An imam is an Islamic leadership position. It is most commonly in the context of a worship leader of a mosque and Muslim community by Sunni Muslims. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, serve as community leaders, and provide religious guidance. Imam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
They can convince people to put on the suicide vest and themselves themselves up.
The Donald would never recommend that. The Donald is really quite sane. He remembered moslems cheering on rooftops right after 9/11, and he was right too.
It is quite a stretch to equate those poor befuddled folks to average Christians in the USA, or anywhere else.
California seems to have a subset of people that will believe anything, presumably to get away from life in the anthill anyway possible.
California Eden
When Jones returned from Brazil in December 1963,[37] he told his Indiana congregation that the world would be engulfed in a nuclear war on July 15, 1967 that would then create a new socialist Eden on earth, and that the Temple had to move to Northern California for safety.[15][38] Accordingly, the Temple began moving to Redwood Valley, California, near the city of Ukiah.[15]
According to religious studies professor Catherine Wessinger, while Jones always spoke of the social gospel's virtues, before the late 1960's Jones chose to conceal that his gospel was actually communism.[15] By the late 1960's, Jones began at least partially openly revealing the details of his "Apostolic Socialism" concept in Temple sermons.[15] Jones also taught that, "those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment — socialism".[39] Jones often mixed these ideas, such as preaching that, "If you're born in capitalist America, racist America, fascist America, then you're born in sin. But if you're born in socialism, you're not born in sin."[40]
By the early 1970s, Jones began deriding traditional Christianity as "fly away religion", rejecting the Bible as being a tool to oppress women and non-whites, and denouncing a "Sky God" who was no God at all.[15] Jones wrote a booklet titled "The Letter Killeth", criticizing the King James Bible.[41] Jones also began preaching that he was the reincarnation of Mahatma Gandhi, Father Divine, Jesus, Gautama Buddha and Vladimir Lenin. Former Temple member Hue Fortson, Jr. quoted Jones as saying, "What you need to believe in is what you can see ... If you see me as your friend, I'll be your friend. As you see me as your father, I'll be your father, for those of you that don't have a father ... If you see me as your savior, I'll be your savior. If you see me as your God, I'll be your God."[10]
In a 1976 phone conversation with John Maher, Jones alternately stated that he was an agnostic and an atheist.[42] Despite the Temple's fear that the IRS was investigating its religious tax exemption, Marceline Jones admitted in a 1977 New York Times interview that Jones was trying to promote Marxism in the United States by mobilizing people through religion, citing Mao Zedong as his inspiration.[38] She stated that, "Jim used religion to try to get some people out of the opiate of religion", and had slammed the Bible on the table yelling "I've got to destroy this paper idol!"[38] In one sermon, Jones said that, "You're gonna help yourself, or you'll get no help! There's only one hope of glory; that's within you! Nobody's gonna come out of the sky! There's no heaven up there! We'll have to make heaven down here!"[10] Move to San Francisco Main article: Peoples Temple in San Francisco
Within five years of the Temple's move to California, it went through a period of exponential growth and opened branches in cities including San Fernando, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. By the early 1970s, Jones began shifting his focus to major cities because of limited expansion opportunities in Ukiah. He eventually moved the headquarters for the Temple to San Francisco, a major center for radical protest movements at the time. The move led to Jones and the Temple becoming politically influential in San Francisco politics, culminating in the Temple's instrumental role in the mayoral election victory of George Moscone in 1975. Moscone subsequently appointed Jones as the chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission.[43]
Unlike most supposed cult leaders, Jones was able to gain public support....
Islam is a male dominance misogynist death cult that panders to the lowest instincts of human males.
Hillary's pal Huma is a moslem. If Hillary wins she will be running around the White House. Huma, and her parents too, is/are/were deep into the Moslem Brotherhood and CAIR.
Be careful who you vote for......
Hillary Clinton's Right-Hand Woman Takes On Trump: 'I'm A Proud Muslim'
Hillary Clinton's Right-Hand Woman Takes On Trump: 'I'm A Proud Muslim' Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Glamour; Scott Olson/Getty Images
By Naja Rayne @najarayne
12/08/2015 AT 01:30 AM EST Donald Trump revealed his radical plan on Monday to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S., and Hillary Clinton's vice chair, Huma Abedin is taking him head on.
"I'm a proud Muslim – but you don't have to share my faith to share my disgust," Abedin wrote in an email to supporters. "Trump wants to literally write racism into our law books."
Trump's recent proposition to impose "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on," is based on research he claims shows that "there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population."
December 7, 2015 Imam Obama defines Islam for Muslims By Carol Brown
Well, um, actually, ISIS does speak for Islam. As noted in an article by Pamela Geller at Breitbart this weekend, here are a few among countless little gems from the Quran:
Slay them wherever you come upon them.
If they fight you, slay them.
Fight those who believe not in Allah.
They shall be slaughtered, or crucified, or their hands and feet shall be alternately struck off.
They shall be banished from the land.
Cast into the unbelievers hearts, terror.
Lie in wait for them at every place of ambush.
When you meet the unbelievers, smite their necks, then, when you have made wide slaughter among them tie fast the bonds.
Take not to yourselves friends of them, until they emigrate in the way of Allah.
Please, Mr. Barry Soetoro, do tell us exactly how it is that ISIS does not speak for Islam.
Alas these violent passages are controlling, as they were later in time than the more peaceful passage. It's like a Supreme Court decision, the latest decision overturns the earlier.
Why is it so easy to convert ordinary people to religious extremism? Ask Donald Trump?
Not ordinary people, just chicken-shit morons, nativists, and racists. And by nativist I mean people scared shitless by the outside world. Those willing to give up every freedom they have as an American just as long as momma government 'promises' to protect them.
The fact that so many sheeple are willing to support some big-mouthed, idiotic, racist like Trump, puts to a lie the old saying of America as 'the land of the free and the home of the brave'. Grow up and smell the coffee America, you are now a country of frightened sheep.
I don't want to pull a Trump here. It is not 'all' America but just a large portion of the conservative base that only come out from under their beds long enough to buy one more gun and check on Trump's newest racist screed.
He has suggested no Muslims be allowed into the country. I guess if we ignore all the factors that would make this solution impossible from a practical standpoint, we could argue that the statement doesn't make Trump insane but just merely a stiff-necked bigot of low intellect.
However, while riding in the car this morning I heard an interview with him where he explained how he would implement it. The guy interviewing him said how would you accomplish this. Just ask them at customs "Are you a Muslim?" Trump's answer, "Yes".
Now as to the point of sanity, if you are a terrorist and knew this was the US practice, and you still wanted to get into the US, and if you were also a Muslim, what answer would you give to the question?
Upset? Why would I get upset. I don't expect that nitwit to ever sit in the Oval Office. If I am upset by anything it is the number of people in this country that support this buffoon.
It still amazes me the number of people in this country who buy into the scaremongering from these pols, whether it be a Bush or a Trump.
Bull. With Trump it is scare-mongering and demagoguery. He is taking advantage of the sheeple in this country who are illogically scared of their own shadows.
