A 19-year-old woman tried to use a suitcase to smuggle an 8-year-old boy into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa. The boy, who was said to be from Ivory Coast, was in bad shape when the authorities opened the suitcase and found him.
In other news, four Egyptian teenagers are facing blasphemy charges and possible detention for making fun of the Islamic State in an online video.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Papa Whiskey, Srdja Trifkovic, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
A Green Beret’s Guide to EMP: Practical Steps to Prepare for a “Lights Out” Scenario (Part 1)
We need to be “SME’s” as we called them in the Army: Subject Matter Experts. One of my personal goals for SHTF is not just to draw a large readership base; it is to help readers develop themselves and also develop one another. Let the site become an ORP (objective rally point) where everyone can plan, exchange ideas, and attain better levels of awareness and preparation for the times to come. In this light, there is a lot of knowledge out there awaiting use. Take the knowledge you amass, step up to the plate, and take the swing: do the best you can with what you have. And if it isn’t perfect, so what? You give it your best shot and then adjust fire from there.
So here it is. Scenario 1 finds you on your way to work. You just dropped the kids off to school and you’re out on the freeway heading toward work at 8:05 am, armed with a cup of coffee and your local radio station. All of a sudden the radio crackles and all of the power in your vehicle cuts off and you drift (hopefully safely!) to a halt. You do a head check: all of your fellow commuters on the road are experiencing the same problem, except one guy in a ‘54 Ford pickup truck who passes right by you. You look at your wristwatch and it is blank. Your cell phone is off, and out. You notice a traffic light ahead of you is out, and the convenience store and its sign on the corner are devoid of lights. Somewhere in the heart of the American Midwest, about 200 miles above the ground, an ICBM just went off and delivered an EMP to the U.S.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
As the Family Goes So Goes the Nation
In more recent times in cities across America, mobs of blacks have been either fighting one another or starting riots in places like Ferguson, Mo. And Baltimore. On St. Patrick’s Day 2015 in Cleveland after the huge annual parade, a group of black males and females converged and started beating up white citizens and out of town visitors alike. To them it was entertainment…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: Siding With the Victims of Aggression
The notion that a rape victim deserved to be raped because she was wearing a tight outfit lights up all our red lights.
This is the case first and foremost because it absolves the rapist of responsibility for his crime.
We are also disgusted by attempts to blame the victim for her victimization because they are substantively false. If men are more likely to rape women in tight clothing then rape should be all but non-existent in traditional Islamic societies. Yet the opposite is the case. Rape and sexual abuse are endemic to such societies. According to the UN, a whopping 99.3 percent of Egyptian women report having suffered sexual abuse.
There is a third, more general reason that we recoil from the thought of blaming rape victims for their suffering. One of the foundations of liberal societies has always been that victims of aggression are not to blame for their attackers’ behavior.
Over the past few days, we have witnessed a dangerous erosion of this principle among American elites…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Every time we think the corruption cannot get any worse, here come the Clintons to prove us wrong again. The Russian state-owned atomic agency Rosatom bought a 17% share in Uranium One, a Canadian owned company with uranium mines in Wyoming.
Senator John Barrosso of Wyoming and several congressmen raised their concerns about this deal. However, the deal was approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). CFIUS is a small executive task force that evaluates investment transactions by foreign companies in the United States. It is composed of cabinet members from the departments of Defense, Treasury, Homeland Security and State, while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State.
Donations to The Clinton Foundation were received by investors in Uranium One between 2005 and 2011. In addition, Bill Clinton received a half million dollars in 2010 for a single speech in Moscow from a Kremlin affiliated bank.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Comic Book Fans Ridicule SPLC’s Targeting of Artist Bosch Fawstin
By Daniel Greenfield
The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that many critics on the right and the left have described as a mail order scam disguised as a civil rights organization, responded to the terrorist attack in Garland, Texas, by adding one of its targets, artist Bosch Fawstin to its list of hate groups. Not only is adding the victim of a hate crime to a list of hate groups, a perverse thing to do, but it raises real concerns.
While Bosch Fawstin is in the headlines now because of his brush with death in the ISIS terrorist attack, he’s a talented artist who was nominated for an Eisner award and whose work has been praised by Chuck Dixon and Alex Toth among others.
And some in the comics community find SPLC’s targeting of an artist after an attack meant to suppress his work to be troubling.
At The Outhousers, Jude Terror, who makes it clear that he disagrees with Bosch’s politics, asks some interesting questions.
If Fawstin belongs on the list of hate groups, does someone like Frank Miller, who wrote a similarly-themed (but less well-received) comic about killing Muslims called “Holy Terror,” belong there as well?
If so, what does that mean for major Hollywood movie studios promoting movies based on his work, such as the upcoming Superman v. Batman: Dawn of Justice, set to launch a multi-movie franchise?
Or for that matter, for DC Comics, who promoted Miller’s return to writing Batman comics as a major event just last month?
What about Charlie Hebdo, which the world was pretty much unanimously celebrating in January after an attack on their building killed several cartoonists and editors, and whose defiant “Je Suis Charlie” slogan can still be readily be found on t-shirts and social media avatars.
How do Charlie Hebdo’s anti-Islam cartoons and drawings of Muhammad differ from Fawstin’s?
[They don’t — which is why the left, in the persons of Garry Trudeau and the PEN open-letter signatories, is targeting Charlie as well. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
F.B.I. Says it Sent Warning on One Gunman in Attack at Texas Gathering
By Scott Shane
WASHINGTON — Three hours before two gunmen opened fire outside a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Garland, Tex., the F.B.I. sent a bulletin to the Garland police warning them that one of the men might show up at the event, the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said Thursday.
“We developed information just hours before the event that Simpson might be interested in going to Garland,” Mr. Comey told reporters at a news briefing, referring to Elton Simpson, 30, who carried out the attack on Sunday night with Nadir Soofi, 34, also of Phoenix. Mr. Comey said he did not believe that the officers in the security detail outside the event were aware of the bulletin.
One school security guard was shot in the leg before a traffic police officer killed both gunmen. Mr. Comey praised the traffic officer, who he said, “under fire, remained calm and returned fire in an appropriate way.”
The F.B.I., which investigated Mr. Simpson from 2006 to 2014, reopened its investigation in March when he began to post messages on Twitter about the Islamic State. Mr. Comey’s disclosure on Thursday underscored how close the authorities came to heading off the attack.
[Close — but no cigar. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Chief: Potentially ‘Thousands’ Of Online ISIS Followers in US
There may be as many as thousands of people inside the United States consuming online “poison” from ISIS alone, and, “I know there are other Elton Simpsons out there,” FBI director James Comey warned today, referring to one of the men who opened fire outside of an event in Texas earlier this week celebrating artists’ portrayals of the Prophet Mohammad.
“We have a very hard task” in trying to identify and stop anyone inspired to launch an attack inside the U.S. homeland, Comey told ABC News’ Pierre Thomas and a small group of reporters.
Such efforts have become particularly challenging because ISIS has reconfigured and redefined terrorist recruitment, according to Comey. In fact, while the FBI is trying to find that so-called needle in a haystack, “increasingly the needles are invisible to us,” he said.
As recently as two years ago, someone in the United States who wanted to consume “radical poisonous propaganda” would have to seek that out on the Internet, most likely on a jihadist web forum. So the FBI focused its investigative efforts on those jihadist web forums, Comey said.
But “that has changed dramatically, especially with [ISIS] and their use of social media,” where on phones in people’s pockets they ask Americans and other foreigners “to travel to the so-called caliphate to fight” but simultaneously say, “If you can’t travel, kill where you are,” according to Comey.
“It’s almost as if there is a devil sitting on the shoulder saying, ‘Kill, kill, kill, kill’ all day long,” he said. “[They are] recruiting and tasking at the same time. … In a way, the old paradigm between ‘inspired’ and ‘directed’ breaks down here.”
