By now, the world has heard the news. A municipal mayor in Brussels attempted to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/brussels-police-try-to-shut-down-conference-featuring-orban-farage-other-leading-european-conservatives" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shut down</a> a peaceful gathering of conservative leaders simply because he disagreed with their message.
The resultant outcry was enormous — the very essence of free speech was at stake — culminating in a rapidly <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://adfinternational.org/free-speech-prevails-for-nat-con__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!3e4hdrEyPrjSHR-Ny5IdDKSUOAzVbsFf8AQLtUj4NZNA0XwbYhe-5Frtk0Fcg7v09huGJ1hewD_pUvi8-BjlFaw$" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executed emergency court order</a> allowing the conference to resume, but not before the police had stepped in, relegating the first day of the event to abject chaos.
I was honored to lead the legal challenge against this authoritarian overstep, and in so doing, play a key part in this watershed moment for fundamental freedoms. 
It was business as usual as I prepared to attend the National Conservatism Conference in Brussels from April 16-17. Known as “NatCon,” the event presented nothing out of the ordinary in a city that regularly ebbs and flows with gatherings across the political spectrum. As the center of the European Union, discussion, dialogue, and even peaceable demonstrations across the ideological spectrum are core to the Brussels ethos.
<div id="attachment_726077" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-726077" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-726077" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2147852060-864x576.jpg" alt="British eurosceptic populist Nigel Farage speaks during the &quot;NatCon&quot; national conservatism conference gathering hard-right politicians at the Claridge hotel in Brussesl on April 16, 2024. Brussels authorities were seeking today to shut down the controversial gathering after it was targeted by a social media protest campaign and bumped from its first two choices of venue. (Photo by Simon Wohlfahrt / AFP) (Photo by SIMON WOHLFAHRT/AFP via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2147852060-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2147852060-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2147852060-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2147852060.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />SIMON WOHLFAHRT/AFP via Getty Images</div>
But cancel culture was quick to bare its teeth. The event, a mainstream gathering of conservatives representing diverse views, had <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/16/world/europe/brussels-conversative-conference-emir-kir.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">already been canceled</a> by two venues, before securing a third near Brussels’ European Quarter. It was at this point that the mayor of this district decided to step in, issuing an egregiously discriminatory order to shutter the conference due to a supposed threat to “public peace.”
The order made two facts indisputably clear: 1) There was no evidence whatsoever of a threat of violence. And 2) It was nothing more than the vision behind National Conservatism that motivated the shutdown. In essence, from the mayor’s perspective: I don’t like these people. I shall not allow them to meet.
As stated in the mayor’s order: 
<blockquote>That this vision is not only ethically conservative (e.g. hostility to the legalization of abortion, same-sex unions, etc.) but also focused on the defense of ‘national sovereignty,’ which implies, among other things, a ‘Eurosceptic’ attitude.</blockquote>
To be clear, pro-life views are not a crime. Neither is, of course, the “defense of national sovereignty.” This was a dictatorial and discriminatory abuse of power, pure and simple. And when I arrived at the conference on the morning of April 16, the effects of this abuse were evident. <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://twitter.com/Paul_B_Coleman/status/1780242908156662188/photo/1__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!3e4hdrEyPrjSHR-Ny5IdDKSUOAzVbsFf8AQLtUj4NZNA0XwbYhe-5Frtk0Fcg7v09huGJ1hewD_pUvi8PBGYQFk$" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pictures</a> of a line of police in riot gear flooded X — the world was on notice that something insidious was afoot in Brussels.
Police surrounded the door, preventing participants from entering. It was only my direct line with the organizers that got me in. Never mind that expected to attend were multiple high-level participants including former U.K. Home Secretary Suella Braverman, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and Cardinal Müller from Germany. The diplomatic ramifications of this fiasco cannot be overstated, prompting reactions from both the U.K. and Belgian Prime Ministers, and massive international outcry.
<div id="attachment_726079" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-726079" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-726079" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2148826538-864x576.jpg" alt="BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - APRIL 16: Conservative MP Suella Braverman, former UK Secretary of State for the Home Department, gives a speech on Day 1 of The National Conservatism Conference at the Claridge on April 16, 2024 in Brussels, Belgium. The National Conservatism (NatCon) conference, attended by 500 delegates over two days, features speeches from former UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, among others. Originally slated for Concert Noble, the venue was changed due to pressure from Brussels Mayor Philippe Close. (Photo by Omar Havana/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2148826538-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2148826538-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2148826538-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2148826538.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Omar Havana/Getty Images</div>
The freedoms of speech and assembly are essential for the functioning of any democratic society. In fact, without them, there cannot be said to be democracy. And yet, here we were, confronted by a line of police for exercising our right to peacefully gather and discuss the issues of our day. This kind of authoritarianism has no place in contemporary Europe — a disgrace to our continent and the values the EU espouses.
As a lawyer for ADF International, an organization dedicated to the promotion of fundamental freedoms, I found myself in the right place at the right time to rise to the defense of basic human rights.
We lead the charge alongside the NatCon organizers in mounting a legal challenge, which was decided in our favor by the Conseil d’État, Belgium’s highest administrative court, at 2:30 a.m.on April 17. The fact that the court had convened and decided overnight was a testament to the outrageous nature of what had transpired. The judgment was clear — the conference would be <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68826578">allowed to continue</a> into its second day without police interference.
Fueled by espresso and croissants, day two of the conference proceeded with a markedly electric energy. Conference attendees previously barred from entry took on the talks and conversations with a newfound gusto, having just come face to face with the frightening reality of what it means to be a “conservative” in Europe.
While among us at the conference there would surely be disagreement and differences of opinion on a great many issues, we found ourselves enjoying a unique moment of solidarity — united in our shared commitment to protecting our basic human right to speak freely.
What happened this week depicts the state of free speech in Europe in a very poor light. This is the sad reality of European censorship. However, we remain optimistic that it also will serve as an important wake-up call, reminding us of the crucial importance of diligently defending our fundamental freedoms under the law, lest they slip away from us as they have done before in the darker moments of our continent’s history.
* * *
Jean-Paul Van De Walle is legal counsel, Europe, for ADF International in Brussels, and led the legal efforts that successfully challenged the shut-down of the National Conservatism Conference.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

