Update
Happy Hogmanay! While you were nursing your hangover and
watching parades and football, I've been gathering interesting political news
and conservative comment to save you hours of searching. The War for Freedom
doesn't take a day off. ~Bob
Random Thoughts for
January, 2015
General News and Comment
Excerpt: From charts on Facebook usage to President Obama’s
budget, 2014 was a year for charts, graphs and more charts. Here’s a look at 15
of the best charts from 2014.
Police Killed By Guns Up 56% in 2014. By Kevin Glass
Excerpt: A new report out found a sharp rise in the number
of police officers killed by guns in 2014, including 15 of what the Associated
Press calls "ambush" shootings.
White House Rape Data "Not Supported By The Scientific
Evidence." By Conn Carroll
Excerpt: Sen. Kirsten Gilibrand
(D-NY) may have backed away form
the claim that one in five women are sexually assaulted
while in college, but the White House is sticking by those numbers. ... The problem
is there is nothing scientific about this number. "Regardless of which
studies are most accurate," the Department of
Justice's National Institute of Justice webpage on measuring campus sexual
assault reads, "the often-quoted statistic that one in four
American college women will be raped during her college years is not supported
by the scientific evidence." (The problem is that Obama lies for political
support, and the media cover for him. As H. L. Mencken said, "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed [and hence clamorous to be
led to safety] by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them
imaginary." ~Bob)
Another H. L. Mencken quote
New Year, Same Fears. By Ashley Pratte
Excerpt: Since Obama took office, millennials have suffered
greatly under his administration. Youth unemployment has skyrocketed, student
loan debt continues to increase and due to financial concerns, many millennials
have put off once-common early adulthood goals of home ownership and marriage. A
Congressional report released by the Joint Economic Committee shows that the
percentage of young people living with their parents has jumped from three to
fourteen percent—an alarming statistic. (well, they voted for him. as Obama
said, "Elections have consequences." ~Bob)
Excerpt: A hundred years ago, the President of the United States was Woodrow Wilson -- the first
president to openly claim that the Constitution of the United States
was outdated, and that courts should erode the limits that the Constitution
placed on the federal government.
Today, after a hundred years of courts' eroding the
Constitution's protections of personal freedom, we now have a president who has
taken us dangerously close to one-man rule, unilaterally changing laws passed
by Congress and refusing to enforce other laws -- on immigration especially.
Putin critic Navalny
among 'hundred held' at Moscow
Excerpt: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and more
than 100 other demonstrators have been arrested at a rally in central Moscow , activists say. Navalny
had urged protesters to gather in Manezh
Square near the Kremlin after his brother was
sentenced to jail.
Suspect Who
Threatened to Kill Officers in YouTube Rants Fatally Shot After Trying to ‘Run
Down a Couple Cops’: Police
Excerpt: “They go to stop him. He tried to run down a couple
cops. He smashed into the police chief from Clifton ’s car. The police officers, in fear
for their lives, fired several shots, struck the individual,” Chitwood said. It
was reported that several officers fired shots at the suspect, killing him.
Excerpt: The United States
on Wednesday condemned what it called Cuba 's practice of repression
following the detention of several activists, in the
first major test of President Barack Obama's policy
shift toward normalizing relations with the communist-ruled island. The State
Department said it was deeply concerned by the detention on Tuesday of several
"peaceful civil society members and activists" by the Cuban
authorities. (Gee, who would have guessed there would still be
repression in a Communist state after BO put out his hand? ~Bob)
Worth Reading New York
Excerpt: The NYPD’s critics object, in particular, to the
department’s long-standing practice of maintaining order in public spaces. This
practice, widely referred to as Broken Windows or quality-of-life or
order-maintenance policing, asserts that, in communities contending with high
levels of disruption, maintaining order not only improves the quality of life
for residents; it also reduces opportunities for more serious crime. Indeed,
the Broken Windows metaphor is one of deterioration: a building where a broken
window goes unrepaired will soon be subject to far more extensive
vandalism—because it sends a message that the building owners (and, by
extension, the police) cannot or will not control minor crimes, and thus will
be unable to deter more serious ones.