And I told you what nativist meant as I was using it above.
And wrong about the cheering moslems after 9/11, too.
It amazes me how you are culled into this stuff. Trump argued there were 'thousands and thousands' in New Jersey not 8 yahoos holding a barbecue on some rooftop overlooking the Trad Center.
You put up Breithard as a reliable source. The man is a flaming Zionist. Bashing Muslims comes to him naturally. The only reason WiO argues with him is because he criticizes Israel fr not pushing the two-state solution. However, the reason he makes the argument is because he believes that is the only way Israel will remain a Jewish state.
He cites a few examples of other people 'hearing about' reports of Muslims cheering and from this tries to argue that Trump was 'justified' in his 'thousands and thousands' charge. Ridiculous. What kind of a journalist would even offer such an argument? All of the instances, even if true, probably originated from some one sentence blurb on Drudge.
If there were all these Muslims cheering, 'thousands and thousands' of them, why haven't we seen one cell phone video of them. YouTube ought to be crammed with them.
SOUTHWEST ASIA, December 8, 2015 — U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.
Strikes in Syria
Attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 11 strikes in Syria:
-- Near Hawl, five strikes struck four separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Raqqah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Mar’a, five strikes struck five separate ISIL tactical units, wounded two ISIL fighters and destroyed an ISIL structure.
Strikes in Iraq
Fighter, bomber, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 20 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:
-- Near Huwayjah, four strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units, wounded two ISIL fighters, damaged an ISIL trench, and destroyed an ISIL vehicle and an ISIL tunnel.
-- Near Kisik, three strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed three ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL rocket cache.
-- Near Mosul, a strike destroyed an ISIL excavator.
-- Near Ramadi, six strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units, denied ISIL access to terrain, and destroyed three ISIL ammo caches, 12 ISIL buildings, an ISIL command and control node, an ISIL sniper position, seven ISIL heavy machine guns, four ISIL staging areas, an ISIL mortar system, an ISIL tactical vehicle, an ISIL tunnel entrance, seven ISIL fighting positions, and two ISIL supply caches.
-- Near Sinjar, a strike destroyed an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Tal Afar, two strikes destroyed three ISIL weapons caches, nine ISIL bunkers, three ISIL tunnels, and an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Hit, a strike destroyed an ISIL homemade explosives facility and two ISIL vehicle bombs.
-- Near Qayyarah, two strikes destroyed an ISIL logistics facility and an ISIL vehicle bomb-making facility.
Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.
BREAKING: Trump calls for total ban on Arabic numerals in U.S.
By puckmtl Tuesday Dec 08, 2015 8:34 AM CST
RANDOLPH, NH. Speaking before a crowd of thousands and thousands in Randolph, New Hampshire (population: 310), Donald Trump today called for a total ban on Arabic numerals in the United States. Below is a complete transcript.
I mean, what do we need these Arabic numbers for? The Founding Fathers didn’t need them when they invented America — which was great, by the way, and we’re gonna make it great again — when they invented America in MDCCLXXVI. All these numbers do is encourage the Muslims; they see these numbers everywhere and I don’t know if it’s Sharif Law that we have to use them, but the Muslims, they take these numbers and they use them as codes, and that’s how they talk to ISIS on the internet, and we’re gonna have to take a look at the internet, by the way.
And all that algebra stuff that the Muslims invented — I was forced to learn that in school, by the way, I don’t know if you were too, but that’s total Sharif if I ever saw it, and that’s how they brainwash kids to join ISIS. What’s algebra gonna do to make America great again? We don’t need more equations! I know Ann Romney is one, but she’s a Mormon ditz, but at least she’s not as bad as that cow Rosie O’Donnell. And the Mormons, by the way, America’s gonna have to take another look at the Mormons. So the Mormons — the Muslims, sorry, it’s easy to get them mixed up — the Muslims, they take algebra, and they use it to build thousands and thousands of bombs.
So the Romans — the Romans love me, by the way, I have thousands and thousands of Catholics who work for me, and we’re gonna win the Roman vote next year and it’s gonna be great — the Romans had a great system for numbers and that’s something that we’re gonna be looking at.
Rome, by the way, I don’t know if you know this, but Rome is where Jesus invented Christianity. They loved him so much that they built a yuge stadium, and Jesus went there and he gave great speeches to thousands and thousands of Roman Catholics. He even did circus shows with lions, and people from the audience would come down like on The Price is Right, and the shows were great. We’re gonna build more stadiums, by the way, and they’re gonna be yuge. They even gave Jesus his own city, right in the middle of Rome, with a big palace — kind of like my Trump hotels and casinos, by the way, and we’re gonna build more casinos and yuge palaces and they’re gonna be great — so thousands and thousands of people would come to the square there to listen to Jesus. It’s a shame that the Pope took it over; he’s a loser and a total idiot, by the way, and we’re gonna have to take a look at him and maybe do some things that we’ve never done before.
You might not know this, but the Romans started off as Pagans, because there weren’t any supermarkets there, so they only had vegetables, but then Jesus got them to eat fish, and after that they discovered meat, and then they invented thousands and thousands of great dishes like chicken parm and fettucine Alfredo and veal piccata — all of which we serve at the Trump hotels and casinos, by the way.
So we’re gonna ban the Arab numbers, and it’s gonna be great and it’s gonna be totally automatic. We’re gonna do a search and replace in Microsoft Letter — my assistant does it all the time when she replaces “Jews” with “Muslims.”
riverbend's last post back in Oct. 2007 is interesting:
"Baghdad Burning ... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend...
Monday, October 22, 2007 Bloggers Without Borders...
Syria is a beautiful country- at least I think it is. I say “I think” because while I perceive it to be beautiful, I sometimes wonder if I mistake safety, security and normalcy for ‘beauty’. In so many ways, Damascus is like Baghdad before the war- bustling streets, occasional traffic jams, markets seemingly always full of shoppers… And in so many ways it’s different. The buildings are higher, the streets are generally narrower and there’s a mountain, Qasiyoun, that looms in the distance.
The mountain distracts me, as it does many Iraqis- especially those from Baghdad. Northern Iraq is full of mountains, but the rest of Iraq is quite flat. At night, Qasiyoun blends into the black sky and the only indication of its presence is a multitude of little, glimmering spots of light- houses and restaurants built right up there on the mountain. Every time I take a picture, I try to work Qasiyoun into it- I try to position the person so that Qasiyoun is in the background.
The first weeks here were something of a cultural shock. It has taken me these last three months to work away certain habits I’d acquired in Iraq after the war. It’s funny how you learn to act a certain way and don’t even know you’re doing strange things- like avoiding people’s eyes in the street or crazily murmuring prayers to yourself when stuck in traffic. It took me at least three weeks to teach myself to walk properly again- with head lifted, not constantly looking behind me.
It is estimated that there are at least 1.5 million Iraqis in Syria today. I believe it. Walking down the streets of Damascus, you can hear the Iraqi accent everywhere. There are areas like Geramana and Qudsiya that are packed full of Iraqi refugees. Syrians are few and far between in these areas. Even the public schools in the areas are full of Iraqi children. A cousin of mine is now attending a school in Qudsiya and his class is composed of 26 Iraqi children, and 5 Syrian children. It’s beyond belief sometimes. Most of the families have nothing to live on beyond their savings which are quickly being depleted with rent and the costs of living.
