Monday, January 4, 2016

Worth Reading Political News and Opinion

Saturday
We took a winter's drive to the Amish Country.

Worth Reading: Not all Muslims are Terrorists. By Del.
It took the 30 Years War to convince Europeans that violence in to settle religious differences was a not a good idea. By the time it was over, most of central Europe was devastated...and a French  Catholic cardinal was subsidizing Protestant Swedes to fight Catholic Austrians. After 1648, when the new system of nation-states began to take shape, wars were fought by professionals for dynastic aims for nearly 150 years. It was a period when war was called the sport of kings, and civilians from states in conflict had some hope of safety for their lives and property, and violence in the name of religion disappeared. Perhaps the Islamic world will someday learn a similar lesson, but I fear if will take an experience such as the horrific 30 Year War to bring that about. Of course, it may be that is exactly what is starting now. Chuck. Scary to think that an absurd overstatement of the obvious (the title) may come as a new idea, or worse yet debatable argument, for many people.  I agree with nearly every idea that Del offers.  It is also true that a potential 160M willing terrorists and supporters is a very extreme problem.  Lastly, I have no doubt there were many good German citizens who, in the 1930s, thought Hitler was a no-nothing blow hard.  I am very concerned that he may be our next President.  Given that Hillary is the likely other option, the resulting lowest voter turnout in history could elect Trump.  Just like the good Muslims that are afraid to speak out against the Jihadists and the good Germans who were afraid to speak out against Hitler, I wonder if the good Republicans will work to defeat Trump from getting the nomination(?). --Bruce. Maybe not, but consider the threshold for an epidemic, as cited below: An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί epi"upon or above" and δῆμος demos "people") is the rapid spread of infectious disease to a large number of people in a given population within a short period of time, usually two weeks or less. For example, in meningococcal infections, an attack rate in excess of 15 cases per 100,000 people for two consecutive weeks is considered an epidemic. [1][2] (Wikipedia). So...5 or 10% of Muslims, or 1 or 2% of the world human population, supporting jihad, terrorism, or sharia far exceeds that number.  Why is WHO not engaged in what is clearly a plague or infestation, and a clear threat to world health? No...maybe not all Muslims are terrorists, but with numbers like this why are we not taking all reasonable precautions? And yes... I work with Muslims, in fact working on a contract with a Muslim nation.   Yes...I have to meet and socialize with them...both foreign nationals and US citizens.  But I am always wary of them. --George

See this -- Muslims protect Christians: Non-Muslims Targeted in Islamic Extremist Attacks in Mandera, Kenya. Two Christians killed, others injured in assaults in northeast, coast.
Excerpt: Al Shabaab militants stopped the bus from Nairobi to Mandera near El Wak village. Weary of Islamic extremist attacks on Christians that have caused workers and teachers to flee the area, Muslims on board told the assailants that the militants would have to kill them all or leave them in peace. The Muslim passengers loaned their Islamic face coverings to Christian women and hid other Christians behind bags.

It is time for Muslims to begin a deep self-examination. By Yasmine Bahrani      
Excerpt: In the wake of the Paris bloodbath, the attacks in San Bernardino, Calif., and Bamako, Mali, and murders elsewhere before and since, people desperately want to understand the root cause of all this violence. That’s true not only in the West, where many blame Islam itself. It’s true in the Middle East, too, where we are struggling to come to grips with the carnage and the region’s role in it. ... Yasmine Bahrani is a professor of journalism at American University in Dubai. (Another brave Muslim speaks out, saying what needs to be said, pointing out that there are more than a few Muslims who have also spoken out.  The tragedy is that the extremists threaten such people, and have been known to come after them, and being afraid of maniacs who a gleeful killers is a pretty reasonable response.  It takes courage to say anything remotely critical of the extremists, but we have to hope that a lot more Muslims see the necessity to stand up against that kind of thinking.  The best and perhaps only solution to radical Islamism is rejection, a lot of rejection, by other Muslims, to discredit the thinking, and discontinue the kind of education and psychological pressures that turn young people into jihadists. --Del)

ISIS New Year’s Eve Terror Plot Stopped Just in Time… The Details Are DISTURBING

Watch: Michelle’s Race-Baiting Shredded By Black Guy Who Gives Her A Must-See History Lesson

Florida Muslim Leader Calls Jews Monkeys and Pigs (WOULD THAT BE A HATE CRIME?)
Excerpt: Can you imagine if a white Christian pastor called Obama’s favorite religion ‘a religion of monkeys and pigs?’ Oh, by the way, we’ve included the FBI’s contact deets if you’d like to forward them this little ditty. Check it out.