[Again, why are Twitter and Facebook and the rest allowed to make money hosting this sort of thing? — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Activity Prompts Threat Level Increase at Bases
By Barbara Starr
Washington (CNN) Security conditions at U.S. military bases were raised Thursday night because of growing concern of a jihadist threat in the U.S.
The move comes hours after FBI Director James Comey told reporters that there are thousands of ISIS, also known as ISIL, followers online in the U.S.
“We have a general concern, obviously, that ISIL is focusing on the uniformed military and law enforcement,” Comey told reporters Thursday.
The order was signed by Admiral William Gortney, head of the U.S. Northern Command, which oversees all U.S. military installations in the continental U.S.
“We have the same concern about the potential threat posed by violent homegrown extremists,” said Captain Jeff Davis, spokesman for the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM.
Davis declined to specify the new security measures. But a U.S. official confirmed to CNN that U.S. military bases are now at “Force Protection Bravo,” which is defined by the Pentagon as an “increased and predictable threat of terrorism.” It is the third-highest threat level on a five-tier scale used by the Department of Defense.
A U.S. military official said the order to raise the force protection level to Bravo also applies to all National Guard installations, recruiting stations, and ROTC detachments, though practically speaking, the official acknowledges it will be difficult for the ROTC detachments to do much more than security awareness.
“We are doing this as a prudent measure due to a lot of things in the news lately,” Davis said.
[Such as the Texas cartoon attack, which the FBI assures us was just a lone wolf reading too many tweets. The truth is that the Islamic enemy’s ops tempo has markedly increased since the Charlie Hebdo attack In January, and will continue to do so in the face of politically imposed fecklessness. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
By Robert Spencer
I was standing next to Pamela Geller just after our American Freedom Defense Initiative/Jihad Watch Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest ended last Sunday in Garland, Texas when one of our security team ran in and told us that there had been a shooting outside. As the audience was led to another area inside the building and the outside was swept for bombs and additional jihadis, Geller and I were hurried to a safe room. It was the last time since then that Pamela Geller has been safe.
The Islamic State quickly issued a communiqué that included this:
The attack by the Islamic State in America is only the beginning of our efforts to establish a wiliyah [actually wilayah, administrative district] in the heart of our enemy. Our aim was the khanzeer [pig] Pamela Geller and to show her that we don’t care what land she hides in or what sky shields her; we will send all our Lions to achieve her slaughter. This will heal the hearts of our brothers and disperse the ones behind her. To those who protect her: this will be your only warning of housing this woman and her circus show. Everyone who houses her events, gives her a platform to spill her filth are legitimate targets. We have been watching closely who was present at this event and the shooter of our brothers. We knew that the target was protected. Our intention was to show how easy we give our lives for the Sake of Allah.
On top of that, instead of rallying to her defense and to that of the freedom of speech, the mainstream media, both on the Left and on the Right, has spent the week excoriating Pamela Geller for daring to “provoke” the poor jihadis, as if the two Muslim gunmen who showed up at our event would have become fiercely patriotic stockbrokers if only we hadn’t shown those cartoons.
It is therefore clear that if, God forbid, anything does happen to Pamela Geller, the talking heads will look soulfully into the cameras and say, Of course we are shocked…Of course we condemn….but…wellllll…she had it coming…she should have submitted to Sharia blasphemy restrictions like the rest of us…
The reality is that if the gunmen were “provoked” by the Muhammad cartoons, they would have been “provoked” by something else. What had the Jews in the Hyper Cacher supermarket in January done to “provoke” the Muslims? They dared to be Jews. What had the people in the Lindt Chocolat Cafe in Australia done to “provoke” the Muslims? Dared to be non-Muslims.
People who say our cartoon contest deliberately tried to provoke a violent reaction are under the apparent delusion that if we abide by Muhammad Atta’s advice to the passengers on his doomed plane on September 11, 2001, all will be well. Atta told the passengers, “Stay quiet and you’ll be OK.”
They weren’t.
[What Pamela Geller needs is a good handgun, a carry permit, and a week at the Gunsite Academy. Sadly, being a New Yorker, the second is well-nigh unobtainable, even for someone personally threatened by the goons of ISIS. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Kansas City Mosque That Wanted to Ban Free Speech Will Hold Funeral for Tx Jihadist Nadir Soofi
By Patrick Poole
A Kansas City mosque that petitioned Barack Obama to ban free speech defaming Islam in 2012 will hold the funeral for one of the two jihadists killed in a shootout Sunday outside a Dallas-area convention center that was hosting a “Draw Muhammad” cartoon contest.
The Islamic Society of Greater Kansas City (ISGKC) will hold a funeral on Thursday for Nadir Soofi, according to KCTV5:
The funeral for one of the people suspected in a chilling attack outside a Texas art contest will be held in the metro.
While Nadir Soofi never lived in the metro his father lives in an Overland Park neighborhood near 158th Place with his wife, Nadir’s stepmother. A woman who came to the door at the home told KCTV5 that the family didn’t want to talk about what happened to Soofi.
Police say the 34-year-old and 30-year-old Elton Simpson opened fire at a Dallas area conference center on Sunday. An art exhibit and contest depicting the Prophet Mohammad was being held there.
They wounded a security guard before police shot back, killing both.
While not mentioned in the article’s text, the KCTV5 video report specifically states that Soofi’s funeral service will be at ISGKC.
As I reported at PJ Media back in September 2012, ISGKC launched an online petition calling for Barack Obama to sponsor a bill limiting the free speech of American citizens by criminalizing insults to religion (namely, Islam) following international protest of the “Innocence of Muslims” video.
[…]
As I noted at the time, the position of ISGKC was particularly peculiar given that the mosque had hosted internationally renowned Islamic hate speaker Khalid Yasin, whose controversial statements include calling for the death penalty for gays and describing the beliefs of Christians and Jews as “filth.”
An Australian news channel exposed Yasin’s extremist views back in 2005.
So with Nadir Soofi and Elton Simpson’s attempts to silence speakers at Sunday’s event in Texas, perhaps Soofi’s funeral at ISGKC is appropriate.
[You’d think these creatures would keep their heads down at this juncture — but given the PC protection they get from the current administration, why should they? — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Military Posts Put on Elevated Alert Level Amid Recent ISIS Warnings
The U.S. military has raised its alert level for bases in North America to its highest since the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in the face of mounting threats from Islamic State sympathizers on American soil. The move, which officials said is not based on a specific threat, was “informed by recent events,” a spokesman for U.S. Northern Command told Fox News.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Muhammad Art Contest Winner Banned by Facebook, Restored After Complaints
Incident highlights ludicrous Facebook policy of allowing offended mobs to censor content.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
By Robert Spencer
The mosque even posted his $100,000 bond when he was arrested, although now they’re lying about that, too. Will authorities investigate this mosque, or are they too busy drawing up the latest condemnation of Pamela Geller? “Phoenix Mosque Caught Lying About Ties to Texas Would-Be Jihadist Killer,” by Patrick Poole, PJ Media, May 7, 2015:…Most of the conflicting accounts have come from mosque president Usama Shami, who has been regularly featured in multiple press reports following the events Sunday evening….
For example, a Dallas Morning News article quotes him as saying the pair were not regular members:
Usama Shami, president of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, said Simpson and Soofi attended prayers at the mosque but were not regular members. Simpson started attending Friday prayers at the mosque about 10 years ago, he said, but visited the mosque less frequently after he was arrested.
But in fact, a video posted on the ICCPA Youtube channel in 2012 features Elton (“Ibrahim”) Simpson and identifies him as a member:
The above quote by Shami [in an embedded video clip] asserts that Simpson stopped frequenting the mosque after his 2010 arrest. Another account by a local spokeswoman published in the Arizona Republic claimed that the mosque had shunned Simpson:
Deedra Abboud, a converted Muslim and a former community activist-turned-lawyer said Wednesday that members of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix were scared and that “everybody’s being pressured by the FBI.”
