Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Don't miss the important year-end political news

Update

The Old Jarhead Blog--thanks for following!
I try to make this blog your one-stop-shop for political news and conservative opinion. Founded in October, 2008, it gets 5k to 7k page views a week, most from the US, but hundreds from many countries worldwide. Feel free to post or forward to friends who need to be better informed. The news posts are created from several news feeds, from US and international websites, from twitter when I have spare time to follow it, and by many readers who send me items for inclusion, which I would have often have missed or skipped. We owe them thanks and appreciation. I try to include foreign sources and info you won’t get in the MSM, but I often use links to pieces in the Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, Reuters and other left-of-center sources. No one is required to read the blog, or any of the links. Trust me, no one reads everything posted, but scanning the headlines will keep you informed, and you can click on stories you want to know more about. I post articles because I think they are of interest and will stimulate thought and discussion. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree (or disagree) with every—or any—opinion in the posted article, or that I was able to verify the information presented, which is the responsibility of the author. I try not to post things that are false, too far a stretch, or viciously inflammatory, regardless of the view point. I also try to avoid items that will turn off thoughtful centrists and leftists or low-information independents, including “red meat” pieces with intemperate language or wild speculation, conspiracy theories with no supporting facts and silly distractions like the so-called “birther” issue (which I correctly predicted years ago was going nowhere, and wasted time and energy), but I don’t always succeed. I use maybe 50% of the conservative pieces sent me, probably less than 5% of the liberal opinion sent, usually to illustrate their views. Readers who don’t like that are welcome to start their own blogs. Readers who send formatted pieces (title, link, and a fair-use excerpt of no more than three sentences unless the piece is very short, than fewer) to tartanmarine(at)gmail.com have a higher chance of my using them than people who just send a link. A piece without a link has a much lower chance of being used—it depends on how interesting it is and how much time I have right then to search for it, and my time is limited right now due to managing the lung transplant I received on December 23, 2013, which has developed complications. I understand if you don’t have the time to format or even to find a link—please understand I don't either. I often include thoughtful comments from contributors. (Tell me if you want your full name used.) There are no ads on my blog, no fees and I receive no income from it. Now that I've retired, that might need to change, though I hate the ads on most blogs. For now, that’s how it is. I do promote my books, with the royalties going to charity. As always on the Net, as in the legacy media, you must read these posts critically and with skepticism.

General News and Comment

Worth Reading: Hollywood’s Munich Moments: Years of trashing U.S. culture haven’t bought American filmmakers immunity. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: Unlike crazy North Korea, Pakistan is not necessarily just blowing smoke. For years, elements of the Pakistani intelligence services have worked hand-in-glove with al-Qaeda–affiliated terrorists to thwart American efforts to build consensual government in neighboring Afghanistan. It was no accident that Osama bin Laden lived with impunity for years right under the noses of Pakistani authorities. Not to be left out, Egypt’s junta is likewise furious at another new Hollywood film, Exodus. 

Worth Reading: 2014: The Year of the Fainting CouchNorth Korea joined the “do not offend” list and law students needed grief counseling. By Rich Lowry
Excerpt: To put it in Victorian terms, 2014 had a case of the vapors. It was all aflutter. It needed smelling salts and a fan, and a good rest on a fainting couch to restore its bearings. It was a year when the national pastime of taking offense and of fearing that someone might be offended reached such parodic levels that Kim Jong-un got in the act.

LtCol Ken Pipes addresses Recon & Special Ops Marines on being a real man
Col. Pipes would know. ~Bob

Hillary, 48 Percent Of Americans Said They Are Not Voting For You. By Matt Vespa
Excerpt: Is this a Christmas gift for the GOP? Despite what many pundit circles have been saying about the invulnerability of Hillary Clinton’s reported presidential ambitions, almost half the country said they weren’t going to vote for her if she ran in 2016... (She will still likely win. A lot of so-called "conservatives" would prefer her rather than vote for Jeb or Mitt or some "RINO" they consider not 100% pure. They preferred to have Obama win in 2012 rather than vote for Mitt who wasn't in agreement with them on every issue. ~Bob)

James Woods Tweets EPIC Anti-Obama Cartoon, Immediately Goes Viral [PICTURE]