No-Go Zones: German Police Admit To Losing Control Of Immigrant ‘Problem Neighbourhoods’

Qaeda Affiliate Uses Video of Donald Trump for Recruiting
Excerpt: The video, released by the militant group Shabab, appeared to be the first time that Mr. Trump was featured in jihadist recruitment material. During a Democratic presidential debate last month, Hillary Clinton said that Mr. Trump had been used in a recruitment video for the Islamic State, a claim that was later debunked. (Hillary's right retroactively? Joins the ISIS recruiting videos with Obama and Bill Clinton in them. ~Bob)

Interesting: Jihad video featuring Trump also includes Hillary (and Black Lives Matter)

Rochester, NY New Year’s jihad mass murder plotter converted to Islam in prison

Jerusalem: Qur’an-toting Muslim teen girl tries to stab Jews, is arrested, tries again two weeks after release

Video: Muslim murders two, wounds five in Tel Aviv bar, BBC says motive unclear

Our NATO ally: Turkey’s Erdogan: Hitler’s Germany exemplifies effective presidential system. By Robert Spencer, JihadWatch.org
Excerpt: It is inconceivable that any Western leader would favorably cite Hitler in any context, but in Turkey, citing Hitler doesn’t bring instant opprobrium. Mein Kampf became a bestseller when it was published there in 2005, and Hitler remains popular. Also, a former classmate says Erdogan used to carry a copy around when he was a young man. Hitler’s antisemitism resonates with Islamic Jew-hatred. (Isn't Obama close friends with Erdogan?  And Mein Kampf just became widely available with copyright expiration. --Barb)

Our moderate Muslim ally: Saudi Arabia executes prominent Shiite cleric and 46 others in 12 cities
Excerpt: Prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr was among 47 people executed by Saudi Arabia on Saturday, triggering an angry response from across the Shiite world, including the kingdom’s archenemy, Iran. The official Saudi Press Agency listed Nimr’s name among 47 people who were executed on Saturday morning in the capital Riyadh and 12 other cities. Some were beheaded, others were killed by firing squads, according to Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry.

Saudi Arabia’s execution of cleric ignites fury in Iran

Iranian Protesters Ransack Saudi Embassy After Execution of Shiite Cleric

Swiss Army Chief tells citizens to Arm themselves

Interesting: Overwhelmed by 'Migrants,' Sweden Throws in the Towel as Europe Faces 'General, Permanent Terror Threat'
Excerpt: But after taking in more asylum seekers per capita than any other nation in Europe, Sweden’s welcome mat now lies in tatters. Overwhelmed by the human tide of 2015, the center-left government is deploying extraordinary new border controls and slashing benefits in an unmistakable signal to refugees contemplating the long trek to Sweden in the new year: Stay out.... Sweden has been hell-bent on replacing its native population of real Swedes with "Swedes" -- foreigners with Swedish passports from Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans, most often Muslims, in an effort to prove... what, exactly?  (US on course to follow.  TRANSFORMATION, folks.  Anti-Christ is global.  Welcome to WWIII. --Barb. if one aspirin is good, 10,000 must be great for you. If 1,000 migrants are welcome, why can't we take in 1,000,000? ~Bob)

Political Scientist: Islam Is Incompatible With America’s Founding
Excerpt: Muslim intolerance for non-believers is America’s coming problem with Islam, according to one political scientist. For Muslims in America, “you’ve got a theological, political problem that I think is incompatible with Western democracy” since they do not tolerate the religious liberty of others, says Matthew Spalding, associate vice president and dean of educational programs for Hillsdale College’s Kirby Center in Washington, D.C. Spalding’s professional mission is to help remind Americans of their noble founding principles and what makes America exceptional in the history of mankind. (Precisely Ben Carson's point, for which he was vilified by CAIR/MB regime in US. --Barb)

The Price of Appeasement: Defiant Iran pledges to ramp up missile program, in challenge for Obama
they hold him in contempt, know he will do nothing. ~Bob

India: Islamic jihadists in Indian military uniforms attack air force base

Tel Aviv jihad murderer had a copy of the Qur’an in his backpack. By Robert Spencer, JihadWatch.org
Excerpt: The Muslim who opened fire in Tel Aviv, murdering two people and injuring five more, was carrying a copy of the Qur’an. Now, the international media, or at least the BBC, was already baffled as to this man’s motive, and this news will mystify them still more: why on earth would a man intent on mass murder be carrying a peaceful copy of the Religion of Peace’s peaceful scriptures? Why would he have a copy of the holy book that — as all Western leaders routinely assure us — has nothing, nothing whatsoever, to do with inciting those who believe in it to commit acts of violence and terrorism? It is a mystery!