Within a month of our being here, we began hearing talk about Syria requiring visas from Iraqis, like most other countries. Apparently, our esteemed puppets in power met with Syrian and Jordanian authorities and decided they wanted to take away the last two safe havens remaining for Iraqis- Damascus and Amman. The talk began in late August and was only talk until recently- early October. Iraqis entering Syria now need a visa from the Syrian consulate or embassy in the country they are currently in. In the case of Iraqis still in Iraq, it is said that an approval from the Ministry of Interior is also required (which kind of makes it difficult for people running away from militias OF the Ministry of Interior…). Today, there’s talk of a possible fifty dollar visa at the border.
Iraqis who entered Syria before the visa was implemented were getting a one month visitation visa at the border. As soon as that month was over, you could take your passport and visit the local immigration bureau. If you were lucky, they would give you an additional month or two. When talk about visas from the Syrian embassy began, they stopped giving an extension on the initial border visa. We, as a family, had a brilliant idea. Before the commotion of visas began, and before we started needing a renewal, we decided to go to one of the border crossings, cross into Iraq, and come back into Syria- everyone was doing it. It would buy us some time- at least 2 months.
We chose a hot day in early September and drove the six hours to Kameshli, a border town in northern Syria. My aunt and her son came with us- they also needed an extension on their visa. There is a border crossing in Kameshli called Yaarubiya. It’s one of the simpler crossings because the Iraqi and Syrian borders are only a matter of several meters. You walk out of Syrian territory and then walk into Iraqi territory- simple and safe.
When we got to the Yaarubiya border patrol, it hit us that thousands of Iraqis had had our brilliant idea simultaneously- the lines to the border patrol office were endless. Hundreds of Iraqis stood in a long line waiting to have their passports stamped with an exit visa. We joined the line of people and waited. And waited. And waited…
It took four hours to leave the Syrian border after which came the lines of the Iraqi border post. Those were even longer. We joined one of the lines of weary, impatient Iraqis. “It’s looking like a gasoline line…” My younger cousin joked. That was the beginning of another four hours of waiting under the sun, taking baby steps, moving forward ever so slowly. The line kept getting longer. At one point, we could see neither the beginning of the line, where passports were being stamped to enter Iraq, nor the end. Running up and down the line were little boys selling glasses of water, chewing gum and cigarettes. My aunt caught one of them by the arm as he zipped past us, “How many people are in front of us?” He whistled and took a few steps back to assess the situation, “A hundred! A thousand!”. He was almost gleeful as he ran off to make business.
I had such mixed feelings standing in that line. I was caught between a feeling of yearning, a certain homesickness that sometimes catches me at the oddest moments, and a heavy feeling of dread. What if they didn’t agree to let us out again? It wasn’t really possible, but what if it happened? What if this was the last time I’d see the Iraqi border? What if we were no longer allowed to enter Iraq for some reason? What if we were never allowed to leave?
We spent the four hours standing, crouching, sitting and leaning in the line. The sun beat down on everyone equally- Sunnis, Shia and Kurds alike. E. tried to convince the aunt to faint so it would speed the process up for the family, but she just gave us a withering look and stood straighter. People just stood there, chatting, cursing or silent. It was yet another gathering of Iraqis – the perfect opportunity to swap sad stories and ask about distant relations or acquaintances.
We met two families we knew while waiting for our turn. We greeted each other like long lost friends and exchanged phone numbers and addresses in Damascus, promising to visit. I noticed the 23-year-old son, K., from one of the families was missing. I beat down my curiosity and refused to ask where he was. The mother was looking older than I remembered and the father looked constantly lost in thought, or maybe it was grief. I didn’t want to know if K. was dead or alive. I’d just have to believe he was alive and thriving somewhere, not worrying about borders or visas. Ignorance really is bliss sometimes...
Back at the Syrian border, we waited in a large group, tired and hungry, having handed over our passports for a stamp. The Syrian immigration man sifting through dozens of passports called out names and looked at faces as he handed over the passports patiently, “Stand back please- stand back”. There was a general cry towards the back of the crowded hall where we were standing as someone collapsed- as they lifted him I recognized an old man who was there with his family being chaperoned by his sons, leaning on a walking stick.
By the time we had reentered the Syrian border and were headed back to the cab ready to take us into Kameshli, I had resigned myself to the fact that we were refugees. I read about refugees on the Internet daily… in the newspapers… hear about them on TV. I hear about the estimated 1.5 million plus Iraqi refugees in Syria and shake my head, never really considering myself or my family as one of them. After all, refugees are people who sleep in tents and have no potable water or plumbing, right? Refugees carry their belongings in bags instead of suitcases and they don’t have cell phones or Internet access, right? Grasping my passport in my hand like my life depended on it, with two extra months in Syria stamped inside, it hit me how wrong I was. We were all refugees. I was suddenly a number. No matter how wealthy or educated or comfortable, a refugee is a refugee. A refugee is someone who isn’t really welcome in any country- including their own... especially their own.
We live in an apartment building where two other Iraqis are renting. The people in the floor above us are a Christian family from northern Iraq who got chased out of their village by Peshmerga and the family on our floor is a Kurdish family who lost their home in Baghdad to militias and were waiting for immigration to Sweden or Switzerland or some such European refugee haven.
The first evening we arrived, exhausted, dragging suitcases behind us, morale a little bit bruised, the Kurdish family sent over their representative – a 9 year old boy missing two front teeth, holding a lopsided cake, “We’re Abu Mohammed’s house- across from you- mama says if you need anything, just ask- this is our number. Abu Dalia’s family live upstairs, this is their number. We’re all Iraqi too... Welcome to the building.”
I cried that night because for the first time in a long time, so far away from home, I felt the unity that had been stolen from us in 2003. "
Iraqi forces recapture Anbar headquarters, Al-Tamim from Isis in Ramadi
The Iraqi forces made a major gain against the Islamic State (Isis) terrorists after they retook large areas in Ramadi from the Sunni group on Monday, AFP reported. The operations command headquarters and Al-Tamim neighbourhood in the west of Ramadi was recaptured from Isis, also known as Daesh, the state TV reported.
The recapture of the Al Tammen, is being hailed as a major victory for the Iraqi forces, who for months have been fighting the Isis (Daesh) in Ramadi, to keep the militant group from growing its reach towards the west of Baghdad. Isis overran large swaths of area in the Ramadi region in May, after they defeated the Iraqi forces.
Trump provides a lot of entertainment. So, he's a little whaaaacky. I've enjoyed it, for once, so far. It beats reading position papers. It beats listening to Hillary and The Bern and O'Mallard.
By the way, why is there not ever any Million Man Muslim March on Washington Against Terrorism ?