National Conservatism Conference In Brussels

I Was There: Here’s What Happened When They Tried To Silence Conservatives In Brussels

Brussels

Conservatives

European Union

Leftists

Nigel Farage

Readers Pass

The Netherlands

A conference featuring conservative views on subjects like abortion and gay marriage was <a href="https://adfinternational.org/nat-con-legal-challenge?p=46744">shut down</a> by police in Brussels after the mayor of the district where it was located claimed it was “ethically conservative” and focused on  the defense of “national sovereignty.”
“NatCon brings together public figures, journalists, scholars, and students who understand that the past and future of conservatism are inextricably tied to the idea of the nation, to the principle of national independence, and to the revival of the unique national traditions that alone have the power to bind a people together and bring about their flourishing,” the conference website <a href="https://nationalconservatism.org/natcon-brussels-2/about/">states</a>.
&#8220;The challenges to national sovereignty posed by the EU’s drive towards ever-closer union create a unique opportunity for political conservatism to present an alternative vision for Europe,&#8221; the conference website continues.
The Alliance for Defending Freedom filed an emergency legal challenge.
“ADF International is supporting an emergency legal challenge against the mayor’s order to shut down the conference, arguing it is contrary to the fundamental rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly &#8211; the pillars of truly democratic societies,” Paul Coleman, the Executive Director of ADF International and a speaker at the conference on National Conservatism, said in a <a href="https://adfinternational.org/nat-con-legal-challenge?p=46744">statement</a>.
“Open dialogue is supposed to be at the core of European politics; yet here in the capital of the EU, a thoughtful exchange on policy has been shut down by unilateral decree,” he continued. “This is a watershed moment where the true censorship crisis in Europe is on full public display. The crushing of political opinions opposed by those in power is something that should be relegated to the darker chapters of European history.”
“This is what cancel culture looks like,” Coleman said outside the third venue the conference had tried to use for the event. “This is the third venue that they have tried to put this conference on. The first venue canceled the event; the second venue canceled the event late last night and now this venue agreed to host the conference and the police, which you can see behind me, have shut it down &#8230; This is the definition of cancel culture; this is the state of free speech in Europe.”
The conference reportedly <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/cardinal-muller-appears-at-national-conservatism-conference-in-brussels-amid-threats-and-harassment-from-antifa/">finally went ahead</a> at the third venue on Tuesday.
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Emir Kir, the mayor of the Saint-Josse-ten-Noode district in Brussels, stated he issued a shutdown order because the conference’s “vision is not only ethically conservative (e.g. hostility to the legalization of abortion, same-sex unions, etc.) but also focused on the defense of ‘national sovereignty,’ which implies, amongst other things, a ‘Eurosceptic’ attitude.”
He added that the conference had to be stopped “to avoid foreseeable attacks on public order and peace.&#8221;
“What we have is a systematic attempt to sabotage everything to do with the conference,” MCC Brussels Executive Director Frank Furedi, an organizer of the conference, <a href="https://brusselssignal.eu/2024/04/brussels-mayor-threatens-to-cut-power-to-conservative-event/">told</a> the Brussels Signal. “They then threatened to cut electricity and all that.”
The National Conservatism conference <a href="https://nationalconservatism.org/natcon-brussels-2/confirmed-speakers/">hosted</a> former UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman, Brexit Party founder Nigel Farage, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and Catholic leader Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller from Germany.