Poll: Jeb Bush Leading Republicans For 2016. By Katie Pavlich
Excerpt: Jeb Bush is the clear Republican presidential frontrunner, surging to the front of the potential GOP pack following his announcement that he's "actively exploring" a bid, a new CNN/ORC poll found. He takes nearly one-quarter — 23% — of Republicans surveyed in the new nationwide poll, putting him 10 points ahead of his closest competitor, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who tallied 13%. (I have problems with Jeb on immigration and Common Core, but prefer him to Christie, who is soft on jihad. And, of course, I prefer any of the GOP potentials to Hillary, Biden, Warren, Sanders, O'Malley et. al. ~Bob)

Here's the Real Reason for US Military's Declining Morale
Excerpt: The key factor is senior leadership that has not kept faith with its troops. (Loyalty has always been and always will be a two way street. MasterGuns)

Good Samaritan stops purse snatcher inside Manchester Walmart
Excerpt: Rhonda Healey, 51, was looking at holiday cards inside the store Tuesday afternoon, when a man police identified as Alan White, 24, took her wallet from the purse that was in the child seat of her shopping cart. ... As Healey began to yell, "Stop him, he has my wallet," Rick White, 43, heard her screams and saw Alan White running, police said. (Note comment: Could this be considered a white on white crime? --George)

The Two Biggest Donors in Politics Are on the Left. By Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt
The next time somebody complains about Republicans winning because of all of that big money in politics, cycle were Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg, aiming to help pro-cap-and-trade and pro-gun-control Democrats. Steyer donated nearly $75 million, Bloomberg $27 million. By comparison, the biggest right-of-center donor was Sheldon Adelson, with . . . $13 million. A cheapskate by comparison!

Worth Reading: Frontpage’s 2014 Person of the Year: The American Police Officer. By Daniel Greenfield 
Excerpt: As we sit here in our homes with our families and loved ones around us, tens of thousands of children wonder if their parents will come home tonight. Their fathers and mothers aren’t stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan. They’re on duty in places like Englewood in Chicago where there are 2 violent crimes for every 1,000 people in one month, Columbus Square in St. Louis or Bedford-Stuyvesant in New York City where two police officers were just murdered. ... Since 2001, more than 700 officers have been killed by gunfire. During the Gulf War, more officers were killed on the streets of American cities than in combat against Saddam.

How My Son Mike Came To Recognize The Wickedness In Washington. By Donald Hank
Excerpt: As I read report after report on how Washington had given this or that group guns and materiel which later were used against us and against minorities in their countries, I became so impacted by this phenomenon of American officials' complicity with the murder of good and innocent people that I began warning about it at my blog. That was several years ago.

Worth Reading: ear America, I Saw You Naked. And yes, we were laughing. Confessions of an ex-TSA agent. By Jason Edward Harrington
Excerpt: One week earlier, on Christmas Day 2009, a man named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had tried to detonate 80 grams of a highly explosive powder while on Northwest Airlines Flight 253. He had smuggled the bomb aboard the plane in a pouch sewn into his underwear. It was a masterpiece of post-9/11 tragicomedy: Passengers tackled and restrained Abdulmutallab for the remainder of the flight, and he succeeded in burning nothing besides his own genitals. The TSA saw the near-miss as proof that aviation security could not be ensured without the installation of full-body scanners in every U.S. airport. (This is an older piece, but it confirms my suspicions about the TSA. I always thought I could get a gun on a plane if I wanted to, though I'm not near stupid enough to try. ~Bob)

Another Common Core Lesson Promotes Islam
Excerpt: Yet more and more we are seeing lesson plans that teach the Islamic religion and the only ones complaining are Christians. None of the groups that fight to eliminate religion from the public schools seem to be doing anything to stop the teaching of Islam, just Christianity. (There is no danger in attacking Christianity or Judaism. Say something Muslims don't like and you can be killed. ~Bob)

FBI briefed on alternate Sony hack theory. By Tal Kopan
Excerpt: FBI agents investigating the Sony Pictures hack were briefed Monday by a security firm that says its research points to laid-off Sony staff, not North Korea, as the perpetrator — another example of the continuing whodunnit blame game around the devastating attack. (My money is still on N. Korea. Just as Obama said... ~Bob)

Rep. Michael Grimm announces his resignation from Congress, effective Monday
Excerpt: U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) announced late Monday that he will resign from Congress effective next week. Grimm pleaded guilty in federal court last week to felony tax fraud. He privately told House Republican leaders Monday that he will resign, following calls from Democrats for him to step down.

