German elites target 'hate speech' after migrant rape spree
'We don't have freedom of opinion anymore'
German elites are responding to a wave of sexual assaults by Arab and North African migrants on New Year’s Eve by cracking down on alleged hate speech.
Facebook, Google and Twitter are working with German authorities to control speech as angry citizens react to the chaos caused by refugees. The deal with social-media giants comes as Germans fume over 100 sexual assaults and robberies perpetrated by migrants last Friday in Cologne.
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“We’ve looked at our general rules and understand that very specific forms of language may constitute hate speech,” Richard Allan, Facebook’s vice president of public policy in Europe, told the Washington Post on Thursday. “Our German reviewers are reviewing the meanings of German words and trying to understand what language crosses the line.”
Politicians and activists insinuate that heated rhetoric matches intensity last observed during the creation of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party in the 1920s. Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed 1.1 million migrants into Germany in 2015.
Merkel gave a speech Dec. 30 warning Germans to shun “those with coldness, or even hate in their hearts, and who claim the right to be called German for themselves alone and seek to marginalize others,” Deutsche Welle reported.
Germany’s enforcement-blitz on speech laws in recent months include a police raid on a 26-year-old man from Berlin who said he celebrated when refugees drowned on the way to Europe. Another man in Wismar was given five months probation and a $325 fine by a judge for making similar comments, the Post reported.
Reactions by German citizens to speech codes echo those by Americans after U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the Justice Department would prosecute “anti-Muslim rhetoric.”
“When we are ruled by fear, we are not making ourselves safe,” Lynch said Dec. 3 at a dinner held by the Muslim Advocates, a national legal advocacy group, WND reported.
“It’s not politically correct to say anything against migrants. We don’t have freedom of opinion anymore. #Cologne,” a German Twitter user said Dec. 5 in regard to the Lynch-like policies of European politicians.
Stefan Körner, chairman of Germany’s liberal Pirate Party, told the Post that deals reached with social media outlets reeked of “creeping censorship.”
“House of War: Islam’s Jihad Against the World” conveys what the West needs to know about Islam and the violent, expansionary ideology that seeks the subjugation and destruction of other faiths, cultures and systems of government
A police officer in Cologne told Express.de on Thursday that 15 suspects from the New Year’s Eve attacks have been taken into custody; 14 came from Syria and 1 from Afghanistan.
“Residence certificates for carrying out the asylum procedure were in their possession,” the source said.
The slow arrests and four days of silence by Germany’s nation media prompted citizens to take matters into their own hands.
Breitbart London reported Friday that a group called “Dusseldorf is Watching” attracted 2,300 members in less than 24 hours. Its members plan to attend major events to protect women from gangs of migrants.
“For public security in Germany the police are responsible. Deliberately searching for offenders is not a job for the citizen,” a spokesman for Dusseldorf police told local media when asked about the group, the website reported.
“We then walked through this group of men. [They] opened up a lane, which we walked through. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my buttocks, then on my breasts, in the end, I was groped everywhere,” a victim identified as Katja L told Der Express Jan. 3. “It was a nightmare. Although we shouted and beat them, the guys did not stop. I was desperate and think I was touched around 100 times in the 200 meters. Fortunately, I wore a jacket and trousers. A skirt probably would have been torn off.”
Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker encouraged women to adopt a “code of conduct” to discourage African and Arabic men from such attack. Some of her suggestions include keeping “at arm’s length” from strangers, traveling in groups, and asking bystanders for help.
“It is important to prevent such incidents from ever happening again,” Reker said, the Independent reported Wednesday.
Huffington Post Deutschland reporter Anabel Schunke called the national response to migrant attacks “a slap in the face for every victim,” on Monday.
http://www.wnd.com/2016/01/german-elites-target-hate-speech-after-migrant-sex-attacks/#HLPKAdAhrXikZjfV.99
Facebook, Google and Twitter are working with German authorities to control speech as angry citizens react to the chaos caused by refugees. The deal with social-media giants comes as Germans fume over 100 sexual assaults and robberies perpetrated by migrants last Friday in Cologne.
Like the reporting you see here? Sign up for free news alerts from WND.com, America’s independent news network.
“We’ve looked at our general rules and understand that very specific forms of language may constitute hate speech,” Richard Allan, Facebook’s vice president of public policy in Europe, told the Washington Post on Thursday. “Our German reviewers are reviewing the meanings of German words and trying to understand what language crosses the line.”
Politicians and activists insinuate that heated rhetoric matches intensity last observed during the creation of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party in the 1920s. Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed 1.1 million migrants into Germany in 2015.
Merkel gave a speech Dec. 30 warning Germans to shun “those with coldness, or even hate in their hearts, and who claim the right to be called German for themselves alone and seek to marginalize others,” Deutsche Welle reported.
Germany’s enforcement-blitz on speech laws in recent months include a police raid on a 26-year-old man from Berlin who said he celebrated when refugees drowned on the way to Europe. Another man in Wismar was given five months probation and a $325 fine by a judge for making similar comments, the Post reported.
Reactions by German citizens to speech codes echo those by Americans after U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the Justice Department would prosecute “anti-Muslim rhetoric.”