Brussels police shut down far-right political gathering over ‘public safety’ concerns

Brussels Police Try To Shut Down Conference Featuring Orban, Farage, Other Leading European Conservatives

Conservatism

Victor Orban

Secretary of State Antony Blinken bussed four hours to make a meeting with European leaders after his government plane experienced “mechanical issues.”
Blinken often uses a federally funded Boeing 737 plane, which is owned by the U.S. Air Force, to travel internationally and attend meetings with dignitaries and world leaders. His plane recently had mechanical problems at Davos and suffered more issues during the secretary’s trip to Europe.
The issues forced Blinken and his entourage to bus roughly four hours from Paris to Brussels to meet with European leaders at NATO’s headquarters, according to the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13268069/Antony-Blinkens-Boeing-737-plane-suffers-mechanical-failure-forcing-U-S-Secretary-State-road-Paris-Brussels-Nato-meeting.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Mail</a>. Blinken arrived at NATO headquarters about two hours behind schedule for an event at which NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg marked 75 years of the NATO alliance.
In January, the secretary of State was briefly <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/blinken-briefly-stranded-davos-after-his-plane-breaks-down-2024-01-17/#:~:text=Jan%2017%20(Reuters)%20%2D%20U.S.,of%20his%20traveling%20press%20pool." target="_blank" rel="noopener">stranded</a> in Davos after his plane suffered a “critical failure” of its oxygen system. A leak in the system grounded the plane, forcing Blinken to take a helicopter from Davos to Zurich. Journalists and aides traveling with the secretary had to find commercial options to return to the U.S.
Blinken’s problems are the latest in a series of issues with Boeing planes that have drawn scrutiny to the aircraft manufacturer and its suppliers. Last month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/texas-investigating-boeing-supplier-over-dei-policies-amid-aircraft-safety-concerns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> an investigation into a Boeing supplier’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies over concern that the company’s ideological commitment to diversity has impacted the quality and safety of its product.
“The potential risks associated with certain airplane models are deeply concerning and potentially life-threatening to Texans,” Paxton said in a statement announcing an investigation into Spirit AeroSystems Holdings. “I will hold any company responsible if they fail to maintain the standards required by the law and will do everything in my power to ensure manufacturers take passenger safety seriously.”
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“Apparent manufacturing defects have led to numerous concerning or dangerous incidents, some of which occurred in-air,” the state attorney general said.

Antony Blinken

Blinken Busses Across Europe After Boeing 737 Suffers ‘Mechanical Issues’

Air and Space

NATO

State Department

World

Here&#8217;s how CNN saw President Trump&#8217;s first day at the big NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium: &#8220;Trump outrages on the world stage, again.&#8221;
In something called &#8220;The Point,&#8221; CNN said: &#8220;Trump&#8217;s comments at the NATO summit seemingly further alienated the United States from its allies. And this is only day one of his foreign trip.&#8221; The piece also quoted former Secretary of State John Kerry saying, &#8220;The President set America back this morning. He is steadily destroying our reputation in the world.&#8221;
That&#8217;s the take of the mainstream media in America. It&#8217;s the exact same take the MSM had when George W. Bush was president. Bush, to them, was a bumbling fool stomping over the world stage with his &#8220;cowboy diplomacy.&#8221; But Barack Obama, he &#8212; The Chosen One &#8212; would make the world love America again.
Obama did, to a point. Certainly the world&#8217;s most vicious dictators loved Obama because they knew they could walk all over him. And they did. But Trump has put down his foot &#8212; both feet, in fact. &#8220;America First&#8221; means Trump will be taking care of the nation he leads first and foremost. All other considerations are second.
Now, the MSM media would have you think that Trump is despised around the world. They demand that Trump defer to global powers, that he take his place among all the rest, that he follow whatever everyone else thinks America should do. And they claim that citizens of the world are furious at Trump.
So the mainstream media played up a planned protest in Brussels dubbed &#8220;Make Peace Great Again.&#8221; Over and over, organizers appeared to say that thousands of protesters were set to gather outside the NATO summit on Wednesday evening to protest Trump.
But only a couple of dozen people actually showed up.
&#8220;Euro News&#8217; Damon Embling reported that organizers were expecting a few thousand people to attend the protest, but just a few dozen turned out,&#8221; <a href="https://ntknetwork.com/anti-trump-protest-at-nato-draws-only-a-couple-dozen/">NTK Network</a> reported.
<blockquote>
The protesters were rallying around the slogan &#8220;Make Peace Great Again,&#8221; a play on Trump&#8217;s 2016 campaign slogan, &#8220;Make America Great Again.&#8221;
Embling asked one of the organizers why only a couple dozen demonstrators showed up at the protest.
&#8220;I think it&#8217;s, what went wrong is not the good question to ask,&#8221; the clearly frustrated organizer said.
The organizer blamed Brussels being on lockdown for the low turnout before Embling ended the interview.
</blockquote>

