Harvard-Chefin wegen Antisemitismus am Pranger

Dec 12, 2023 | Uni-Campusse werden zum „Ground Zero“ des Antisemitismus in den USA – und jetzt gießen die Präsidentinnen von drei Elite-Universitäten Öl ins Feuer. Der Feuersturm über die unfassbaren Aussagen schockt die Nation.

It Was Inevitable That the Book Ban Wars Would Reach Book Stores

Pool//Getty Images
ESQUIRE: A judge slapped a temporary hold on an Arkansas law that would criminalize librarians and bookstore owners for giving kids access to The Bluest Eye or something.

It's still hard to get the mind around the fact that Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the actual governor of an actual state in the actual United States of America. Still, it's a sad fact of democracy and we can't avoid it if we're going to understand how Arkansas became ground zero for book banning and other assorted manifestations of our delicately tailored modern fascism. On Sunday, a federal judge named Timothy Brooks slapped a temporary hold on one of Sanders' pet project— a law that would criminalize librarians and bookstore owners who provide "harmful material" to minors, "harmful" being defined by luxuriously financed pressure groups, ambitious conservative politicians, and the members of the First Church Of Christ, Nuisance. » | Charles P. Pierce | Tuesday, August 1, 2023

UK Heads for Long Recession as Economy Shrinks by 0.2%

THE GUARDIAN: ONS figures for three months to September give bleak picture in run-up to chancellor’s autumn statement

Britain’s economy shrank by 0.2% in the three months to September, in what is expected to be the beginning of a long recession.

In its first estimate of growth in the third quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) presented a bleak picture of the economy before next week’s autumn statement from the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt.

Activity in the service sector ground to a halt, with zero growth over the quarter, driven by a fall in consumer spending as households came under mounting pressure from the cost of living crisis.

Growth in the construction sector slowed, while factory output slumped because of a sharp decline in manufacturing as some businesses continued to struggle with supply chain difficulties and shortages of key materials. » | Larry Elliott and Richard Partington | Friday, November 11, 2022

Europe Braces for Recession as Economies Falter: Britain’s economic output fell in the third quarter and European Union officials forecast weakening growth for countries across the continent. »

«Vingt ans après le 11 Septembre, Ground Zero»

Philippe Gélie. Le Figaro
L’éditorial du Figaro, par Philippe Gélie.
LE FIGARO : Le nouveau millénaire n’en était qu’à ses balbutiements quand, traçant une ligne de sang et de cendre dans un ciel d’été indien, dix-neuf pirates de l’air ont fait basculer l’Amérique et le monde dans une nouvelle guerre. Une guerre planétaire contre l’idéologie islamiste, barbarie maquillée en mission divine et qui en veut à l’humanité entière, musulmans compris. Une guerre sans fin contre des terroristes impossibles à vaincre tant qu’il s’en trouve un pour reprendre le couteau ou la ceinture explosive de l’autre. Mais nous sommes tout aussi invincibles qu’eux, car aucun de leurs assauts, même les plus terribles, n’a d’impact sur nos convictions et nos valeurs. Sinistre et vain combat qui prendra fin un jour, peut-être, de guerre lasse… » | Par Philippe Gélie | vendredi 10 septembre 2021

Réservé aux abonnés

America Mourns as Leaders and Families Mark 20th Anniversary of 9/11 Attacks

THE GUARDIAN: Ceremonies in New York, Pennsylvania and at Pentagon mark the 20th anniversary of the terror attacks

Joe Biden waves as he is joined by, left to right, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Jill Biden and the former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/UPI/Rex/Shutterstock
Some wept. Some held photos of loved ones At 8.46am, precisely two decades after a passenger plane became a new and deadly weapon here, all fell silent in remembrance.

Families of the victims gathered at the 9/11 memorial plaza in New York on Saturday to mark the 20th anniversary of terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people and helped shape the 21st century.