Always Worth Reading: Random Thoughts. By Thomas Sowell 
Excerpt: It tells us a lot about academia that the president of Smith College quickly apologized for saying, "All lives matter," after being criticized by those who are pushing the slogan, "Black lives matter." If science could cross breed a jellyfish with a parrot, it could create academic administrators. ... When the political left wants to help the black community, they usually want to help the worst elements in that community -- thugs they portray as martyrs, for example -- without the slightest regard for the negative effect this can have on the lives of the majority of decent black people.

America interrupted. By Cal Thomas
Excerpt: A Pew Research Center study confirms one trend that has been obvious over several years. The "typical" American family is no longer typical. Just 46 percent of American children now live in homes with their married, heterosexual parents. Five percent have no parents at home. They most likely are living with grandparents, says the study. These startling figures about the decline of the American family contrast with the year 1960 when 73 percent of American children lived in traditional families. (Kids living with two committed gay parents are in much better shape than those living with single parents, in foster homes, in domestic violence situations and living with other pathologies, IMHO. ~Bob)

Florida State’s unusual bond with Seminole Tribe puts mascot debate in a different light
Excerpt: The course — born in 2006, hatched right after the NCAA clamored about changing Native American mascots, conceived with input from the Seminole Tribe of Florida — doubles as epitome. It demonstrates the unusual bond between a 41,000-strong university way up in the Florida Panhandle and a 4,000-strong tribe that history shoved into the Everglades and below Lake Okeechobee and way down almost to Miami, some 400 miles from Room 208 of the HCB Classroom Building. It helps explain why, if Native American mascots keep ebbing in the United States through the 21st century, “Florida State Seminoles” could be the last one standing in the 22nd. (Madison sports writers bash the Seminoles when UW plays them. But being white, they know what's better for the dumb Indians than the native Americans do. ~Bob)

Sweetheart deal? Unions allowed to cut retiree benefits rather than fix underfunded pensions
Excerpt: The United Food and Commercial Workers Union is a heavyweight on the labor scene. It pays its president $350,000 a year. It’s holding its next executive board meeting in February at a swanky beachfront resort inHollywood, Florida. And it just doled out nearly $8 million to influence the last election and lobby Washington. But when it comes to standing by the obligation unions made to provide pensions to retirees, UFCW pleaded poverty in persuading Congress to let chronically underfunded union pension plans cut the benefits of workers, including those already retired.

Gun News

Reason's Gillespie: Crime Rate Drops as Gun Permits Rise. By Greg Richter
Excerpt: Despite efforts from the left to restrict gun ownership on claims that it will reduce crime, the opposite is actually true, says Reason.com editor Nick Gillespie. In a Sunday blog post, Gillespie points out that crime rates drop in states that enact laws allowing more people to carry concealed weapons, and they drop even further as more residents of those states avail themselves of their right. In 1987, Gillespie notes, the total crime rate was 5,550 per 100,000 people while the violent crime rate was 610 per 100,000. By 2013, those figures had dropped to 3,099 and 368. (Gee, here's an interesting idea... except it seems there are facts here, not just an idea. --Del)

Good Samaritan Gunman Stops Assault In Progress
Excerpt: A North Texas man is being heralded a hero after police said he held a man at gunpoint who was assaulting a woman. ... Chief Steve Mylett with the Southlake Police Department said the man had just witnessed the driver of the red vehicle hitting his female passenger. Police arrested MacMichael Nwaiwu, 28, who is now in jail.

Homeowner With a Gun Warns Armed Intruders Not to Take Another Step Toward Him. They Refuse — and It Turns Out to Be Their Final Mistake.
Excerpt: But this homeowner was armed, too. And he reportedly gave a verbal warning to the trio not to take another step toward him — but they refused, WREG reported. So the homeowner fired several shots, killing two men — Jordan Mitchell, 18, and Melvin Atkins, 20, the station said. The third alleged intruder got away, WREG said. (Sad that one got away. ~Bob)

Race Card News

Worth Reading: When Facts Are Obsolete. Juries in Ferguson and elsewhere could not ignore them — unlike mobs and the media. By Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: Some of us, who are old enough to remember the old television police series Dragnet may remember Sergeant Joe Friday saying, “Just the facts, ma’am.” But that would be completely out of place today. Facts are becoming obsolete, as recent events have demonstrated. What matters today is how well you can concoct a story that fits people’s preconceptions and arouses their emotions.