World Throws An Anti-Trump Protest At NATO, Hardly Anybody Shows Up

Donald Trump

An unidentified man detonated an explosive device at the Brussels Central Station late Monday, according to Belgian federal police. The suspect was shot by soldiers patrolling the station after he triggered a small explosion. No other injuries have been reported.
According to <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40349654">Belgian media sources</a>, the suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar” before triggering the explosion.
Citing prosecutors, Belgian newspaper La Libre reported that the suspect was wearing a bomb belt and a rucksack during the attack.
Following the explosion, police quickly evacuated the premises, clearing both the Central Station and Brussels’ Grand Palace.
As previously noted, the explosion was relatively small and few civilians were near the site of the blast. The image below has been circulating across social media; it purports to show the blast.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Photo shows the scene of an incident at a train station in Brussels, Belgium, that police say is under control <a href="https://t.co/pLnOZEqql4">https://t.co/pLnOZEqql4</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZiERRtNNMn">pic.twitter.com/ZiERRtNNMn</a>
— CNN (@CNN) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNN/status/877252593608798208">June 20, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Like London and Paris, Brussels has been targeted more than once by Islamist jihadists.
“In March 2016, 32 people died in attacks on Brussels claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group,” <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40349654">notes</a> the BBC.
While security forces acted quickly to neutralize the threat Monday, Belgian intelligence services <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/4461/suspected-brussels-terrorist-freed-authorities-joshua-yasmeh">have faced serious scrutiny</a> over their handling of jihadist threats.
In fact, the country’s intelligence services have been accused of failing to prevent preventable attacks.
After capturing Salah Abdeslam, one of the terrorists involved in the Paris massacre, just days before the Brussels bombings, interrogators failed to even ask the jihadist about future ISIS plans. Shockingly, they only questioned him for one hour before the Brussels attack.
Politico Europe <a href="http://www.politico.eu/article/belgium-terror-attacks-questioned-salah-abdeslam-for-only-one-hour-before-terror-attacks/">reports</a>:
<blockquote>Despite the discovery of detonators, weapons, and Abdeslam’s fingerprints in a safe house days earlier and growing evidence that the Brussels terror network was stronger than previously understood, law enforcement officials only briefly questioned Abdeslam because he was still recovering from surgery after being shot in the leg during his apprehension, according to a senior Belgian security official, who asked for anonymity to speak about the investigation.
“He seemed very tired and he had been operated on the day before,” the official said, adding that law enforcement officials did not question him again before Tuesday.
“They were not thinking about the possibilities of what happened on Tuesday morning,” said a second source with knowledge of the process.</blockquote>
Negligently, investigators only focused on the details of the January Paris attack. Already, U.S., French, and Turkish officials have blasted Belgium’s intelligence failures, rightly arguing that the <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/19/isis-is-just-one-of-a-full-blown-global-jihadist-insurgency.html">global jihadist insurgency</a> makes every Western-oriented country vulnerable to terror threats.
Molenbeek, a suburb of Brussels densely populated with immigrants and second-generation Muslims, was home to several jihadists who carried out some of the most lethal terrorist operations in modern European history.
It’s unclear if Monday’s attacker was a second-generation Muslim male from Molenbeek, an immigrant who came in as a refugee under Belgium’s generous asylum policy, a suspected jihadist crossing the Schengen Zone from one European Union country to another until finding a perfect target in Brussels, or a seriously disturbed individual obsessed with some perverse conception of Allah’s will.
One thing is clear, however. Jihadists have struck nearly every major city in Europe. The unimaginable is becoming the normal, and unless something changes soon, these sorts of attempted or successful attacks will continue to be carried out on a monthly, biweekly, or even weekly basis.

‘Allahu Akbar’: Man With ‘Bomb Belt’ Triggers Small Explosion In Brussels Central Station

Belgium

Europe

Islam

London

Muslim Immigration

Paris

Radical Islam

Radical Islamic Terror

On Thursday, President Donald Trump addressed the NATO leaders from 28 countries at the alliance&#8217;s headquarters in Brussels. Before giving a hard-line speech in which he called out NATO leaders to pay their pledged share of two percent GDP toward defense, the president appeared to <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/25/politics/trump-nato-what-to-watch/">push aside</a> a prime minister to get to the front of the group.
In the video clip seen below, President Trump pushes back Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic, patting him on the stomach, and moving to his place at the front of the group. Prime Minister Markovic can be seen grinning during the interaction. 
Watch:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote data-lang="en">
Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group? <a href="https://t.co/bL1r2auELd">pic.twitter.com/bL1r2auELd</a>
&#8212; Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKopack/status/867758571882258432">May 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Here&#8217;s the seeming power-move in slow-motion: 
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Slo-mo: Trump appears to push aside/shove another NATO leader to get to the front of the group. <a href="https://t.co/K0OC6QnEL4">pic.twitter.com/K0OC6QnEL4</a>
&#8212; Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKopack/status/867759838067118080">May 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Currently, only five countries, including the United States, pay the required two percent of GDP toward defense; the U.S. pays nearly four percent. 
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
2016 defense spending &#8211; NATO allies who met 2% of GDP goal. <a href="https://t.co/mj17uRlkl0">pic.twitter.com/mj17uRlkl0</a>
&#8212; Fox News (@FoxNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/867833210343960576">May 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump&#8217;s stance on NATO was even more skeptical than it is now. At one point, candidate Trump called the military alliance &#8220;obsolete,&#8221; a remark he has since <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/12/politics/donald-trump-jens-stoltenberg-nato/">walked back</a>. But the president made it clear on Thursday that the United States will continue to put pressure on our allies to pay their share toward their defense. 
Watch President Trump&#8217;s remarks, below: 
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote data-lang="en">
Today&#8217;s ceremony is a day for both remembrance and resolve.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NATOMeeting?src=hash">#NATOMeeting</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NATO?src=hash">#NATO</a> <a href="https://t.co/YNZV3bTekB">pic.twitter.com/YNZV3bTekB</a>
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/867801005018230786">May 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>