The sombre ceremony in bright sunshine that was eerily reminiscent of 11 September 2001 was attended by Joe Biden and former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama along with victims’ families and first responders. Many wore face masks because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden had hoped that the milestone anniversary could provide a much-needed moment of national unity after ending the war in Afghanistan, launched to root out al-Qaida, which carried out the attacks. But anger is still raw over the the chaotic withdrawal and return to power of the Taliban.

The 9/11 memorial plaza at the former World Trade Center site includes cascading water in the footprints of the twin towers. Mourners placed flowers on the names of the dead inscribed in bronze. » | David Smith in Washington | Saturday, September 11, 2021

The emotional scars of Sept. 11 are still there, but so is the memory of a simple act of kindness. »

11-Septembre : l'histoire glaçante derrière la photographie du «Falling Man» »

Trauer und Ratlosigkeit auch zwanzig Jahre nach dem 11. September: An den Gedenkfeiern zum Jahrestag der Terroranschläge von 2001 ist inständig an die Einheit aller Amerikaner appelliert worden. Bewegende Reden, Schweigeminuten und das Verlesen der Namen der 3000 Todesopfer bei Ground Zero konnten jedoch nicht über die Risse hinwegtäuschen, die die USA durchziehen. »

Queen Commemorates ‘Terrible Attacks’ of 9/11 in Message to Joe Biden

THE GUARDIAN: The Queen, Keir Starmer and the PM sent messages to mark the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks

The Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, lays flowers in the September 11 Memorial Garden in Grosvenor Square, London, to mark the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack. Photograph: David Parry/PA
THE GUARDIAN: The Queen, Keir Starmer and the PM sent messages to mark the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks

The Queen has sent a message to the US president, Joe Biden, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11, and remembered her visit to Ground Zero, the site of the attack on the World Trade Center.

Her message said: “As we mark the 20th anniversary of the terrible attacks on September 11 2001, my thoughts and prayers – and those of my family and the entire nation – remain with the victims, survivors and families affected, as well as the first responders and rescue workers called to duty.

“My visit to the site of the World Trade Center in 2010 is held fast in my memory. It reminds me that as we honour those from many nations, faiths and backgrounds who lost their lives, we also pay tribute to the resilience and determination of the communities who joined together to rebuild.” » | Jedidajah Otte | Saturday, Semptember 11, 2021

”Greetings from Provincetown”

With many thanks to Etsy on Pinterest for the image of this ‘Gay Vintage Print’.
Wikipedia on Provincetown in Massachusetts.

The gay tourism mecca became ground zero for “breakthrough” COVID cases, but a brighter, healthier future is possible. »

Coronavirus: What This Crisis Reveals about US - and Its President

BBC: There are no fresh flowers at the 9/11 Memorial any more. An American altar usually decorated with roses, carnations and postcard-sized Stars and Stripes is sequestered behind a makeshift plastic railing. Broadway, the "Great White Way", is dark. The subway system is a ghost train. Staten Island ferries keep cutting through the choppy waters of New York harbour, passing Lady Liberty on the way in and out of Lower Manhattan, but hardly any passengers are on board. Times Square, normally such a roiling mass, is almost devoid of people.

In the midst of this planetary pandemic, nobody wants to meet any more at the "Crossroads of the World". A city known for its infectious energy, a city that likes to boast it never even has to sleep, has been forced into hibernation. With more cases than any other American conurbation, this city is once again Ground Zero, a term no New Yorker ever wanted applied here again. With manic suddenness, our world has been turned upside down, just as it was on September 11th.

Nations, like individuals, reveal themselves at times of crisis. In emergencies of this immense magnitude, it soon becomes evident whether a sitting president is equal to the moment. So what have we learnt about the United States as it confronts this national and global catastrophe? Will lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who have been in a form of legislative lockdown for years now, a paralysis borne of partisanship, rise to the challenge? And what of the man who now sits behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, who has cloaked himself in the mantle of "wartime president"?