Abboud also said that while the FBI’s case bothered Simpson, so did a sense that the mosque turned its back on him.
“It was a combination of the two things: harassment by the FBI and the Muslim community avoiding him like the plague,” said Abboud, who helped raise money for Simpson’s bail and knows many of his closest acquaintances.
“It was the isolation,” she said. “My theory is that he was upset with the Muslim community and he became more susceptible to radical ideas.”
However, mosque president Shami stated several times that it was only within the past few months that the pair stopped attending:
Simpson had worshipped at the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix for about a decade, but he quit showing up over the past two or three months, the president of the mosque told The Associated Press….
That account was repeated by the LA Times:
Usama Shami, president of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, remembers Simpson as “a pleasant kid” who taught his jump shot to younger children at basketball courts near the mosque. Simpson attended the mosque beginning in his high school years, Shami said, and was active until just months ago.
“We didn’t see him too much lately,” said Shami, whose mosque is about two miles from the apartment shared by Simpson and Soofi.
So we see Shami giving two very different versions of Simpson’s attendance at the mosque.
Shami also tried to distance the mosque from Simpson’s 2010 arrest:
Shami disagreed that the mosque shunned Simpson. The mosque did decline to raise money for his legal defense, he said, concerned with not knowing where the FBI case would lead.
“Our first priority is to protect the mosque. It cannot be part of any federal case,” he explained, adding that Simpson was always welcome to attend even after his conviction.
And yet, multiple media reports quote Simpson’s attorney Kristina Sitton saying the mosque posted $100,000 cash bond after his arrest:
The Islamic Community Center of Phoenix posted $100,000 cash bond to release him from custody, Sitton said.
Again, from the LA Times:
Simpson was placed on three years’ probation and fined $600. His mosque in Phoenix had posted his $100,000 bail.
[My, what a lovely snakepit this whole affair is uncovering. Robert and Pamela done good.]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Police Seize 10 Children From ‘Off-Grid’ Homeschool Family
Authorities targeting Americans with traditional, rural lifestyles.
Police seized ten children from an “off grid” homeschool family in Kentucky on Wednesday after receiving an anonymous tip about the family’s traditional lifestyle.
The nightmare story began when sheriff’s officers set up a blockade around Joe and Nicole Naugler’s rural property before entering the premises. Eight of the kids were out with their father but Nicole and two of her oldest children were at home. Nicole attempted to drive away but was subsequently stopped and arrested for resisting (attempting to prevent officers from taking her two boys away).
The sheriff then demanded Joe Naugler turn over the other eight children by 10am the next day or face felony charges, an order with which he complied.
“They are an extremely happy family,” said family friend Pace Ellsworth, who asserts that the Nauglers were targeted because of their “back to basics life” and their decision to homeschool their children.
Friends reported no concerns about how the children were being treated by the parents, who follow an educational model called “unschooling” where the children decide their own curriculum based on the subjects that interest them and what their strengths are.
“This is the natural way to live,” said Ellsworth. “It’s actually a growing movement. They want to have a personal education and not a factory education. They are completely open about their life. Everyone is learning by living. They are all extremely intelligent.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Remaining Female Candidates Must Restart Ranger Training After Missing Mark in 1st Phase
None of the remaining eight female candidates going through the Army Ranger School made it out of the first phase of training at Fort Benning, Ga., defense officials told Fox News — though they scored high enough to try again as early as next week.
The candidates were the first women to train for the elite force as part of a program that began in February.
While they did not do well enough to move on to the next phase of training, an Army Ranger statement said the eight women — along with 101 men in the same situation — will be “recycled,” meaning they can re-do the training phase in an upcoming Ranger school session.
A total of 60 women were originally slated to participate in Ranger Assessment Phase (RAP), according to the Pentagon in January. The Army Times reported in February that 100 women went into the pre-training phase, and in April, 19 women qualified for the first training phase, known as Darby. Within days, that number was down to eight.
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Secret Deal Could Contain a Myriad of Gun Restrictions, Ammo Bans!
Will UN-style gun control be rammed down our throats?
“We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what’s in it.” — Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, encouraging rapid passage of ObamaCare in 2010
ACTION: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Orrin Hatch may soon give the President authority to write gun control restrictions into a “trade agreement.” So click here to contact your Senators —- whether they are liberal or conservative. Urge them to vote against the anti-gun “fast track” bill (S. 995).
Will UN-style gun control be rammed down our throats?
Gun import bans … Microstamping of firearms … Ammunition bans … The full implementation of the anti-gun UN Arms Trade Treaty … Illegal amnesty which locks in millions of new, anti-gun voters.
This anti-gun wish list could be part of the secret trade agreement that President Obama is getting ready to spring on the Congress.
This trade pact is called “fast track,” and what it means is that Obama can write any form of gun control he chooses into a trade agreement — import bans, amnesty, etc.
And this agreement DOESN’T need two-thirds vote in the Senate, as a treaty would. When completed, the agreement is merely subject to a majority vote in both Houses … it can’t be filibustered … it can’t be amended … and the GOP can’t refuse to consider it.
Top Secret TPP means you won’t know what’s in the bill
Reports have already surfaced that the TOP SECRET draft contains a whole chapter with a European Union-style provision allowing unlimited migration from Mexico into the United States. This would fulfill Obama’s dream — which he begun with Executive Amnesty — to import millions of new anti-gun (liberal) voters into the country.
Of course, we can’t quote for you any of the language in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement because the document is TOP SECRET. Obama won’t reveal it, even to most congressmen, until Congress has given it its imprimatur by allowing it to pass under fast track procedures.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Security Measures Increased at US Military Bases
The US military has increased its threat level at facilities across North America, although most installations were already operating at a higher level of protection.
Army Col Steve Warren said the increase was not the result of a specific event.
He said it was the result of an increased threat climate, including the arrests of several suspected Islamic State sympathizers in the US.
The increase likely means more bag and vehicle checks at military facilities.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Shooters: No Direct Link ‘At This Point’ To Islamic State, Officials Say
By Richard A. Serrano
The lead gunman in the shooting in Garland, Texas, was inspired by foreign jihadist groups but the FBI and other federal investigators do “not at this point” believe he was specifically directed to attack people attending the Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest there, two top federal law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
The sources, speaking confidentially because the investigation is continuing, said preliminary evidence shows that Elton Simpson was deeply engaged in social media chats with jihadi fighters in Syria and Somalia. But, they cautioned, investigators have not nailed down a direct link between what the groups were telling him and what happened when he and an accomplice tried to shoot their way into the cartoon convention on Sunday.
“Not at this point,” said one investigator, adding that Simpson appears to have been acting independently of the groups. “At this point he’s a lone wolf.”
The officials said claims from the Islamic State terror organization, also known as ISIS, that it sent Simpson to Garland are not holding up. “It’s more rhetoric,” the second official said.
[In face of all the evidence that’s come to light about Simpson’s contacts, and in the face of his pledge of allegiance to the ISIS caliph twenty minutes before the attack, do these people really expect such twaddle to be taken seriously? Shakespeare once wrote of the “insolence of office,” and it seems things haven’t changed since his day. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
This Teacher Has the Opportunity to Hit Police Unions Where it Hurts the Most
By Charles Lane
Supreme Court cases have a way of changing American society far beyond the intentions and expectations of the litigants who start them — or even the justices who decide them.
Marbury v. Madison began as a fight over federal appointments and ended establishing the court as the final arbiter of constitutional issues.
In 1967, Loving v. Virginia struck down all state laws against interracial marriage. Today, it is being cited as precedent for a much broader right to marry that encompasses same-sex couples.