Worth Reading: The Left’s Use of Black People. By Walter Williams 
Excerpt: Let’s look at some of the ways white liberals use black people. One of the more obvious ways is for liberals to equate any kind of injustices suffered by homosexuals and women to the black struggle for civil rights. But it is just plain nonsense to suggest any kind of equivalency between the problems of homosexuals and women and the centuries of slavery followed by Jim Crow, lynching, systematic racial discrimination and the blood, sweat and tears of the black civil rights movement.

LAPD on Tactical Alert After Two Men Attempt Assassination of Police Officers. By Jennifer Burke
Excerpt: The Los Angeles Police Department is under a city-wide tactical alert after at least one gunman opened fire on two officers driving in their patrol car. This tactical alert sent every officer available to the area. The officers reportedly returned fire and were, thankfully, uninjured.

NYPD-Style Assassination Attempted on Durham Police Officer. By Leah Barkoukis 
Excerpt: On Sunday, officers patrolling in Los Angeles and Pasco County, Florida were shot at in unprovoked attacks, and on Thursday, Durham, North Carolina police officer J.T. West successfully thwarted an assassination attempt eerily similar to the NYPD attack earlier this month. ... The man who fired the gun was described as a black male, 18 to 25 years old, approximately 6 feet tall with a skinny build. He was wearing an oversized black hoodie. The second suspect was described as a black male, 18 to 25 years old, 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet tall and weighing 180 to 200 pounds. He was wearing a light-colored jacket. (Lucky thing he didn't kill the shooter. Black rioters would have looted and burned out black-owned businesses in protest of white racism. ~Bob)

Fox News Host Asks 2 Questions About Al Sharpton’s Tax Evasion That We’d Love to Hear Him Answer
Excerpt: Why should Reverend Al Sharpton getting a pass from the IRS and the White House? (and the NYC Mayor!) 1. Why hasn't the IRS garnished Reverend Al Sharpton's MS/NBC pay for all his back taxes? Reports are that he owes more than 4 million dollars in back state and federal taxes. 2. And why does the Obama Administration continue to invite him to the White House for his advice while he has outstanding this reported (New York Times) tax debt? Why not make him pay up, and then invite him? (Black privilege. ~Bob)

Ex-Con’s Key to Staying Out of Prison Is a Passionate Message Every Hardworking American Can Take to Heart
Excerpt: In the video, a man named DeAndre Dunn opens up about how he manages to stay out of prison. Dunn has held a job at Hudson Auto Body in Tuscaloosa, AL after serving time in prison, and he credits work with giving him a chance at a new life.

Worth Reading: Break code of silence in black communities. -- Melvin Boone, Sanger Powers Correctional Center, Oneida
Excerpt: Dozens of murders go unpunished in black communities across the country due to a code of silence -- not by the police, but by African Americans who fear being labeled a snitch. I applaud a peaceful protest by people in Ferguson, Missouri, or elsewhere who feel their lives and the lives of those in their community have been devalued by police who took an oath to protect them. But when protest arises out of a community where hundreds of senseless murders occur each year -- even of innocent children playing in their front yards -- and little if any protest occurs, I question their motives. (From jail, this guy writes excellent letters about racial issues. ~Bob)

Excerpt: A potentially dangerous interaction with a man who pointed what appeared to be a chrome-plated handgun at a couple in a drugstore parking lot ended with the man arrested and the lookalike weapon identified as a laser lighter, Madison police said. ... When the gun holder realized the woman was nearing the car, he aimed the laser lighter at her. This prompted the boyfriend to go for his own loaded weapon. Thompson then reportedly said: “Go ahead and shoot me, I’m not afraid of you, I’m from the south side of Chicago and I’m not afraid of white people.”

Worth Reading: Cops’ Lives Matter: It’s dishonest or paranoid to claim that the greatest danger to young black men is from the police. By Lee Habeeb
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/395427/cops-lives-matter-lee-habeeb
Excerpt: Cops across the country are mad. Mad as hell. Mad because some of America’s leaders have reinforced for months the dreadful lie that black people in America should fear the police. That cops are dangerous. That cops are racists. ... And no one bothered to mention that New York City is on track in 2014 to have the fewest murders in 50 years. As of the beginning of December, there had been 290. That’s down from 2,200 in the early 1990s. The majority of lives saved were black, because the overwhelming majority of murder victims in the city are black. Do the math. Tens of thousands of black lives have been saved in the past two decades by cops in New York, but Mayor de Blasio couldn’t manage to share that fact in his heartfelt speech.

