Matt Purple- Why Bombing Syria Won't Defeat ISIS

Matt Purple, Deputy Editor of Rare Politics, has written an interesting commentary on why bombing the heck out of the Islamic State in Syria won't do a darn thing to end its reign of terror, even with France, Britain and other allies finally joining the fray.

Unfortunately he's right.

[snip]

The United States and its allies can bomb the caliphate to shreds—turn the entire desert into a glass parking lot—and it won’t defeat ISIS. 

 [snip]

There are two reasons for this.

The first is the nature of the enemy we face. For all its fearsome weapons and grisly execution videos, ISIS is just one iteration of the greater jihadist threat that’s spread with alarming alacrity across the Middle East. Want to prevent future terrorist attacks? You’ll have to weaken al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has expanded thanks to the recent turmoil in Yemen and is determined to attack the United States. The latticework of extremist and Salafist groups in Syria will need to be picked apart. The Taliban must be re-defeated. The processing plant of Wahhabi terror that is Saudi Arabia must be confronted.

Indeed, not only is ISIS far from the sole jihadist threat in the Middle East, it’s not even the most dangerous jihadist threat in Syria. That honor goes to al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s local affiliate. Unlike ISIS, which ruthlessly stamps out dissenters, al-Nusra has proven itself a team player in the quest to take out Bashar al-Assad, working with more moderate militias and winning over beleaguered Sunnis. So effective has the group been that it’s easy to imagine it becoming integrated in post-war Syrian society, the way Hezbollah did in Lebanon. And al-Nusra shares most of ISIS’s goals: a tyrannical caliphate, suffocating Sharia.

As the Islamic State wanes, the far more cunning al-Nusra will fill the void. Bombing ISIS won’t defeat radical Islam; it could even end up empowering it.
The second reason why pummeling the Islamic State will be ineffective sounds like it was pulled from an alternative medicine textbook: bombs only attack the symptom, not the root cause. ISIS’s key resource isn’t oil, but young, angry, Sunni Muslims, many of whom grew up under the American occupation in Iraq, toiled in destitution, and are now dependent on the Islamic State for a purpose and a paycheck.

The whole commentary here.

Venezuelan Opposition On The Road To Victory

I was wondering how long it would take the Venezuelan people to wake up and realize that Hugo Chavez's Socialist 'Chavismo' movement was far from the promised utopia, and was actually keeping them impoverished and desperate. I guess they finally got tired of the food rationing, and the toilet paper shortage.

It took a good long 16 years, but things are looking up for the Venezolanos. It seems that even Chavistas were finally so fed up that in the latest elections the opposition Democratic Unity won a whopping 99 seats versus 46 seats the Socialist party won in the National Assembly.

About time!

There is also renewed hope that the next presidential elections will see an opposition leader take the reigns of the country and bring back economic and political stability. Henrique Capriles perhaps? You might remember Chavez's smear campaign against Capriles during the 2012 elections. Current president Nicolas Maduro can't be too happy.

More on the story here.

Congratulations to Venezuelan people for finally making the right choice!

And we have fools here who are actually pro-socialist Bernie Sanders.

Happy Thanksgiving- 2016

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.  As messed up as the world is, we still have much to be grateful for.  For the time being, anyway.

Hacktivist Group Anonymous Wages War Against ISIS, Again. #OpParis

After the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris this past January, the hacktivist group Anonymous set its sights on the Islamic jihadist perpetrators. #OpCharlieHebdo was aimed at tracking and taking down the social media accounts of all terrorists and their sympathizers including ISIS. They are apparently doubling down after the latest multiple terrorist attacks in Paris with #OpParis.

One day after the carnage, they took down over over 5,000 Twitter accounts, though I'm sure by now it's more. They've also set up websites in case you want to help.  Here's the official Twitter account for #OpParis, where they are warning that ISIS is setting up fake accounts. So beware.

They have also published the names, addresses and phone numbers of 5 ISIS recruiters living in Afghanistan, Somalia and Tunisia, and one allegedly living in Europe.

Of course, there is no way to determine how many they have really shut down, and naturally they will sprout back up like nasty weeds, but  at least ISIS is somewhat thwarted by the hackers.

Here is their latest video.

Veteran's Day 2015

To all those who have served (and are currently serving)- God Bless you for having the courage to fight for freedom across the globe. We owe you big time.

Iranian Women's Soccer Team Mostly Men

Here's an interesting story: many of the players on the Iranian women's soccer (football) team are actually men. Eight, to be exact, and possibly the goal keeper. They're either waiting for sexual reassignment surgeries or suffering from sexual identity disorders.

And sex changes are apparently legal in Iran thanks to a fatwa from head religious honcho Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Who would have thought that in a country where homesexuality is punishable by death, transgenders are cool.

Go figure.

Actually all the players in the above photo look like males.

More on UK Telegraph.

Meet Gisele Marie, The Niqab-Clad Heavy Metal Guitarist From Brazil

Gisele Marie, is a Brazil-based heavy metal guitarist who also happens to be a Muslim niqab-wearing convert. Yes indeedy, she was allegedly born to Catholic German parents in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 42 years ago, found her way to Wicca, and then converted to Islam in 2009 after her dad died.

"Spectrus" is her brothers heavy metal band, and she's been playing with them since 2012, though it appears she has recently parted ways and has started her own ban with a 2016 release of a new album.

Gisele Marie says of her:

“People do not expect to see a Muslim woman who uses a Burqa, practices the religion properly and is a professional guitarist who plays in a Heavy Metal band. " “So many people are shocked by it, but other people are curious and find it interesting, and others think that it is cool.

Surely she should know that those who are so uber devout that they feel the need to wear a niqab or burqa also believe that music is haram (forbidden) in their religion.

It's probably a gimmick, and she's probably a man. Check her out.

Clip about Gisele Marie here, if you can bear to listen to the music.

Photos and more on her story.

The Immigrant Problem In Malmö, Sweden- Video

Thirty percent of those living in the port city of Malmö, Sweden, are immigrants- in other words, mostly Muslim. The Rosengård neighbourhood of Malmö is estimated at more than 80 percent. In 2012, I posted a video about the rampant anti-Semitism there. With the influx of thousands more predominately Muslim refugees, it's only going to get worse.

There are some who are trying to integrate, but those same people complain about the lack of effort from their fellow immigrants. This leads to isolation, and in the case of Rosengård, 60 percent unemployment and major crime.

RFE/RL video below.

The Aftermath Of Ben Carson's Muslim For President Comment

Ben Carson's comment last week about not supporting a Muslim president elicited the usual response from liberals and Muslim activists alike. Some have called for Dr. Carson to drop out of the upcoming presidential race including- not surprisingly- the Council On Islamic American Relations (CAIR). According to CAIR he is unfit to lead. But criticism was not only being levied against Dr. Carson from the left, fellow Republican would-be-president Ted Cruz (Tx) called the comment unconstitutional.

After the firestorm, Dr Carson took time to clarify what he exactly meant by saying he would not advocate putting a Muslim in charge of the nation.

"We don't put people at the head of our country whose faith might interfere with them carrying out the duties of the Constitution," the retired neurosurgeon told Fox News' Sean Hannity. "If you're a Christian and you're running for president and you want to make this [country] into a theocracy, I'm not going to support you. I'm not going to advocate you being the president."

"Now, if someone has a Muslim background, and they’re willing to reject those tenets and to accept
the way of life that we have, and clearly will swear to place our Constitution above their religion, then of course they will be considered infidels and heretics, but at least I would then be quite willing to support them," Carson added.

and

"Those Republicans that take issue with my position are amazing," the Facebook statement said. "Under Islamic Law, homosexuals – men and women alike – must be killed. Women must be subservient. And people following other religions must be killed. I know that there are many peaceful Muslims who do not adhere to these beliefs. But until these tenants are fully renounced ... I cannot advocate any Muslim candidate for President."

He's absolutely right. Even some Muslims agree with him. Secular Muslim Asra Q Nomani wrote an enlightening article for The Daily Beast in support of Carson explaining that there are far too many Muslims looking to mix "mosque and state."

Ben Carson’s blunt remarks about a Muslim president triggered much outrage, even after he partially walked them back. But secular Muslims like me, who reject political Islam, understood what he meant: He doesn’t want a Muslim as president who doesn’t believe in the strict secular separation of mosque and state, so that the laws of the state aren’t at all touched by sharia, or Islamic law derived from the Quran and hadith, the sayings and traditions of prophet Muhammad. Neither do we. We really don’t want a first lady—or a president—in a burka, or face veil.