Corrected - Grappling with attacks, U.S. leaders ask Muslim Americans to fight back
(In Dec 7 item, corrects paragraph 15 to insert dropped word "not")
By Doina Chiacu
Facing what President Barack Obama has called a new phase of terrorism, U.S. officials appealed to Muslim Americans on Monday to fight harder against extremist ideology.
The Obama administration has defended Muslim Americans after attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, and the inflammatory rhetoric that came in its wake, while a parallel message to Islamic communities is gaining urgency: please help.
As Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested banning all Muslims from entering the country on Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson stood in solidarity with an imam and leaders of other faiths at a northern Virginia Islamic center.
Johnson would not comment on Trump's remarks but urged Americans not to vilify Muslims or throw a "net of suspicion" over an entire community.
But he had also made another appeal, this one to Muslim communities.
"Terrorist organizations overseas have targeted your communities. They seek to pull your youth into the pit of violent extremism. Help us to help you stop this," he said.
Since the deadly Nov. 13 attacks by Islamic State followers in Paris and last week's California shootings, there has been a clear call from American officials for Muslims to help police themselves.
Three days after the Paris attacks, Obama urged Muslims around the world to ask "very serious questions" about how extremist ideologies take root and protect children from the idea that killing can be justified by religion.
"To some degree, that is something that has to come from within the Muslim community itself," Obama said at a news conference in Antalya, Turkey, after the G20 summit. "I think there have been times where there has not been enough pushback against extremism."
The president made a similar plea in Sunday's Oval Office address on counterterrorism efforts. On Monday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Muslims will have to speak out against radicalizing forces in their own community.
"We would like to see leaders in the Muslim community stand up and speak out more forcefully in terms of condemning these hateful, radicalizing messages that we see from extremist organizations," Earnest said at a news briefing.
Leaders of the Islamic center where Johnson spoke, All Dulles Area Muslim Society, who said they have been doing all they can since the Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.
"There's more denunciations coming from the Muslim community - not just now but for 14 years. Mosques are speaking out left and right," said Rizwan Jaka, a trustee of the Virginia center.
The center has been working with local and federal law enforcement and created think tanks and nonprofit organizations dedicated to counter-radicalization, he said.
But people who get radicalized tend not to go to mosques or be involved in their communities, which makes them harder to spot, he said.
The center's imam, Mohamed Magid, said his center will try to do more to help parents keep children from being influenced by extremist ideology online.
Magid said attacks in Paris and California have taken a toll on his community in Sterling, Virginia. Even the center's private security company said it could no longer protect the mosque from an attack.
"We are out there fighting this war," Magid said. "We are not scared of (Islamic State). I don't care - we are not going to hide."
Read more at Reutershttp://www.reuters.com/article/california-shooting-muslim-idUSKBN0TR0CJ20151208#tvthIo7jZLQkZud3.99
Do you really believe the imam?
I don't.
Let him put together that Million Man Muslim March on Washington Against Terrorism.
If he did I imagine it would be woefully attended.
He seems to genuinely enjoy campaigning- and the media spotlight that comes with it. And an Independent run really just requires deep pockets and a big ego. Mr Trump has both. Pledge or no pledge, do not be shocked if to see Mr Trump on the ballot as an independent in 2016.
December 8, 2015 Egyptian TV host's searing rant against Obama By Carol Brown
Ahmed Moussa is a well-known Egyptian television host and a strong supporter of President Sisi. This past weekend, Moussa delivered a blistering attack against Obama that held nothing back. Moussa, who expressed enormous respect for the American people, exposed Obama as the liar that he is. This 3-minute video is a must-see.
VIDEO
How far we have fallen when Egyptians speak the truth more clearly and more readily than most of our own leaders.
Hat tip: The Right Scoop, with enormous thanks to MEMRI
Dispelling the ‘Few Extremists’ Myth – the Muslim World Is Overcome with Hate
Friday prayers in Karachi, Pakistan, July 3, 2015. (Rizwan Tabassum/AFP/Getty) by David French December 7, 2015 2:55 PM @DavidAFrench
It is simply false to declare that jihadists represent the “tiny few extremists” who sully the reputation of an otherwise peace-loving and tolerant Muslim faith. In reality, the truth is far more troubling — that jihadists represent the natural and inevitable outgrowth of a faith that is given over to hate on a massive scale, with hundreds of millions of believers holding views that Americans would rightly find revolting.
Not all Muslims are hateful, of course, but so many are that it’s not remotely surprising that the world is wracked by wave after wave of jihadist violence.
To understand the Muslim edifice of hate, imagine it as a pyramid — with broadly-shared bigotry at the bottom, followed by stair steps of escalating radicalism — culminating in jihadist armies that in some instances represent a greater share of their respective populations than does the active-duty military in the United States.
The base of the pyramid, the most broadly held hatred in the Islamic world, is anti-Semitism, with staggering numbers of Muslims expressing anti-Jewish views. In 2014, the Anti-Defamation League released the results of polling 53,100 people in 102 countries for evidence of anti-Semitic attitudes and beliefs.
The numbers from the majority-Muslim world are difficult to believe for those steeped in politically correct rhetoric about Islam. A full 74 percent of North African and Middle Eastern residents registered anti-Semitic beliefs, including 92 percent of Iraqis, a whopping 69 percent of relatively secular Turks, and 74 percent of Saudis. RELATED: The Controversy over Syrian Refugees Misses the Question We Should Be Asking The trend toward Muslim anti-Semitism continues even when Muslim nations are far removed from the Arab–Israeli conflict. A solid majority — 61 percent — of majority-Muslim Malays harbor anti-Semitic attitudes, while only 13 percent of neighboring majority-Buddhist Thais are anti-Jewish.
The next level of the pyramid is Muslim commitment to deadly Islamic supremacy. In multiple Muslim nations, overwhelming majorities of Muslims support the death penalty for apostasy or blasphemy. Collectively, this means that hundreds of millions of men and women support capital punishment for the exercise of the basic human rights of freedom of expression and free exercise of religion: Moving beyond Islamic supremacy to the next step of the pyramid, enormous numbers of Muslims are terrorist sympathizers. It is still stunning to see how popular Osama bin Laden was early last decade, and even as his popularity plunged (as he grew weaker and more isolated), his public approval remained disturbingly high: But what about ISIS — the world’s most savage and deadly terror organization?
The latest polling data show that while a majority of Muslims reject ISIS, extrapolating from the populations of polled countries alone shows that roughly 50 million people express sympathy for a terrorist army that burns prisoners alive, throws gay men from buildings, and beheads political opponents.
In Pakistan a horrifying 72 percent couldn’t bring themselves to express an unfavorable view of ISIS: But sympathy for terror is different from active support, and here’s where the numbers are difficult to pin down. I know of no reliable database that shows how many Muslims give to jihadist charities, spread jihadist propaganda on social media, support radical preachers, or otherwise take concrete actions to advance the terrorists’ cause. We do know, for example, that anti-Israel terrorism is so popular in Saudi Arabia that a telethon once raised $100 million to support the 2002 intifada. Shows of support included this charming scene: A 6-year-old boy, with a plastic gun slung over his shoulder and fake explosives strapped around his waist, walked into a donation center and made a symbolic donation of plastic explosives, according to Al Watan daily.