The Collapse Gathers Momentum: Americans' Sense of
Civic Duty Declining
Excerpt: One-fourth of Americans under the age of 30 said
that speaking English, volunteering or being informed about current events was
not a civic duty. Young Americans felt most strongly about reporting crimes,
with two-thirds calling it "very important." However, that is a drop
from the 1984 poll when 86 percent of young Americans called crime reporting
"very important." ... In 1984, 56 percent of Americans felt that
keeping up with current events was very important; today, that figure is just
37 percent. One-fifth of respondents said there existed no civic obligation to
be informed. Compared to the 1984 poll, respondents only ranked voting and volunteering
as high as they did in the past. All other activities fell in importance
compared to 30 years ago.
Wall Street Vs. Russia : Wall Street's poorly hidden, poorly
coordinated agenda in Russia
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.ru/2011/12/wall-street-vs-russia.html
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.ru/2011/12/wall-street-vs-russia.html
Excerpt: The background of jailed Russian oligarch Mikhail
Khodorkovsky and his "Open Russian Foundation" fashioned after George
Soros' Open Society Institute and chaired by both Jacob Rothschild and Henry
Kissinger, can be found in William Engdahl's, "The Real
Crime of M. Khodorkovsky," as well as in the London Telegraph's
humorously titled, "This
man is now the people's billionaire," reflecting the paid-for rhetoric
of Khodorkovsky's Wall Street-London-appointed lawyer Robert
Amsterdam. ... The Democratic Alternative, also written DA!, is indeed a
National Endowment for Democracy fund recipient, meaning that Alexey Navalny is
an agent of US-funded sedition and willfully hiding it from his followers.
The US
State Department itself reveals this as they list "youth movements"
operating in Russia :
Bill de Blasio aides
asked political allies to publicly slam NYPD officers for turning their backs
to the mayor at funeral
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2892438/Bill-Blasio-aides-asked-political-allies-publicly-slam-NYPD-officers-turning-backs-mayor-funeral.html#ixzz3NUUzJm65%20
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2892438/Bill-Blasio-aides-asked-political-allies-publicly-slam-NYPD-officers-turning-backs-mayor-funeral.html#ixzz3NUUzJm65%20
Excerpt: DNA Info quotes two lawmakers who go calls from the de
Blasio's aides asking them to speak out against the NYPD for its protest. 'City
Hall wanted me to blast the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association for turning
their backs on him,' one politician told the news site.
Take Notice of the (NYPD) Hat on Head of NBC’s New Year’s
Eve Host — Was He Trying to Send a Message? By Jason Howerton
Excerpt: NBC’s New Year’s Eve host Carson Daly wore an
“NYPD” hat during the network’s live coverage on Wednesday, eliciting mixed
reactions from people on social media.
Great political ad from 2014: The Donkey Whisperer
Comment from the email forward: This is probably the best
political ad I've ever seen.
Roger Williams is the former Secretary of State inTexas under Governor Rick Perry. In that
position he was the state’s director of elections. He won the 25th
Congressional District in 2012 and was just re-elected. The district is in
South Central Texas and includes a portion of Austin ,
the citadel of Liberalism in Texas .
Those folks must be beyond themselves over his re- election, because he is a
staunch conservative. Here is one of his campaign ads:
Roger Williams is the former Secretary of State in
Report: 21,000
regulations so far under Obama, 2,375 set for 2015
Excerpt: The pace of agencies issuing new rules and
regulations has hit a record high under President Obama, whose administration’s
rules have filled 468,500 pages in the Federal Register. And,
according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the president is poised
to unleash another 2,375 new rules on American businesses without first giving
Congress an up or down vote. ... He pointed out a report that said the administration
isn’t supplying the required reports on new rules and said that Congress should
take action to demand them.
Stopping the Rot at
Foggy Bottom, From Benghazi to Afghanistan
Excerpt: In mid-December, the State Department’s top
internal watchdog sat down in front of a bank of cameras at a high-profile
House hearing on Benghazi
and bluntly told lawmakers that the department hadn’t done enough to ensure
that another American diplomatic facility wouldn’t suffer the same bloody fate.