Of the three questions, the last one is the least interesting, largely because Donald Trump's response has been so predictable. He has not changed. He has not grown. He has not admitted errors. He has shown little humility. » | Nick Bryant, New York correspondent | Friday, March 24, 2020

Clinton and Trump Commemorate 15th Anniversary of 9/11

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump are seen at Ground Zero in New York on Sunday, to attend ceremonies marking the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001. Their appearance together comes two weeks before their first presidential debate

First the Ground Zero Mosque, Now the Times Square Synagogue: Manhattan Developer Reveals Another Controversial Construction Project

THE INDEPENDENT: A Manhattan developer who was forced to shelve bold plans for an Islamic prayer and community centre just blocks from the World Trade Centre site after they triggered fierce street protests is embarking on a new project with a religious tilt though this time with a different congregation in mind.

Sharif el-Gamal, whose company, SoHo Properties, was behind the ill-fated Islamic centre proposal, confirmed this week that he is in final talks to purchase a vacant building close to Times Square on West 40 Street for the construction of a new tower with street-level shops, a hotel and, curiously, a large synagogue.

That Mr El-Gamal is proving such an equal opportunity dreamer is inevitably drawing attention if not on the scale of the flap stirred by Park51, the name given to the Islamic centre that never came to be. In truth, however, this deal has very little to do with religion except in the sense that dollars are the ultimate deity. » | Davis Usborne, New York | Tuesday, February 11, 2014

9/11 Anniversary to Be Marked with Somber Tributes

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: NEW YORK (AP) — Sept. 11 victims' loved ones were gathering at ground zero early Wednesday to commemorate the attacks' 12th anniversary with the reading of names, moments of silence and serene music that have become tradition.

At a morning ceremony on the 2-year-old memorial plaza, relatives will recite the names of the nearly 3,000 people who died when hijacked jets crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and near Shanksville, Pa., as well as the 1993 trade center bombing victims' names. Beforehand, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, musician Billy Joel, firefighters and others are expected to join in a tribute motorcycle ride from a Manhattan firehouse to ground zero.

"No matter how many years pass, this time comes around each year — and it's always the same," said Karen Hinson of Seaford, N.Y., who lost her 34-year-old brother, Michael Wittenstein, a Cantor Fitzgerald employee.

"My brother was never found, so this is where he is for us," she said as she arrived for the ceremony with her family early Wednesday. » | Jennifer Peltz, Associated press | Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Britain Capitulates to Jihad
JIHAD WATCH: In a striking blow against freedom, the British government has banned us from entering the country. Muhammad al-Arifi, who has advocated Jew-hatred, wife-beating, and jihad violence, entered the U.K. recently with no difficulty. In not allowing us into the country solely because of our true and accurate statements about Islam, the British government is behaving like a de facto Islamic state. The nation that gave the world the Magna Carta is dead. Leave a comment » | Robert | Wednesday, June 26, 2013

My comment:

I'm sorry to learn that my country has banned your entry into my country. I cannot imagine what the government is thinking about. This is further proof, if indeed further proof is needed, that the United Kingdom is a spent force. It's finished! The Islamisation of the UK from here on in is nothing but a foregone conclusion. The politicians that are elected and paid to lead us are spineless wimps who are incapable of anything other than capitulation. The 'Great' has just been taken out of Great Britain. – © Mark

THE INDEPENDENT: Anti-Ground Zero Mosque campaigners Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer barred from entering Britain to speak at an EDL rally: Theresa May said activists' presence in the UK would 'not be conducive to the public good' ¶ Two of the people behind a campaign against the building of the “Ground Zero Mosque” in New York have been barred from entering Britain to speak at an English Defence League rally in London this weekend, it has been announced. ¶ The Home Secretary Theresa May has told Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, both of the anti-Islamic group Stop Islamization of America, that their presence in the UK would “not be conducive to the public good”. The decision, which they cannot appeal, will stand for between three and five years. » | Kevin Rawlinson | Wednesday June 26, 2013

Cheers Erupt as Spire Tops One World Trade Center
A crane lifted the last of a 408-foot tall spire on top of One World Trade Center on Friday, a capstone to an emotional 12-year effort to replace the twin towers destroyed by terrorists.

