyperactive and divisive figure both loved and loathed among right-wing voters, Sarkozy did not say whether he would join the conservative Les Republicains party primaries scheduled for November. More than a dozen contenders are vying for the party ticket as candidate, including main rival, Alain Juppe.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Trump campaign opens 3rd Israeli office, near Tel Aviv
A teenage volunteer for Donald Trump campaigning outside the Republican candidate’s headquarters in Modiin, Aug. 15, 2016. (Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump opened a campaign office near Tel Aviv, his third in Israel.
The Ramat Gan office opened Wednesday near the city’s diamond district will serve central Israel, in the Gush Dan and Sharon regions, Israel National News reported Thursday.
It joins offices in Jerusalem and Modiin. A fourth office is scheduled to be opened in the West Bank, according to the report.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Sheldon Adelson’s anti-BDS group rebuffs report it funded controversial poster campaign
A poster placed on campuses by the David Horowitz Freedom Center beginning in February features an image of ’60s-era radical Angela Davis, left, and messages condemning the boycott movement against Israel. (David Horowitz Freedom Center)
(JTA) — An anti-BDS group founded by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson did not fund a poster campaign targeting pro-Palestinian student activists as “Jew haters” and terrorists’ allies, contrary to a report in a major newspaper, the group said.
The Maccabee Task Force in a statement issued late Wednesday called the report in the Los Angeles Times “completely false,” saying the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a conservative foundation based in Los Angeles, confirmed that it did not use funds from a task force grant to pay for the controversial campaign.
“Earlier this week a surprising report surfaced in the media that a modest grant approved by the Maccabee Task Force to the David Horowitz Freedom Center had been used to fund a poster campaign that targeted student activists,” the statement said. “The Maccabee Task Force never authorized or approved such a poster campaign. And the David Horowitz Freedom Center has since confirmed that it never used our funds for this campaign. In short, the newspaper report was completely false.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Outside Haim Saban fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, Black Lives Matter protests for Palestinians
(JTA) — Black Lives Matters reportedly was among several groups protesting on behalf of Palestinian rights outside a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton hosted by the Israeli-American billionaire Haim Saban and his wife, Cheryl.
Monday’s event in Southern California at the Beverly Park home of the entertainment mogul brought in $5 million, the Jewish Insider reported, citing CNN. Some 80 people attended the fundraiser, paying $100,000 per couple, according to Variety.
Saban has been one of Clinton’s principal backers for several years. The Sabans have already contributed nearly $10 million to super PACs supporting Clinton’s candidacy, according to the Jewish Insider.
Some 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators protested outside the fence of Saban’s gated community against what they called his opposition to Palestinian human rights, the left-wing activist news website Alternet reported, which noted Black Lives Matter as among the protesting groups. The others included Al-Awda: The Palestinian Right to Return and Friends of Sabeel.
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From The Times of Israel
Clinton Foundation donors got face time with her at State
GOP’s Mike Pence charges ‘pay to play’ politics as review of former secretary of state’s meetings uncovers overlap with contributors
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than half the people outside the government who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money — either personally or through companies or groups — to the Clinton Foundation. It’s an extraordinary proportion indicating her possible ethics challenges if elected president.
Donors who were granted time with Clinton included an internationally known economist who asked for her help as the Bangladesh government pressured him to resign from a nonprofit bank he ran; a Wall Street executive who sought Clinton’s help with a visa problem; and Estee Lauder executives who were listed as meeting with Clinton while her department worked with the firm’s corporate charity to counter gender-based violence in South Africa.
They are among at least 85 of 154 people with private interests who either met or had phone conversations scheduled with Clinton and also gave to her family’s charities, according to a review of State Department calendars released so far to The Associated Press. Combined, the 85 donors contributed as much as $156 million. The 154 does not include US federal employees or foreign government representatives.
The AP’s findings represent the first systematic effort to calculate the scope of the intersecting interests of Clinton foundation donors and people who met personally with Clinton or spoke to her by phone about their needs.
The meetings between the Democratic presidential nominee and foundation donors do not appear to violate legal agreements Clinton and former president Bill Clinton signed before she joined the State Department in 2009. But the frequency of the overlaps shows the intermingling of access and donations, and fuels perceptions that giving to the foundation money was a price of admission for face time with Clinton. Her calendars and emails released as recently as this week describe scores of contacts she and her top aides had with foundation donors.