Just What Is the ‘Appropriate’ Way for Police to React to Mayor de Blasio? By Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt
Yes, the NYPD officers acted in a disrespectful manner when they turned their backs to the mayor. It’s disrespectful because a lot of men and women on the police force do not respect the mayor -- right now, and sadly, for the foreseeable future. This was not an accidental faux pas; this was the clearest way to send the signal, “Despite the fact that you are in the city’s highest elected office, we don’t respect you.” Let’s begin by saying that any NYPD officer reacting to the news that two of his brother officers were gunned down in cold blood deserves a wide berth in processing all of the emotions from that horrific event. There’s a lot of anger in the force, and they’ve got good reasons to be angry. A symbolic gesture like this might be a particularly powerful and not destructive way of channeling that anger. “Respect the office, not the man.” Boy, some elected officials make this simple request difficult.

Excerpt: Saturday night anti-police protest with bonus American flag burning takes place in Los Angeles. ... Cop-bashing agitators accused the police of not doing enough to help them (pause for laughter).

Man Arrested After Threatening to ‘Kill Cops and Innocent White Kids.’ But a Friend Downplays It All as ‘Speaking His Mind.’ By Dave Urbanski
Excerpt: After a suburban Chicago man made threats on Facebook that he would “kill cops and innocent white kids,” police searched a home he sometimes stays at and arrested him on weapons and other charges, WLS-TV reported.

Black Mob Violence at Christmas, All Over the Country. By Colin Flaherty
Excerpt: But not Christmas. Not usually. Not until this year: Black mob violence and resentment erupted across the country during the 72 hours before, during and after Christmas. And not the “carry signs and send out a press release” kind of political violence. This year’s Yuletide racial violence was more spontaneous. More deadly. More old school. Not connected to the recent political protests over Mike Brown, Eric Garner and fill in your favorite atrocity that racist police inflicted on black people For No Reason What So Ever.

Obama: US Race Relations Haven't Worsened in Decades
Excerpt: President Obama says "gaps of understanding" and "mistrust" persist between blacks and whites in America but have improved since he took office six years ago. "I actually think that it's probably, in its day-to-day interactions, less racially divided," Obama said of the country in an interview with NPR taped on Dec. 19 and released today. (Back in the Choom Gang. That was the group that Mr. Obama hung with in high school, where their major pastime was smoking dope. Well, maybe he's still having THC flashbacks, because the link will take you to an article in which he claims- seriously!- that race relations in this country haven't gotten any worse in the last six years. I kid you not, he really said that, and expounded on the thought for the reporters. Every now and then I really wonder what color the sky is on the planet where he lives. --Del)

Worth Remembering: A Senator's Shame
Excerpt: Byrd's book offers a truncated description of his days with the Klan that does not completely square with contemporaneous newspaper accounts and letters that show he was involved with the Klan throughout much of the 1940s, and not merely for two or three years. (Democrats were always very forgiving of racism among their own. ~Bob)

House Majority Whip Scalise confirms he spoke to white supremacists in 2002
Excerpt: Scalise, 49, who ascended to the House GOP’s third-ranking post this year, confirmed through an adviser that he once appeared at a convention of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, or EURO. But the adviser said the congressman didn’t know at the time about the group’s affiliation with racists and neo-Nazi activists.

Undocumented Democrat News

Mom of Officer Killed by Illegal Immigrant Pens Scathing Letter to Obama: ‘I Want My Voice Heard On This Issue.’ By Oliver Darcy
Excerpt: The mother of an Arizona officer killed by an undocumented immigrant driving drunk in May sent a scathing letter directly to President Barack Obama Wednesday afternoon, demanding that her voice be heard. Mary Ann Mendoza contends the federal government knew Raul Silva Corona, whose blood alcohol content was three times the legal limit at the time of the wrong way crash, was in the country illegally, but still did not deport him

Kidnapped Mexican priest found shot dead in Guerrero state
Excerpt: A priest who was kidnapped in Mexico's south-western state of Guerrero on Monday has been found shot dead, officials say. The body of Father Gregorio Lopez was discovered near the city of Ciudad Altamirano.