So anyone who cares about the issues of law enforcement and race that have been raised so dramatically in Ferguson, Mo., North Charleston, S.C., Staten Island and Baltimore should care about Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which the justices might hear as soon as next fall.
What could a case about teachers have to do with cops? A lot. Rebecca Friedrichs and several colleagues object to their state’s prevailing system of mandatory dues, under which they must contribute to the California Teachers Association, whether they agree with its positions in collective bargaining or not.
[…]
What’s potentially revolutionary about Friedrichs’s case, therefore, is her request that the court bar any mandatory dues in the public sector — even those that ostensibly fund only collective bargaining.
[…]
Now you see why this could be a blockbuster. A victory for Friedrichs would stop the automatic flow of members’ money to public-sector unions in 26 mostly blue states whose laws currently allow it, including not only California but also such public-union strongholds as New York and Illinois.
And that could very well include unions representing the police.
Among the factors that contribute to police impunity, where it exists, the political power of police unions belongs near the top of the list. Police unions have lobbied fiercely against civilian review boards and other reforms aimed at curbing alleged brutality; they demand elaborate procedural protections for officers accused of abuse.
Remember the post-Ferguson campaign to reduce “police militarization”? Police unions opposed it. As for “mass incarceration,” among the staunchest supporters of draconian sentencing laws have been correctional officers’ unions, for whom full prisons mean full employment.
[Unions have won the right for many cops to have “grace periods” when charged with a crime — time to calm down and lawyer up before any interrogation. Ordinary citizens have no such rights. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Why They Must Destroy Ben Carson
Obama is truly not a “brother” to his people. Instead, he has made them into cannon fodder for the revolution.
Black conservative Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson is everything Barack Obama is not. That’s why he has to be destroyed.
In a desperate move, The Washington Post ran a more than 2,500-word article on Sunday warning Carson to stop criticizing Obama.
What were Carson’s crimes?
He offered “a conservative critique of U.S. health-care and spending policies, while standing a few feet from President Obama.” “In the ensuing months and years, Carson’s attacks grew sharper—deriding Obama’s signature health-care law as the ‘worst thing to have happened in this nation since slavery’ and, in the pages of GQ, likening Obama to a ‘psychopath.’ Carson’s 2014 book, ‘One Nation,’ assails a decline of moral values in America and its government.”
Moral decline in America under Obama
Can you imagine anyone having the audacity to talk about moral decline in America under “America’s First Gay President,” as Newsweek described Obama?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Copenhagen Buses Burned in ‘Anti-Israel Attack’
Four Danish buses were destroyed in a suspected arson attack that police believe may have a political motive.
The buses were found on fire in the early hours of Friday morning in Copenhagen. Another was found covered in anti-Israeli graffiti.
Last week, the city’s transit authority ordered the removal of advertisements by a pro-Palestinian group calling for a boycott of Israeli goods.
The group behind the adverts condemned the fire, calling it “a criminal act”.
Jens Moeller Jensen, a spokesman for Copenhagen’s police force, told the Associated Press: “There could be a political motive. We consider this one theory. But we cannot link it to anything for now.”
The advertisements were paid for by the Danish-Palestinian Friendship Association. It says it works “to influence the Danish public and the Danish authorities to do more for the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Lawmaker Aims to Exhibit ‘Muhammad’ Contest Cartoons in Parliament
The Dutch lawmaker who served as keynote speaker at the terrorist-targeted “Draw the Prophet” event in Texas — and was a likely target himself — plans to ask his country’s parliament to publicly exhibit the controversial drawings.
Saying he seeks to demonstrate Western defiance in the face of Islamic extremism, Geert Wilders told FoxNews.com that giving even more publicity to the cartoons — which many in the Muslim community deem offensive — is the best way to stand up to the terror threat.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Europeans Mark 70 Years Since Nazis Surrendered to Allies, Ending World War II in Europe
With quiet moments of memory or military pomp, leaders and ordinary citizens across Europe are marking 70 years since the Nazi defeat and the end of a war that ravaged the continent. But the East-West alliance that vanquished Hitler is deeply divided today.
Russia is celebrating Soviet wartime feats in a ceremony Saturday that is causing diplomatic tensions because of the country’s role in Ukraine’s conflict. Poland has held a ceremony meant as an alternative to Moscow’s.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Five Factors That Will Decide if Philae Wakes
Ever since the European Space Agency’s Philae lander ran out of batteries on 15 November, just three days after it bounced on to comet 67P/Churyumov—Gerasimenko, scientists have consoled themselves with the hope that the craft is not dead, just sleeping.
Stuck in a shaded area beneath a rocky-looking outcrop on the comet, Philae has been unable to charge its solar-powered battery. But as 67P gets nearer to the Sun, scientists hope that the lander could receive enough solar power to reboot and transmit a signal to the orbiting Rosetta probe. Lander scientists predict that, from 8 to 17 May, Rosetta will be in a good position to hear Philae’s signals — if the lander is awake. Nature takes a look at five factors that will decide whether Philae wakes or sleeps on.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
George Galloway, Critic of Israel and Iraq War, Ousted in UK Election
George Galloway, the socialist firebrand best known in America for his condemnations of Israel and the Iraq War, was soundly defeated for re-election to Parliament in Thursday’s British general election.
Galloway, a former Labour member who won the seat for Bradford West in the northwest of England in a 2012 special election, was beaten by Labour’s Naz Shah, a political newcomer who overcome childhood poverty, a teenage forced marriage and the imprisonment of her mother for killing an abusive partner.
Shah had urged voters to reject Galloway because “we do not need a one-man Messiah to tell us how to come and fix up Bradford.”
The campaign in Bradford West had been one of the nastiest of a bad-tempered election. At one point, Galloway accused Shah of exaggerating her personal story.
[…]
Shah, in turn, called Galloway an “absentee MP” — echoing critics who call him a showman, too busy with his media career to spend much time in his constituency or in Parliament. He has regular TV shows on Russia Today and Iran-backed Press TV, and for years hosted a national talk-radio program.
[…]
Galloway’s links to the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein have attracted controversy over two decades. In 2005, he angrily denounced U.S. senators while appearing before a Washington committee that accused his political organization of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in U.N. oil-for-food allocations from Saddam. During a visit to Iraq in 1994, Galloway was filmed telling Saddam, “Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability.”
[Good riddance to a real rat. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Court Sentences Three for Joining, Helping Islamic State
A Norwegian court sentenced three men to jail on Friday for joining or aiding the Islamic State militant group in Syria, in the first case of its kind in the Nordic region.
Djibril Bashir, 30, and Valon Avdyli, 28, “shall be sentenced for participating in the ISIL terror organisation”, the Oslo District Court said in its verdict, referring to the Islamic State, which has declared a caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria and is active in Libya.
Bashir was sentenced to four years and three months in prison and Valon Avdyli to four years and nine months. A third man, Visar Avdyli, 25, the brother of Valon, was sentenced to seven months in prison for providing aid to the group.
They were sentenced under a new Norwegian law designed to crack down on militants returning from the conflicts in the Middle East, with maximum imprisonment terms of up to six years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Tells Swiss Guard to Pray Rosary During Watch
Also tells guard to always carry a small Gospel in their pockets
(ANSA) — Vatican City, May 4 — Pope Francis told the Swiss Guards charged with protecting him that they should pray the rosary during honor guard duty and always carry a small version of the Gospel in their pockets, speaking at an audience two days prior to the swearing-in ceremony for new Swiss Guards.
“What I tell everyone, I’ll tell you too: always keep a small Gospel close at hand, to read it as soon as you have a calm moment. It will help you in your personal prayer, especially the Rosary, during the honor guard,” Pope Francis said.
Pope Francis called Monday’s audience with the Swiss Guard an occasion “to grow a meaningful friendship, because you work so close to me”.