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From PressTV
Turkish military deploys 9 more tanks to north Syria: Reports
At least nine more Turkish military tanks have entered northern Syria a day after Ankara began its first major US-backed incursion of its southern neighbor in what it called an anti-Daesh operation.
With the new deployment, there are now some 20 Turkish tanks inside Syria, Reuters quoted an unnamed Turkish official as saying on Thursday.
“We need construction machinery to open up roads … and we may need more in the days ahead. We also have armored personnel carriers that could be used on the Syrian side. We may put them into service as needed,” the official said.
The so-called Operation Euphrates Shield, which kicked off on Wednesday morning, involves the Turkish air force and special ground forces.
Ankara says the offensive is aimed at ridding the border area of Daesh militants and Kurdish forces.
The Turkish military is supporting a ground offensive by hundreds of pro-Ankara militants in Syria, who managed to enter the Syrian border town of Jarablus in a lightening advance after meeting little resistance from Daesh terrorists there.
The offensive was launched in coordination with the US-led military coalition purportedly fighting Daesh since 2014.
On Wednesday, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Ankara’s military operation in Jarablus would continue until fighters from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Democratic Union Party (PYD) move back to the eastern bank of Euphrates.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with private Haberturk television news network, Yildirim said it is necessary to purge Jarablus of PYD and YPG forces, noting that Ankara has received Washington’s green light during a meeting with US Vice President Joe Biden.
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From PressTV
Over 6000 killed in US-led coalition raids in Syria: Report
Airstrikes by the so-called US-led anti-Daesh coalition have killed more than 6000 people in Syria since the beginning of the aerial military in late 2014, a monitoring group says.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday that 6004 people had been killed in coalition airstrikes in Syria during a period of 23 months, from September 23, 2014 to August 23, 2016.
Of the total figure released, 599 people were civilians, according to the pro-opposition group.
Some 163 children were also among the civilians killed in the coalition airstrikes.
The report further said that hundreds of people, most of them Daesh Takfiri militants, had been also injured in the air attacks.
The so-called multinational task force against Daesh started its controversial mission in Iraq in late 2014 after Daesh seized control over territories west and north of the country. The air campaign was later expanded to cover areas in northern Syria despite criticism from the Syrian government that the attacks violate the sovereignty of the Arab country.
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From PressTV
Turkey says will support operation to free Syria’s Jarablus
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says Ankara will support an operation aimed at liberating a Syrian border town from the Takfiri Daesh terrorists.
Cavusoglu told reporters on Tuesday that the offensive to retake Jarablus has been very important for Turkey’s security.
“We will provide all kinds of support to the Jarablus operation,” the Turkish foreign minister stated.
The top Turkish diplomat said Ankara believes Daesh should not be able to hold any area under its control.
He also promised to help “cleanse” Daesh terrorists from neighboring countries, saying, “We do not want Daesh to exist in Iraq and Syria.”
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus has said Turkey is closely monitoring the developments on the Syrian side of the border.
“What we have said, since the beginning, is that having Jarablus or any other city held by IS (Daesh) is unacceptable,” the deputy premier said in a live interview with private NTV television.
Turkish media report that tanks and military vehicles have arrived on the border with Syria ahead of the operation.
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From PressTV
US strategic partner, not enemy: Turkey’s PM
Turkey’s prime minister has described the United States as a “strategic partner” and not the enemy of his country despite Ankara’s anger at Washington for not extraditing US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom it blames for last month’s failed military coup.
“There can be ups and downs in the two countries’ relations (but) we need to remove elements that harm our relations,” Binali Yildirim told reporters in Istanbul, referring to Gulen.
Washington has so far refused to extradite Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of masterminding the mid-July botched military coup in the country, saying it needs evidence of his involvement in the failed putsch.
At least 246 people were killed and more than 2,100 others sustained injuries when an army faction, using hijacked helicopters and tanks, clashed with government troops and people on the streets of Ankara and Istanbul on July 15 in an attempt to overthrow Erdogan.
Ankara blames Gulen for orchestrating the coup, an allegation the cleric has repeatedly dismissed and warned that the blame game could be a ploy by the ruling Justice and Development Party to cement its grip on power.
Turkey has launched a sweeping crackdown on alleged coup plotters.