It is from this fertile soil that jihadists grow. And here the numbers decisively belie the “few extremists” rhetoric. In Iran alone, the Revolutionary Guard represents a proportionate share of the population similar to the combined strength of the active-duty Army and Marines here in the United States. Between Boko Haram, the Al-Nusra front, ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Yemeni militias, Libyan militias, and many others, the number of active jihadists numbers in the hundreds of thousands; some estimates indicate that 100,000 are fighting in Syria alone.
To give a sense of proportion, the United States is a nation that honors military service, respects its veterans, and engages in a massive military recruiting effort that includes offering soldiers generous salaries, pensions, benefits, and the best military equipment in the world. Even then, only about 0.4 percent of the American population engages in active-duty military service at any given time.
In Britain, more Muslims join ISIS than join the British army. Jihadists, by contrast, have low life expectancies, second-rate gear, low salaries, and often have to break domestic laws and journey across battlefields to join terrorist insurgencies, but still they join. In Britain, for example, more Muslims join ISIS than join the British army.
Simply put, America’s leaders actively deceive the American people about the sheer scale of Muslim hatred and commitment to jihad. Rather than tell us the truth, the Obama administration and the media aristocracy constantly lecture Americans about discrimination, apparently believing that only their scolding keeps the great redneck masses at bay. Telling us the truth won’t send Americans on an anti-Muslim killing spree.
Instead, it will make us no more radical than Egypt’s president, who briefly made headlines earlier this year after calling for a “revolution” in Islam and decrying faith traditions that he admitted had been “sacralized over the centuries.” Telling the truth can demonstrate the scale of the problem and at least begin the process of convincing the American people that there is no quick fix, that the defense of the nation will require courage and resolve over the long term.
Islam has a problem. It is Muslims’ responsibility to reform their own faith. It is America’s responsibility to defend itself and its citizens. Neither goal is advanced by telling convenient, politically correct lies. After 14 years of war, can we finally tell the truth? — David French is a staff writer at National Review, an attorney, and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428146/more-than-few-islamic-extremists
Sisi is a good guy, as these things go. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt surely has him on their hit list.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi yesterday called for world action to halt the flow of weapons and fighters into and out of war-torn Libya, Egypt’s neighbour to the west. “Not confronting the situation in Libya will lead to new dangers in the region,” he warned after talks in Athens with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
...
Thousands of supporters of Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood have been jailed and hundreds have been sentenced to death, although many have won retrials. Sisi’s visit to Greece is focused on co-operation in the energy and maritime transport sectors.
Why ISIS Isn’t Going Anywhere What Congress needs to know about the Islamic State’s long game.
Michael Weiss
Note: This text was prepared for my testimony in front of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs on December 2, 2015.
Chairman Poe, Ranking Member Keating, Members of the Committee: I’m honored and also more than a little depressed to be here today, because the occasion that warrants my testimony is the mass murder of 130 innocent people two weeks ago in one of the most cosmopolitan and well-trafficked cities in the world.
The purpose of this hearing is to determine whether or not ISIS has altered its strategy of late and to weigh any possible U.S. policy responses to the Paris attacks. No doubt an implicit consideration of this discussion is that what has just transpired in France can and will happen in the United States eventually, and so this hearing is as much an effort to suss out ISIS’s desire and capability to hit us in the homeland.
I hope I’m not stating the obvious when I point out that ISIS has every intention of doing just that, and it’s largely a matter of luck that it hasn’t been able to already..........
.........Why else, after all, do American warplanes and drones bomb only Sunni extremists but not those extremists loyal to Bashar al-Assad, who have burnt people alive, and ethnically cleansed villages, and disappeared tens of thousands in dungeons, and displaced millions either internally or externally, and killed hundreds of thousands using every weapon in his arsenal, including sarin gas and the specially devised “barrel bomb”? And that’s when al-Assad isn’t buying oil from ISIS. Why, anyone traveling to Sunni communities in the region will hear, is the U.S. not just acquiescing to the military campaigns of Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds Force in Syria but actually providing both with close air support in Iraq? And why, it’s been asked in the last two months, has the U.S. allowed Russia to install its own no-fly zone in Syria, not for the purpose of bombing ISIS, as Vladimir Putin falsely claims (and as ISIS mockingly disclaims in its most recent issue of Dabiq), but for protecting al-Assad and eliminating any credible rebel challenge to his regime, including those U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army brigades and battalions that have fought and beaten ISIS?
Al-Baghdadi listens to these laments by Sunni Arabs and rubs his hands with glee for two reasons. One, he thinks he’ll never lack for a receptive audience, and two, our diplomats and press secretaries grope for a “counter-narrative” without realizing that U.S. policy is the ISIS narrative.
'The foreign fighter phenomenon in Iraq and Syria is truly global,' the New York-based security consultancy's report said. 'The Islamic State has seen success beyond the dreams of other terrorist groups that now appear conventional and even old-fashioned, such as Al Qaeda. 'It has energised tens of thousands of people to join it, and inspired many more to support it.'
Why is it so easy to convert ordinary people to religious extremism? Ask Donald Trump?
ReplyDeleteNah, not The Donald.
DeleteAsk an Imam.
An imam is an Islamic leadership position. It is most commonly in the context of a worship leader of a mosque and Muslim community by Sunni Muslims. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, serve as community leaders, and provide religious guidance.
Imam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
They can convince people to put on the suicide vest and themselves themselves up.
The Donald would never recommend that. The Donald is really quite sane. He remembered moslems cheering on rooftops right after 9/11, and he was right too.
Or ask Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam.
He remembered moslems cheering on rooftops right after 9/11, and he was right too.
DeleteQUIRK, ASH:
See evidence produced at the end of last thread.
The Scientologists are another example.
DeleteCrazy as hell, but people give them all their money and do as they are told to do.
They can convince people to put on the suicide vest and themselves themselves up.
DeleteThey can convince people to put on the suicide vest and blow themselves up.
It is quite a stretch to equate those poor befuddled folks to average Christians in the USA, or anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteCalifornia seems to have a subset of people that will believe anything, presumably to get away from life in the anthill anyway possible.
