In recent statements, Foreign Minister Baiba Braže has firmly rejected EU-mandated migrant redistribution, declaring Latvia “will not accept new migrants” and emphasizing that the country is already bearing a disproportionate burden in securing the EU’s external borders. She highlighted that over 12,000 attempts at illegal border crossings were prevented in recent years, primarily along the Latvian–Belarusian border, and stressed that Latvia would not pay for or host relocated migrants.
These positions reflect broader anxieties in Latvian society, amplified by extreme rhetoric from some Muslim community leaders. In 2015, Ahmed Robert Klimovičs, a spokesperson for the Islamic Cultural Centre in Riga, claimed that Latvia would become an Islamic state within 50 years, citing demographic trends and the high fertility rate among Muslim families. His comments—though later clarified as advocating democratic change rather than violence—sparked national debate and concern.
Meanwhile, Latvian security officials have reported that the country’s Muslim community has been affected by radicalization trends, with several individuals expressing intentions to join extremist groups like the Islamic State. The Latvian Security Police has also noted that young Latvians are being recruited by international criminal networks to smuggle migrants into the EU, further fueling fears about security and national integrity.
Buddhism is very much a system of ethics. Buddhist practice is founded on the Five Precepts of refraining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and the irresponsible use of alcohol.
In most Buddhist traditions, these precepts are taught as if they are fundamental to the workings of the universe. But how can morality be fundamental to the workings of the universe? How does it really even matter to human beings?
If we think of a human being as a signaling system, we may be able to show that ethical thoughts and behavior are of fundamental importance to the system itself.
Human signaling systems signal internally, within themselves, and externally, toward other people. Our most important signaling system is the one we share with that person who is most important to us, our mate or best friend. Let’s confine our discussion to this sort of primary signaling system.
If I lie to my partner or cheat her, I may gain something outside of our shared signaling system, but that signaling system will suffer. And when that shared system suffers, my own internal signaling system will also suffer because it will contain errors. It will no longer be in its optimal state. Similarly, if she lies to me or cheats me, our mutual signaling system will become less than optimal as will both of our individual, or internal, signaling systems.
My own signaling system cannot grow or become optimal without my partner treating me with the best ethical behavior she can muster. And the same is true for her with respect to me. And we both know this.
We would be good to each other anyway, but it is helpful to see that our being good to each other has a very practical foundation—it assures us optimal performance of our mutual and internal signaling systems.
FIMLpractice is designed to provide partners with a clear and reasonably objective means to communicate honestly with each other. FIML practice will gradually optimize communication between partners by making it much clearer and more honest. In doing this, it will also optimize the operations of their mutual and individual signaling systems.
To my knowledge, there is nothing like FIML in any Buddhist tradition. But if I try to read FIML into the tradition, I may be able to find something similar in the way monks traveled together in pairs for much of the year. I don’t know what instructions the Buddha may have given them or how they spoke to each other, but it may be that they did a practice with each other similar to FIML practice.
In any case, if we view human being as a signaling system, we may be able to claim that clear signaling—that is, ethical signaling—is fundamental to the optimization of that system.
[i] Here, the monk, detached from sense-desires, detached from unwholesome states, enters and remains in the first jhana (level of concentration, Sanskrit: dhyāna), in which there is applied and sustained thinking, together with joy and pleasure born of detachment; [ii] And through the subsiding of applied and sustained thinking, with the gaining of inner stillness and oneness of mind, he enters and remains in the second jhana, which is without applied and sustained thinking, and in which there are joy and pleasure born of concentration; [iii] And through the fading of joy, he remains equanimous, mindful and aware, and he experiences in his body the pleasure of which the Noble Ones say: “equanimous, mindful and dwelling in pleasure”, and thus he enters and remains in the third jhana; [iv] And through the giving up of pleasure and pain, and through the previous disappearance of happiness and sadness, he enters and remains in the fourth jhana, which is without pleasure and pain, and in which there is pure equanimity and mindfulness.
This is a description of the first four states of Buddhist meditation or ‘concentration’, as it is sometimes translated. This is the eighth element of the Noble Eightfold Path. What is meant in this description is very clear. It is pure religious practice, the essence of prayer and contemplation. It is that which leads to the ‘presence of God’ in Christian mysticism. It is communion with the Divine, the experience of transcendent Cosmic Consciousness that underlies and oversees our small consciousnesses. The Buddha taught a path of ethical purity, diligent mindfulness and non-attachment to anything that detracts from a clear mind, an unencumbered mind. In this sense, Buddhism is a pristine spiritual elixir with no added vocabularies, stories, beliefs or ornamentation. The ‘going out’ or ‘cessation’ of all hindrances to achieving jhana and samadhi states is nirvana. In this sense, Buddhism is a universal religion that focuses directly on the goal of all ethical religious practice—direct knowledge and communion with ______; use your own word(s) for that. ABN
Personally, I see all of the Abrahamic religious variations as being unwise and potentially dangerous.
All religions and extremist politics, such as communism and woke, occupy the top cognitive levels of the mind; and for that reason lend themselves to fanaticism and consensus bias.
Christian-Zionists and many evangelical sects have been infiltrated by Jewish Supremists, who even dare to change the Bible and its Christian interpretations.