The 18-piece silver spire will top out the tower at a symbolic 1,776 feet, a nod to the year America signed the Declaration of Independence. The new building is just north of the original towers, now the hallowed ground known as Ground Zero.

Spain: Supreme Court Overturns Burqa Ban
GATESTONE INSTITUTE: The ruling denotes a step forward in the continuing efforts to establish Islam as a mainstream religious and political system in Spain.

The Spanish Supreme Court has ruled that a municipal ordinance banning the wearing of Islamic burqas in public spaces is unconstitutional.

In its 56-page ruling, made public on February 28, the Madrid-based Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo) said the Catalan city of Lérida exceeded its authority when, in December 2010, it imposed a burqa ban.

The court said the ban on burqas, a traditional Islamic costume that covers women from head to toe, "constitutes a limitation to the fundamental right to the exercise of the freedom of religion, which is guaranteed by the Spanish Constitution." The court said that the limitation of a fundamental right can only be achieved through laws at the national level, not through local ordinances.

The decision, which the court said addressed a "profoundly political problem," represents a significant victory for Muslims in Spain. Although it is unclear how many women actually wear the burqa there, the ruling denotes a step forward in the continuing efforts to establish Islam as a mainstream religious and political system in Spain.

In recent years, more than a dozen municipalities in Spain have enacted burqa bans and other legal measures to push back against the ongoing Islamization of Spanish society. The rise of Islam has been especially notable in the Spanish autonomous region of Catalonia, home to the largest concentration of radical Islamists in Europe, and which has emerged as ground-zero for Salafi-Jihadism on the continent. » | Soeren Kern | Monday, March 04, 2013

The Islamic Republic of Catalonia
GATESTONE INSTITUTE: "We will all vote for the Islamic parties because we do not believe in left and right. This will make us win local councils, and as we begin to accumulate power in the Catalan autonomous region, Islam will begin to be implemented." — Abdelwahab Houzi, Salafist preacher, Lleida.

A successful push for independence in the Spanish autonomous region of Catalonia would lead to the establishment of a country with the third-largest percentage of Muslims in Western Europe, just behind France and Belgium, and far ahead of Britain and Germany.

An independent Catalonia, with its capital in Barcelona, would also be home to the largest concentration of radical Islamists in Europe; it would emerge as ground-zero for Salafi-Jihadism on the continent and become one of the top incubators for Islamist terrorism in the West.

Catalonia, historically one of the wealthiest and most industrialized regions of Spain, has harbored a strong streak toward independence since medieval times, when Barcelona was a Mediterranean trade center with its own parliament. But the ongoing economic crisis in Spain has redoubled calls for Catalonian secession from Spain and the establishment of an independent state. » | Soeren Kern | Friday, October 12, 2012

Muslims Call New Religious Freedom Appointee a ‘Puppet’ for Islam Foes

THE WASHINGTON POST: WASHINGTON — One of two new members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has Muslim civil rights groups crying foul.

Zuhdi Jasser, who lauded a controversial New York City police surveillance program that targeted Muslims and helped lead the opposition to an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero, has been appointed to the commission, which advises the president, Congress and State Department on religious rights abuses internationally.

“It would have been better to appoint someone who has some measure of credibility with Muslim Americans,” said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“He has long been viewed by American Muslims and the colleagues in the civil liberties community as a mere sock puppet for Islam haters and an enabler of Islamophobia.” » | Lauren Markoe | Religion News Service | Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Number of Mosques Nearly Doubles in Decade

THE WASHINGTON POST: NEW YORK — The number of American mosques has increased dramatically in the last decade despite post 9/11 protests aimed at Muslim houses of worship, according to a new study. The new Islamic centers serve Muslims who moved into the suburbs and newer immigrants from Africa, Iraq and elsewhere.