California Eden
When Jones returned from Brazil in December 1963,[37] he told his Indiana congregation that the world would be engulfed in a nuclear war on July 15, 1967 that would then create a new socialist Eden on earth, and that the Temple had to move to Northern California for safety.[15][38] Accordingly, the Temple began moving to Redwood Valley, California, near the city of Ukiah.[15]
According to religious studies professor Catherine Wessinger, while Jones always spoke of the social gospel's virtues, before the late 1960's Jones chose to conceal that his gospel was actually communism.[15] By the late 1960's, Jones began at least partially openly revealing the details of his "Apostolic Socialism" concept in Temple sermons.[15] Jones also taught that, "those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment — socialism".[39] Jones often mixed these ideas, such as preaching that, "If you're born in capitalist America, racist America, fascist America, then you're born in sin. But if you're born in socialism, you're not born in sin."[40]
By the early 1970s, Jones began deriding traditional Christianity as "fly away religion", rejecting the Bible as being a tool to oppress women and non-whites, and denouncing a "Sky God" who was no God at all.[15] Jones wrote a booklet titled "The Letter Killeth", criticizing the King James Bible.[41] Jones also began preaching that he was the reincarnation of Mahatma Gandhi, Father Divine, Jesus, Gautama Buddha and Vladimir Lenin. Former Temple member Hue Fortson, Jr. quoted Jones as saying, "What you need to believe in is what you can see ... If you see me as your friend, I'll be your friend. As you see me as your father, I'll be your father, for those of you that don't have a father ... If you see me as your savior, I'll be your savior. If you see me as your God, I'll be your God."[10]
In a 1976 phone conversation with John Maher, Jones alternately stated that he was an agnostic and an atheist.[42] Despite the Temple's fear that the IRS was investigating its religious tax exemption, Marceline Jones admitted in a 1977 New York Times interview that Jones was trying to promote Marxism in the United States by mobilizing people through religion, citing Mao Zedong as his inspiration.[38] She stated that, "Jim used religion to try to get some people out of the opiate of religion", and had slammed the Bible on the table yelling "I've got to destroy this paper idol!"[38] In one sermon, Jones said that, "You're gonna help yourself, or you'll get no help! There's only one hope of glory; that's within you! Nobody's gonna come out of the sky! There's no heaven up there! We'll have to make heaven down here!"[10]
DeleteMove to San Francisco
Main article: Peoples Temple in San Francisco
Within five years of the Temple's move to California, it went through a period of exponential growth and opened branches in cities including San Fernando, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. By the early 1970s, Jones began shifting his focus to major cities because of limited expansion opportunities in Ukiah. He eventually moved the headquarters for the Temple to San Francisco, a major center for radical protest movements at the time. The move led to Jones and the Temple becoming politically influential in San Francisco politics, culminating in the Temple's instrumental role in the mayoral election victory of George Moscone in 1975. Moscone subsequently appointed Jones as the chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission.[43]
Unlike most supposed cult leaders, Jones was able to gain public support....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones
Islam is a male dominance misogynist death cult that panders to the lowest instincts of human males.
ReplyDeleteHillary's pal Huma is a moslem. If Hillary wins she will be running around the White House. Huma, and her parents too, is/are/were deep into the Moslem Brotherhood and CAIR.
Be careful who you vote for......
Hillary Clinton's Right-Hand Woman Takes On Trump: 'I'm A Proud Muslim'
Hillary Clinton's Right-Hand Woman Takes On Trump: 'I'm A Proud Muslim'
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Glamour; Scott Olson/Getty Images
By Naja Rayne @najarayne
12/08/2015 AT 01:30 AM EST
Donald Trump revealed his radical plan on Monday to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S., and Hillary Clinton's vice chair, Huma Abedin is taking him head on.
"I'm a proud Muslim – but you don't have to share my faith to share my disgust," Abedin wrote in an email to supporters. "Trump wants to literally write racism into our law books."
Trump's recent proposition to impose "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on," is based on research he claims shows that "there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population."
http://www.people.com/article/hillary-clinton-vice-chair-fires-back-at-donald-trump
Not racism, Huma, self protection, and survival from the homicidal maniacs of Islam.
December 7, 2015
DeleteImam Obama defines Islam for Muslims
By Carol Brown
Well, um, actually, ISIS does speak for Islam. As noted in an article by Pamela Geller at Breitbart this weekend, here are a few among countless little gems from the Quran:
Slay them wherever you come upon them.
If they fight you, slay them.
Fight those who believe not in Allah.
They shall be slaughtered, or crucified, or their hands and feet shall be alternately struck off.
They shall be banished from the land.
Cast into the unbelievers hearts, terror.
Lie in wait for them at every place of ambush.
When you meet the unbelievers, smite their necks, then, when you have made wide slaughter among them tie fast the bonds.
Take not to yourselves friends of them, until they emigrate in the way of Allah.
Please, Mr. Barry Soetoro, do tell us exactly how it is that ISIS does not speak for Islam.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/12/imam_obama_defines_islam_for_muslims.html
Alas these violent passages are controlling, as they were later in time than the more peaceful passage. It's like a Supreme Court decision, the latest decision overturns the earlier.
It's a cult of aggression and death.
.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it so easy to convert ordinary people to religious extremism? Ask Donald Trump?
Not ordinary people, just chicken-shit morons, nativists, and racists. And by nativist I mean people scared shitless by the outside world. Those willing to give up every freedom they have as an American just as long as momma government 'promises' to protect them.
The fact that so many sheeple are willing to support some big-mouthed, idiotic, racist like Trump, puts to a lie the old saying of America as 'the land of the free and the home of the brave'. Grow up and smell the coffee America, you are now a country of frightened sheep.
I don't want to pull a Trump here. It is not 'all' America but just a large portion of the conservative base that only come out from under their beds long enough to buy one more gun and check on Trump's newest racist screed.
.
How is Trump a racist ?
ReplyDeleteIslam is not a race.
The black pastors seemed to like him well enough.
He doesn't have a history of racism in his businesses.
Basically, you're full of shit.
And wrong about the cheering moslems after 9/11, too.
Deleteheh
hehheh
hehhehheh
.
ReplyDeleteThe Donald is really quite sane.
Really?
He has suggested no Muslims be allowed into the country. I guess if we ignore all the factors that would make this solution impossible from a practical standpoint, we could argue that the statement doesn't make Trump insane but just merely a stiff-necked bigot of low intellect.
However, while riding in the car this morning I heard an interview with him where he explained how he would implement it. The guy interviewing him said how would you accomplish this. Just ask them at customs "Are you a Muslim?" Trump's answer, "Yes".
Now as to the point of sanity, if you are a terrorist and knew this was the US practice, and you still wanted to get into the US, and if you were also a Muslim, what answer would you give to the question?
That is if you weren't as clueless as Trump.
.
The Donald will refine his program.
DeleteDon't be upset.
.
DeleteUpset? Why would I get upset. I don't expect that nitwit to ever sit in the Oval Office. If I am upset by anything it is the number of people in this country that support this buffoon.
It still amazes me the number of people in this country who buy into the scaremongering from these pols, whether it be a Bush or a Trump.
.
.
ReplyDeleteHow is Trump a racist ?
Point taken. If you prefer calling him a bigoted, nativist, rather stupid demagogue, I'm fine with that too.
.
To recognize the danger inherent in moslem immigration isn't bigotry.
DeleteIt is realism.
Nativist ? What does that mean ? We've got too many people as it is.
Where did this idea come from that we have some duty to take in people from God knows where ?
Stupid demagogue is fine if you want to demagogue the issue.
.
DeleteBull. With Trump it is scare-mongering and demagoguery. He is taking advantage of the sheeple in this country who are illogically scared of their own shadows.
And I told you what nativist meant as I was using it above.
.
.
ReplyDeleteAnd wrong about the cheering moslems after 9/11, too.
It amazes me how you are culled into this stuff. Trump argued there were 'thousands and thousands' in New Jersey not 8 yahoos holding a barbecue on some rooftop overlooking the Trad Center.