Worth Reading: The Absence of Global Leadership Will Shape a Tumultuous 2016. By Ian Bremmer
Excerpt: In a world of emergencies, leadership matters—and in 2016 it will become unavoidably obvious that the world lacks leadership. The days when heads of the G-7 industrial powers like the U.S. and Germany controlled geopolitics and the global economy are gone for good. The international group of today is the expanded G-20, which is much larger—including important emerging powers like China and India—yet agrees on much less. The result might be called a G-zero world, a global caucus whose members don’t share political and economic values or priorities. They don’t have a common vision for the future. Many years in the making, a G-zero world is now fully upon us. ... There is reason to fear we will see many more terrorist attacks in 2016, because the entrance of Turkey into Syria’s conflict will make it that much more difficult for young recruits to join ISIS in Syria—inviting them instead to carry out attacks where they live. In the Middle East, as nowhere else, fights are intensifying and no leader is willing to accept the full price that comes with leading the massive efforts required to restore something like order.

Excerpt: Every Palestinian knows in his heart that we do not want a state of our own alongside Israel, but rather instead of Israel. This includes all the land of Palestine and Israel. It means that Jews have no right to exist on even one speck of it. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas claims he wants to reach a peace agreement with Israel. But at the same time he and his henchmen incite the Palestinians to stab, run over and shoot Israelis to death, while he idealizes, glorifies and finances -- with the funds he receives from the West -- the terrorists and their families. The Palestinian people are already almost totally radicalized, even in the West Bank. They do not seem concerned about living under an Islamist regime run by Hamas or Islamic State.

From a Palestinian: Why Palestinians Love Baby-Killers. By Bassam Tawil 
Excerpt: Samir Kuntar was a terrorist who committed one of the most brutal terrorist attacks one can imagine. On April 22, 1979, Kuntar, who was then 16 years old, murdered four Israelis in the Israeli city of Nahariya. One of his victims was a four-year-old girl, Einat Haran. Kuntar smashed her skull after murdering her 31-year-old father, Danny. This week, Kuntar was killed in an explosion that destroyed his apartment south of the Syrian capital, Damascus. He had been in Syria helping President Bashar Assad commit war crimes against his own Syrian citizens. Kuntar had been sent to Syria also as part of the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah terror group, to plan major terror attacks against Israel from Syria. Kuntar was not a Palestinian. He was Lebanese Druze. This irregularity still has not stopped Palestinians from adoring him for murdering Jews. Palestinians will worship anyone who carries out a terror attack against Israel or Jews -- such as the Japanese terrorist, Kozo Okamoto, who led the 1972 massacre at Israel's Lod Airport, in which 24 people were murdered and more than 70 wounded. (A Palestinian intellectual denounces the sickness of his society. Cordially, Larry Greenberg)

Jihad recruitment video highlights “Minnesota martyrs.” By Robert Spencer, JihadWatch.org
Excerpt: What is being done to prevent more Muslims in Minnesota from joining the jihad? Why, nothing. To take any such action would be “Islamophobic.”

The Religion of Peace: Allah has bestowed Pakistanis the honour to destroy India, kill Hindus: Islamic cleric
And our Pakistani Ally. ~Bob

Islamic State video shows murder of five 'British spies'
Excerpt: He said: “All British government. All people of Britain, know that today your citizenship is under out feet and that the Islamic State, our country, is here to stay and we will continue to wage jihad, break borders and one day invade your land, when you will be ruled by Sharia.

Kenya: Muslims murder bus driver who couldn’t recite Islamic profession of faith. By Robert Spencer, JihadWatch.org
Excerpt: “The Al Shabaab rebels tried to separate Christians from the Muslims for execution, but Muslims on board took pains to protect the Christians.” Good. But not all escaped: “The militants seized a lorry that was behind the Makkah bus, and the conductor was killed after he failed to recite the Islamic Shahada.”