Steve Linick, a soft-spoken former prosecutor, calmly detailed how the
department had yet to fully implement a number of security recommendations made
in the aftermath of the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya . In some
cases, Linick said, the changes proposed mimicked ones that had already been
suggested after the 1998 bombing of
the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi ,
which killed 12 Americans and 32 Kenyans working for the State Department
there. The State Department failed to implement the changes then, and in some
cases, has failed to implement them again since Benghazi . Among the issues left unaddressed:
The department’s lack of any formalized method of deciding when to place Marine
security personnel at some high-risk outposts and when to leave the facilities
without American troops. (That the organization still doesn't have carefully
worked out policies on assigning security to different places is mind-blowing, two
years after Benghazi .
Incompetence taken up to an art form, but what else is new with this
Administration. --Del )
Fairness vs. Freedom:
Is Politics Going Back to the 1970s? --FiveThirtyEight
Excerpt: Inequality is a hot topic these days — even on Fox News. This contrasts with most of the past
decade, when the term was barely mentioned even on the liberal-leaning
television network MSNBC. The increasing focus on inequality is best thought of
as a reemergence of an old theme rather than something new. Since the founding of the republic, frames focused around fairness
and equality have competed against those centered around freedom and liberty in
American political discourse.
Worth Reading
Excerpt: In mid-September, while President Obama was
fending off complaints that he should have done more, done less, or done
something different about the overlapping crises in Iraq
and Syria , he traveled to
Central Command headquarters, at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida . There he addressed some of the men
and women who would implement whatever the U.S. military strategy turned out
to be. The part of the speech intended to get coverage was Obama’s rationale
for reengaging the United States
in Iraq ,
more than a decade after it first invaded and following the long and painful
effort to extricate itself. This was big enough news that many cable channels
covered the speech live. I watched it on an overhead TV while I sat waiting for
a flight at Chicago ’s
O’Hare airport. When Obama got to the section of his speech announcing whether
he planned to commit U.S. troops in Iraq (at the time, he didn’t), I noticed
that many people in the terminal shifted their attention briefly to the TV. As
soon as that was over, they went back to their smartphones and their laptops
and their Cinnabons as the president droned on. (This is a fairly long article
by James Fallows, who is a pretty good writer and analyst, even though I
sometimes don't agree with him. he goes into our present situation with the
military and the people and the politicians in really serious detail, and it's
a very thought provoking essay. I recommend it strongly. --Del )
Excerpt: Cures for cancer and Ebola having been found, the
federal ubernannies have decreed that sprinkles should no longer adorn kids'
ice cream because they contain the trans fat that liberal groups once pushed
for. Come the New Year, the Food and Drug Administration, ignoring the
principle that in most cases it's the dose that defines the poison, will issue
new regulations designed to remove even trace amounts of hydrogenate oils,
commonly known as trans fats, from our diets. Trans fats have been in our foods
since the 1950s to increase shelf life and improve taste. A small amount
appears naturally in some foods, but research has determined that large quantities
of trans fats in one's diet can be dangerous for long-term health. (Jefferson once said "That government which governs
least, governs best". Like most of the Founders, he had a profound
mistrust of Big Government and state bureaucracies, and I still say they were
damn smart, very well educated, common sense people. Here is a wonderful
example of the Big Bureaucracy going so far over the top that it leaves you
dizzy just to think about it. But of course... it's for our own good! And
that's what makes it right and none of us should be anything but grateful that
so many smart people are looking out for us. Don't you feel better just hearing
about this? I don't. --Del )
Reasons for optimism. By Jennifer Rubin
Excerpt: I am amazed when I hear talk radio hosts or other
provocateurs describe the country in wholly gloomy terms. They talk about a
“growing tyranny,” the threat that foreigners will take our jobs, the
corruption of the entire political class, the grip of the lying mainstream
media. Really? (I'd be happy to send her a copy of my book, The
Coming Collapse of the American Republic http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Collapse-American-Republic-prevent/dp/1461122538/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304815980&sr=1-5
All royalties go to a
charity to help wounded veterans. ~Bob)
The Wisdom of Peace Through Strength. By Dr. Ben Carson
Excerpt: I am proud of the president of the United States
for taking a tough stand on this issue, although I am not sure that his promise
of proportional retaliation is the correct answer. The response should go far
beyond proportionality, and an example should be made of the perpetrators by
using a host of available options to inflict punishment not be easily
forgotten. If we use proportionality as our standard, future adversaries need
only consider certain consequences for encroaching on our rights. If, on the
other hand, they realize that they will suffer enormous consequences, I believe
their adventurism would be tempered.