You put up Breithard as a reliable source. The man is a flaming Zionist. Bashing Muslims comes to him naturally. The only reason WiO argues with him is because he criticizes Israel fr not pushing the two-state solution. However, the reason he makes the argument is because he believes that is the only way Israel will remain a Jewish state.
He cites a few examples of other people 'hearing about' reports of Muslims cheering and from this tries to argue that Trump was 'justified' in his 'thousands and thousands' charge. Ridiculous. What kind of a journalist would even offer such an argument? All of the instances, even if true, probably originated from some one sentence blurb on Drudge.
If there were all these Muslims cheering, 'thousands and thousands' of them, why haven't we seen one cell phone video of them. YouTube ought to be crammed with them.
You embarrass yourself.
.
You embarrass yourself.
DeleteThe man is a flaming Zionist.
DeleteYou sound like ratass.
You're full of shit.
SOUTHWEST ASIA, December 8, 2015 — U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
ReplyDeleteOfficials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.
Strikes in Syria
Attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 11 strikes in Syria:
-- Near Hawl, five strikes struck four separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Raqqah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Mar’a, five strikes struck five separate ISIL tactical units, wounded two ISIL fighters and destroyed an ISIL structure.
Strikes in Iraq
Fighter, bomber, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 20 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:
-- Near Huwayjah, four strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units, wounded two ISIL fighters, damaged an ISIL trench, and destroyed an ISIL vehicle and an ISIL tunnel.
-- Near Kisik, three strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed three ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL rocket cache.
-- Near Mosul, a strike destroyed an ISIL excavator.
-- Near Ramadi, six strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units, denied ISIL access to terrain, and destroyed three ISIL ammo caches, 12 ISIL buildings, an ISIL command and control node, an ISIL sniper position, seven ISIL heavy machine guns, four ISIL staging areas, an ISIL mortar system, an ISIL tactical vehicle, an ISIL tunnel entrance, seven ISIL fighting positions, and two ISIL supply caches.
-- Near Sinjar, a strike destroyed an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Tal Afar, two strikes destroyed three ISIL weapons caches, nine ISIL bunkers, three ISIL tunnels, and an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Hit, a strike destroyed an ISIL homemade explosives facility and two ISIL vehicle bombs.
-- Near Qayyarah, two strikes destroyed an ISIL logistics facility and an ISIL vehicle bomb-making facility.
Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.
BREAKING: Trump calls for total ban on Arabic numerals in U.S.
ReplyDeleteBy puckmtl
Tuesday Dec 08, 2015 8:34 AM CST
RANDOLPH, NH. Speaking before a crowd of thousands and thousands in Randolph, New Hampshire (population: 310), Donald Trump today called for a total ban on Arabic numerals in the United States. Below is a complete transcript.
I mean, what do we need these Arabic numbers for? The Founding Fathers didn’t need them when they invented America — which was great, by the way, and we’re gonna make it great again — when they invented America in MDCCLXXVI. All these numbers do is encourage the Muslims; they see these numbers everywhere and I don’t know if it’s Sharif Law that we have to use them, but the Muslims, they take these numbers and they use them as codes, and that’s how they talk to ISIS on the internet, and we’re gonna have to take a look at the internet, by the way.
And all that algebra stuff that the Muslims invented — I was forced to learn that in school, by the way, I don’t know if you were too, but that’s total Sharif if I ever saw it, and that’s how they brainwash kids to join ISIS. What’s algebra gonna do to make America great again? We don’t need more equations! I know Ann Romney is one, but she’s a Mormon ditz, but at least she’s not as bad as that cow Rosie O’Donnell. And the Mormons, by the way, America’s gonna have to take another look at the Mormons. So the Mormons — the Muslims, sorry, it’s easy to get them mixed up — the Muslims, they take algebra, and they use it to build thousands and thousands of bombs.
DeleteSo the Romans — the Romans love me, by the way, I have thousands and thousands of Catholics who work for me, and we’re gonna win the Roman vote next year and it’s gonna be great — the Romans had a great system for numbers and that’s something that we’re gonna be looking at.
Rome, by the way, I don’t know if you know this, but Rome is where Jesus invented Christianity. They loved him so much that they built a yuge stadium, and Jesus went there and he gave great speeches to thousands and thousands of Roman Catholics. He even did circus shows with lions, and people from the audience would come down like on The Price is Right, and the shows were great. We’re gonna build more stadiums, by the way, and they’re gonna be yuge. They even gave Jesus his own city, right in the middle of Rome, with a big palace — kind of like my Trump hotels and casinos, by the way, and we’re gonna build more casinos and yuge palaces and they’re gonna be great — so thousands and thousands of people would come to the square there to listen to Jesus. It’s a shame that the Pope took it over; he’s a loser and a total idiot, by the way, and we’re gonna have to take a look at him and maybe do some things that we’ve never done before.
DeleteYou might not know this, but the Romans started off as Pagans, because there weren’t any supermarkets there, so they only had vegetables, but then Jesus got them to eat fish, and after that they discovered meat, and then they invented thousands and thousands of great dishes like chicken parm and fettucine Alfredo and veal piccata — all of which we serve at the Trump hotels and casinos, by the way.
So we’re gonna ban the Arab numbers, and it’s gonna be great and it’s gonna be totally automatic. We’re gonna do a search and replace in Microsoft Letter — my assistant does it all the time when she replaces “Jews” with “Muslims.”
Daily Kos
.
Delete:o)
.
riverbend's last post back in Oct. 2007 is interesting:
ReplyDelete"Baghdad Burning
... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend...
Monday, October 22, 2007
Bloggers Without Borders...
Syria is a beautiful country- at least I think it is. I say “I think” because while I perceive it to be beautiful, I sometimes wonder if I mistake safety, security and normalcy for ‘beauty’. In so many ways, Damascus is like Baghdad before the war- bustling streets, occasional traffic jams, markets seemingly always full of shoppers… And in so many ways it’s different. The buildings are higher, the streets are generally narrower and there’s a mountain, Qasiyoun, that looms in the distance.
The mountain distracts me, as it does many Iraqis- especially those from Baghdad. Northern Iraq is full of mountains, but the rest of Iraq is quite flat. At night, Qasiyoun blends into the black sky and the only indication of its presence is a multitude of little, glimmering spots of light- houses and restaurants built right up there on the mountain. Every time I take a picture, I try to work Qasiyoun into it- I try to position the person so that Qasiyoun is in the background.
The first weeks here were something of a cultural shock. It has taken me these last three months to work away certain habits I’d acquired in Iraq after the war. It’s funny how you learn to act a certain way and don’t even know you’re doing strange things- like avoiding people’s eyes in the street or crazily murmuring prayers to yourself when stuck in traffic. It took me at least three weeks to teach myself to walk properly again- with head lifted, not constantly looking behind me.