Her commentary is well worth the read.

Unfortunately, there are far too few secular Muslims. In fact, the trend seems to be going in the opposite direction, as evidenced in the following story shared by Nomani regarding a New Jersey school board meeting where Muslims were demanding a last minute school cancellation for the Muslim holy day Eid al-Adha:

At the meeting, the local NBC news segment showed an older woman yelling in Arabic that the holiday was her “right,” followed by a young Muslim woman, wearing a headscarf and smiling eerily as she said, “We’re no longer the minority. That’s clear from tonight. We’re going to be the majority soon.”

The thinly veiled threat was as disturbing to me as it might be to other Americans. Unspoken is the sharia ruling that Muslims engage in no work or school on the day of Eid-ul Adha, but, instead, as the prophet Muhammad is quoted as saying in a hadith, “O people of Islam, these are days of eating and drinking.”

If a Muslim thinks we have troubles, then we most definitely do, and thankfully Ben Carson has the courage to voice that.

Incognito Returning Soon

Life has taken me away from blogging, but I will be back shortly.

Caregiving for a parent takes all one's time and energy, especially when navigating and advocating through the healthcare system becomes a necessity. A hospital and two rehabs and I can tell you it sucks.

Due To Ramadan, Embassy In Indonesia Celebrates 4th Of July Early

The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, celebrated our Independence Day on June 4th instead of July 4th, because it falls smack dab in the middle of the ever changing month of Ramadan, and US diplomats decided they did not want to offend. This year Ramadan starts on June 18th. Last year it started June 28th, in 2010 on August 11.

Ambassador to Indonesia Robert O. Blake and US Ambassador to ASEAN Nina Hachigian presided over the festivities, which involved brass band renditions of the Star-Spangled Banner and the Indonesian national anthem, Indonesia Raya.

[snip]

He also praised Indonesia’s performance as a fully functioning democracy, aiming for further collaboration between the two countries in the years to come.

“The US will continue to support Indonesia in the future through its democratic achievements. Democracy is an American value which we have championed since [the country’s birth in] 1776,” Blake told the crowd during the festivities at his residence near Taman Suropati, Central Jakarta, on Thursday.

U.S. dhimmitude at its very best.

Source: Jakarta Post

St Louis Black Panther Members Plotted To Bomb Police Station and Kill Officials

The racial divide has grown to a huge chasm, thanks to Barack Obama. So we have this: two members of the hate group the New Black Panther Party plotting a terrorist attack against police and others.

Two men admitted in federal court here Tuesday that they plotted to blow up a police station, vehicles and perhaps other targets, including the St. Louis County prosecutor and Ferguson police chief.

Olajuwon Ali Davis, 23, and Brandon Orlando Baldwin, 24, each pleaded guilty of four explosives and gun charges that will carry seven-year prison terms when they are sentenced Aug. 31.

The pair met in August in Ferguson, during the protests over the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, 18, by then-Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. They started talking about buying guns and organizing protesters to "be like an army" and fight back against police, their plea agreement says.

For weeks as federal agents and police tracked them and their calls and texts, Baldwin and Davis discussed using Baldwin, who was at the time an employee of Cabela's in Hazelwood, to buy guns for felons and others. And Baldwin admitted that he did buy three guns. They also talked about buying bombs. The men mentioned Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch and then-Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson as targets. Neither was harmed. Law enforcement sources and neighbors said the home of both had been closely guarded.

They also intended to bomb an unspecified police station to disrupt communications, according to the plea.

Car bombs.

Baldwin also goes by Brandon Muhammad. Davis as Brother Ali. Note those last names.

Read the rest here.

South Sudanese Christian Pastors Could Face Death

South Sudan is primarily Christian, North Sudan is mostly hardline Muslim with the ruthless dictator Omar al-Bashir leading the country. Bashir wants the whole of Sudan to be Muslim and follow Sharia law, which is unfortunate for the Christians who live there.

As is the norm in Muslim-majority Sharia enforced countries, Christians are terribly persecuted. Muslims who convert to Christianity face the death penalty for apostasy. Now two Christian pastors from the south could lose their lives because of trumped up charges. The two were charged with spying, and their trial commenced this week,

Yat Michael Ruot and Peter Yein Reith, both Presbyterian pastors from the breakaway Christian nation of South Sudan, are being held by Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services on charges of undermining the constitution and espionage. Their supporters say their arrest and pending trial is just the latest effort by the militant Islamist government in Khartoum to stamp out Christianity.

[snip]

The pair also was charged with “inciting organized groups” and “offending Islamic beliefs,” which call for imprisonment.

The trial was set to begin Tuesday, but was postponed to May 31.

Ruot, who is from Juba, the capital city of South Sudan, was arrested Dec. 21 after he delivered a Sunday sermon in Omdurman, a Sudanese city across the Nile from Khartoum. Reith, who, like Ruot, is from the Presbyterian Evangelical Church, was arrested Jan. 11 when he was called in by security services and taken into custody. His supporters believe his arrest was prompted by a letter he wrote to the Office of Religious Affairs in Khartoum inquiring about Ruot.

You might remember this is the same country that sentenced a pregnant Christian woman, Meriam Ibrahim, to death. She was later released, but only after worldwide condemnation.

More here.

Typically, churches have been destroyed in that country, and new ones are not allowed to be built. Muslims in the West are fortunate they do not have to face what Christians are subjected to in Islamic countries.

Shortest Political Quiz

Since people are already throwing their name into the would-be presidential hat, I thought this quiz might be fun for you.

Advocates for Self Government, whoever they are, has a very short quiz that will show you where you stand on the political spectrum.  

There's a total of 10 questions: 5 for personal issues, and 5 for economic issues.

You might be surprised where you stand.

Take the quiz here.

3 Muslims Charged With Honor Killing Of Iranian Activist In Texas

A Jordanian Muslim immigrant family (a father, mother and son) have been charged with murdering an Iranian woman in 2012 because she helped their daughter convert to Christianity. Where did this happen? Right here in the U.S. Houston. They also have been accused of killing the daughter's husband.

Gelareh Bagherzadeh, a 30-year-old researcher at MD Anderson, was shot to death outside her parents home in the Galleria area.

Ali Irsan, 57, is charged with capital murder in the case. His wife, Shmou Ali Alrawabdeh, and their 21-year-old son, Nasim, are charged with murder. Irsan is also reportedly accused of killing Coty Beavers, his daughter's husband, 10 months after Bagherzadeh was shot to death. Coty Beavers was the twin brother of Bagherzadeh's boyfriend.

The station reports that Bagherzadeh was best friends with Ali Irsan's daughter and he blamed her when the daughter left home and married a Christian, according to investigators.

"Nesreen Irsan would not succumb to her father's complete domination and rule of her. And she left his home without his permission and went into hiding," said Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson.

"These two murders are linked by the belief on the defendant's part that his honor as a father and a Muslim has been violated by his daughter, who defied his rule and married a Christian man," said Anderson.

The Irsan's daughter Nadia is charged with stalking her sister while trying to find out where she and Beavers were living.

Authorities are now taking a second look at the death of another son-in-law Amjad Alidam back in 1999, which was deemed self-defense at the time- but not according to Alidam's wife, and Irsan's daughter Nesreen.

Irsan, Shmou and a daughter have been jailed for a year as part of a fraud investigation.

Fraud. Murder. Such good Muslims.

The rest here.

Danish Imam Preaches Against Interfaith Dialogue

Hajj Saeed, the Imam of the Al-Faruq Mosque in Copenhagen, Denmark preaches against interfaith dialogue- see video link below.

Translation and partial transcript courtesy of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).

‎“I will discuss a topic that is both old and new: interfaith dialogue... The Messenger of ‎Allah [Muhammad] lived near Jews in Medina. Did he call for closer relations, harmony ‎and dialogue with them, like the UN and its supporters, who seek to reconcile truth and ‎falsehood? Or did he call on them to worship the one and only Allah? When they [the ‎Jews] broke their treaties [with Muhammad], you know how he treated them. His ‎biography tells of his war against the Jews... According to their view [interfaith dialogue ‎supporters], Jihad has become ‘suicide,’ Jihad has become ‘barbarity,’ Martyrdom-‎seeking has become suicide, and taking [financial] interest is permitted... [Allah] has ‎made laws for us that regulate our relationship with them [Jews and Christians] when ‎we are in their countries. These laws do not include so-called interfaith dialogue. On ‎the contrary, [we must] preach and adhere to the ideological struggle to counter their ‎false arguments, refute their claims and present Islam as an alternative to their bogus ‎cultures, which have led them into the abyss of vileness and corruption, and caused ‎them to deteriorate from humans to beasts.”‎

Video here on YouTube.