The Closing Of The American Mind Revisited. By R. R. Reno
Excerpt: Bloom’s book was a real sensation and a surprise
bestseller. Looking back, I can see why. The Closing was more than a highbrow
attack on contemporary academic careerism (a la Jacques Barzun), a middlebrow
defense of great books (a la E. D. Hirsch), or a populist exposé of tenured radicals
and puerile campus ideologues (a la David Horowitz). The gist of Bloom’s
polemic—and the book was nothing if not a long, erudite, and hyperbolic
polemic—was a brief against the cultural revolution of the 1960s. He said out
loud what liberal elite culture could only regard as heresy: The supposed
idealism of the 1960s was, in fact, a new barbarism. Whatever moral and
spiritual seriousness the long tradition of American pragmatism had left intact
in university life, the anti-culture of the left destroyed.
Gun News
Anti-Gun Rahm
Emanuel’s Yard Sign Warns Burglars That He Has Armed Secret Service
Excerpt: Chicago Mayor and gun-control advocate Rahm Emanuel
is protected in his home at all hours of the day and night by armed policemen,
and a sign outside his house warns would-be burglars that armed Secret Service
agents are standing guard. (He's an elite Obamaite. Riffraff like you and I
must look to ourselves for protection. ~Bob)
Best concealed carry
handguns
Safety First. Authorities: 2-year-old boy
accidentally shoots and kills mom inside northern Idaho
Excerpt: A 2-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his
mother after he reached into her purse at a northern Idaho Wal-Mart and her
concealed gun fired, authorities said Tuesday. ... She had a concealed weapons
permit. Miller said the young boy was left in a shopping cart, reached into his
mother's purse and grabbed a small-caliber handgun, which discharged one time.
(Like cars, planes and a lot of tools, guns are very unforgiving of
carelessness and mistakes. ~Bob)
Why most Americans oppose more gun control. By Dr. John R. Lott Jr.
Excerpt: A new
Pew Research Center survey finds that, for the first time in their
surveys, the majority of Americans oppose more gun control. Gallup and CNN
polls tell a similar story. Opposition to gun control has been increasing
over at least the last couple of decades. Gun control groups have spent
hundreds of millions of dollars to try to convince Americans that gun control
is the answer. In 2013, gun owners’ groups — including the NRA — spent less
than one seventh as much on television advertisements.
PHOTOS: My Year as an Amateur in Competition Shooting. By Katie Pavlich
Excerpt: Throughout 2014 I had the pleasure and honor of
participating in a series of shooting competitions around the country. As 2015
begins and before we completely say goodbye to 2014, I thought I'd take a look
back at my year as an amateur in the competition shooting world. With the exception
of the Gunsite GAS match, the matches briefly described below were all firsts
for me.
Wendy Davis Says She
Regrets Campaign Stance On Guns, Which She Took To Win Votes
Excerpt: Wendy Davis’ stance on the issue of open carry gun
laws was a political one, and not in line with her “core beliefs,” the failed Texas Democratic
gubernatorial candidate said in a recent interview. (Lying about his real
beliefs worked for Obama, but not her. ~Bob)
Burglary suspects
shot by business owner
Excerpt: The owner says at that particular time he looked
into the vehicle and saw the driver produce a handgun and point it at him at
which time he produced his own gun and fired several times in response. The
vehicle then fled away and was found on a nearby street moments later. At that
scene deputies discovered Ladarius Walker (19) deceased in
vehicle. Another suspect was located standing near the vehicle Lamar
Brooks (17) suffering from one gunshot wound..
74-Year-Old Shoots
Man who Beat Him With Axe Handle
http://lastresistance.com/9362/74-year-old-shoots-man-beat-axe-handle/
http://lastresistance.com/9362/74-year-old-shoots-man-beat-axe-handle/
Excerpt: According to officials, a 74-year-old Washington County , Pennsylvania
Alleged robbery
attempt in West Pike Run Township
http://www.wtae.com/news/alleged-home-invader-killed-in-daisytown-west-pike-run-township/30440054
http://www.wtae.com/news/alleged-home-invader-killed-in-daisytown-west-pike-run-township/30440054
Excerpt: State police said an attempted home invasion Sunday
night in Washington
County
Second suspect on the run after deadly attempted robbery
Excerpt: Police said a suspect in an attempted armed robbery
was shot dead at an east side apartment building Sunday night. A second suspect
in the robbery fled the scene.