The Real War on Christmas: Popular Mobilization Force threatened to persecute Christians celebrating Christmas in Baghdad

Target Christians: Islamic State claims terror attacks in Syria’s Qamishli, dozens of civilian casualties reported
Excerpt: ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement on Thursday morning, saying its jihadists have planned many more attacks on what the group described as “enemies of Allah”, in reference to Kurds and Christians in Qamishli and its surroundings. (Three bombings claimed by ISIS in the Syrian city of Qamishli near the Iraqi border targeted Christians, killing 16 (or 18, according to the statement of the European Syriac Union). The explosions hit Syriac-owned restaurants in a predominantly Christian neighborhood of the city. --Mindy Belz, Globe Trot)

Interesting: Saudi allies Bahrain and Sudan cut ties with Tehran as regional crisis deepens
The Saudis are US allies. Iran is Obama's friend...~Bob

Worth Reading: California, Leading from Behind. By Victor Davis Hanson
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/429130/california-government-inefficient-bureaucracy
Excerpt: California has given us three new truths about government. One, the higher that taxes rise, the worse state services become. Two, the worse a natural disaster hits, the more the state contributes to its havoc.  And three, the more existential the problem, the more the state ignores it. California somehow has managed to have the fourth-highest gas taxes in the nation, yet its roads are rated 44th among the 50 states. Nearly 70 percent of California roads are considered to be in poor or mediocre condition by the state senate. In response, the state legislature naturally wants to raise gas taxes, with one proposal calling for an increase of 12 cents per gallon, which would give California the highest gas taxes in the nation. 

Worth Reading: John Kerry’s Surprising Comments on International Regulations and Climate Change. By Nicolas Loris 
Excerpt: Although he probably didn’t mean to, Secretary of State John Kerry made a compelling case for why the U.S. and other countries should not go down the path of shutting down coal-fired plants, raising energy prices and stunting economic growth to combat global warming. Speaking in Paris, Kerry said: "The fact is that even if every American citizen biked to work, carpooled to school, used only solar panels to power their homes, if we each planted a dozen trees, if we somehow eliminated all of our domestic greenhouse gas emissions, guess what – that still wouldn’t be enough to offset the carbon pollution coming from the rest of the world. If all the industrial nations went down to zero emissions – remember what I just said, all the industrial emissions went down to zero emissions – it wouldn’t be enough, not when more than 65 percent of the world’s carbon pollution comes from the developing world. (According even to Kerry, the amount of warming predicted by the models is miniscule. Why then, should we be pressing economic priorities be massively disrupted to treat nothing? Cordially, Larry Greenberg)

Worth Reading: Goodbye to 2015, a year of absurdity and overreach. By George Will
Excerpt: E.B. White reportedly said "the most beautiful sound in America" is "the tinkle of ice at twilight." In 2015's twilight, fortify yourself with something 90 proof as you remember this year in which: We learned that a dismal threshold has been passed. The value of property that police departments seized through civil asset forfeiture — usually without accusing, let alone convicting, the property owners of a crime — exceeded the value of property stolen by nongovernment burglars. The attorney general of New York, which reaps billions from gambling — casinos, off-track betting, the state lottery — moved to extinguish (competition from) fantasy football because it is gambling. Florida police raided a mahjong game played by four women aged between 87 and 95 because they allegedly were playing the game for money.

FLASHBACK: Here Are All The Times Trump Brushed Off The Clinton Sex Scandal
Excerpt: In 2008, Trump can be seen in an interview with CNN calling the Clinton sex scandal “unimportant.” He also takes a massive smack at former President George W. Bush—which may not sit well with many conservatives.

Too funny: If The Donald Delivered The Gettysburg Address
Excerpt: Now we've got a war going on. It's been a great war. It's going fantastic. Fantastic. And we're going to win, because I'm a great commander in chief, and I've assembled an incredible team, while the other side, they're a bunch of schmucks. They're schmucks, and their leaders are a bunch of schmucks. We kicked their ass, right here, on a great battlefield of that war. We won this, and we're going to win a lot more. A lot. Very, very many.


Worth Reading: Rubio’s case against Cruz, Clinton and other foreign policy ignoramuses
Excerpt: There is nothing like rising tensions in the Middle East and a sharp drop in the Dow in reaction to China’s economic uncertainty to remind us that bombastic rhetoric and anti-immigrant hype will be of no use to the next president, who will need to navigate choppy seas. It is not surprising that a candidate presenting his foreign policy acumen as his greatest strength should begin the week with a robust speech attacking feckless opponents. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) started off the day in New Hampshire with the sort of muscular speech his supporters have been waiting for. 