They should deport his posterior back to wherever he came from.

ISIS Camp In Mexico Miles From U.S. Border?

According to Judicial Watch, sources in Mexico have indicated that there's an ISIS camp in Mexico, just across the porous U.S. border, and that coyotes are helping them enter the U.S. If this is true, it's pretty darn scary.

ISIS is operating a camp just a few miles from El Paso, Texas, according to Judicial Watch sources that include a Mexican Army field grade officer and a Mexican Federal Police Inspector.

The exact location where the terrorist group has established its base is around eight miles from the U.S. border in an area known as “Anapra” situated just west of Ciudad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Another ISIS cell to the west of Ciudad Juárez, in Puerto Palomas, targets the New Mexico towns of Columbus and Deming for easy access to the United States, the same knowledgeable sources confirm.

During the course of a joint operation last week, Mexican Army and federal law enforcement officials discovered documents in Arabic and Urdu, as well as “plans” of Fort Bliss – the sprawling military installation that houses the US Army’s 1st Armored Division. Muslim prayer rugs were recovered with the documents during the operation.

Law enforcement and intelligence sources report the area around Anapra is dominated by the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Cartel (“Juárez Cartel”), La Línea (the enforcement arm of the cartel) and the Barrio Azteca (a gang originally formed in the jails of El Paso). Cartel control of the Anapra area make it an extremely dangerous and hostile operating environment for Mexican Army and Federal Police operations.

The rest here.

Not sure why they don't just bomb the camp, and be done with it.

Sweden Headed For The Cliff Due To Immigration Policy- Video Interview With Economist

An interview with Tino Sanandaji- a Swedish economic researcher from an immigrant family- paints a drastic picture of the future for Sweden, given its current immigration policy.

Sanandaji has a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and is a contributor to National Review. He is a research fellow at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics in Stockholm. His family is Kurdish and came to Sweden from Iran. This interview was conducted in November, 2014.

Egyptian Doctor- Palestinian Suffering A Result Of Palestinian Leadership

Egyptian Islamic thinker and reformer Dr Tawfik Hamid claims Palestinian suffering is a result of Palestinian leadership- most notably Hamas, not Israel.  And it's up to Palestinians to change that.

BDS (Boycott Israel) toads, take note,

He also happens to be a former jihadist.

YouTube video here.

ISIS Undefeatable If It Keeps Recruiting Foreigners

Here's a sobering bit of news. According to Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, if the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) aka Islamic State (IS) aka DAESH (the Arabic term for Islamic State) continues to recruit foreign fighters at the rate they are joining ISIS will be undefeatable. All this in spite of the fact that Iraqi troops have liberated the near-ruined city of Tikrit.

In an interview with Der Spiegel published on Saturday, Abadi said that around 57 percent of IS fighters were Iraqis but they did not cause any problems as they simply ran away when Iraqi troops entered towns. “It is the 43 percent who are foreign fighters who have been indoctrinated ideologically who have their backs up against the wall. If Daesh continues to recruit so many from other countries, then no army in our region can stand up to it.” [snip] Abadi said government security authorities needed to take action to protect young people from IS “in the same way they trace child pornography networks around the world”.

Abadi said Germany could play a key role in supporting the fight against IS as it had weapons that Iraq requires, particularly anti-explosive devices. He said Berlin should help given that hundreds of Germans were fighting for IS. German security services say about 600 German residents have joined militant groups in Syria and Iraq. Abadi said cooperation with Germany’s foreign intelligence service was very good and Iraq was providing it with the phone numbers that Germans fighting for IS use to call Germany.

Abadi said:

“They keep on recruiting people, they have huge financial resources and, honestly, a uniformed army alone cannot face it on its own.”

The rest here.

A Little Black Humor Regarding DAESH- Video Parody of the day

There have been a slew of young women trekking on over to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS aka DAESH), many as potential brides for the ISIS butchers fighting over there.

From the Tunis Tribune Facebook Page, here's a little black humor: a short cartoon parody video showing what probably happens to those foolish girls.

Just a little info and translation- at the end we hear a sexy French woman say:

"La Petite Robe Noir" (The little black dress)
"Ma nouvelle vie" (My new life)
DAESH

La Petite Robe Noir is a perfume by Guerlain.

Les Guignols de l'Info : « Ma nouvelle vie Daech »
Posted by Tunis Tribune on Tuesday, 31 March 2015

A Catholic Florida University Authorizes Pro-ISIS Club - Project Veritas Video

James O'Keefe from Project Veritas (PV) has added another video to his university collection.

Last week he posted a video from Cornell University where we see Assistant Dean Joseph Scaffido sanction a pro-ISIS club. This new one is far more on point. Whereas the journalist in the last one never actually mentions the name Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or the acronym ISIS, this PV journalist does both. Numerous times.

At Florida's Barry University- a private Catholic university in Miami Shores- the young female journalist speaks to four different Barry University officials, all of whom tell her that forming an "ISIS" club would be perfectly fine.  As long as she doesn't use the name ISIS, since "technically our country is at war with ISIS."

No excuse this time.

They should have told the young girl- hell no!  Instead they signed off on the application for the club.



The officials:

Derek Bley- Coordinator for Leadership Development and Student Organizations
Daisy Santiago- International and Multicultural Programs Coordinator
Frederique Frage- Associate Director of International and Multicultural Programs
Associate Professor of Communications Pawena Sirimangkala, Honors Program

Cornell University Dean Says It's Okay To Start An ISIS Club On Campus

So, James O'Keefe from Project Veritas just posted his latest video. An incognito journalist (hidden camera, and all) pretending to be a Moroccan student asks the Assistant Dean at Cornell University, Joseph Scaffido, if it would be okay to create a pro-Islamic State of Iraq and Syria club, and whether he could also get funding to bring a "freedom fighter" over to Cornell for a "training camp", and funding to send care packages to Islamic State and Hamas.

Scaffido is either monumentally ignorant or an ISIS sympathizer, though it's quite obvious it's the former. The journalist only refers to ISIS as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, so perhaps he was just flummoxed, and perhaps he didn't want to be considered a racist since he believed he was talking to a Moroccan (thank you CAIR), or perhaps he's just a liberal tool. Either way it's pretty darn scary that Scaffido is the assistant head of a private Ivy League school that also happens to get some taxpayer funding.


An editorial for the Ithaca Voice rips O'Keefe for being "wildly misleading" and "dumb."

We could point out the false and misleading narration, the interviewer’s lack of explicit reference to “ISIS,” the bizarre video editing. We could point out that the person being interviewed clearly doesn’t understand what he’s being asked, or that he’s merely doing his job as a university official.

But let’s go to the more fundamental question: Do even the people who made the video really believe that a Cornell assistant dean supports a student group backing ISIS? And if the videographers do believe this, why wouldn’t they ask the dean this question? Why pretend to ask the Cornell official about a “humanitarian group” helping victims in Syria and Iraq if they want to learn Cornell’s stance on the group universally known as “ISIS?”

We know the answer: Because the interviewer and O’Keefe are more interested in getting a video they can use to grab attention than in actually learning what’s happening on university campuses.

President David Skorton released a statement Wednesday pretty much saying as much, confirming what was already readily apparent to the neutral-minded observer:

“It is shameful that any individual would pose as a student facing racial discrimination at another university, ask leading questions on hidden camera about Cornell’s tolerance for differing viewpoints and backgrounds, and then conveniently splice together the resulting footage to smear our assistant dean and our University,” Skorton said.

“After speaking with Assistant Dean (Joe) Scaffido, I am convinced that he was not aware of what he was being asked.

It's quite obvious who the dumb one is.

Boko Haram Slaughter Dozens Of Their "Wives" Before Battle With Nigerian Troops

Prior to a battle with Nigerian troops in the town of Bama, Boko Haram savages murdered a bunch of women they had married by force, rather than have them remarry infidels.

Five witnesses who recounted the massacres to AFP said the Islamist militants feared they would be killed by advancing soldiers or separated from their wives when they fled the town.

They killed the women to prevent them from subsequently marrying soldiers or other so-called non-believers, they added. “The terrorists said they will not allow their wives to be married to infidels,” said Sharifatu Bakura, 39, a mother of three. According to Bakura’s account, which was supported by others, Boko Haram fighters received word of a military assault on Bama, formerly an Islamist stronghold in Borno state.