Religion of Peace News

Merry Christmas: ISIS blows up Catholic church in Mosul
“Talk about extreme, militant Islamists and the atrocities that they have perpetrated globally might undercut the positive achievements that we Catholics have attained in our inter-religious dialogue with devout Muslims.” — Robert McManus, Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts, February 8, 2013 Yes, clearly that dialogue is working wonders. --Robert Spencer, JihadWatch.org

Ferry catastrophe: Muslims beat women and children to save themselves. By Nicolai Sennels 
Excerpt: There were men, Iraqis, Turks, Pakistanis on the ship, who was told to sit down to allow rescuers to prioritize children, elderly and women. But they climbed, beat and pulled the people to come first to the rescue helicopter and into safety. I was also beaten. I was so furious. It was really ugly. I will never forget it.”, Said Dimitra Theodossiou.”

After years of delays, Pakistan cracks down on violent Islamists
Excerpt: After pledging for years to crack down on violent Islamists, Pakistani authorities are now taking exceptional steps to do so, with a major military operation against the militants and a vow to rein in radical propaganda. The government’s campaign has intensified in the wake of a massacre at an elite army-run school in Peshawar this month, reflecting a striking change in public opinion about the danger posed by the extremist groups. (Turns out keeping a pit viper as a pet is not a good idea. ~Bob)

Europe's Year of the Jihadist. By Abigail R. Esman
Excerpt: Among the trends of 2014 – "Gone, Girl," Lena Dunham, and $55,000 potato salad – was another the list-makers seem to have missed: it was also a very good year for Islamic jihad. And while this was true on the battlefields of Syria and the cities and villages of Pakistan, it was true, too, in more subtle ways throughout the West – and especially in Europe. It was, for instance, the year of Mehdi Nemmouche's slaughter of four Jews at the Jewish Museum in Brussels.

Worth Reading: ISIS Plans Mass Genocide -- 500 Million People Need to Die
http://godfatherpolitics.com/19439/isis-plans-mass-genocide-500-million-people-need-die/
Excerpt: Evidently ISIS plans to wipe out all of us, starting with those in the Middle East, those of other religions, all atheists, and those who don’t subscribe to their particular brand of Islam. At least that’s what a German reporter claims. He was permitted to be embedded in the Islamic State for 10 fun-filled days. Well, that must have been more fun than a barrel of severed heads. ... And why wouldn’t they be extremely confident, knowing that Western politicians lack the courage and will to do what is truly necessary to stop them.

Excerpt: The Islamic State has released photographs showing its fighters using a US-made BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missile against elements of the US-backed Free Syrian Army in the Damascus countryside. The images were published by the Islamic State's Wilayat Damascus (State of Damascus) and disseminated on Twitter by its supporters. (We need to plant weapons programmed to blow on firing. ~Bob)

The Top Anti-Muslim Hate Crime Hoaxes of 2014. By Robert Spencer, JihadWatch.org
Excerpt: On Christmas morning, a man drove up to the Islamic Cultural Center in Fresno, threw rocks through the windows, and then entered the center and destroyed things inside. The local ABC outlet, KFSN, reported Friday that “Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer says it is clear the incident is a hate crime which is why the FBI is also investigating this case.” But on Saturday, it turned out that the incident was not an “anti-Muslim hate crime” at all: the vandal was Asif Mohammad Khan, a Muslim. The destruction at the Islamic Cultural Center in Fresno was yet another in a long series of fake hate crimes designed to prop up the fiction that Muslims in the U.S. are routinely targets of discrimination and harassment. 

Only Muslim Schoolchildren Lives Matter? By Raymond Ibrahim
Excerpt: A recent example of this is the December 16 Taliban attack on an army public school in Peshawar, where 145 people were killed, the majority being schoolchildren age 18 and under. This incident was reported all over the mainstream media, and rightfully so.
Yet this begs the question: why do similar attacks, when directed at non-Muslims—especially Christians—rarely if ever get the same sort of media coverage?

Excerpt: The “resisters of occupation in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem” are spreading on Arab social media a frightening video demonstrating tactics on how to stab a Jew to death quickly and efficiently. (I suppose if someone made "How to feed a live Jihadist to wild pigs" video, Obama would blame it for every terrorist attack for six months. ~Bob)

Pakistan: Christian couple burned, buried alive after allegedly burning Qur'an pages. By Jhun Ramos
Excerpt: According to the report by World Watch Monitor, the victims, Shazad Masih and his wife Shama Bibi, were tortured by the mob, and murdered on November 4. In the report, Shazad and his wife, who was five months pregnant, were 'bonded laborers' at the brick kiln, which means the couple had huge debts and so they were unable to flee the country even when Christians were threatened.