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From
Israel sold weapons to Argentina during Falklands War
From
Auschwitz survivors demand Germans impose justice
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Putin, Netanyahu speak by phone on Israeli-Palestinian peace process
(JTA) — President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel spoke by phone about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process two days after Putin reportedly offered to hold direct talks in Moscow.
Putin and Netanyahu also addressed other Middle East concerns, according to Haaretz.
Egypt’s president, Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi, said Putin was willing to host Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for the talks.
In announcing the Putin offer on Sunday, al-Sissi said his country supports the efforts and that “both sides are urged to participate and respond positively to the initiative for the sake of finding light at the end of the tunnel for Palestinians and establishing their state alongside Israel.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Hezbollah rocket victims lose US suit against Lebanese bank
(JTA) — A U.S. appeals court ruled against victims of Hezbollah rocket attacks in Israel who wanted to hold a Lebanese bank liable.
Wednesday’s 3-0 ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York stymied efforts to hold the Lebanese Canadian Bank SAL responsible for financing the Lebanon-based Islamic terrorist group through its New York account with American Express Bank, Reuters reported.
Citing the dismissal of a similar case against Arab Bank Plc., the court said it lacked jurisdiction over the Lebanese bank, which is immune from liability claims under the federal Alien Tort Statute.
Among the dozens of plaintiffs in the case are American, Canadian and Israeli citizens who were injured or lost family members in the 2006 attacks. They argued that the Lebanese bank helped Hezbollah by wiring millions of dollars on behalf of the terrorist group’s Shahid (Martyrs) Foundation affiliate.
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From Russia Today
Putin: Russian Paralympic ban ‘cynical & immoral’
Published time: 25 Aug, 2016 10:21
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a personal send-off for members of the Russian Olympic team at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. © Maxim Shemetov / Reuters
The ruling of the Court of Arbitration for Sport on the Russian Paralympic team ban is cynical and immoral, President Vladimir Putin has said, adding that Russia will not accept accusations of doping without proof.
Speaking to the Russian Olympic team – which has recently returned from the Rio 2016 Games – Putin congratulated the athletes on their performance.
With Russia’s track and field team banned from this summer’s Olympics, the nation still finished fourth in the medal standings, behind the US, Great Britain and China. The country won 19 gold, 18 silver and 19 bronze medals.
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From The Times of Israel
There’s a new bogeyman in Turkey, and, for a change, he’s not a Jew
Surveys show most Turks harbor anti-Semitic views, and the Erdogan government has often capitalized on that sentiment. But in the wake of the failed coup, the president is focusing on a different enemy while moving to warm ties with Israel. Does this leave the Jewish community optimistic? Not exactly
In the course of a long-running, massively successful, 007-esque Turkish adventure series named “Valley of the Wolves,” hero Polat Alemdar has fought off scores of “evil” Israelis and Jews.
There was, for instance, a twisted Jewish American army doctor (surprisingly played by Gary Busey), who sold Iraqi prisoners’ organs to rich people in Tel Aviv in 2006’s “Valley of the Wolves: Iraq.” Reviving ancient blood libels, 2010’s “Valley of the Wolves: Ambush” focused on Israeli Mossad agents spying against Turkey — and kidnapping Turkish babies.
With ratings that can reach above 50 percent on mainstream Turkish TV, the television and film series breaks box office records as it unapologetically depicts the latent, consensus anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli sentiment rife in Turkish culture. (According to the Anti-Defamation League, 71% of adult Turks harbor anti-Semitic views.)
But the series goes even further in 2011’s “Valley of the Wolves: Palestine,” wherein Israeli soldiers are shown wantonly slaughtering Turkish activists on a Gaza flotilla. In its mix of fact and fiction, the film becomes a propagandist rabble-rousing window into the Turkey of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
From PressTV
Saudi warplanes strike mass rally in Yemeni capital
Saudi warplanes on Saturday struck a rally in the Yemeni capital Sana’a, where people had gathered to support the Supreme Political Council.
Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis had gathered in Tahrir Square for the demonstration, when the Saudi aircraft bombed the nearby streets.
No casualties were reported.
The Supreme Political Council is a coalition between the Houthi Ansarullah movement and the General People’s Congress party, led by former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The council was formed after peace talks in Kuwait ended inconclusively between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed delegation loyal to Yemen’s Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, the president who has resigned and fled the capital.
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