The insurgents had decided to flee to the nearby town of Gwoza before the troops’ arrival but first decided “to kill their wives so that nobody will remarry them”, she said. Bukara’s husband was killed by the insurgents four months ago but she was spared from a forced marriage because she was visibly pregnant. Boko Haram forcibly married scores of women in Bama after seizing it in September. Nigeria’s military announced the recapture of the town on Monday.

Witnesses, who were taken under military protection this week to Borno’s capital Maiduguri, 73 kms (45 miles) away, said the killing of women began 10 days before Bama was liberated. The Islamists said “if they kill their wives, they would remain pious until both of them meet again in heaven, where they would re-unite”, said Salma Mahmud, another witness.

A vigilante who fought alongside the military in the battle to retake Bama, Abba Kassim, said he saw “dozens of women corpses” in the town. While other witnesses reportedly a similarly high casualty figure the numbers were impossible to verify. Nigeria’s national security spokesman Mike Omeri told AFP he would try to verify the reports while the military could immediately be reached for comment.

So not only were these poor women forced to marry these animals, they were then murdered by these same men. Sickening.

Source: Arab Times

Pledge of Allegiance In Arabic Polarizes New York High School

Some stupid principal in Pine Bush, New York, decide that it would be a cool thing to have students recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic, of all things, for national Foreign Language Week. Not sure what possessed Aaron Hopmayer to think it was okay to do that, but naturally the event has become a point of contention dividing people between those that think it was flat out wrong, and those that believe one shouldn't discriminate. I'm sure we know where on the political spectrum each of those individuals stands.

The morning's regularly scheduled announcements included the Arabic reading of the pledge. According to students, the announcement was greeted by catcalls and angry denunciations in classrooms throughout the school by students who felt the reading was inappropriate.

The reading became the subject of angry talk throughout the school and a cascade of tweets both from students who criticized the reading and those who supported it.

The controversy has "divided the school in half," according to school Superintendent Joan Carbone. She described the reading as "something that was supposed to be good but turned out not to be."

Early Wednesday afternoon, high school Principal Aaron Hopmayer made a building-wide announcement explaining the reading's context and apologizing to students who took offense.

The apology appears to have done little to quell the situation; it may, in fact, have fueled resentment from students who feel the reading was appropriate.

Carbone said she had received complaints from district residents who had lost family members in Afghanistan and from Jewish parents who were equally outraged by the reading.

Even a Muslim leader has said that the Pledge should always be read in English.

Atif Hasan, the treasurer at the Middletown Islamic Center, says yes, schools should be doing more to teach students about different cultures and to promote diversity.

But he said they should not use the Pledge of Allegiance to do so, as Pine Bush High School did on Wednesday.

The Pledge of Allegiance should always be recited in English, he said.

“To me, that’s ludicrous,” Hasan said of the decision to read the pledge in Arabic, even if the intention was to promote diversity. The pledge, he said, “belongs to the land. It should be in English. The language it was created in is the only language in which it should be said. It’s a beautiful pledge.”

Apparently, this isn't the first time Pine Bush has been in the spotlight.

In 2013, Jewish parents sued the district and administrators in federal court, accusing them of being indifferent to chronic anti-Semitic behavior.

Now don't get me wrong, I encourage people to learn other languages, I speak several, but surely they could have read some other announcement.  And the Pledge in a foreign language, come on, how stupid can you get.

Lefty Idiot Of The Day- Professor Smokes and Rants On Airplane About Love Of Chavez

An idiot gringa lefty professor started ranting about U.S. imperialism and her love of Venezuela's dead President Hugo Chavez, her hero, on a recent plane trip back from Nicaragua.  She was arrested upon arrival at Miami airport since she happened to also be smoking on the airplane, which is verboten.

Karen Bettez Halnon teaches sociology at Penn State, and says on a YouTube video:

“The United States has declared war on Venezuela. ” “Venezuela has been declared a national security threat.”

She said she had just woken up after an American Airlines flight from Nicaragua to Miami.

“So you’re aware the police are meeting the aircraft to take you out,” a flight attendant can be heard saying.

Halnon responded, “I already know that so I’m gonna say my piece before I’m arrested.”

Jailed for disorderly conduct, she's back in Pennsylvania, and had this to say about her conduct:

“I was speaking loudly, that’s often interpreted as yelling when a woman speaks loudly,” she said.[snip]
She says she had just returned from a work trip helping single mothers in Nicaragua.

“I felt it was necessary to speak for not only the Venezuelans but the rest of the poor of the world that are constant victims of US military global domination,” she said.

As for her smoking on a plane:

“Yes, that was me and I was actually smoking a cigarette briefly. I took a few puffs out of it and then I put it out and then I joked that the guy next to me made me do it, but that was just a joke,” she said. 

“Every other revolutionary smokes. Fidel, Daniel Ortega, Tomas Borge, Che Guevara, etc. And so that’s one of the significance… to identify with a revolutionary spirit.”

Miss Revolutionary maybe needs to move to Venezuela so she can be closer to her dead hero.

Regarding U.S. imperialism:

"Imperialism has to stop. And people have to use their voice. We have to act up. It’s necessary,” she said.

How about taking action against Islamic imperialism, which is a far more probable and worse threat, Miss Revolutionary.

The rest here, including a video of her rant.

What an idiot.  And this is the kind of person teaching our kids.

3 Men Jailed In Commie Burma For Insulting Buddhism

It's not only in Muslim countries that individuals can wind up in jail for insulting religion, in communist Myanmar fka Burma they can too.

A New Zealand bar manager and two Burmese men have all been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail for posting an ad for their bar on Facebook which was deemed insulting to Buddhism.

2 1/2 years with hard labor is outrageous.

Although the V Gastro Bar apologized for offending the overly sensitive, Phil Blackwood, the general manager, Tun Thurein, the owner, and Htut Ko Ko Lwin, the manager, were all arrested, December 2014.

Human Rights Watch responded to the sentencing:

“That these three men acted in a culturally insensitive way by posting the Buddha with headphones image on Facebook is obvious, but that is nothing they should have been hauled into court for, much less sent to prison,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

A fine, okay, whatever, but jail time?

I guess if this had been in Pakistan and someone had dared to depict Mohammed with earphones, they'd all be dead by now.

More here.

South African Anti-Israel Protesters Chant To Exterminate The Jews

At an anti-Israel protest in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, call for the annihilation of the Jews.

The protesters start with glorifying martyrdom ("shahidim") and follow with praising the Hamas terror organisation. Protesters donning the headband war garb of the jihad, the keffiyeh, and chant the Islamic death dirge, “Khaybar, Khaybar, ya yahud", jaish Muhammad sayahud.” The threat of Khaybar is the threat of extermination, hearkening back to Muhammad’s annihilation of an entire tribe of Jews.

The yellow Hezbollah flag and PLO flag are clearly visible.

YouTube video of the protest here.

Jon Voight's Video Message To The People Israel

Jon Voight's video message to the people of Israel.

Michael Douglas Op-Ed On Anti-Semitism

Actor/producer Michael Douglas- who has recently embraced Judaism (his actor dad Kirk Douglas is Jewish)- has written a very interesting op-ed on the upsurge of anti-Semitism around the world. He was inspired to write about it after his own son Dylan encountered anti-Semitism during a vacation in Southern Europe last year. Like his, Dylan has also embraced his Jewish roots.

At a swimming pool, some hotel patron insulted him after noticing his Star of David. In his op-ed Douglas recounts the incident his son experienced, some if his own past encounters with anti-Semitism, and then delves into why he believes there has been an increase in hatred of Jews.

In my opinion there are three reasons anti-Semitism is appearing now with renewed vigilance.

The first is that historically, it always grows more virulent whenever and wherever the economy is bad. In a time when income disparity is growing, when hundreds of millions of people live in abject poverty, some find Jews to be a convenient scapegoat rather than looking at the real source of their problems.

If we confront anti-Semitism ... if we combat it individually and as a society, and use whatever platform we have to denounce it, we can stop the spread of this madness.
-
A second root cause of anti-Semitism derives from an irrational and misplaced hatred of Israel. Far too many people see Israel as an apartheid state and blame the people of an entire religion for what, in truth, are internal national-policy decisions. Does anyone really believe that the innocent victims in that kosher shop in Paris and at that bar mitzvah in Denmark had anything to do with Israeli-Palestinian policies or the building of settlements 2,000 miles away?