Wednesday’s swearing-in ceremony of 32 new Swiss Guards is an annual event held on May 6, the anniversary of the Sack of Rome in 1527, when 147 Swiss soldiers died defending Pope Clement VII.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
So Much for the Nail-Biter: Conservatives Win Big in British Election
Conservatives in Britain are quite a bit less conservative than U.S. Republicans, which I suppose is quite the caveat given what we’ve seen in the McConnell/Boehner era. But they’re still the center-right alternative to the very left-wing Labour Party, and British voters decided once again yesterday that they’d rather keep their government in the hands of those on the right side of the aisle.
The Conservatives look to end up with 329 seats, which is three more than they need for an outright majority. Labour won only 228 seats.
It wasn’t really that close, and much as we saw with last month’s Israeli elections, this came as quite the shock to legacy media who were convinced the race was going to be a nail-biter:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK Chooses Slow Suicide Over Immediate Suicide
by Robert Spencer
David Cameron and the Tories have won an upset victory over the man who was supposed to be Britain’s next Prime Minister, Ed Miliband of Labour.
How wonderful! Britain has rejected Miliband, who said that he would criminalize “Islamophobia,” and chosen to re-elect Cameron, the dhimmi appeaser who banned Pamela Geller and me from Britain the week after his government admitted Saudi Sheikh Mohammed al-Arefe, who said: “Devotion to jihad for the sake of Allah, and the desire to shed blood, to smash skulls, and to sever limbs for the sake of Allah and in defense of His religion, is, undoubtedly, an honor for the believer. Allah said that if a man fights the infidels, the infidels will be unable to prepare to fight.”
The UK has rejected the authoritarian fascist Miliband and chosen the bemused Cameron, who has said that the Islamic State has “nothing to do with the great religion of Islam, a religion of peace” and declared: “I want London to stand alongside Dubai as one of the great capitals of Islamic finance anywhere in the world.”
In other words, Britain has chosen slow rather than immediate suicide. Break out the Veuve Clicquot!
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK ‘Political Earthquake’ Rocks EU
The words “political earthquake” have been translated into numerous European languages today, making front page news across the continent.
The mood is possibly best summed up in the Le Monde headline: Triumph for Cameron. Concern for Europe.
While Britons now examine the domestic minutiae of the election result, here in mainland Europe the vote means one thing — a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.
And that has the potential to create an earthquake of its own.
The guardian of the EU treaties Mr Cameron wants to change — Commission President Jean Claude Juncker — said again today he’d listen to what Britain’s new government proposed, but that real change must be approved by EU countries rather than institutions.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘An Affront to Democracy’ — UKIP Would Have Won 83 Seats Under a ‘Fair’ Voting System
In fact, the party — which is now the third biggest in British politics — will have just ONE representative in the House of Commons.
Ukip deputy leader Paul Nuttall called the ‘first past the post’ system “an affront to democracy” and Nigel Farage said the result would leave voters furious.
A host of parties will feel shortchanged by the first past the post system but Ukip supporters will be especially frustrated after the party polled nearly four million votes with a huge swing in their favour.
Mr Nuttall said: “The first past the post system was designed for the 19th century and has no place in a 21st century functioning democracy.
“The fact a political party can poll nearly four million votes and have one seat is an affront to democracy.
“Electoral reform has to be put back to the front of the agenda.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: And Then There Was One: Miliband, Clegg and Farage Quit as Party Leaders
Britain’s political landscape was left transformed as a triumphant David Cameron hailed the sweetest victory of his career after defying his critics by securing the first Conservative working majority since 1992 and forcing three of his vanquished rival party leaders to resign in the space of two hours.
With the Conservatives winning an overall majority — confounding all the opinion poll predictions — Labour’s Ed Miliband, the Liberal Democrats’ Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage of Ukip all announced their resignations in quick succession on Friday morning.
In an election suffused with historical and political significance, the Tories won 331 seats, eight more than the 323 required for an overall majority, while Labour collapsed to 232, equivalent to its disastrous 1987 general election result. The Liberal Democrats were devastated across Britain, collapsing from 57 seats to eight, reminiscent of the Liberal party in the era of Jo Grimond. Its most senior ministerial figures — including Ed Davey, Danny Alexander, Simon Hughes, Vince Cable and David Laws — were ejected by an electorate that had lost trust in Clegg’s party.
In Scotland, Labour found its citadel sacked, securing one seat — Edinburgh South — in what had once been its heartland. The SNP took 56 of the 59 seats north of the border. Miliband saw his shadow foreign secretary, Douglas Alexander, and in West Yorkshire the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, cast into the wilderness in their prime.
Cameron’s victory was all the more stunning because polls had suggested Labour and the Conservatives were neck and neck, and that Britain was heading for a nervy constitutional stalemate.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: First-Past-the-Post is Now a Bankrupt Voting System
It is interesting to note that we gained nearly as many votes as the SNP, the Liberal Democrats, and Plaid Cymru added up together. This is the equivalent of half the panel on the televised leaders’ debates. But only one Ukip MP has been returned to the House of Commons — a situation which most reasonable people would realise highlights the flawed nature of Britain’s electoral system.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Landslide: British PM Cameron, Tories Trounce Labour Party
British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Tory party scored a decisive victory over the opposing Labour Party, left far-left and far-right parties in the dust and defied pre-election polls with a resounding election triumph he called “the sweetest victory of all.”
Aided by the Scottish National Party’s rout of Labour in Scotland, Cameron and the Tories left opponents on the right and left in tatters. The Labour Party lost 24 seats in Parliament according to early returns, and party leader Ed Miliband resigned from his role. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg resigned after acknowledging a “cruel and punishing defeat,” in which his left-of-center part suffered its worst-ever defeat — dropping from 57 seats to just 8. On the right, UK Independence Party Leader Nigel Farage, a thorn in Cameron’s side, failed to win a seat and resigned as party leader.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Nigel Farage Attacks ‘Bankrupt’ Electoral System That Saw 4m Voters Elect 1 UKIP MP
Nigel Farage has attacked a “bankrupt” electoral system that left the party with a single MP despite more people supporting the UK Independence Party as the Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrats.
The former Ukip leader said he was appalled that 3.9million voted Ukip on Thursday — yet the party was left with a single MP. In comparison, the same number of people elected 64 SNP or LibDem MPs.
Mr Farage pointed out that Douglas Carswell, the party’s single MP, was a passionate advocate of electora reform.
He said: “I think the First Past The Post system is bankrupt, it is bankrupt because one party can get 50 per cent of the vote in Scotland and nearly 100 per cent of the seats, and our party can get four million votes and just one seat.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Politician Alan Mak Makes History as First Chinese Elected to British Parliament
In a landmark victory, an ethnic Chinese candidate has been elected to the British Parliament — the first in its 800-year history.
Alan Mak, who is of Chinese-Malaysian background, retained the Conservative party seat of Havant in South West England with more than 51 per cent share of the votes cast.
Some 11 candidates of Chinese heritage ran in the May 7 election. About 400,000 ethnically Chinese people live in Britain.
As expected, Mak’s win was a shoo-in, with the seat considered a stronghold for Conservative voters. He picked up 23,159 votes, increasing his share of the votes compared to his predecessor, former minister David Willetts.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Watch Party Leaders’ Resignations: Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage Step Down
Ed Miliband said he was “truly sorry” for failing to win the election after his party’s worst performance since Neil Kinnock was leader. Labour was all but wiped out in Scotland and failed to make in-roads in England, triggering Mr Miliband’s resgination as leader on Friday morning.
Nick Clegg, who was Deputy Prime Minister for five years, held on to his seat of Sheffield Hallam but announced his resignation as Liberal Democrat leader after his party suffered savage General Election losses. The party won just eight seats on Friday morning — down from 57 in 2010.