Ebola News
First Ebola boy
likely infected by playing in bat tree. By Michelle Roberts
Excerpt: The Ebola victim who is believed to have triggered
the current outbreak - a two-year-old boy called Emile Ouamouno from Guinea - may
have been infected by playing in a hollow tree housing a colony of bats, say
scientists.
Race Card News
Worth Reading
Excerpt: What to say about "activists" pushing the
"Hands Up, Don't Shoot" "movement," even as police
shootings of blacks are actually down 75 percent over the last 45 years? Some
protestors, many old enough to know better, say ridiculous things about race
relations, like "things have gone backward." Time for perspective. Booker
T. Washington was born a slave. In his autobiography, "Up From
Slavery," written in 1901 -- just a mere 36 years after the Civil War --
Washington wrote: "As a rule, not only did the members of my race
entertain no feelings of bitterness against the whites before and during the
war, but there are many instances of Negroes tenderly caring for their former masters
and mistresses who for some reason have become poor and dependent since the
war." (I read Up From Slavery in
8th grade from my grandmothers Reader's Digest abridged books. It had a great
influence on my life. ~Bob)
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani compared President
Obama’s rhetoric on race to politicians criticizing the mob if they’ve hung out
with mafia bosses...Giuliani told CBS on Sunday that he would “not at all” take
back his assertions that Obama has been stoking racial tension with his statements.
...“He has had Al Sharpton to the White House 80, 85 times..."
Black Man Suspect In
'Hate Crime' Against Interracial Couple. “Without provocation, he made
reference to the race of both victims.”
Excerpt: According to Lt. John Luna, a 29-year-old black
woman and 36-year-old Armenian man were confronted outside a Starbucks Friday
night by the suspect, who angrily referenced their race. (Expect a statement
from Obama, Holder, Jackson and Sharpton momentarily. ~Bob)
Obamacare/Government Healthcare News
Obamacare's Annus Horribilis. By Michelle Malkin
Excerpt: There's no candy coating the truth: Obamacare has
had a very terrible, horrible, crappy, none-too-happy year. What it really
means is that the victims of Obamacare -- taxpayers, health care consumers,
health care providers, employers and employees -- have had a hellish,
nightmarish 2014. Let's start with premiums
How Many Americans
Will Have to Pay the Individual Mandate Penalty?
Excerpt: Obamacare imposes fines on individuals who fail to
carry insurance, but this upcoming tax season will be the first time that
taxpayers will have to report to the IRS whether they had insurance this year,
Fox News reports. The fine for 2014 is the higher of $95 per person or 1
percent of household income. The penalty increases for 2015, rising to $325 per
person or 2 percent of household income. ... Only 4 million uninsured Americans
will owe a penalty to the IRS for failing to carry insurance. Twenty-six
million uninsured Americans will qualify for one of the law's 30 exemptions.
Undocumented Democrat News
Surprise: 96 Percent of Illegal Immigrant Families With Deportation
Orders Never Showed Up to Immigration Hearings. By Leah Barkoukis
Excerpt: When tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from Central America crossed the border earlier this year,
many of them had to be released on their own recognizance because there simply
wasn’t enough space to detain them all. Now, a Houston television station has confirmed what
we knew would happen all along: the vast majority of them never showed up for
their immigration hearings. (The surprise is that 4% showed up. ~Bob)
January to mark Organ
Pipe’s first tours of entire park since 2003
Excerpt: The opening comes 12 years after the death of
Ranger Kris Eggle, who was killed at the park in August 2002 while pursuing
members of a drug cartel. Organ Pipe National Monument ’s
Visitor Center
"You're Greener than Gore" News
Worth Reading
Excerpt: But here are five reasons to remain unconvinced
that humans are culpable for such acts of nature. 1. Actual data trumps
forecasts. No matter how you measure it, the global average temperature trend
has flattened out over the past decade and a half. Even so, the tiny fraction
of a degree increase in temperature expected for 2014 over previous years will
be hailed as being the highest on record. Despite this almost meaningless
increase, there is a distinct possibility that temperatures will be once more
dropping as solar activity and ocean circulations relentlessly work to
redistribute heat across the globe.