The third reason is simple demographics. Europe is now home to 25 million to 30 million Muslims, twice the world's entire Jewish population. Within any religious community that large, there will always be an extremist fringe, people who are radicalized and driven with hatred, while rejecting what all religions need to preach — respect, tolerance and love. We're now seeing the amplified effects of that small, radicalized element. With the Internet, its virus of hatred can now speed from nation to nation, helping fuel Europe's new epidemic of anti-Semitism.It is time for each of us to speak up against this hate.

He praises French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Pope Francis, and New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan for speaking out against anti-Semitism, and calls upon all the political and religious leaders of the world to do the same. He also believes it's also the responsibility of all of us "to take action."

Read the whole op-ed on the L.A. Times website.

South African Muslim Student Calls BDS Activists Jew Haters

Not all Muslims support the Boycott Israel movement. In fact there are some who believe the BDS movement is actually harming the Palestinian people.

After Bassem Eid, a Palestinian human rights activist, started criticizing the boycott movement at a debate at the University of Johannesburg, BDS activists started threatening him, and calling him "a liar and a sell-out." University security had to evacuate him from the lecture hall.

The event was organized by the SA Union of Jewish Students as part of a program to debate the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. A meeting with the university will be held shortly to discuss the incident, the press release stated.

“It is especially telling that BDS disrupted a speech by a Palestinian human rights activist that was sharing his experiences and thoughts for peace, making it evident that peace is less on their agenda than is forcing others to abide by their intolerant agenda,” the statement by the Jewish Board of Deputies read.

In February, the student representative council at the Durban University of Technology in South Africa urged the institution’s management to expel its Jewish students, especially those who don’t support the Palestinian cause.

Like Bassem Eid, there are other Muslims who can separate Israeli policies that they might not agree with from the Jewish people themselves.

One young Muslim student who was at the lecture pleads with supporters of Israel to continue their support, and calls out the BDS activists as Jew haters.

Watch the video of the young woman here on YouTube.

Bassem Eid is the same activist who has called on Palestinians to get rid of Hamas.

U.C Irvine Student Union Bans "Offensive" U.S. Flag From "Inclusive" Lobby

A U.C. Irvine student association decided that flags were offensive -especially the U.S. flag- was offensive, so out they go.

The Associated Students of University of California, Irvine (ASUCI) voted Tuesday to remove all flags, including American flags, from an inclusive space on campus because of their offensive nature.

The bill, R50-70, was authored by Social Ecology Representative Matthew Guevara, and accuses all flags, especially, the American flag, of being “symbols of patriotism or weapons for nationalism.”

"[F]lags construct paradigms of conformity and sets [sic] homogenized standards for others to obtain which in this country typically are idolized as freedom, equality, and democracY." Tweet This

“[F]lags construct paradigms of conformity and sets [sic] homogenized standards for others to obtain which in this country typically are idolized as freedom, equality, and democracy,” the bill reads.

The legislation argues that flags may be interpreted differently; the American flag, for example, can represent “American exceptionalism and superiority,” as well as oppression.

“[T]he American flag has been flown in instances of colonialism and imperialism,” the bill continues, arguing that “symbolism has negative and positive aspects that are interpreted differently by individuals.”

The anti-flag hanging bill adds that free speech, such as flags in inclusive spaces, can be interpreted as hate speech.

“[F]reedom of speech, in a space that aims to be as inclusive as possible[,] can be interpreted as hate speech,” the bill reads.

“Let it be resolved that ASUCI make every effort to make the Associated Students main lobby space as inclusive as possible.”

“Let it further be resolved that no flag, of any nation, may be hanged on the walls of the Associate Student main lobby space.”

“Let it be further be resolved that if a decorative item is in the Associate student lobby space and issues arise, the solution will be to remove the item if there is considerable request to do so.”

Flags are hate speech? Six people voted for the ban, four voted against, and two abstained.

This from a U.S. University, in the United States of America.

Source: Campus Reform

Muslim Refuses To Touch Pork and Alcohol, Sues Costco For Reassigning Him

A devout Muslim is suing Costco for religious discrimination after the cashier's assistant refused to touch pork or alcohol. They moved him outside to fetch carts, but Jean Camara refused to do that, demanding they assign him to the electronics department. Costco said no.

Camara said:

“Just because you have a different belief, that doesn’t give anybody the right to treat you different."

"We all share different beliefs so we all should be treated equally no matter what belief we have."

Uh, right, Jean.  Why should you be treated differently?  Anyone else refusing to do their job would have been fired, not re-assigned. Why should they make concessions for you. Get a job at Best Buy if you don't want to handle certain food items.

According to Camara, his superiors at the Brooklyn Costco never told him why he was reassigned — [snip]

He said he asked his bosses if he could work in the electronics department but his request was denied.

Camara filed a human rights complaint against the company and was fired 16 days later for “insubordinate conduct,” according to ABC 7.

Another case of Muslim entitlement.

More info and a video interview of Camara on BizPac Review.

Back- After A Short Break

My sister was in town for my mother's birthday which allowed me to get away for a bit.  I have been taking care of my mother full time- after my wonderful dad passed away last year- since she doesn't drive, and has no idea of what it takes to pay bills etc. So I have both our lives to take care of.

Caregiving can be exhausting, especially with all of my mother's issues, so I needed a mental health break.  It was only a few days, but I decided that while my sister was here, and then while I was away, I would stay away from the news.  How refreshing not to be bombarded by the plethora of negativity that occurs on a daily basis. It was a lovely break, on all levels.  But now I'm back.

I hope everyone can take the time, every once in a while, to just tune out. Even for a few days. Even for a day.

Detroit Muslim Stabs People At Bus Stop For Being Non-Muslim

The FBI is trying to determine whether the stabbing attack on two people at a Detroit bus stop by a Muslim man- because the victims were not Muslim- was a domestic terrorism or a hate crime.

Police have arrested the suspect on attempted murder charges but say that religion was behind the attack of a 52-year-old Detroit man and his 51-year-old friend who tried to intervene.

Southfield Police Chief Eric Hawkins said 39-year-old Terrence Thomas thought it was unacceptable that the victims were not Muslims.

"The suspect began stabbing one of the victims," Hawkins said of Thomas, of Detroit, who ran from the scene down Greenfield.

Thomas had two knives when police arrested him. He was later charged with attempted murder.

Both victims were treated and released from a nearby hospital.

Federal investigators are getting involved because the attack is believed to be a hate crime.

"It could constitute a hate crime," said Andy Arena, former Detroit FBI chief. "We have to see what really motivated this guy. You call it home-grown radicals, jihadis, this is really the biggest threat throughout the world right now.

"They are on the Internet, social media, they are hearing this message - and they are becoming radicalized."

Yeah, Thomas was in the possession of drugs and considered mentally unstable, but all someone like that needs is a religion that is front and center in the news on a daily basis to justify his own personal jihad.

Of course, CAIR has weighed in on the attack.

"I don't think there should be a litmus test for crazy Muslims," said Dawud Walid, executive director of Council on American Islamic Relations. "Or as if all Muslims are motivated by religion."

Walid's organization CAIR which fights for Islamic rights, said if this incident is ethnic intimidation, Thomas should be charged accordingly. But he does not think Muslims are more vulnerable when it comes to radicalization.

"Anyone who has not health issues on the fringe can be radicalized, be it, either in a street gang or joining something like an international extremist organization," Walid said. "In this case we have to wait and see what the facts are."

More like religious intimidation, which some Muslims are very good at, including CAIR itself.

And imagine the outrage if this had been the reverse. An attack on Muslims.

Source: MyFoxDetroit

'We'll Stop ISIS With Jobs' Claims State Department Spokesperson

So, State Department spokesperson Marie Harf seems to think that the way to defeat ISIS is not to kill them but to give them jobs. Yep, that's pretty much what she told Chris Matthews on Hardball.

MATTHEWS: “If I were ISIS, I wouldn’t be afraid right now. I would figure there’s no existential threat to these people. They can keep finding places where they can hold executions and putting the camera work together, getting their props ready and killing people for show and nothing we do right now seems to be directed at stopping this.”

HARF: “I think there is few stages here. Right now what we are doing is trying to take their leaders and their fighters off the battlefield in Iraq and in Syria. That’s really where they —”

MATTHEWS: “Are we killing enough of them?”

HARF: “We’re killing a lot of them and we’re gonna keep killing more of them, so are the Egyptians, so are the Jordanians, they are in this fight with us. But we cannot win this war by killing them. We cannot kill our way out of this war. We need in the longer term, medium and longer term, to go after the root causes that leads to join these groups whether it’s lack of opportunity for jobs, whether it’s —”

MATTHEWS: “We’re not going to be able to stop that in our lifetime. Or 50 lifetimes. There’s always going to be poor people; there’s always going to be poor Muslims, and as long as there’s poor Muslims the trumpet’s blowing and they’ll join.”