Meanwhile, Ukip’s Nigel Farage also stepped down as his party’s leader after failing to win South Thanet. Mr Farage has announced he is taking a break from politics after finishing second to Tory Craig MackInlay by almost 3,000 votes — but hinted stand again for the leadership September.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Who Will Replace Ed Miliband as Labour Leader?
Ed Balls’ failure to retain his Commons seat has knocked a leading contender out of the running to be next Labour leader.
As pressure grew on Ed Miliband to resign in the wake of a disastrous election result for Labour, bookmakers placed Mr Balls’ wife Yvette Cooper as one of the favourites to succeed him.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UKIP Has Three Million Voters and a Handful of MPs. Something Has to Change
There are 4.2 million voters in Scotland. They are represented by 59 members of Parliament.
The signs are that more than 3 million people voted for the UK Independence Party in the general election. Ukip will have one or two MPs.
You don’t have to agree with Ukip’s policies (I don’t) to think that there’s something wrong with that situation. I’ve suggested before that the first past the post electoral system is flawed, and that Ukip’s election result is just one illustration of that.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Untergang Redux, Seven Decades Later
by Srdja Trifkovic
The war in Europe ended 70 years ago today. It was the most destructive conflict in human history, but it was not the most important. In metahistorical terms it was but the second round of Europe’s extended suicide which started at the height of the Old Continent’s economic, scientific and civilizational achievement in July 1914.
In legal and technical terms both wars were caused by Germany’s elites. The record set by Fritz Fischer et al. half a century ago still stands unchallenged by the hacks and charlatans of Christopher Clarke’s ilk. The Kaiserreich could have dominated Europe economically and therefore politically by 1920-25 without a shot being fired, but its leaders were gripped by an almost McCainnesque neurosis. A generation later Hitler kept playing va banque, and it was mathematically predictable that he’d meet his comeuppance sooner or later. He did in the East, and had there been no D-Day the Red Army would have reached the Channel in 1946.
Fundamentally the catastrophe of 1914-1945 was due to the growing schism between Europe’s heart and mind. It started in the Renaissance, matured under the Philosophes, tasted blood with the guillotine and the Vendée, and produced — well before the Guns of August — the modern times’ four horsemen of the Apocalypse, Marx, Darwin, Freud, and Picasso…
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
Why the Polls Got the UK Election Wrong
Political scientist Michael Bruter says the psychology of voters who make up their minds at the last minute can yield unexpected results.
Pollsters are still rubbing their eyes at the unexpected result of the 7 May UK election. The Conservative party romped to an outright majority, meaning that incumbent Prime Minister David Cameron forms a new government. Yet polls had predicted a knife-edge race between opposition party Labour and the Conservatives. Labour’s share of the nation’s vote, at some 30.4%, was not only below the 35% prediction that UK polling company Ipsos MORI released on 7 May (on the basis of data collected in the two days before); it was also outside the typical 3—4% margin of error. The British Polling Council, an association of polling organizations, announced on 8 May that it was setting up an independent inquiry into the failure.
Why did the polls get British voters’ intentions so wrong? Nature asked Michael Bruter, a political scientist who studies electoral psychology at the London School of Economics.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Youths Face Trial for ‘Insulting Islam’ By Making Fun of ISIS
Four Egyptian kids who dared make fun of ISIS in a harmless video are headed for trial along with their teacher on charges of “insulting Islam,” after their Muslim neighbors got hold of the footage and went to police.
Aged between 15 and 16, the youths could face up to five years in a youth detention center — while the teacher would serve any sentence he receives in prison — if the court finds them guilty of violating Egypt’s blasphemy law, Egypt-focused activists say.
Egyptian Christian and civil rights groups are leading calls for their release, but the five — members of the Coptic community that descends from the non-Arab people whose Pharaohs ruled ancient Egypt — have already spent weeks in police holding cells.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisian Thief Begs for Jail to Escape Domestic Strife
Judge obliges, Carabinieri escort man to jail
(ANSA) — Viareggio, May 6 — A hen-pecked Tunisian man under house arrest for theft has begged officers of the Carabinieri paramilitary police to put him back in jail to spare him continuous rows with his live-in girlfriend, police said Wednesday.
The request was passed to the Florence Appeal Court, where the judge obliged.
Carabinieri officers took the hapless north African to the Lucca county jail to serve his sentence in peace.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican Pilgrims’ Organization Bets on Region
Mons. Andreatta: ‘We bring solidarity in difficult times’
(by Virginia Di Marco) (ANSAmed) — CAIRO, APRIL 29 — While Christians in the Middle East are under attack, the Vatican pilgrims’ organization Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi (OPR) is continuing to bet on this region.
Indeed 75% of itineraries proposed by the body for active pastoral promotion active for over 80 years takes place in Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories and (soon) southern Iraq.
“The added value of pilgrimage in the Middle East at this time is twofold”, Mons. Liberio Andreatta, CEO of OPR, told ANSAmed. “First of all, it shows great solidarity. The presence of pilgrims, of tourists constitutes great economic help and hope for the future. The arrival of pilgrims raises the quality of life because it has an impact on the labour market”.
With its presence, OPR also wants to communicate another message: “don’t be afraid”, explained Mons. Andreatta.
“Pilgrims are men of prayer, of peace. They are not soldiers, occupiers or people moved by economic interest. They are people of faith and this gives great courage to the communities of these countries who feel less isolated”.
In addition, bringing Italy’s Christians to the Middle East also has political meaning, continued Mons. Andreatta, especially in certain instances. “In particular, as far as Israel and the Palestinian Territories are concerned, we are an element of dialogue and aid so, also from a political standpoint, they can succeed in finding solutions respectful of cultural, religious and ethnic diversities. Israelis and Palestinians are two legs of a table: and a table with two legs doesn’t stand. The presence of Christian pilgrims is the third leg: without them, Israelis and Palestinians are maimed”.
And if identities across the Mediterranean are different, the roots are instead common. “Muslims say we have a common father in faith — Abraham. So if we all recognize each other in the same root, as birth and provenance, we must then be able to also see that over time different identities have shaped according to ethnic groups, religious expressions and cultures. The greatness comes here: knowing to respect the difference. A pilgrim’s work lies there”.
“Moreover, those coming in these lands recuperate a sensibility that has been lost, influenced by the media that portray these countries as extremely dangerous. But the reality is another one and we work to fight both fear and indifference”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Death Penalty: Saudi Arabia Beheads Five Foreigners
Saudi Arabia executed five people, all foreigners, charged with robbery and murder according to human rights organisations quoted by the international press. As is customary in the country, the accused were beheaded with a sword and their bodies paraded hanging from a helicopter.
The Saudi minister of the interior announced the beheading of five foreign citizens — two Yemenis, a Chadian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese — on Monday. The accused had been charged with murder, the victim was an Indian guard killed during a robbery.
The executions took place in Jedda and, according to Ngo reports, the officials “left the bodies hanging from a helicopter to show them to the public”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
In a Propaganda War Against ISIS, The U.S. Tried to Play by the Enemy’s Rules
By Greg Miller and Scott Higham
As fighters surged into Syria last summer, a video surfaced online with the grisly imagery and sneering tone of a propaganda release from the Islamic State.
“Run, do not walk, to ISIS Land,” read the opening line of a script that promised new arrivals would learn “useful new skills” such as “crucifying and executing Muslims.” The words were juxtaposed with images of the terrorist group’s atrocities: kneeling prisoners shot point-blank; severed heads positioned next to a propped-up corpse; limp bodies left hanging from crosses in public squares.
The source of the video was revealed only in its closing frame: the U.S. Department of State.
“Welcome to ISIS Land” was in some ways a breakthrough for the U.S. government after years of futility in attempting to compete with the propaganda of al-Qaeda and its off-shoots. The video became a viral phenomenon — viewed more than 844,000 times on YouTube — and a cause of significant irritation to its target.
