Relief in Berlin as Macron Wins First Round

HANDELSBLATT – GLOBAL: Pro-EU candidate Emmanuel Macron’s success in France’s first-round presidential election has raised hopes in neighboring Germany that the French will reject far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and break the populist fever that has swept Europe.

Berlin can breathe a sigh of relief – for now. Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron has taken the lead in the first round of France’s presidential election, raising hopes in neighboring Germany that its most important European partner will hold the line against a populist wave that threatens to upend the European Union.

The contest, however, is far from over and the final outcome is anything but certain. Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen was nipping at Mr. Macron’s heels in Sunday’s poll, trailing him by just 2 percentage points in the first round according to preliminary results. » | Spencer Kimball | Sunday, April 23, 2017

Watters' Words: The Mainstream Media Exposed... Again!

Apr. 22, 2017 - 5:17 - Trump has received by far the most hostile press treatment of any new president

France Presidential Election: Defeated Fillon Addresses His Supporters, Calls to Support Macron

France Presidential Election: 1st Round Winner Emmanuel Macron Addresses Supporters

France Presidential Election: 1st Round Winner Marine Le Pen Addresses Supporters

Présidentielle 2017 : Macron veut être le «président des patriotes face aux nationalistes»

LE FIGARO: D'après les estimations Kantar Sofres Onepoint, Emmanuel Macron et Marine Le Pen sont qualifiés pour le second tour avec respectivement 24,1% et 21,6% des suffrages. François Fillon, troisième avec 20%, appelle à voter Macron le 7 mai. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, avec 19,5%, appelle «à la retenue» en attendant le score définitif. » | Par Le figaro.fr | dimanche 23 avril 2017

"Get 'em Young and Train 'em Right" – Lecture by Dr. Robert Jackler

Beer And Tobacco Are Kinda Good For You

By now, I’m sure we all know what the negative side effects of drinking and smoking are. Are there any positive ones?

Denial & Obfuscation about Islam Fuels Growing Distrust - Douglas Murray

In answer to the question of how much attention to give to terrorists, Douglas Murray talks common sense about the right kind of attention, and argues that denial & obfuscation about islamic terrorism only breed more distrust of both media and government.

The other panelists were Simon Jenkins (former Times editor and Guardian columnist) and Fawaz Gerges (an expert on ISIS and Al-Qaeda). The moderator was Clarissa Ward.

Excerpted from the Intelligence Squared event: "Don't give them what they want: Terrorists should be starved of the oxygen of publicity" | February 22, 2017 at The Royal Institution

Donald Trump Puts Britain at the Back of the Queue for a US Trade Deal

I Am Incorrigible »

Giving the Far Right a Voice - The Listening Post

At the heart of what is termed an open society is the idea that if all views get a fair hearing, and a platform is provided for debate, then individuals can decide for themselves what to believe and society can reach some sort of consensus. Is that really the case? Or does giving these movements a media platform grant them a degree of legitimacy that tells viewers that intolerant, racist or otherwise bigoted views are potentially of equal value to their opposite.

Islam in the Heart of England and France

GATESTONE INSTITUTE: "There are plenty of private Muslim schools and madrasas in this city. They pretend that they all preach tolerance, love and peace, but that isn't true. Behind their walls, they force-feed us with repetitive verses of the Qur'an, about hate and intolerance." — Ali, an 18-year-old of French origin, whose father was radicalized. / "In England, they are free to speak. They speak only of prohibitions, they impose on one their rigid vision of Islam but, on the other hand, they listen to no-one, most of all those who disagree with them." — Yasmina, speaking of extremist Muslims in the UK. / "Birmingham is worse than Molenbeek" -- the Brussels borough that The Guardian described as "becoming known as Europe's jihadi central." — French commentator, republishing an article by Rachida Samouri.

The city of Birmingham in the West Midlands, the heart of England, the place where the Industrial Revolution began, the second city of the UK and the eighth-largest in Europe, today is Britain's most dangerous city. With a large and growing Muslim population, five of its electoral wards have the highest levels of radicalization and terrorism in the country. » | Denis MacEoin | Sunday, April 23, 2017

Opinion: The Planet Can’t Stand This Presidency

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Trump is in charge at a critical moment for keeping climate change in check. We may never recover.

President Trump’s environmental onslaught will have immediate, dangerous effects. He has vowed to reopen coal mines and moved to keep the dirtiest power plants open for many years into the future. Dirty air, the kind you get around coal-fired power plants, kills people.

It’s much the same as his policies on health care or refugees: Real people (the poorest and most vulnerable people) will be hurt in real time. That’s why the resistance has been so fierce.

But there’s an extra dimension to the environmental damage. What Mr. Trump is trying to do to the planet’s climate will play out over geologic time as well. In fact, it’s time itself that he’s stealing from us.