State Department releases over 3,000 Clinton emails on New Year's Eve

Judge in Adelson lawsuit subject to unusual scrutiny amid Review-Journal sale

http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2015/12/05/the-tribalist-liberal-losers-who-want-virtue-on-the-cheap-n2089324?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=Excerpt: It's not that all liberals are stupid; it's just that liberalism makes them sound stupid. For liberals, it’s not about being open-minded; it’s saying things they believe an open-minded person would say. It's not about being smart; it's saying things they believe a smart person would say. It's not about being virtuous; it's about saying things they believe a virtuous person would say. Since their solution for everything is “higher taxes, more spending and bigger government,” you’d think liberals would care more than anyone else about making sure our tax dollars are well spent and that government runs smoothly. Unfortunately, that would require logically evaluating programs they advocate and making adjustments and they’ve become such prisoners of their own doctrine that they’re incapable of doing it. For liberals, it’s never about whether a program works or whether a position makes sense; it’s about showing solidarity with their tribe, hurting enemies of their tribe, feeling better about themselves or virtue signaling. ( Amazing. People who are rational about decision affecting their families, finances and businesses behave irrationally in order to join the "feelgood club." Cordially, Larry Greenberg)

The Year of the Imaginary College Student. BY HUA HSU
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-year-of-the-imaginary-college-student
Excerpt: ’Keefe hoped to do this by handing out pocket-sized Constitutions outside the campus’ busiest building. One of his operatives, posing as a student, would then coax an administrator into destroying this replica of our nation’s founding document. A video edited down from the day’s footage shows an officer of the college awkwardly humoring the faux student, who is pitch-perfect in her recitation of how the offensively retrograde Constitution had “triggered” and traumatized her, helpfully suggesting that the officer use a nearby shredder. (Yeah...right-wing conspiracy...that's it. --George)


Russia's Heartthrob Prosecutie Is Busy Battling Terrorists. During her short time in office she has already survived two assassination attempts, and now has her hands full dealing with dastardly Ukrainian Nazi terrorists

Woman Shoots, Kills Home Invasion Suspect In Trotwood
Excerpt:  A home invasion turns deadly when the homeowner takes the safety of her family into her own hands. One of three home invasion suspect was shot and killed during the incident, and has been identified by the Montgomery County Coroner's Office as Azikiwe Presley, 29, of Dayton.  

Shocker! Economists Find Raising the Minimum Wage Doesn’t Help
http://louderwithcrowder.com/shocker-raising-the-minimum-wage-doesnt-help/#.VonAMvkrIdU
Excerpt: A shocking report has come out from the Fed saying that raising the minimum wage is an inefficient way to fight poverty. Shocking, that is, if you are unfamiliar with economics and/or reality. Essentially, it’s shocking to leftists. 9raising the minimum wage has nothing to do with helping the poor, everything to do with helping unions whose wages are tied to it by contract. ~Bob)

Obamacare Makes Employer-Based System Even Worse

Worth Reading: Politically Incorrect New Year’s Resolutions. by Victor Davis Hanson

China’s Xi tells grumbling party cadres: ‘Don’t talk back’
Excerpt: Chinese President Xi Jinping has carried out the most far-reaching anti-corruption campaign in Communist Party history — and, at the same time, the harshest crackdown on free speech in decades. Now he is tightening the screws further, outlawing internal dissent within the party through new disciplinary rules that have led to the firings of an academic, a newspaper editor and a senior police officer for “improper discussion” of government policy. (Sounds like our college students. ~Bob)

He Saved 669 Children During The Holocaust… And He Doesn’t Know They’re Sitting Next To Him.

Excerpt: In last year’s roundup of the top stories of the year, I argued that 2014 was the year we were all drafted into the culture wars. “This is the year when we were served noticed that we won’t be allowed to stand on the sidelines, because we will not be allowed to think differently from the left.” The signature story of the year was the comet shirt guy, a mild-mannered scientist caught wearing the wrong shirt on television. That case served notice that “To be targeted by accusations of misogyny, you don’t have to be a beer-chugging ‘bro’ who spends his Spring break judging wet T-shirt contests. Now they’re coming after the geeks and yes, even the hipsters.” Everyone is a combatant in the Great Social Justice War. ... But the big new development in 2015 is that the left’s culture war came back to attack the very institutions that hatched it.























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