WATCH: President Trump Pushes Aside Prime Minister At NATO Summit

European officials are having a collective breakdown over the imminent reality of Brexit. From playing hardball in negotiations with London to threatening Eurosceptic groups across the continent, Brussels is losing its mind as individual nation states reassert their autonomy and part ways with a supranational overlord. The disintegration of the EU coincides with the rise of populist figures on both sides of the Atlantic. The election of Donald Trump may indeed portend the success of other ideological fellow travelers, including France&#8217;s Marine Le Pen. Unsurprisingly, European officials are lashing out with threats in the face of the coming populist storm sweeping the continent.
Less than one day after the U.K. made Brexit official with the triggering of Article 50, the president of the executive arm of the European Union decided to unload his anger on &#8230; America. Because why not? 
Threatening to tear apart the United States state-by-state, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/30/world/juncker-warns-trump-brexit/">stated</a> that if President Trump continues to oppose the EU, he&#8217;s &#8220;going to promote the independence of Ohio and Austin, Texas, in the United States of America.&#8221;
How delightful. Why not arm the rebels and restart the Civil War while you&#8217;re at it?
Juncker made the controversial comments at a conference for the center-right European People&#8217;s Party (EPP) in Malta.
Juncker and his lackeys in Brussels know full well that there&#8217;s nothing they could do to stop the United Kingdom from leaving Europe. The decision is final, no matter how much EU officials whine and moan.
And yet, Juncker couldn&#8217;t help but to make a fool of himself in public, giving false hope to desperate pro-Europe fanatics willing to do or say anything to prevent the inevitable fragmentation of the EU.
&#8220;Brexit isn&#8217;t the end. A lot of people would like it that way, even people on another continent where the newly-elected U.S. President was happy that the Brexit was taking place and has asked other countries to do the same,&#8221; Juncker <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/30/world/juncker-warns-trump-brexit/">squealed</a>, before threatening to support independence movements in Ohio and Austin. (By the way, Ohio is a state and Austin a city, Mr. Juncker. If you&#8217;re going to issue farcical threats, at least know your geography).

BITTER: Top EU Official Threatens To Tear Apart America State-By-State Because Of Brexit

Germany

Theresa May

United Kingdom

A British court was the scene of revelations that jihadists accused of terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels used British benefits payments to fund their horrific actions.
<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/24/man-hat-suspect-brussels-paris-attacks-given-3k-two-men-birmingham/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_tw">The Telegraph</a> reported that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who is accused of heading the terrorist attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead, sent Mohamed Abrini, who was known as the &#8220;man in the Hat&#8221; after the terrorist attack at the Brussels airport last March, to collect £3,000 by two men in Birmingham, England. Abrini traveled to Syria via Turkey in early 2015 after his brother, who belonged to ISIS, died. He claims that in Turkey, he met Abaaoud, who asked him to go to Birmingham.
Max Hill QC, prosecuting, stated Abrini spent three days in the West Midlands, then was told to go to a park in the Small Heath area of the city to meet his contacts.
Hill continued, &#8220;He waited for about ten minutes and the person arrived. The person told him to follow him while keeping a distance of around 10 to 15 metres. He did as he was told. They crossed the park and then walked outside the park and crossed a bridge which passes over a motorway. After the bridge they went into a little forest. There was second person in the forest and he had the money.&#8221;
Zakaria Bouffassil, 26, from Birmingham is accused of giving Abrini the cash, which had been withdrawn from the bank account of Anouar Haddouchi, a Belgian national, who had been claiming British benefit benefits while living in the West Midlands, Even after Haddouchi left for Syria in the summer of 2014 to fight with ISIS, thousands of pounds of taxpayers&#8217; money was paid to him.
Hill added, &#8220;His TSB account at times contained some £7,000 or more. The figure fluctuated over time because benefits payments were still going into the account, even though Haddouchi had left the country.&#8221; He explained that the funds had been gradually withdrawn in cash sums on various dates between 30 May 2015 and 23 November 2015.
Mohamed Ali Ahmed was the other contact handing over the money; he has admitted doing so.
Hill said bluntly:
<blockquote>
There is no doubt that the money was handed over with the intention of assisting acts of terrorism. The intention could not be more clear. Haddouchi had left the UK to fight for Daesh in Syria. Abrini came to collect the money in the UK. The destination would include Syria and specifically Daesh, either to Haddouchi himself or to other fighters. In other words the cash was handed over to Abrini with the intention of assisting others to commit acts of terrorism.
</blockquote>
Last June, it was <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/584772/Fathers-British-children-feared-Islamic-State-run-Syria-had-no-idea-of-mothers-plan">revealed</a> that three women, Khadija Dawood, 30, Sugra Dawood, 34, and Zohra Dawood, 33, and their nine children, aged between three and 15, used thousands of pounds in Income Support and Child Tax Credits to join ISIS in Syria.