What I mean is, we have only a short window to deal with the climate crisis or else we forever lose the chance to thwart truly catastrophic heating. » | Bill McKibben | Thursday, April 20, 2017

Julie Bishop Hits Back at North Korea as Labor Backs 'Harder-edged' US Stance

THE GUARDIAN: Australia’s foreign minister says North Korea should look after its ‘long-suffering citizens’ rather than develop nuclear weapons

Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, says North Korea should look after its “long-suffering citizens” rather than developing weapons of mass destruction after the regime pointedly warned Australia of a possible nuclear strike if Canberra persists in “blindly and zealously toeing the US line”.

Bishop issued a statement on Sunday declaring North Korea’s threats of nuclear strikes against other nations “further underlines the need for the regime to abandon its illegal nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs”.

“These present a grave threat to its neighbours, and if left unchecked, to the broader region including Australia,” the foreign minister said. “The North Korean government should invest in the welfare of its long-suffering citizens, rather than weapons of mass destruction.” » | Katharine Murphy, Political Editor | Sunday, April 23, 2017

North Korea Warns Australia of Possible Nuclear Strike If It 'Blindly Toes US Line'

THE GUARDIAN: Foreign ministry spokesman quoted as saying Julie Bishop’s comments can never be pardoned and Pyongyang is acting only in self-defence

North Korea has bluntly warned Australia of a possible nuclear strike if Canberra persists in “blindly and zealously toeing the US line”.

North Korea’s state new agency (KCNA) quoted a foreign ministry spokesman castigating Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, after she said the rogue nation would be subject to further Australian sanctions and for “spouting a string of rubbish against the DPRK over its entirely just steps for self-defence”.

“If Australia persists in following the US moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK and remains a shock brigade of the US master, this will be a suicidal act of coming within the range of the nuclear strike of the strategic force of the DPRK,” the report said.

“The Australian foreign minister had better think twice about the consequences to be entailed by her reckless tongue-lashing before flattering the US.” » | Australian Associated Press | Sunday, April 23, 2017

Ukip to Campaign to Ban Burqa and Sharia Courts, Says Paul Nuttall

THE GUARDIAN: Party leader tells Andrew Marr the security situation means ‘you need to see people’s faces’ and that it ‘is all about integration’

Ukip will push to ban the burqa and sharia courts, Paul Nuttall has said, though he denied the Eurosceptic party was reinventing itself as an anti-Islam party.

In a BBC interview, Ukip’s leader also refused to confirm whether he would stand in the 8 June election, having been defeated in the Stoke-on-Trent Central byelection weeks ago.

Nuttall said the party’s policies were not singling out Muslims. He said there were no similar proposals to ban Jewish religious courts because the Jewish population was smaller than the Muslim population.

Nuttall had previously said in 2013 the party should not pursue a burqa ban, but he told the Andrew Marr Show that circumstances had changed. » | Jessica Elgot, Political Reporter | Sunday, April 23, 2017

French Elections 2017: Disintegrating Left-Right Divide Sets Stage for Political Upheaval

THE GUARDIAN: Squeezed by Jean-Luc Mélenchon on one side and Emmanuel Macron on the other, the presidential contest could mean destruction for the Socialist party

French voters go to the polls on Sunday in the first round of a presidential election that to the very end has brought little consensus or comfort and only one certainty: the result will be a political upheaval, whoever wins.

Even as they walk into their bureau de vote, many will still be undecided, faced with paper slips for an unprecedented 11 candidates, only four of them thought to be serious contenders for the Elysée palace. There is a nail-biting sense that anything could happen.

Do they vote for or against? Do they choose a candidate who represents their politics or one who, opinion polls suggest, is most likely to defeat the woman whose presence as one of two candidates in the second-round runoff in a fortnight seems a given, but whose name still provokes a frisson of fear for many: the far-right Front National leader Marine Le Pen, with her anti-Europe, anti-immigration, “French-first” programme? » | Kim Willsher in Paris | Saturday, April 22, 2017

Marine Le Pen's Rise in 'Forgotten France'

In the run-up to the French presidential election, the far-right Front National leader has courted growing numbers of voters in rural France where residents of villages and small towns have seen factories close and services disappear. Le Pen calls this ‘forgotten France’. Angelique Chrisafis went to a Burgundy heartland of the left to meet voters turning to Le Pen

France Votes: ‘The Determining Factor Is Personality’

French voters in Paris cast their ballots for the presidential election on Sunday in a tense first-round poll that’s seen as a test for the spread of populism around the world. Some 47 million eligible voters in the country will choose between 11 candidates. Voters in Paris said the choice was complex while others expressed doubts

Read the Guardian article here

Tobacco Wars - Episode One - Lighting Up; Episode Two - Smokescreen; Episode Three - Smoked Out

TOBACCO WARS is a comprehensive history of the cigarette, providing an in-depth, balanced, and often shocking look at the tobacco industry. The series' three one-hour episodes are organized chronologically, from the advent of the cigarette through its ascension to one of the most profitable consumer products the world has ever seen. Via first person accounts and insider documentation, TOBACCO WARS vividly portrays what the companies really knew about the link between smoking and disease, explains how mankind became seduced by such a dangerous product, provides a status report on Big Tobacco today, and looks towards the future of this most controversial of industries.