Excerpt: Even with renewed demand from a global economic
resurgence, energy prices continue to fall. The U.S. has suddenly become the
world's largest combined producer of oil and natural gas. That fact -- along
with a desire to weaken hostile Iran
and Russia
-- has prompted the oil-rich Gulf sheikdoms to keep pumping oil even as the
price falls. In their game of petro-chicken, the desperate sheiks hope that
either their poorer enemies will run out of cash, or that fracking in the U.S. will
become unprofitable and cease.
Religion of Peace News
US releases 5 more Guantanamo Bay
prisoners, sends them to Kazakhstan
Excerpt: The Defense Department announced Wednesday that
five more prisoners will be transferred out of Guantanamo Bay Guantanamo , potentially to under 100, so that
the White House can make a more aggressive argument to Congress that the camp
should be closed. (I would release all of them...0 miles at sea. ~Bob)
Palestinian Media
Glorifies Synagogue Attack Terrorists
Excerpt: The Palestinian Authority's (PA) official news
agency, WAFA, and Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party glorified the two terrorists who
killed five Israelis in a Jerusalem
synagogue last month, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reports. (He will close Gitmo no matter how many innocent
people have to die. ~Bob)
"Palestine
Excerpt: The Palestinian Authority's latest unilateral
attempt to gain recognition as a state without negotiating any concessions
failed Tuesday. But other mischief remains in play,
including Wednesday's move to join the International Criminal Court (ICC). Earlier
this month, "Palestine "
was upgraded from "observer entity" to
"observer state" at the ICC. It was another milestone on the
Palestinian Authority's road to international recognition as a state without
having to negotiate directly with Israel , make any concessions, or
commit to a genuine dialogue for peace, a unilateral stem directly violating
both the Oslo Accords and UN Resolution 242.
Sample Concepts of a
Christian-Shi'a Alliance in Iraq
Excerpt: With the fragmentation of Iraq and Syria primarily along sectarian
fault-lines- principally that of the Shi'a vs. Sunni dynamic- third way
ethno-religious groups such as the Christians find themselves caught in the
middle. Lacking organizational coherence, unity and strength to form their own
separatist projects, Christians in Iraq
and Syria
generally find themselves forming alliances with one major player or another in
the respective conflicts.
Why We Fight Islam.
By: Nicolai Sennels
Excerpt: I was recently asked: Why fight Islam? The short
answer is because Islam fights us and since it knows no borders and it knows no
mercy, it will keep fighting us until we are defeated or we – hopefully – stop
them forever. The goal in Islam is world domination and a central part of every
Muslim’s religious practice is to spread his faith with all possible means
until it covers the Earth completely.
Cargo ship carrying
'700 migrants' docks in Italy
Excerpt: The Blue Sky M had apparently been abandoned by its
crew and at one point seemed to be heading directly towards the Italian coast
on autopilot. Reports suggest Syrians and Kurds are among those aboard the
ship.
At least 26 killed in
Yemen
Excerpt: A suicide bomber killed at least 26 people in
central Yemen on Wednesday when he
blew himself up at a cultural center where students were celebrating the
Prophet Mohammad's birthday, a security official said. At least 48 people were
also wounded, including many women and children, the official said, according
to state news agency Saba .
15 killed in Boko
Haram raid, Nigerian villagers say. By Aminu Abubakr
Excerpt: At least 15 people were killed and several homes
burnt on Tuesday when Boko Haram gunmen raided a village in northern Nigeria near the town of Chibok , according to fleeing residents and a
military officer.
The Real Islam:
Islamic Law: Girls Can Be Married “Even If They Are In The Cradle.” By Raymond Ibrahim
Excerpt: Back in 2011, for example, Dr. Salih bin Fawzan, a
prominent cleric and member of Saudi
Arabia ’s highest religious council, issued a
fatwa asserting that
there is no minimum age for marriage and that girls can be married “even if
they are in the cradle.” Appearing in Saudi papers, the fatwa complained
that “Uninformed interference with Sharia rulings by the press and journalists
is on the increase”—likely a reference to the justice ministry’s
advocacy—“posing dire consequences to society, including their interference
with the question of marriage to small girls who have not reached maturity, and
their demand that a minimum age be set for girls to marry.”