British Welfare Helped Pay For Paris, Brussels Terrorist Attacks

France&#8217;s far-right National Front party is hoping to ride of the waves of the UK&#8217;s Brexit and Donald Trump&#8217;s populist victory to the halls of power.
In the latest presidential election polls posted this week, National Front leader Marine Le Pen has emerged as one of the country&#8217;s leading politicians, surpassing even center-right challenger and former President Nicolas Sarkozy.
&#8220;The far-right leader had 29 per cent of the vote when pitted against Les Républicains&#8217; former president, who was eight points behind, and held a 15-point lead over the Parti de Gauche&#8217;s Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the poll released by <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ipsos</a>,&#8221; <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/marine-le-pen-poll-election-odds-latest-french-presidential-lead-sarkozy-a7428126.html">reports</a> The Independent.
With socialist President Francois Hollande suffering from incredibly low-approval ratings, Le Pen appears to have a viable path forward to secure the presidency.
The mainstream French press is already reeling from the latest polling numbers, suggesting that the French Republic is headed for doom.
But outside of the media offices of Paris, everyday people have a much different view of the ever-popular far-right party and its outspoken, albeit controversial, female leader.
Here are 7 things you need to know about the National Front&#8217;s Marine Le Pen.
1. Marine Le Pen is the daughter of longtime National Front leader, Jean Marie Le Pen, a fiery politician known for his off-color, Neo-Nazi dogwhistle remarks about Jews and other minorities. The elder Le Pen was kicked out of the party after quipping that the Holocaust was merely a minor &#8220;detail in the history of World War II.&#8221;
2. Le Pen has worked to rehabilitate the once-radical image of the National Front, bringing the party into the mainstream. For decades, the National Front was relegated to sidelines, operating as a fringe xenophobic group attractive to only the most hardened ethno-nationalists. But the younger Le Pen has made major strides in softening the party&#8217;s image and expanding its appeal beyond its core constituency. While its core constituency is still largely comprised of xenophobic and sometimes even racist elements, the party has successfully expanded the tent to include Euroskeptics, labor unions, and working class constituents. In an effort to expedite the &#8220;de-demonization of the Front National,&#8221; Marine Le Pen voiced her strong opposition to her father&#8217;s Holocaust denial, arguing that the genocide marked &#8220;the height of barbarism.&#8221; In addition, Le Pen has led the party into accepting more progressive stances on social issues, including the toleration of civil unions for same-sex couples.
3. Le Pen is strongly opposed to the European Union, calling it a strain on the sovereignty of France. Le Pen has even pushed for France to adopt its own currency, separate from the euro. Echoing many of the same sentiments about the EU as the UK&#8217;s Ukip party, the National Front is deeply suspicious of Brussels.
4. Le Pen ran for president once before. In 2012, the rising star of the National Front ran for president, electrifying unprecedented support for the once-fringe political party. In some districts, she polled at 20%-plus, sowing the seeds for a run in 2016.
5. Le Pen is strongly against illegal immigration (and immigration for that matter). Advocating for a moratorium on immigrants crossing into France, Le Pen believes that France needs to fix its own house before bowing to European Union bureaucrats and absorbing thousands of immigrants from predominately Islamic countries like Syria. Le Pen&#8217;s opposition to German Chancellor Angela Merkel stems largely from the National Front&#8217;s concern about Merkel&#8217;s Europe-wide refugee program.
<blockquote>
&#8220;The far-right leader had 29 per cent of the vote when pitted against Les Républicains&#8217; former president, who was eight points behind, and held a 15-point lead over the Parti de Gauche&#8217;s Jean-Luc Mélenchon &#8230;&#8221;
The Independent
</blockquote>
6. Le Pen strongly believes in a secular French Republic. The far-right leader&#8217;s stance on the separation of church and state is unapologetic. As a result, she has called for all immigrants, especially refugees, to accept the social norms of French society and assimilate accordingly. Le Pen has pushed for the controversial &#8220;burkini&#8221; ban, suggesting that such regressive Islamic veiling is antithetical to the secularism modern France was built upon.
7. Le Pen wants to reexamine France&#8217;s geostrategic relationships with the United States and Russia. Le Pen has openly admitted that she&#8217;s open to a friendlier relationship with Vladimir Putin&#8217;s Russia as an extension of her anti-European sentiments. She believes that France has long taken cues from Washington, often against its own self-interests, and therefore can benefit from expanding its ties outside of the West.

Marine Le Pen Takes Enormous Lead in French Polls. Here Are 7 Things You Need To Know About Her.

Belgian intelligence services have arrested and subsequently released a man believed to be directly involved in the Brussels bombings. Police initially charged Muslim &#8220;<a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/4449/fact-about-brussels-bomber-suspect-will-enrage-you-michael-qazvini">migrant rights activist</a>&#8221; Faycal Cheffou with several counts of &#8220;terrorist murder&#8221; and involvement in a terror network, but released him due to lack of evidence.
Here&#8217;s video surveillance of the &#8220;man in the hat,&#8221; courtesy of NBC News. Police apparently suspected that the man seen rolling a luggage of explosives in the Brussels airport prior to the explosions was none other than Cheffou. 