But the minute-long recording also became a flash point in a much broader debate over how far the United States should go in engaging with a barbaric adversary online.
[The way to engage a barbaric adversary online is to smoke him out and kill him. That is exactly what the Muhammad cartoon event did, and without shoveling mountains of tax dollars down a rathole of ham-handed efforts. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
ISIL Militants Selling Off Kidnapped Girls in Naked ‘Slave Bazaars’
Girls in Syria and Iraq are being “stripped naked” and being sold in “slave bazaars” by self-proclaimed Islamic State militants, according to the United Nations.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islam’s ‘Reformation’ Is Already Here
By Raymond Ibrahim
The idea that Islam needs to reform is again in the spotlight following the recent publication of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s new book, Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now. While Ali makes the argument that Islam can reform—and is in desperate need of taking the extreme measures she suggests to do so—many of her critics offer a plethora of opposing claims, including that Islam need not reform at all.
The one argument not being made, however, is the one I make below—namely, that Islam has already “reformed.” And violence, intolerance, and extremism—typified by the Islamic State (“ISIS”)—are the net result of this “reformation.”
[Absolutely true. The reformation of Christianity sought to bring it back into line with Jesus’ teachings. And the reformation of Islam brings it back into line with Muhammad’s: “strike at their necks,” “let them find in you a harshness,” etc. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Islam’s ‘Reformation’ Is Already Here — And it’s Called ISIS
The idea that Islam needs to reform is again in the spotlight following the recent publication of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s new book, Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now. While Ali makes the argument that Islam can reform—and is in desperate need of taking the extreme measures she suggests to do so—many of her critics offer a plethora of opposing claims, including that Islam need not reform at all.
The one argument not being made, however, is the one I make below—namely, that Islam has already “reformed.” And violence, intolerance, and extremism—typified by the Islamic State (“ISIS”)—are the net result of this “reformation.”
Such a claim only sounds absurd due to our understanding of the word “reform.” Yet despite its positive connotations, “reform” simply means to “make changes (in something, typically a social, political, or economic institution or practice) in order to improve it.”
Muslim notions of “improving” society can include purging it of “infidels” and “apostates,” and segregating Muslim men from women, keeping the latter under wraps or quarantined at home. Banning many forms of freedoms taken for granted in the West—from alcohol consumption to religious and gender equality—is an “improvement” and a “betterment” of society from a strictly Islamic point of view.
In short, an Islamic reformation will not lead to what we think of as an “improvement” and “betterment” of society—simply because “we” are not Muslims and do not share their first premises and reference points. “Reform” only sounds good to most Western peoples because they naturally attribute Western connotations to the word.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Official: Baiji Refinery Now 80% Controlled by ISIS
Washington (CNN) Iraqi security forces are “all but cut off” at the Baiji oil refinery by ISIS and now only control about 20 percent of the facility, a senior U.S. official tells CNN.
The refinery site, which has not operated for months, has been heavily contested. But ISIS fighters have successfully moved into several refinery areas in recent days, and are keeping the Iraqi forces from being re-supplied.
ISIS now controls ‘the majority” of the refinery the official said. While Iraqi forces have lost significant ground there in the last few days, the official described the battlefield situation as “highly contested” and said Iraqi forces have suffered steady losses leading to the current situation.
Iraqi forces include Army, national police and counterterrorism units at the site. If the Iraqis lose the refinery “they will have to find a way to re-take it,” the official said.
[But the tide of war is receding! Barry Hussein said so! — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: General Eludes Suicide Attack in Damascus
Head of army logistical services wounded, according to NGO
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, MAY 4 — A Syrian general at the head of the army’s logistical services eluded on Monday an attack carried out by a suicide bomber in Damascus, pan-Arab television Al Jazeera reports. The attack against the general, Mohammad Eid, occurred in the district of Rukn al Din, in the north-west of the capital. The UK-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the high-ranking officer was wounded together with two of his body guards while another soldier in his security detail was killed.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Incredible Story of How Kim Kardashian’s Ancestors Escaped the Armenian Genocide
Between 1915 and 1917, 1.5 million Armenians (most of them Christians) were slaughtered by the Turks. Armenians were systematically abducted, tortured and marched to their deaths just because of who they were and what they believed. At one point, 60,000 corpses were found in a single mass grave. It was one of the greatest genocides in history, but it didn’ t end in 1917. Between 1920 and 1923, Turkey either deported or wiped out almost all of the Armenians that had survived the first wave of persecution. This genocide was one of the most horrifying examples of how evil humanity can be, and yet to this day the U.S. government continues to refuse to call it a “ genocide” . Because of the sensitive nature of our relationship with the Turkish government, Barack Obama absolutely will not use the “ g word” when speaking of what happened to the Armenians. And as I wrote about the other day, Obama also seems to care very little about the Christian genocide that is going on in parts of the Middle East controlled by ISIS today. But whether Obama ever recognizes the Armenian genocide or not, it is vitally important that the world remembers what happened to those precious people. One very prominent celebrity that is leading the call to remember the Armenian genocide is Kim Kardashian. In this article, I am going to share the story of how her ancestors were able to escape the genocide. I promise you, it is a story that you are not likely to ever forget.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine’s President Says Almost 7,000 Civilians Killed by War With Separatists in the East
Nearly 7,000 civilians have been killed in the war in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russian-backed separatists, the nation’s president said Friday.
Speaking before parliament, Petro Poroshenko said that more than 1,000 people remained unaccounted for.
The figures mark a sharp increase from the most recent United Nations tally of around 6,100 people killed.
Addressing an assembly packed with soldiers, Poroshenko said that 1,657 Ukrainian troops had also been killed in combat — which he described as aggression from Russia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway, Philippines Ambassadors Among 7 Dead in Chopper Crash in Pakistan
A military helicopter carrying foreign diplomats crashed in northern Pakistan Friday, killing at least seven people, including the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines, and injuring several others.
The Pakistani Mi-17 chopper was flying to the mountainous northern region of Gilgit to check on development projects when it crashed into a school and caught fire with 17 people aboard, Reuters reported the Pakistan Foreign Office said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Australian Police Disrupt Jihad Mass Murder Bomb Plot in Melbourne
By Robert Spencer
How did this young adherent of the Religion of Peace get “provoked”? Is someone drawing Muhammad in Melbourne?
“Australian Police Say They Disrupted Bomb Plot In Melbourne, Associated Press, May 8, 2015 (thanks to Kenneth):
Police arrested a 17-year-old and accused him of plotting to detonate three homemade bombs in the Australian city of Melbourne, officials said on Saturday, in the latest terrorism scare blamed on a teenager.
The teen was arrested on Friday afternoon in a joint federal-state police counterterrorism operation at his home in the upmarket suburb of Greenvale where the explosive devices were found, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Phelan said. The bomb squad rendered the devices safe, he said.
Melbourne is Australia’s second largest city and is the capital of Victoria state.
Last month, five Australian teenagers were arrested on suspicion of plotting an Islamic State group-inspired terrorist attack at a Veterans’ Day ceremony also in Melbourne that included targeting police officers.
“We’ve got to examine lot of material that was seized at the premises, sift through a lot of intelligence, we have to get the full picture so we may not know exactly where it was going to occur nor when it was exactly going to occur, but let me tell you something was going to happen,” Phelan told reporters.
[Just as it nearly did in Texas. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
A Woman Tried to Smuggle an 8-Year-Old Boy Into Spain in a Suitcase
Police found an 8-year-old Ivorian boy hidden in a suitcase that was smuggled across the border into Spanish territory in northern Africa, an official said on Friday.
A 19-year-old woman took the case through a pedestrian crossing from Morocco into the small Spanish-governed territory of Ceuta on Thursday, a spokesman for the Civil Guard police force said.