“When we are ruled by fear, we are not making ourselves safe,” Lynch said Dec. 3 at a dinner held by the Muslim Advocates, a national legal advocacy group, WND reported.
“It’s not politically correct to say anything against migrants. We don’t have freedom of opinion anymore. #Cologne,” a German Twitter user said Dec. 5 in regard to the Lynch-like policies of European politicians.
Stefan Körner, chairman of Germany’s liberal Pirate Party, told the Post that deals reached with social media outlets reeked of “creeping censorship.”
“House of War: Islam’s Jihad Against the World” conveys what the West needs to know about Islam and the violent, expansionary ideology that seeks the subjugation and destruction of other faiths, cultures and systems of government
A police officer in Cologne told Express.de on Thursday that 15 suspects from the New Year’s Eve attacks have been taken into custody; 14 came from Syria and 1 from Afghanistan.
“Residence certificates for carrying out the asylum procedure were in their possession,” the source said.
The slow arrests and four days of silence by Germany’s nation media prompted citizens to take matters into their own hands.
Breitbart London reported Friday that a group called “Dusseldorf is Watching” attracted 2,300 members in less than 24 hours. Its members plan to attend major events to protect women from gangs of migrants.
“For public security in Germany the police are responsible. Deliberately searching for offenders is not a job for the citizen,” a spokesman for Dusseldorf police told local media when asked about the group, the website reported.
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2016/01/Germany-sex-assault-victim.jpg
Victims of the Cologne attacks told Radio Television Lëtzebuerg on Wednesday that police were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of attackers, CNN reported.
A German sex-assault victim told Radio Television Lëtzebuerg that police in Cologne were overwhelmed on New Year’s Eve and could not help everyone who needed protection from gangs of African and Arabic men.
“We then walked through this group of men. [They] opened up a lane, which we walked through. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my buttocks, then on my breasts, in the end, I was groped everywhere,” a victim identified as Katja L told Der Express Jan. 3. “It was a nightmare. Although we shouted and beat them, the guys did not stop. I was desperate and think I was touched around 100 times in the 200 meters. Fortunately, I wore a jacket and trousers. A skirt probably would have been torn off.”
Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker encouraged women to adopt a “code of conduct” to discourage African and Arabic men from such attack. Some of her suggestions include keeping “at arm’s length” from strangers, traveling in groups, and asking bystanders for help.
“It is important to prevent such incidents from ever happening again,” Reker said, the Independent reported Wednesday.
Huffington Post Deutschland reporter Anabel Schunke called the national response to migrant attacks “a slap in the face for every victim,” on Monday.
http://www.wnd.com/2016/01/german-elites-target-hate-speech-after-migrant-sex-attacks/#HLPKAdAhrXikZjfV.99
'150 agents' working Clinton Foundation probe: Ex-U.S. atty
A former U.S. attorney said the FBI's reported investigation of "public corruption" at the Clinton Foundation has actually been going on for months, although it made headlines for the first time Monday.Joseph DiGenova, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, said the FBI's foundation probe "has reached such a proportion of inquiry that it's starting to sneak out," but that it was sparked months ago by information pulled from Hillary Clinton's private server and from the tax filings of corporations that have donated to the charity.
"There are now, I am told, 150 agents working on this case," DiGenova told the Washington Examiner Monday, noting that was "a very unusually high number" of investigators to be working on one case.
Talk of Clinton's legal woes returned in full force Monday with reports that the FBI has expanded its investigation to include the alleged exchange of favors between Clinton Foundation insiders and State Department leadership under Clinton.
The reports came just days after the State Department released a controversial email that suggested Clinton had asked an aide to remove the classification markings from a document and "send it nonsecure."
A spokesman for the Clinton Foundation did not return a request for comment about the new reports.
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on reports that the FBI had expanded its investigation.
But DiGenova said the FBI "is making very substantial progress" in its investigation of the "public corruption" allegations against the Clinton Foundation. He said the bureau is presently preparing subpoenas for the foundation's financial records, among other pieces of evidence.
"This was inevitable given the discussions that have appeared over the past few months concerning contributions which were done in tandem with requests for officials acts," DiGenova said.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/clinton-foundation-probe-is-months-old-former-attorney/article/2580136
"There are now, I am told, 150 agents working on this case," DiGenova told the Washington Examiner Monday, noting that was "a very unusually high number" of investigators to be working on one case.
Talk of Clinton's legal woes returned in full force Monday with reports that the FBI has expanded its investigation to include the alleged exchange of favors between Clinton Foundation insiders and State Department leadership under Clinton.
A spokesman for the Clinton Foundation did not return a request for comment about the new reports.
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on reports that the FBI had expanded its investigation.
But DiGenova said the FBI "is making very substantial progress" in its investigation of the "public corruption" allegations against the Clinton Foundation. He said the bureau is presently preparing subpoenas for the foundation's financial records, among other pieces of evidence.
"This was inevitable given the discussions that have appeared over the past few months concerning contributions which were done in tandem with requests for officials acts," DiGenova said.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/clinton-foundation-probe-is-months-old-former-attorney/article/2580136
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