Excerpt: Nine Christians were arrested in a house church in Iran on
Christmas day and transferred to an unknown location, according to reports. Members of Basij paramilitary force
and armed plainclothes agent raided the house in the city of Roudehen
in Tehran
province.
The Western
Media and Muslim-on-Muslim Violence. By Raymond Ibrahim
Excerpt: Another strategy that recently came to the fore
consists of highlighting Islamic terror attacks that target other Muslims. The
logic here is clear: How "Islamic" can such Islamic groups be if they
attack and kill fellow Muslims? In other words, whatever the motivation, it
surely cannot be Islam, since those being killed are themselves Muslims. This
suggests that the terrorists themselves cannot be true Muslims since Muslims
are generally forbidden by Islam to kill other Muslims (caveats exist). (Few
things more firmly rooted in Islamic tradition than Muslims killing other
Muslims for Allah. ~Bob)
One Hundred Years of
Jihad in Australia
Excerpt: One hundred years ago today, a lethal jihad attack
was staged against New Year's Day picnickers in Broken Hill , Australia Martin
Place siege, events separated by almost exactly a
century, show striking similarities.
US military confirms
Shabaab's intel chief killed in airstrike
http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2014/12/us_military_confirms_shabaabs_1.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LongWarJournalSiteWide+%28The+Long+War+Journal+%28Site-Wide%29%29
http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2014/12/us_military_confirms_shabaabs_1.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LongWarJournalSiteWide+%28The+Long+War+Journal+%28Site-Wide%29%29
Excerpt: Yesterday, Somalia 's
National Security Agency said that the leader of Shabaab's Amniyat, or
intelligence service, was killed in a US
airstrike in southern Somalia
on Dec. 29. Today, the US Department of Defense issued a confirmation that
Tahlil Abdishakur was indeed killed. The full text of the DoD press release is
below.
Like Iraq
Excerpt: In 2001, less than a month after the 9-11 terrorist
attacks, President George W. Bush announced the beginning of American military
action against Afghanistan 's
Taliban regime. The war began with broad public support and a nearly unanimous
vote from Congress. On Sunday, the NATO mission in Afghanistan officially came to an
end. U.S.
withdrawal comes only a few months after it became clear that one of its main
missions, to deny terrorists a safe haven, had failed. (Obama, August 17, 2009:
"The insurgency in Afghanistan
didn't just happen overnight and we won't defeat it overnight. This will not be
quick, nor easy. But we must never forget: This is not a war of choice. This is
a war of necessity. Those who attacked America on 9/11 are plotting to do
so again. If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger
safe haven from which al Qaeda would plot to kill more Americans. So this is
not only a war worth fighting. This is a -- this is fundamental to the defense
of our people." ~Bob)
Turkish Textbooks and
the Armenian Genocide. By Taner Akcam
Excerpt: Firstly, the textbooks characterize Armenians as
people "who are incited by foreigners, who aim to break apart the state
and the country, and who murdered Turks and Muslims." Meanwhile, the
Armenian Genocide—referred to as the "Armenian matter" in
textbooks—is described as a lie perpetrated in order to meet these goals, and
is defined as the biggest threat to Turkish national security. Another threat
to national security is missionaries and their activities. (From people who
deny the Holocaust, you expect them to deny their own crimes. ~Bob)
Europeans Fund
Anti-Israel Libels. By Gerald M. Steinberg
Excerpt: While Zochrot has promoted this inverted narrative
of "historic injustice" for many years, its sudden transformation
from a fringe political NGO into a major media attraction was made possible by
a steep increase in funding from European governments, often channeled through
Christian international development and humanitarian aid organizations without
any public scrutiny or parliamentary control.
*****
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://www.amazon.com/Coming-Collapse-American-Republic-prevent/dp/1461122538/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304815980&sr=1-5
For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. Hall’s
eleven books are listed here:
http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html.
His blog of political news and conservative comment is www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com.
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