Video here.

Transcript H/T: PJ Media

Some bearded jihadis are sitting around having a big 'ol laugh.

Turkish Teen Convicted For Insulting Erdogan

And from the country that wants to join the E.U. but should never be allowed to, we have this: a 7 plus month jail sentence, suspended for three years, for a 17-year-old high school student who insulted Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was Prime Minister at the time. He will serve the sentence if he does it again within the next three years.

The incident took place as the student, identified only by the initials U.H.C., attended a demonstration in Attalos Square in the southern province of Antalya, in protest at a case involving two other high school students who had been charged after protesting against Erdoğan.

U.H.C., who is a member of the high school group “Young Hopes,” gathered with the group on June 15, 2014 in Attalos Square. They were protesting against the charging of two high school students who had gathered at the same square on Jan. 24, 2014 to issue Erdoğan with a satirical “report card,” after the shooting of Berkin Elvan with a tear gas canister during the Gezi Park protests of June 2013. The charges against the two students who had participated in the earlier protest were later dismissed by the prosecutor in the case.

However, during the final hearing of U.H.C.’s case at the Antalya 2nd Juvenile Court on Feb. 15, he was sentenced to 12 months in prison on charges of “insulting a public official.” The court also ruled to increase the sentence from 12 to 14 months due to the defendant’s behavior during the trial, but the sentence was later reduced to 7 months and 23 days because H.U.C. is a minor. Because there have been no previous criminal charges against H.U.C., the court then decided to put him on probation for three years.

His mum will appeal, saying:

“If there is freedom of expression in this country, no one should be convicted just because they criticize someone or chant against someone."

“The prosecutor told me to keep an eye on my child for the next three years and prevent him from committing a crime, or they will have to charge him with the same criminal act. My response is that hopefully we will not have to face injustice over this three-year period and my child won’t have to protest."

Meanwhile, the kid's dad, a teacher, is facing the same charges.

More here, and here.

Best Description Of Barack Obama By Dr. Jack Wheeler

Back in 2008, when Barack Obama was running for president the first time around, Dr. Jack Wheeler wrote this about him on his website To The Point:

The O-man, Barack Hussein Obama, is an eloquently tailored empty suit. No résumé, no accomplishments, no experience, no original ideas, no understanding of how the economy works, no understanding of how the world works, no balls, nothing but abstract empty rhetoric devoid of real substance.

He has no real identity. He is half-white, which he rejects. The rest of him is mostly Arab, which he hides but is disclosed by his non-African Arabic surname and his Arabic first and middle names as a way to triply proclaim his Arabic parentage to people in Kenya. Only a small part of him is African Black from his Luo grandmother, which he pretends he is exclusively.

What he isn't, not a genetic drop of, is "African-American," the descendant of enslaved Africans brought to America chained in slave ships. He hasn't a single ancestor who was a slave. Instead, his Arab ancestors were slave owners. Slave-trading was the main Arab business in East Africa for centuries until the British ended it.

Let that sink in: Obambi is not the descendant of slaves, he is the descendant of slave owners. Thus he makes the perfect Liberal Messiah.

It's something Hillary doesn't understand - how some complete neophyte came out of the blue and stole the Dem nomination from her. Obamamania is beyond politics and reason. It is a true religious cult, whose adherents reject Christianity yet still believe in Original Sin, transferring it from the evil of being human to the evil of being white.

Thus Obambi has become the white liberals' Christ, offering absolution from the Sin of Being White. There is no reason or logic behind it, no faults or flaws of his can diminish it, no arguments Hillary could make of any kind can be effective against it. The absurdity of Hypocrisy Clothed In Human Flesh being their Savior is all the more cause for liberals to worship him: Credo quia absurdum, I believe it because it is absurd.

Thank heavens that the voting majority of Americans remain Christian and are in no desperate need of a phony savior.

Obama is a Zero. There is nothing really there. O=Zero. You can get a O=Zero bumper sticker for your car, a O=Zero t-shirt, encourage your friends to do the same, and get the message out there:

That his candidacy is ridiculous and should not be taken seriously by any thinking American.

All still true. And sadly, the American people did vote for him. Twice. And yet there are still many, many devotees who continue to believe in him- many of them, my colleagues.

Turkey Latest Country To Leave Yemen

Yemen is getting wilder, and it seems Turkey is the latest country to get the heck out of dodge.

Britain, France, German, Italy, the Netherlands and the United States, along with Saudi Arabia, have already evacuated embassy personnel (and others) and shut down operations as Shiites and Sunnis battle it out in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital. Spain is "temporarily" shutting down and telling it's citizens they should leave, for the time being.

The rebel Shiite Houthis, who are now in control of Sanaa, claim there is nothing to worry about, and the West should not be clearing out. Iran concurs with  the fellow Shiites saying the Houthis are just fighting "corruption and terrorism," be that as it may, they are also anti-American. Yes, they are against Al-Qaeda in The Arab Peninsula (AQAP), but that's no consolation.  In fact, the Houthi logo says:

"God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam"

by Takahara Osaka 

Yemen's gulf Arab nation neighbours are prepared to take action if the world does nothing, as they deem the Houthi take-over as a coup.

I say- go for it.  It's about time they start dealing with their own problems and not expect the West to do it for them.

A little background on the Houthi rebellion.

Sources: Hurryiet Daily, 

ISIS Has Arrived In Afghanistan

The Islamic State has apparently arrived in Afghanistan and the government, in denial for quite some time, is finally admitting there is a potential problem, although they are handling it before it becomes an issue.

"Islamic State or those people who call themselves Islamic State are active in some areas and our intelligence reports confirm it and we cannot deny it," Interior Ministry spokesman Siddiq Sidiqqi admitted during a February 10 interview with RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan.

[snip]

But he said that national security forces were on top of the situation, offering assurances that "wherever they act we destroy them and don’t give them the opportunity to become active in Afghanistan."

They did off ex-Guantanamo prisoner/Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Rauf, who was recruiting for Islamic State in southern Afghanistan. And nabbed the Afghan spokesman for IS, Abdul Qadir Wahidi, who is now spending some time in prison. According to RFE/RL:

He said that he was arrested about two months ago by NSD officers when he appeared in Kabul for what he thought would be peace talks with government officials.

Wahidi said it was he who sent and appeared in a video to a Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent in September in which he claimed to represent a group called the Islamic Organization of Great Afghanistan, and expressed its willingness to fight for Islamic State "caliph" Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

Many believe there is no way the Islamic State will gain foothold in a country that houses the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

Some pointed to cultural clashes that would erupt when outsiders adhering to a strict form of Wahhabism encroached on long-established tribal traditions in Afghanistan. Others asked whether disgruntled Taliban were simply saying they were allying themselves with Islamic State in order to gain street cred. And the possibility was raised that provincial officials were heightening alarm in order to attract more funding and security from Kabul.

Though there's not much difference between these groups, there are cultural differences that might not appeal to the likes of the Taliban. After all, Islamic State jihadists kill homosexuals, Taliban actually use young boys as sex slaves.  That might doom the ever popular bacha bazi entertainment- dressing up young boys in dress for dancing and sex. Islamic State might just be a tad too strict.

So it seems Islamic State fighters might have a fight on their hands. Mohammad Jan Rasulyar, deputy governor of Helmand Province had this to say:

"... the Islamic State militants, who were carrying black flags to indicate their allegiance to Al-Baghdadi's group, were clashing with white-flagged Taliban.

We consider both groups an enemy, both of them are enemies of Afghans and killing Afghans," Rasulyar said. "But, it would better for us if they would fight each other and our Afghans were spared from their evil."

That's what I was thinking. Let them duke it out and be done with it, but others think Islamic State and Taliban will iron out their differences and become a major problem if the government doesn't do something about it now.

Speaking before a gathering of Afghan clerics in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif on February 13, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Afghanistan Mohammad Mohaqiq called on the Afghan government to take serious action to counter Islamic State's activities.

Military analyst Jawed Kohistani said that, if Kabul doesn't answer the call now, it will mean trouble by as early as this summer.

"They [IS recruits in Afghanistan] will resolve their problems with the Taliban, find resources to fund their activities, and will be prepared for offensive operations," he told Radio Free Afghanistan on February 13. "If [the government] doesn't make good use of the capabilities and abilities of its military forces and doesn't pay attention to intelligence, we will be confronted with enormous problems in the future."