Thousands of migrants each year risk their lives trying to enter Ceuta and another Spanish territory bordering Morocco, Melilla, in search of a better life in Europe.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Expects Over 400,000 Asylum Applications in 2015
Authorities in Germany are expecting more than 400,000 applications for asylum this year. The figure includes economic refugees from the Balkans as well as migrants fleeing conflict in Africa and the Middle East.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ivory Coast Boy Smuggled to Spain Inside Suitcase
An eight-year-old boy has been smuggled into Spain from Morocco inside a suitcase, Spanish police say.
The boy, Abou, was found inside the case being carried by a 19-year-old woman into Ceuta, a Spanish enclave next to Morocco, on Thursday.
When police opened the case, they found the boy in a “terrible state”, a spokesman for the Guardia Civil told AFP.
The boy, from Ivory Coast, is now in the care of authorities in Ceuta.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lana: Libya Other 400 Migrants Rescued
The Libyan coast guard of Zawiyah “managed to rescue” over 400 illegal migrants off the coast of the region of Dila, west of Tripoli, in the early hours of Thursday, according to the Lana newsagency. The Libyan navy rescued other 102 migrants three days ago, ten miles north of Qaraboli. Almost 600 migrants were also arrested, on Wednesday, in Sabrata, west of Tripoli, as they were about to set off for Italy aboard an old fishing vessel.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libya Rejects EU Migrant Plan, Says Not Consulted; Warns of Taking Tripoli
Libya’s ambassador to the United Nations is largely rejecting a European Union plan to fight the growing migrant crisis by seizing smuggling ships in Libya’s territorial waters and even on land, and he says his Western-backed government hasn’t even been consulted.
In an interview Friday with The Associated Press, Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi said the best way to calm the migrant crisis is to arm the internationally recognized government in a country that has fractured. A rival regime backed by Islamist-allied militias has taken the capital, Tripoli.
And the ambassador warns that if there is no progress in U.N.-led peace talks, his government “has to take necessary steps even to take the capital by force.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why is Obama So Silent About the Vicious Persecution of Christians All Over the Globe?
You read this article, Christians are being openly persecuted in more than 60 nations. Churches are being burned, believers are being hunted down and imprisoned, and violent mobs are beating and killing those that dare to say that Jesus is Lord. And thanks to ISIS, the persecution of Christians has risen to frightening new levels in 2015. In recent months, our news sources have been filled with headlines about Christians that are being beheaded, crucified and buried alive by ISIS. According to U.S. Representative Frank Wolf, what is happening to Christians in the Middle East actually meets the United Nations definition of “ genocide” . So what is Barack Obama doing about all of this? Sadly, he is essentially doing next to nothing. He has been nearly silent as the acts of mass violence just keep piling up. This silence has outraged many on both the left and the right, and yet Obama just continues to keep quiet. What are we supposed to make of that?
Just consider an example from earlier this week. A group of angry Muslims threw twelve innocent Christian migrants into the Mediterranean Sea resulting in their deaths, but Obama apparently does not believe that it is important enough to talk about. The following is from an editorial that Kirsten Powers penned for USA Today…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Boston University Prof Flunks ‘White Masculinity’ In Controversial Tweets
Critics say a newly-hired Boston University professor has crossed the line with recent tweets bashing whites, but the school says it’s simply free speech.
“White masculinity isn’t a problem for america’s colleges, white masculinity is THE problem for america’s colleges,” Saida Grundy, an incoming assistant professor of sociology and African-American studies at Boston University, tweeted in March.
In another tweet from January, she wrote: “Every MLK week I commit myself to not spending a dime in white-owned businesses. and every year i find it nearly impossible.”
In another, she called white males a “problem population.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Gutter Politics of Sex Education in Public Schools
If parents can’t rescue their children from the indoctrination of public schools, we’re headed down a dead end road as the march of Marxism through Western society will never be interrupted.
It’s out with the old (think dinosaurs) and in with the new (transexuals, etc.) in classrooms where hardline activism is more important than teaching in a politically correct education system where all things sexual take precedence in the fine art of learning.
In the classrooms of the present day, trannies trump anything being taught about God-blessed Christianity; oral sex or anal sex as a subject is getting to equal oral spelling and reading.
Documented proof that public school students are reaching university each year without being able to read or write, hidden under the smothering rug of politics in the classroom, doesn’t seem to matter anymore. The fight to educate children has taken a back seat to the fight to advance the ranks of the LGBT.
Your Grade 6’er can’t spell the word ‘in-doc-trin-ation’ but can rhyme off all she’s taught in class about oral sex.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Microsoft to Stop Producing Windows Versions
Windows 10 is going to be the last major revision of the operating system.
Jerry Nixon, a Microsoft development executive, said in a conference speech this week that Windows 10 would be the “last version” of the dominant desktop software.
His comments were echoed by Microsoft which said it would update Windows in future in an “ongoing manner”.
Instead of new stand-alone versions, Windows 10 would be improved in regular instalments, the firm said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why Can’t Muslims Laugh at Mohammed?
By David P. Goldman
In Mel Brooks’ comedy “History of the World Part I,” Moses is shown descending from Mount Sinai with three stone tablets in hand. As he declares, “I give you the Fifteen Commandments,” one falls and breaks, and Moses corrects himself, “er, Ten Commandments.” Jews, including the observant, find this funny rather than offensive. As we learned once again in Garland, Texas, Muslims do not laugh at jokes about Mohammed, the purported author of the Koran (as Moses is the author of the Torah). Two wannabe Jihadists with assault rifles and body armor were no match for an off-duty Texas traffic cop with a sidearm, but the incident might have turned into a massacre worse than the murder of the Charlie Hebdo staff in January.
Why do Jews as well as Christians—but not Muslims—laugh at jokes about the founders of their faiths?
The answer is that radically different deities are in question. Judaism begins with a covenant between God and human beings—Abraham and his descendants—that is a partnership in which God is normally, but not always, the senior partner. As Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks observes, the Jewish sages of antiquity envisioned Moses acting as a judge for God, permitting God to annul his earlier vow to destroy the Jewish people after the sin of the Golden Calf. This is unimaginable in Islam, just as unimaginable as the Christian God who humbles himself on the cross…
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This was linked over in the comments section at JihadWatch.org and thought perhaps it may be of interest…
The World’s Most Toxic Value System
Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin – Green Bay
The discussion is about “Honor” and definition, misconceptions and applications.
For Islamic and Middle Eastern cultures he suggests:
that’s an excellent essay, at least what I read of it. I will pay more attention later. Lately, when I see the word “Wisconsin” I think of the police state tactics being carried on in a Democrat party vendetta against the Repubs. Mainly it’s something called a “John Doe” law. Don’t have the specifics yet, but it seems there is actually a written law in Wisconsin that permits the judicial system to use the police as swat teams in warantless search and destroy missions, carried out early in the morning against whole families – whose computers, phones, etc., -including those of the children – are confiscated. And then, if that weren’t ominous enough, the victims of these home invasions are put under a gag rule that they may not even tell family members what was done to them.
The state prosecuting attorney from whom this onslaught was issued is – quelle surprise!- married to a union official. They make Chiraq look tame by comparison…
One of my children currently resides in Wisconsin…leaving similar jolts of apprehension given their proximity to that den of inequity, Madison.
FWIW, I also came across this last week…having never been acquainted with the difference in terminology between Sunni and Shia for taqiyya…
Islamic doctrines of Shia Taqiyya (sanctioned lying) and Sunni Muruna (sanctioned deceitful speech and behavior) make it impossible to KNOW whether a Muslim is truly sincere in their rejection of violence.
Read more: http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/05/07/phoenix-mosque-caught-lying-about-ties-to-texas-would-be-jihadist-killer/#ixzz3ZY7diuxD