Huh. Appeasement's not working? Retreating of the Queen's Guard: End of an era as palace sentries fall back in face of mounting fears of new 'lone wolf' terrorist attack
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2888716/Retreating-Queen-s-Guard-End-era-palace-sentries-fall-face-mounting-fears-new-lone-wolf-terrorist-attack.html
Excerpt: Security chiefs have taken the dramatic step of withdrawing Royal Guards from their high-profile posts outside palaces amid mounting fears of ‘lone wolf’ terrorist attacks.
Elite soldiers of the Queen’s Guard have pulled back from public positions at many landmarks in response to possible threats from Islamic extremists.

Islamic State executed nearly 2,000 people in six months: monitor
Excerpt: The Islamic State militant group has killed 1,878 people in Syria during the past six months, the majority of them civilians, a British-based Syrian monitoring organization said on Sunday. Islamic State also killed 120 of its own members, most of them foreign fighters trying to return home, in the last two months, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (few things are as well established in Islamic tradition as Muslims killing Muslims for Allah. ~Bob)

The Islamic State is failing at being a state. By Liz Sly 
Excerpt: The Islamic State’s vaunted exercise in state-building appears to be crumbling as living conditions deteriorate across the territories under its control, exposing the shortcomings of a group that devotes most of its energies to fighting battles and enforcing strict rules.
Services are collapsing, prices are soaring, and medicines are scarce in towns and cities across the “caliphate” proclaimed in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State, residents say, belying the group’s boasts that it is delivering a model form of governance for Muslims. (This was what some had predicted from the start, but they did seem to keep things going initially. However, running even a remotely modern society requires a lot more than religious fanaticism, and people smart enough to be technical are usually smart enough to decide that they are far better off somewhere else. --Del)

CAIR Sues Navy Over Beard Discrimination
Excerpt: A Muslim sailor has filed suit against the Navy for alleged discrimination that occurred after he requested to be allowed to grow a beard for religious reasons. The Council on American Islamic Relations is representing Jonathan Berts, who requested to wear a beard back in January 2011. At the time, the Pentagon did not allow religious exemptions for grooming.

Taliban crow over “the defeat of the infidel Western military alliance.” By Robert Spencer, JihadWatch.org
Excerpt: Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said: “Isaf rolled up its flag in an atmosphere of failure and disappointment without having achieved anything substantial or tangible.” That is certainly true. The Taliban also said: “It should be emphasized that due to the blessed Jihad most of the involved nations excluding America have withdrawn all of their troops from Afghanistan … without a doubt the defeat of the infidel Western military alliance in Afghansitan [sic] at the hands of a few empty handed believing Mujahidin, the destruction of fortified bases by their own hands and their hasty withdrawal were unconceivable [sic] and is a clear sign of the divine help of Allah Almighty.” Not that this has anything to do with Islam.

Germany: Muslims storm church on Christmas Eve, shout “shit Christians.” By Robert Spencer, JihadWatch.org
Excerpt: On the one side there is this. On the other side are graying, ineffectual Christian bishops calling for “dialogue” and “peace.”

Denmark: Muslims beat non-Muslim couple with chains on Christmas Eve. By Robert Spencer, JihadWatch.org
Excerpt: There was no robbery here. This was just gratuitous violence against Infidels.

Why Does Nobody Want to Play with Turkey? By Burak Bekdil
Excerpt: Theoretically, Turkey is a NATO ally. In reality, it is a part-time NATO ally. It became the first member state that had military exercises with the Syrian army and the Chinese Air Force; awarded a NATO-sensitive air defense contract to a Chinese company; supported jihadists in Syria and the Muslim Brotherhood elsewhere in the Middle East; allied with what NATO nations view as a terrorist organization (Hamas); shared, until recently, an embarrassing list of potentially terrorist-sponsoring countries with seven others including Syria and Pakistan, and sported a population with the lowest support for the NATO alliance.

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Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic. http://tiny.cc/g02s4 For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. Hall’s eleven books are listed here: http://tinyurl.com/o4nu65u. His blog of political news and conservative comment is www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com.

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