<div class="media_embed"><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315px" width="560px"></iframe></div>

Without detailed explanation, Belgian&#8217;s federal prosecutor announced that the suspect, labeled by security forces as &#8220;Faycal C.,&#8221; was released due to a lack of evidence. 
Cheffou was arrested on Thursday and released on Sunday, at the same time as mourners gathered in Brussels for a prayer vigil honoring the victims lost in the terrorist attack.
One of two scenarios is possible. Either Cheffou didn&#8217;t do it and Belgian intelligence services are utterly incompetent, arresting and releasing Muslim men linked with jihadist networks. Or Belgium just released the man responsible for blowing up an airport, in which case&#8230;holy sh*t. 
While this was the first arrest of a suspect believed to be directly involved in the bombing, others have been detained last week in relation to the ISIS cell that planned the attack. &#8220;Early Monday, Belgium&#8217;s federal prosecutor announced that three people had been charged with participation in a terror group. It did not say whether the suspects &#8212; identified only as Yassine A., Mohamed B. and Aboubaker O. &#8212; had ties to any particular plot,&#8221; <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/brussels-attacks/belgium-ushers-new-week-raids-remembrance-brussels-n546416?cid=sm_tw">reports</a> NBC News. &#8220;That followed charges against two other people over the weekend, which prosecutors similarly did not explicitly link to any plot or the Brussels bombings.&#8221;
So far, the intelligence gathering capabilities of Belgian&#8217;s security forces hasn&#8217;t inspired much confidence. After capturing Salah Abdeslam, one of the terrorists involved in the Paris massacre, just days before the Brussels bombings, interrogators failed to even ask the jihadist about future ISIS plans. Shockingly, they only questioned him for one hour before the Brussels attack. 
Politico Europe <a href="http://www.politico.eu/article/belgium-terror-attacks-questioned-salah-abdeslam-for-only-one-hour-before-terror-attacks/">reports</a>:
<blockquote>
Despite the discovery of detonators, weapons, and Abdeslam&#8217;s fingerprints in a safe house days earlier and growing evidence that the Brussels terror network was stronger than previously understood, law enforcement officials only briefly questioned Abdeslam because he was still recovering from surgery after being shot in the leg during his apprehension, according to a senior Belgian security official, who asked for anonymity to speak about the investigation.
&#8220;He seemed very tired and he had been operated on the day before,&#8221; the official said, adding that law enforcement officials did not question him again before Tuesday.
&#8220;They were not thinking about the possibilities of what happened on Tuesday morning,&#8221; said a second source with knowledge of the process. 
</blockquote>
Negligently, investigators only focused on the details of the January Paris attack. Already, US, French, and Turkish officials have blasted Belgium&#8217;s intelligence failures, rightly arguing that the <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/19/isis-is-just-one-of-a-full-blown-global-jihadist-insurgency.html">global jihadist insurgency</a> makes every Western-oriented country vulnerable to terror threats.
As ISIS sleeper cells communicate and send orders across the European continent, gaps in intelligence sharing and security surveillance will be further exposed. Belgium&#8217;s security failures may very well create a domino effect across the region, allowing ISIS guerillas the latitude needed to carry out more heinous attacks against civilians.

Suspected Brussels Terrorist Freed By Authorities; Belgium Compounds Security Failures