But Islamic State of Syria and Iraq's (ISIS) head honcho, Abu Bakr al-Baghdad, allegedly called the Taliban's head honcho, Mullah Mohammad Omar, a fool and illiterate war lord, and that ISIS has accomplished more in two years than the Taliban has in the past ten years. Them 'thar are fightin' words.

Just let them off each other, please.

Illegals Who Did Not Pay Back Taxes Can Claim Back-Refunds

What?  Illegal immigrants who have not paid taxes will be eligible to apply for back-refunds?  Apparently so!

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told Congress on Wednesday that even illegal immigrants who didn’t pay taxes will be able to claim back-refunds once they get Social Security numbers under President Obama’s temporary deportation amnesty.

[snip]

On Wednesday, he said even illegal immigrants who didn’t pay taxes will be able to apply for back-credits once they get Social Security numbers.

The EITC is a refundable tax credit, which means those who don’t have any tax liability can still get money back from the government.

“Under the new program, if you get a Social Security number and you work, you’ll be eligible to apply for the Earned Income Tax Credit,” Mr. Koskinen said.

He said that would apply even “if you did not file” taxes, as long as the illegal immigrant could demonstrate having worked off-the-books during those years.

That expands the universe of people eligible for the tax credit by millions. He said only about 700,000 illegal immigrants currently work and pay taxes using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, but as many as 4 million illegal immigrants could get a stay of deportation and work permits under the temporary amnesty, which would mean they would be eligible to claim back-refunds if they worked those years.

This is outrageous!

The whole thing here.

Why The "Bush Lied" Narrative Is Dangerous - Laurence H Silberman

Laurence H. Silberman, former co-chair of the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, and currently a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C., takes on the false and potentially dangerous "Bush lied" narrative that people still glom on to.

In recent weeks, I have heard former Associated Press reporter Ron Fournier on Fox News twice asserting, quite offhandedly, that President George W. Bush “lied us into war in Iraq.”

I found this shocking. I took a leave of absence from the bench in 2004-05 to serve as co-chairman of the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction—a bipartisan body, sometimes referred to as the Robb-Silberman Commission. It was directed in 2004 to evaluate the intelligence community’s determination that Saddam Hussein possessed WMD—I am, therefore, keenly aware of both the intelligence provided to President Bush and his reliance on that intelligence as his primary casus belli. It is astonishing to see the “Bush lied” allegation evolve from antiwar slogan to journalistic fact.

Why it's dangerous:

The charge is dangerous because it can take on the air of historical fact—with potentially dire consequences. I am reminded of a similarly baseless accusation that helped the Nazis come to power in Germany: that the German army had not really lost World War I, that the soldiers instead had been “stabbed in the back” by politicians.

Sometime in the future, perhaps long after most of us are gone, an American president may need to rely publicly on intelligence reports to support military action. It would be tragic if, at such a critical moment, the president’s credibility were undermined by memories of a false charge peddled by the likes of Ron Fournier.

He explains further on the Wall Street Journal.

Obama: Jews Killed In Paris Deli A "Bunch Of Folks" "Randomly Shot"

And I bring you the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, who is still in major denial about the war on terror, agreeing with the interviewer (in the video below) that ".. the media sometimes overstates the sort of level of alarm people should have about terrorism and this kind of chaos as opposed to a longer term problem of climate change and epidemic disease." 

In other words, he believes we are fools to be worried about the ever growing ranks of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and its end goal of world domination, or the likes of Boko Haram, al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, and not Climate Change or an outbreak of Measles. Move along folks nothing here to fret over.

Then he comes up with this- the Jews murdered in the Paris deli massacre were just a bunch of folks randomly shot by a vicious zealot.

Look, the point is this: my first job is to protect the American people. It is entirely legitimate for the American people to be deeply concerned when you’ve got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris. We devote enormous resources to that, and it is right and appropriate for us to be vigilant and aggressive in trying to deal with that — the same way a big city mayor’s got to cut the crime rate down if he wants that city to thrive. But we also have to attend to a lot of other issues, and we’ve got to make sure we’re right-sizing our approach so that what we do isn’t counterproductive. 

In his own words, if you can bear to watch.



And this fool is our president.

Some Twitter reaction.

ISIS In Iraq Vows To Take Over The World

Musa Abu Yusuf Shishani from the Chechen faction of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria- Katibat al-Aqsa- has just posted a video where he promises that ISIS will take over the world. The Chechens who fought in Kobani, Syria, have moved on to Iraq.  The video was filmed in Tikrit outside of one of Saddam Hussein's palaces.

For all us "infidels and idolaters" who have "murdered, destroyed, raped and imprisoned the Muslims" [pot kettle black] he had this to say:

"We are coming for you, just like the Prophet Muhammad came for the...polytheists in Mecca. Whether it is us or those who come after us, the offensive that our caliph Ibrahim [Baghdadi] began cannot be stopped."

ISIS plans to bring:

"the religion of Allah to every home," Musa Abu Yusuf adds, saying that the militants will fly their banner everywhere, including at the "palaces of Bashar [al-Assad], the towers of Washington, and the towers of the Pentagon, in every capital, in Paris, on the Kremlin."

"Try to stop us. Send your war planes, send your artillery...but no one can stop that which was promised by Allah."

Try and tell me the fight isn't rooted in Islam.

The rest on RFE/RL

U.K. Jews Are Leaving Britain Because Of Rise In Anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism is driving British Jews out of the country. So one family, Honey and Simon Gould along with their teenage kids, are packing up and moving to Arizona, leaving everything behind including a lovely home, successful business and many friends. Not easy for two people in their late 40s early 50s, but they feel compelled to.

She is not the only member of Britain’s 300,000-strong Jewish community to feel things have reached crisis point. Since the gun attack that killed three people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels last year and the murder by radical Islamists of four Jews at a kosher supermarket on the outskirts of Paris last month, the chorus of concern has been growing. The actress Maureen Lipman recently revealed that she, too, is considering leaving the UK because of the rising number of attacks on Jews.

A poll by the Campaign Against Antisemitism last month found nearly half of Britons thought that at least one anti‑Semitic view presented to them was “definitely or probably true”.

Then, yesterday, annual figures from the Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors anti-Semitism in Britain, showed a record number of anti‑Semitic incidents in 2014 (1,168 incidents were recorded, more than double the 535 incidents logged in 2013).

Manchester, where the Goulds live, and London have seen the greatest increase in anti-Semitism. But it's not just from the Muslim community, the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel leftists are making Jews in the U.K. feel very unsafe, as well. And Simon thinks the far-Right is one step away from doing the same.

Radical Islam, agrees Simon, is not the only driving force behind the rise in anti‑Semitism. The far‑Left habitually conflates Jews with Israel and Zionism, he says. The far‑Right, meanwhile, may be “happy firing salvos at the Muslim population, but I know we are only one step away from their wrath,” he says.

Having spent 10 years on the northern board of the CST, he is acutely aware of how bad things have become. “I’ve been exposed to, and become familiar with, spiralling anti‑Semitism,” he says. “Eggs hurled from passing cars, swastikas on Jewish headstones, messages of hatred. Last summer, central Manchester – a place I love and have always lived in – became a flashpoint for virulent anti-Israel demonstrations. It was terrifying to see this on the streets of my home city.”

And he's spot on, regarding the far-Right. I've seen a plethora of anti-Jewish commentary from the far-Right conspiracy theorists who blame everything on the Jews and Zionists. They hate the Jews as much as they hate the Muslims.

The rest here.

Niger Kills 109 Boko Haram- Thousands To Go

Nigeria's version of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has been venturing out beyond its borders into neighbouring lands, but I'm delighted to see they are meeting some major resistance.

Niger forces, along with help from Chad's military, were able to off around 109 Boko Haram Islamists after they attacked the city of Bosso and Diffa. Unfortunately, 4 soldiers and a civilian were also killed. As a result, Niger will try to get approval from parliament to have soldiers join Chadian and Cameroon soldiers in Nigeria to help destroy Boko Haram. U.S. intellegence believes that could be a "game changer in a positive way."

More here.

Well done! How many more to go?

American Sniper's Muslim Iraqi Interpreter Claims Kyle Was Not Racist

In response to MSNBC's Ayman Mohyeldin's claims that Chris Kyle, the man portrayed in Clint Eastwood's box office hit American Sniper, was racist and participated in "killing sprees", Kyle's Iraqi Muslim interpreter fired back with the following:

“When we had a sniper mission, he would watch the targets. Then, sometimes I would go take care of something and he was never afraid that I was returning with my M4 and grenades. And not just Kyle, all the SEALs I worked with.