Researchers conducting the national count found a total of 2,106 Islamic centers, compared to 1,209 in 2000 and 962 in 1994. About one-quarter of the centers were built between 2000-2011, as the community faced intense scrutiny by government officials and a suspicious public. In 2010, protest against an Islamic center near ground zero erupted into a national debate over Islam, extremism and religious freedom. Anti-mosque demonstrations spread to Tennessee, California and other states.

Ihsan Bagby, a professor at the University of Kentucky and lead author of the study, said the findings show Muslims are carving out a place for themselves despite the backlash. » | Associated Press | Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Greece Bailout: PM Lucas Papademos Gives Final Warning

BBC: The Greek PM has warned the nation of a collapse in living standards if MPs fail to pass an unpopular austerity bill demanded in return for a 130bn-euro ($170bn; £110bn) bailout.

In a TV address, Lucas Papademos said Greece was "just a breath away from Ground Zero".

The cabinet has approved the measures but five government ministers resigned.

Unions are holding a 48-hour strike, and thousands of protesters rallied in central Athens against the measures.

Riot police were on standby after clashes on Friday, but the demonstrations were mostly peaceful.
The austerity measures are being demanded by the eurozone and IMF - they must now be passed by the Greek parliament and approved by European finance ministers.

Some MPs from the governing parties are expected to vote against the bill, the BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens reports.

But analysts say the package should still have enough support in parliament, because Pasok, the largest party, and its coalition ally New Democracy account for more than 230 deputies out of a total of 300. » | Saturday, February 11, 2012

September 11: America Marks 10th Anniversary of 9/11
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: America is preparing to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with events taking place across the globe to remember the worst attack on US soil in history.

Thousands will gather at ceremonies at the site of the destroyed World Trade Center towers, at the Pentagon, and in a field in Pennslyvania where the fourth hijacked plane crashed.

President Barack Obama and former president George Bush, who was leading the country at the time, will lead the remembrances for the 2,977 people who died.

New York's 650lb Bell of Hope, which hangs near Ground Zero in St Paul's Chapel, the rest centre for 9/11 rescue workers, will sound at 8.46am New York time, the moment of the first impact.

The two presidents will join victims' families to hear the reading of the names of those who died as bells toll across the city and President Obama will also visit the other two sites.

The remembrance takes place in the shadow of the "credible" threat of a terror attack on the mainland US as other ceremonies begin to take place around the globe. » | Philip Sherwell, in New York, and Andy Bloxham in London | Sunday, September 11, 2011

We stand side-by-side, shoulder-to shoulder, with Americans today, as always, to mark the tenth anniversary of this heinous crime against the US and the civilised world. God bless America! – Mark

NZZ ONLINE: Gedenkfeiern in aller Welt zum Jahrestag der Terroranschläge: US-Präsident Obama in New York und in Washington erwartet » | sda/ddp | Sonntag 11. September 2011

LE FIGARO: L'Amérique commémore les attentats du 11 Septembre : En cette journée de dixième anniversaire des attentats du 11 Septembre, les États-Unis se souviennent. Barack Obama et George W. Bush doivent participer ensemble à une cérémonie organisée à New York.» | Par lefigaro.fr, Avec AFP | Dimanche 11 Septembre 2011

THE AUSTRALIAN: Remembering 9/11: Ten Years On »

DIE PRESSE: Zehn Jahre nach 9/11: Die Traurigen von New York – Das Leben änderte sich auch für jene, die am 11. September physisch nicht direkt betroffen waren. Manche Reaktionen scheinen kurios, helfen aber, das Unvorstellbare zu verarbeiten. "Die Presse" traf drei New Yorker.
» | Von Anneliese Rohrer (Die Presse) | Samstag 10 September 2011

JIHAD WATCH: A decade out, we're losing » | Robert Spencer | September 11, 2011

The Rebirth of Ground Zero
Watch Journeyman Pictures video here