National Security

Terrorism

Radical Muslims bombed <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35911401">Brussels</a> last Tuesday, murdering 35 people and injuring over 300. Naturally, President Barack Obama responded by berating Americas over Islamophobia.
In his weekly radio address, Obama pompously <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3511485/Obama-urges-Americans-not-stigmatize-Muslims-wake-Brussels-attack-Republican-candidates-suggested-policing-areas-live-high-numbers.html">lectured,</a> &#8220;We have to reject any attempt to stigmatize Muslim-Americans and their enormous contributions to our country and our way of life.&#8221;
He <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/obama-stigmatizing-all-muslims-plays-into-hands-of-terrorists/">continued:</a>
<blockquote>
&#8220;Such attempts are contrary to our character, to our values, and to our history as a nation built around the idea of religious freedom. It&#8217;s also counterproductive,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;It plays right into the hands of terrorists who want to turn us against one another &#8212; who need a reason to recruit more people to their hateful cause.&#8221;
</blockquote>
It was vintage Obama: every time a radical Islamist commits an act of terror, he kowtows to the politically correct forces on the left instead of focusing on protecting the American people. Obama unfairly blames the American people for Islamophobia, when <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/3011/jeb-fretted-about-islamophobia-last-nights-debate-aaron-bandler">FBI statistics</a> show that 57 percent of hate crimes are toward Jews, while only 16 percent are towards Muslims. There is no rampant Islamophobia in America.
As <a href="https://pjmedia.com/diaryofamadvoter/2016/02/03/obamas-islamophobia/1/">PJ Media</a>&#8216;s Roger Simon points out, it is actually Obama showing &#8220;contempt&#8221; toward the Muslim community with his nonstop lectures since he&#8217;s &#8220;treating them like children who need to be coddled.&#8221;
&#8220;As most parents know, coddling children is a sure way to ratify, even encourage, bad behavior,&#8221; writes Simon.
Obama and his ilk don&#8217;t understand that Islam is not a monolithic religion of peace, as <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/433258/ted-cruz-muslim-surveillance">National Review</a>&#8216;s Andy McCarthy explains:
<blockquote>
Again, as I have pointed out on numerous occasions, there are modernist Muslims who embrace the Western Enlightenment and reject the fundamentalist interpretation of Islam &#8212; Islam for them truly is a faith rather than a totalitarian political ideology. But while we welcome them into our society (many of them are our fellow Americans), it makes no more sense to see them as the only true Muslims and thus absolve Islam than it would to see the fundamentalists as the only true Muslims and condemn Islam.
We have to distinguish between the two, our security requires targeting surveillance on the hostiles, and non-fundamentalist Muslims &#8212; if they are sincere &#8212; have as great an interest as anyone in the identification, marginalization, and defeat of the fundamentalists. So we also have to stop walking on eggshells about this, as if commonsense defense measures signaled the rise of the Third Reich.
</blockquote>
In a separate <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428201/donald-trump-muslim-immigration-policy-discussion">piece,</a> McCarthy writes that the Islamist fundamentalists are austere adherents of Sharia law, which involves &#8220;systematic discrimination against non-Muslims and women; its denial of religious liberty, free speech, economic freedom, privacy rights, due process, and protection from cruel and unusual punishments; and its endorsement of violent jihad in furtherance of protecting and expanding the territory it governs.&#8221; The Islamists seek to impose Sharia on Western civilization.
In his book <a href="http://townhall.com/tipsheet/aaronbandler/2015/08/11/plunder-and-deceit-a-millennials-take-on-mark-levins-new-book-n2036858">Plunder and Deceit,</a> radio host and constitutional scholar Mark Levin highlights a disturbing statistic from the Pew Research Center showing that eight percent of Muslims view suicide bombing and other violent tactics from terror groups as &#8220;often or sometimes justified&#8221; and an additional five percent think they &#8220;might be justified in rare circumstances.&#8221;
&#8220;As there are 1.8 million adult Muslims in the United States, this suggests that at least theoretically as many as thirteen thousand support the use of suicide bombs or other forms of terrorism,&#8221; writes Levin.
Lectures on Islamophobia won&#8217;t solve the problem. The problem will only be solved with a president who understands the true nature of radical Islam and is willing to defeat it

Radical Muslims Bombed Brussels. President Obama Thinks You Should Be Nicer To Them.

Barack Obama

Belgian police have detained one of the Muslim men reportedly responsible for the horrific Brussels metro bombings. The man has been identified as Faycal Cheffou. Ironically, Cheffou also happens to be every Leftist’s wet dream: a &#8220;migrant rights activist&#8221; and faux-journalist.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Belgian prosecutors have charged Fayçal Cheffou, a freelance journalist, with involvement in &#8216;terrorist killings&#8217;. <a href="https://t.co/pQ4D0e4nb6">pic.twitter.com/pQ4D0e4nb6</a>
— UK News (@UK__News) <a href="https://twitter.com/UK__News/status/713833017228177409">March 26, 2016</a></blockquote>
“Mr. Cheffou was listed as working for a radio station for North African migrants in an article from 2005. He claimed to be a ‘freelance journalist’ who took a special interest in refugees,” <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/03/28/brussels-bomber-was-migrant-rights-activist-who-lived-next-door-to-eu/">reports</a> Breitbart News. “Last year Brussels Mayor, Yves Mayeur, accused him of trying to recruit jihadists among asylum seekers and migrants living at a refugee centre at Maximilien park near the northern rail station.” Breitbart adds:
<blockquote><a href="http://www.lesoir.be/1163359/article/actualite/belgique/2016-03-26/faycal-cheffou-identifie-comme-3e-homme-du-commando-zaventem">According</a> to Belgium paper Le Soir, Mr. Mayeur considered him to be “dangerous” and repeatedly tried without success to have him legally expelled from the centre. Finally, in September, the mayor issued a ban to keep him out of the park.
This morning, the Belgium Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Theo Francken, tweeted a picture of Mr. Cheffou campaigning from a migrant camp, describing him as “jihadist creep”.</blockquote>
Over the last few months, Cheffou uploaded countless videos supposedly documenting the “oppression” of Muslim migrants. With nearly 900 subscribers, Cheffou’s Youtube channel features a flurry of “educational” material, including lectures on “police brutality,” human rights abuses against Palestinians, and invocations of the same 7th century text, the Quran, over and over again.
We get it, you like the book.
Here’s Cheffou in “journalist” mode, edifying the public about the conditions at Muslim migrant camps:
<div class="media_embed"><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cP0gs_AvE4U" width="560px" height="315px" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
“I am concerned by the shouts and the noise I can hear as they are crying for help,” he laments in the video. “This is a lack of respect for human rights.”

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