By artist Gary Hume on Hampstead Road, by Euston Tower:
At first I thought this might be part of the London Mural Festival, but after some research I see that it's been there for some seven years. Oh well. I clearly haven't been this way for a while.
nal, hurl insults, and France's President makes excuses for this. His justification is even worse than his insults. […]
"How can insulting the things that 1.5 billion people on Earth hold sacred be a form of freedom of expression, while investigating and clarifying the false and mythical issue of the Holocaust is not freedom of expression? There, nobody has the right to speak out, to investigate, and [to conclude] that the Holocaust is a myth, a lie, and an act of deception that has been turned into an excuse to steal the land of a group of oppressed Muslims in Palestine. It is a lie. It is a myth. Nobody has the right to talk about this. If a historian or researcher looks into this matter and comes to this conclusion, they execute him. They condemn him for just researching and discussing this topic. Is this not freedom of expression? Cursing the Prophet [Muhammad] is freedom of expression – hurting the feelings and faith of over 1.5 billion Muslims. Yet the oppressed blacks in America, and their chants of 'Human life matters,' is not freedom of expression. They kill, destroy, and oppress them just because they say 'Human life matters.'"
Also from MEMRI TV:
Canadian Islamic Scholar Younus Kathrada noted that disrespect of the Prophet Muhammad, such as in the form of cartoons that insult him, is disrespect of Allah, of Muslims, and of Islam. This is worse than police killings of black people in the United States.
Iranian Preacher Mohammad Mousavi condemned the recent reprinting of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad by Charlie Hebdo. He said that this is a calculated move on the part of the West to distance Muslims from the Prophet Muhammad, to cause Islamophobia, and to create "Prophet-phobia." The loyalty of Muslims to the Prophet Muhammad, however, will only grow stronger, and this will pave the way for the emergence of the Hidden Imam and for the "annihilation of the people of the West."
Well, we've been warned.
Gillian Welch with partner guitarist David Rawlings at the BBC:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzfzRUCB-Nc&w=550&h=309]
From her first album, the 1996 Revival.
Although an original composition, the song sounds like it's a, yes, revival of a piece of deep Americana, sung by the faithful gathered together in the remote Appalachians way back when.
Orphan Girl, also from Revival, has that same hymn-like feel.
Gillian Welch previously:
And again.
es works, Hoo Peninsula with London Gateway Port, Kent, 2015.
[Photos: Quintin Lake]
e party aggressively promoted the same lie internationally as domestically—that lockdowns worked. For party members, when Wuhan locked down it likely went without saying that the lockdown would “eliminate” coronavirus; if Xi willed it to be true, then it must be so. This is the totalitarian pathology that George Orwell called “double-think.” But the fact that authoritarian regimes always lie does not give them a right to spread deadly lies to the rest of the world, especially by clandestine means.
And then there’s the possibility that by shutting down the world, Xi Jinping, who vaulted through the ranks of the party, quotes ancient Chinese scholars, has mastered debts and derivatives, studies complexity science, and envisions a socialist future with China at its center, knew exactly what he was doing.
Worth reading in full.
women in the Turkish-occupied zone. Bodette told Al-Monitor, “This Commission of Inquiry report marks the first time that the United Nations has put forward such strong evidence of war crimes committed by occupying forces there — in particular, evidence of torture, and sexual and gender-based violence. It will hopefully serve as a much-needed first step toward accountability.”
By failing to intervene, specifically in cases where Turkish forces were present when the abuses took place, Turkey “may have violated” its human rights treaties obligations, the UN said, using typically cautious language.
With those words, legal experts contended, the UN is effectively suggesting that Turkey participated in violations of international humanitarian law.
The United Nations Human Rights Council report can be accessed here:
Syrians continue to be killed, suffer severe hardships and grave rights violations, despite a relative reduction in largescale hostilities since the 5 March ceasefire, according to the latest findings of the UN Syrian Commission of Inquiry.
The Commission of Inquiry's 25-page report released today documents continuing violations and abuses by nearly every conflict actor controlling territory in Syria. It also highlights an increase in patterns of targeted abuses such as assassinations, sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls, and looting or appropriation of private property, with sectarian undertones. Civilian suffering is a constant and personal feature of this crisis.
Following the July release of a special investigation into Idlib and surrounding areas, the present report focuses on violations happening away from the epicentres of large-scale hostilities during the first half of 2020.
Nearly a decade into the conflict, enforced disappearance and deprivation of liberty continue to be instrumentalized by almost all parties to instil fear and supress dissent among the civilian population or simply as extortion for financial gain. The report documents a multitude of detention-related violations by Government forces, the Syrian National Army (SNA), the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and other parties to the conflict….
gyang on Monday, students from each university in the city are holding practice sessions in “empty areas” on major streets in Pyongyang’s central districts.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Daily NK that up to 100,000 people will participate in the mass parade at Kim Il Sung Square. Students attending universities in Pyongyang are expected to march in columns during the event and even take part in “mass games” at the square.
Currently, students at the universities are attending lectures in the mornings and then practicing for the parade from 1 PM to 8:30 PM, the source said. According to him, the students are completely focused on the practice sessions: they are wearing their required uniforms and bringing flags inscribed with communist party insignia, colorful flower bouquets and drums to use during the training.
“Students are being pushed to the limit with group practices on top of their regular lectures,” the source said. “By the time practice is over, they don’t get home until 10 or 11 PM, so many students are having a tough time and end up getting in trouble for dozing off during morning classes.”
According to the source, the students will be taking morning classes and participating in afternoon practice sessions until Sept. 16. On Sept. 17, they will just be required to attend morning classes but have the rest of the day off. From Sept. 18, however, the students will no longer attend classes, nor will they be afforded time off during the weekends; instead, they will be required to participate in “intense training” at Kim Il Sung Square every day from 8 AM to 7 PM.
Although students are complaining of fatigue due to the already draconian schedule, they are reportedly practicing as hard as they can so they avoid falling or tripping during the parade on Oct. 10. […]
Political organizations at each university are reportedly barraging students with propaganda during the practice sessions. For example, the students are being instructed to “demonstrate unlimited loyalty to the Great Leaders” and to “do their best during the training” because Oct. 10 is the communist party’s “biggest event” of the year.
“This kind of ideological education is also a central part of weekly criticism sessions, where the students conduct self-criticisms and criticize others,” the source explained.
Let's hope that the prestige project of the Pyongyang General Hospital construction is ready on time – due for a grand opening on the 75th anniversary party on Oct. 10. There have been problems – soldiers drafted in, exhausted workers falling to their deaths, that sort of thing. Nothing too serious.
No word yet on how that series of literary works focused on the Pyongyang General Hospital project is going.