Kyle said I trust Johnny Walker with my life. When I came to America, I got invited to Chris’s book signing in La Jolla.

When Chris saw me at the event he left everyone and just came up to me and hugged me. Because he hadn’t seen me since 2007 and thought I could have died and had no idea where I was. After he signed the book, he was going to speak. Ten seconds into his speech, he said I am not an American hero. Johnny Walker is the American hero and then he made me stand up.

Then, he said that I saved more SEALs’ lives than him. Pointing at me, and I am an Iraqi Muslim. So how is this racist?

Sometimes I would forget to bring an MRE to a sniper mission. Chris would share his MRE and he would talk about family. If he was racist towards Muslims why would he share intimate details of his life with a Muslim? I don’t see that in any way as racist. I think the ones calling Chris Kyle racist are racists.

If you’re going to call Chris Kyle racist, then call me a racist too. At times we were on the base, Kyle would laugh with the other Iraqi soldiers and joke with them. Again, why would a racist engage in that behavior?

The insurgents had a $50,000.00 bounty on my head. Every time Chris Kyle killed an insurgent he saved my family, and the innocent Iraqi families too. Why would a racist man protect me and innocent Iraqi families?

People should be respecting and honoring him. It hurts Taya, his brother, his dad, his children, his whole family and everyone in the SEAL community when people say such things about a man like Kyle. He treated me, an Iraqi Muslim, like a brother. So everyone needs to give him the respect that he fully deserves, and finally let the man rest in peace.”

Well, there ya go, Ayman! He was there doing his job not hating on Iraqis.

Of course, he's not the only one critical of a movie that shattered box office records. Most reviews have been very positive, but people like Michael Moore and Seth Rogen piped in with their not-so positive say about snipers, and the perceived pro-war sentiment of the film.

Jindal Responds To Obama: "Medieval Christian Threat Is Under Control"

After our fool of a President Barack Obama compared today's radical Islam to the Christian Crusades of eons ago, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal immediately responded with this brilliant remark.

“It was nice of the President to give us a history lesson at the Prayer breakfast,” Jindal said. “Today, however, the issue right in front of his nose, in the here and now, is the terrorism of Radical Islam, the assassination of journalists, the beheading and burning alive of captives. We will be happy to keep an eye out for runaway Christians, but it would be nice if he would face the reality of the situation today. The Medieval Christian threat is under control, Mr. President. Please deal with the Radical Islamic threat today.”

Jindal is considering a run for president in 2016, and a is a huge proponent of assimilation for immigrants. He believes it is dangerous not to.

“You’ve got people who want to come to our country but not adopt our values.”

He's right.

ISIS Female Jihadist Manifesto: Women Should Be Veiled and Hidden

The latest manifesto from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is aimed at females, who are allowed to marry at nine, since they are the "most pure" at that age, but definitely by 16 or 17, basically espouses the whole keep 'em barefoot and pregnant mentality.

... all women should consider motherhood the purpose of their existence, according to a manifesto attributed to an all-female branch of the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

The Quilliam Foundation, a UK-based anti-terrorism think-tank, said the text states women should be hidden and veiled, stay at home and shun fashion boutiques and beauty salons as the work of the devil. Produced by the Al-Khanssaa Brigade, the manifesto reveals a more sober picture of what is expected of Muslim women than the accounts of Western female jihadists who have exaggerated their role on social media, the foundation, which translated the document into English, said. “Just as they have sexed up what it is to be a women living in the so-called caliphate, this document dresses it down.

Women, it is unambiguously stated, are homemakers and mothers,” the foundation said in concluding remarks to its translation. “The matters of adventure and excitement, themes most used by female Western recruiters trying to recruit young girls to IS, are the realm of men,” it added.

[snip]

The document, which first appeared last month in Arabic, sets out what is permitted in terms of education and work. From seven to nine, girls should learn religion, Quranic Arabic and science. From 10 to 12, there should be more studies relating to Islamic sharia law on marriage and divorce in addition to knitting and cooking.

The manifesto indicates that a girl’s education ends at the age of 15. It states that a woman may leave the house if she going to study theology, if she is a woman doctor or teacher and if it has been ruled by fatwa that she must fight jihad or holy war. 

The rest here, on Arab Times.

Obama Likens ISIS Deeds To The Crusades At National Prayer Breakfast

Today was National Prayer Breakfast, and Barack Obama chose to speak about religious extremism. While doing so, he actually likened the horrific actions of ISIS today to the Christian crusades of centuries ago- glomming onto the typical liberal apologist argument that Christians were just as bad, back in the day, as today's Muslim extremists.

Well, exactly, other religions have evolved past their less than stellar past. Not so Islam. 99 percent of the violence perpetrated in the name of religion these days is Islam. And besides, the Crusades began in 1095 with the aim of regaining access to Jerusalem AFTER Muslims conquered the region that happened to be Christian prior to that. Islamic conquests continued all the way up until the Ottoman Empire, which ended not so long ago- the early 1900s.

He said:

“And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ." “In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”

What a fool!

ISIS Selling Iraqi Kids As Sex Slaves, Killing, Crucifying and Burying Them Alive

Nothing surprises any longer when it comes to the ISIS savages. They keep sex slaves, behead people, just burned a man alive, and now this:

Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are selling abducted Iraqi children at markets as sex slaves, and killing other youth, including by crucifixion or burying them alive, a United Nations watchdog said on Wednesday.

Iraqi boys aged under 18 are increasingly being used by the militant group as suicide bombers, bomb makers, informants or human shields to protect facilities against U.S.-led air strikes, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child said.

“We are really deeply concerned at torture and murder of those children, especially those belonging to minorities, but not only from minorities,” committee expert Renate Winter told a news briefing. “The scope of the problem is huge.”

Children from the Yazidi sect or Christian communities, but also Shi’ites and Sunnis, have been victims, she said.

“We have had reports of children, especially children who are mentally challenged, who have been used as suicide bombers, most probably without them even understanding,” Winter told Reuters. “There was a video placed (online) that showed children at a very young age, approximately eight years of age and younger, to be trained already to become child soldiers.”

Deeply concerned?  It's horrifying.

The U.N. body, which reviewed Iraq’s record for the first time since 1998, denounced “the systematic killing of children belonging to religious and ethnic minorities by the so-called ISIL, including several cases of mass executions of boys, as well as reports of beheadings, crucifixions of children and burying children alive”.

[snip]

ISIL has committed “systematic sexual violence”, including “the abduction and sexual enslavement of children”, it said.

“Children of minorities have been captured in many places... sold in the market place with tags, price tags on them, they have been sold as slaves,” Winter said, giving no details.

The 18 independent experts who worked on the report called on Iraqi authorities to take all necessary measures to “rescue children” under the control of Islamic State and to prosecute perpetrators of crimes. “There is a duty of a state to protect all its children. The point is just how are they going to do that in such a situation?”, Winter said.

It's going to take more than just denouncing!  Something needs to be done now. The world powers and especially Middle Eastern countries need to find a way before it's too late.

Jordanian Pilot Burned Alive By ISIS- Will Jordan Follow Through With Promise To Retaliate?

Up until now, all of the high profile ISIS video killings have been non-Muslims from the West, and then Japan, in the case of  47-year-old journalist Kenji Goto, and Haruna Yukawa, the man Goto went to save. Most have been innocent journalists. Beheaded. But now they've killed one of their own, Muslim Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh who was captured back in December.  No beheading this time.  The man was burned alive, in a cage, apparently on January the 3rd- which is why Jordan wanted to make sure that the pilot was still alive before they swapped 44-year-old female Iraqi terrorist Sajida al-Rishawi.

Sajida has been jailed in Jordan since 2005 after a failed suicide bombing at a hotel wedding celebration that killed at least 57 people and injured 90 more. It was a family affair, her husband managed to set his off.

Jordan had allegedly said that if al-Kaseasbeh was killed they would retaliate by killing Sajida and any other captured Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Now Jordan has reportedly stepped up its rhetoric by warning of its intent to retaliate if the negotiations end in bloodshed.

Elijah Magnier, chief international correspondent for Kuwait's Al Rai newspaper, told MailOnline: 'I have reliable contact in the Jordanian government who says a message has been passed to ISIS.

'It warns that if they kill the pilot they will implement the death sentences for Sajida and other ISIS prisoners as soon as possible.

'There are other prisoners in Jordan that ISIS would like to free.'

Okay, Jordan. Time to keep your promise.

Maybe this will propel Arab nations to finally get their butts in gear and do something about ISIS.

France 4 video coverage.