Buddhism has its problems, but three features of Buddhism are very wise and largely protect the tradition: 1) Buddhism does not take any written words to be God’s words, and thus subject to fanatical misinterpretations. 2) The Buddha always said he was just a man and not a god. 3) It is considered very bad conduct for Buddhists to claim to be enlightened when they are not.
As for Buddhism being ‘Godless’, that’s not true. Buddhism holds the position of ‘having no belief’ about the nature of Ultimate Reality because to do so is to retreat from it. Humans are not smart enough to say what it is but can experience it.
Buddhism is a rich and ancient philosophy. It is the foundation of Greek skepticism, but not limited to skepticism’s intellectual paradigm. Pyrrho took what he could understand from Buddhist monks in Bactria about 100 years after the Buddha’s passing.
Buddhism: No scriptures claiming to be the Word of God. No proselytizing, only welcoming those who come on their own. Strong focus on individual responsibility, which prevents the weakness Buddhists perceive in Christians or the craziness we see in religious fanatics of all stripes.
I’m just one person. What I have written is an extemporaneous response to the videos above and how they capture a slice of the terrifying nonsense in the world today.
I know a good deal about Jewish Supremacy, so I write about it often. Gaza and the public assassination of Charlie Kirk, and now the Epstein files and war with Iran, have shown millions how our world really works, how evil has burrowed so deeply into all of our institutions. ABN
Former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland, who also chaired the Norwegian Nobel Committee and served as Secretary General of the Council of Europe, was reportedly hospitalised following an alleged suicide attempt amid corruption charges linked to his connections with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The development came days after Jagland was formally charged with aggravated corruption, which carries a potential 10-year prison term.
He has denied wrongdoing, describing his ties to Epstein as “unwise” or “poor judgement” and pledging full cooperation with the investigation.
Thorbjørn Jagland, former Norwegian Prime Minister and chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 2009 to 2015, was directly involved in awarding Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. As the committee’s chairman at the time, he oversaw the decision to grant the prize to Obama, a move that drew significant international attention and criticism due to Obama being less than nine months into his presidency and during ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
_________
The West is dying because our general sense of right and wrong is far too abstract and out of touch with the extremely vast majority of human cultures in the world today and throughout history. I can respect people who kill themselves over personal moral issues. But it appears Jagland was remiss on the morality of global and national politics as well. He is emblematic of of the deep failure of Westerners to live up to their own ideals while also failing to protect their own people. Notice, Epstein trafficked and sexually abused zero Jewish victims. He was as low as they come, but still. First Noble Truth — the human realm is characterized by suffering which arises out of clinging to delusion. ABN
This interpretation is the result of Jewish Supremacy’s infiltration of USA and the West. Its ‘intellectual’ basis is a made-up oldish text, purported to be ancient and originating from ‘God’. Its ‘spiritual’ basis is money and lust for power. Jewish Supremacy was born out of a centuries-long Jewish inferiority complex, which has lasted well into the modern era. Freud suffered from it and based his bogus theories on it. Claiming you are superior to the people who released you from your medieval conditions and taught you everything good you now know, is a diabolical psychological reversal which only a people steeped in self-delusion could manage or even conceive of. ABN
This demonstration of solemn obeisance, couched in religious language and purported visionary experience, is a requirement for America’s upper-middle-tier elite. This keeps the redirected tax dollars flowing and the congratulatory bots humming. Not saying Beck is doing this, but for Americans at his level, fake piety and unChristian, irreligious allegiance to Jewish Supremacy is a sine qua non of elite membership. ABN
When people say ‘Vikings’ they usually picture longships raiding England.
Here’s what actually happened over 300 years: → Norwegians settled Iceland, Greenland, and reached North America → Danes conquered half of England and Normandy → Swedes built trade empires stretching to Baghdad
Three different expansion patterns from three Scandinavian homelands. One map that tells the whole story.
And…. 960 years later, in 2026, their original territories and Western strongholds are paying invaders to cum and outbreed them. Thirty-five years ago, Norway and Sweden were the most respected nations in the world. Today Sweden has the highest rape rate in the EU. My guys, this will not go away unless you do something. ABN
Self-deception begins within seconds of listening or speaking.
Once committed to an interpretation or tending toward one, the brain builds on it quickly.
Once an interpretation has been built upon, the brain remembers it as what truly happened even if that is false.
This is normal. The human brain has evolved to use self-deception.
This probably happened because truer forms of communication are complex and use a lot of time. They can also be confusing and difficult.
Confusion, difficulty, and complexity interfere with social cohesion and motivation.
Strong self-deception deceives others better than weak self-deception or no self-deception. In this way, it promotes social cohesion and motivation.
Self-deception can be observed and understood if it is caught quickly. The best way to catch it is through a technique like FIML.
Self-deception is a kind of neurosis, delusion, false cognition. Nevertheless, we are so used to it, we can feel lost without it.
But you do not need self-deception, unless you are a card-carrying member of a rigid or unwholesome group and are afraid to grow bigger.
If self-deception is discovered many times through FIML practice, it does not present as a philosophy or attitude or whole picture of the mind. Nor does it present as a neurosis, delusion, or false cognition.
Rather it presents as a composite of many pixels—many small instances—of observed and corrected mistakes.
Thus seen as an aggregation of many small instances, self-deception gradually is lessened.
Self-deception is something Buddhists seek to train themselves out of.
American Buddhist Net 