It is estimated that there are at least 1.5 million Iraqis in Syria today. I believe it. Walking down the streets of Damascus, you can hear the Iraqi accent everywhere. There are areas like Geramana and Qudsiya that are packed full of Iraqi refugees. Syrians are few and far between in these areas. Even the public schools in the areas are full of Iraqi children. A cousin of mine is now attending a school in Qudsiya and his class is composed of 26 Iraqi children, and 5 Syrian children. It’s beyond belief sometimes. Most of the families have nothing to live on beyond their savings which are quickly being depleted with rent and the costs of living.
Within a month of our being here, we began hearing talk about Syria requiring visas from Iraqis, like most other countries. Apparently, our esteemed puppets in power met with Syrian and Jordanian authorities and decided they wanted to take away the last two safe havens remaining for Iraqis- Damascus and Amman. The talk began in late August and was only talk until recently- early October. Iraqis entering Syria now need a visa from the Syrian consulate or embassy in the country they are currently in. In the case of Iraqis still in Iraq, it is said that an approval from the Ministry of Interior is also required (which kind of makes it difficult for people running away from militias OF the Ministry of Interior…). Today, there’s talk of a possible fifty dollar visa at the border.
DeleteIraqis who entered Syria before the visa was implemented were getting a one month visitation visa at the border. As soon as that month was over, you could take your passport and visit the local immigration bureau. If you were lucky, they would give you an additional month or two. When talk about visas from the Syrian embassy began, they stopped giving an extension on the initial border visa. We, as a family, had a brilliant idea. Before the commotion of visas began, and before we started needing a renewal, we decided to go to one of the border crossings, cross into Iraq, and come back into Syria- everyone was doing it. It would buy us some time- at least 2 months.
We chose a hot day in early September and drove the six hours to Kameshli, a border town in northern Syria. My aunt and her son came with us- they also needed an extension on their visa. There is a border crossing in Kameshli called Yaarubiya. It’s one of the simpler crossings because the Iraqi and Syrian borders are only a matter of several meters. You walk out of Syrian territory and then walk into Iraqi territory- simple and safe.
When we got to the Yaarubiya border patrol, it hit us that thousands of Iraqis had had our brilliant idea simultaneously- the lines to the border patrol office were endless. Hundreds of Iraqis stood in a long line waiting to have their passports stamped with an exit visa. We joined the line of people and waited. And waited. And waited…
It took four hours to leave the Syrian border after which came the lines of the Iraqi border post. Those were even longer. We joined one of the lines of weary, impatient Iraqis. “It’s looking like a gasoline line…” My younger cousin joked. That was the beginning of another four hours of waiting under the sun, taking baby steps, moving forward ever so slowly. The line kept getting longer. At one point, we could see neither the beginning of the line, where passports were being stamped to enter Iraq, nor the end. Running up and down the line were little boys selling glasses of water, chewing gum and cigarettes. My aunt caught one of them by the arm as he zipped past us, “How many people are in front of us?” He whistled and took a few steps back to assess the situation, “A hundred! A thousand!”. He was almost gleeful as he ran off to make business.
DeleteI had such mixed feelings standing in that line. I was caught between a feeling of yearning, a certain homesickness that sometimes catches me at the oddest moments, and a heavy feeling of dread. What if they didn’t agree to let us out again? It wasn’t really possible, but what if it happened? What if this was the last time I’d see the Iraqi border? What if we were no longer allowed to enter Iraq for some reason? What if we were never allowed to leave?
We spent the four hours standing, crouching, sitting and leaning in the line. The sun beat down on everyone equally- Sunnis, Shia and Kurds alike. E. tried to convince the aunt to faint so it would speed the process up for the family, but she just gave us a withering look and stood straighter. People just stood there, chatting, cursing or silent. It was yet another gathering of Iraqis – the perfect opportunity to swap sad stories and ask about distant relations or acquaintances.
We met two families we knew while waiting for our turn. We greeted each other like long lost friends and exchanged phone numbers and addresses in Damascus, promising to visit. I noticed the 23-year-old son, K., from one of the families was missing. I beat down my curiosity and refused to ask where he was. The mother was looking older than I remembered and the father looked constantly lost in thought, or maybe it was grief. I didn’t want to know if K. was dead or alive. I’d just have to believe he was alive and thriving somewhere, not worrying about borders or visas. Ignorance really is bliss sometimes...
Back at the Syrian border, we waited in a large group, tired and hungry, having handed over our passports for a stamp. The Syrian immigration man sifting through dozens of passports called out names and looked at faces as he handed over the passports patiently, “Stand back please- stand back”. There was a general cry towards the back of the crowded hall where we were standing as someone collapsed- as they lifted him I recognized an old man who was there with his family being chaperoned by his sons, leaning on a walking stick.
By the time we had reentered the Syrian border and were headed back to the cab ready to take us into Kameshli, I had resigned myself to the fact that we were refugees. I read about refugees on the Internet daily… in the newspapers… hear about them on TV. I hear about the estimated 1.5 million plus Iraqi refugees in Syria and shake my head, never really considering myself or my family as one of them. After all, refugees are people who sleep in tents and have no potable water or plumbing, right? Refugees carry their belongings in bags instead of suitcases and they don’t have cell phones or Internet access, right? Grasping my passport in my hand like my life depended on it, with two extra months in Syria stamped inside, it hit me how wrong I was. We were all refugees. I was suddenly a number. No matter how wealthy or educated or comfortable, a refugee is a refugee. A refugee is someone who isn’t really welcome in any country- including their own... especially their own.
We live in an apartment building where two other Iraqis are renting. The people in the floor above us are a Christian family from northern Iraq who got chased out of their village by Peshmerga and the family on our floor is a Kurdish family who lost their home in Baghdad to militias and were waiting for immigration to Sweden or Switzerland or some such European refugee haven.
The first evening we arrived, exhausted, dragging suitcases behind us, morale a little bit bruised, the Kurdish family sent over their representative – a 9 year old boy missing two front teeth, holding a lopsided cake, “We’re Abu Mohammed’s house- across from you- mama says if you need anything, just ask- this is our number. Abu Dalia’s family live upstairs, this is their number. We’re all Iraqi too... Welcome to the building.”
I cried that night because for the first time in a long time, so far away from home, I felt the unity that had been stolen from us in 2003. "
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.co.uk/2007_10_01_archive.html
Iraqi forces recapture Anbar headquarters, Al-Tamim from Isis in Ramadi
ReplyDeleteThe Iraqi forces made a major gain against the Islamic State (Isis) terrorists after they retook large areas in Ramadi from the Sunni group on Monday, AFP reported.
The operations command headquarters and Al-Tamim neighbourhood in the west of Ramadi was recaptured from Isis, also known as Daesh, the state TV reported.
The recapture of the Al Tammen, is being hailed as a major victory for the Iraqi forces, who for months have been fighting the Isis (Daesh) in Ramadi, to keep the militant group from growing its reach towards the west of Baghdad.
Isis overran large swaths of area in the Ramadi region in May, after they defeated the Iraqi forces.
article
I think some of us are going to be shocked and chagrined at the "public's" reaction to Trump's latest anti-Muslim tirade.
ReplyDeleteTrump provides a lot of entertainment. So, he's a little whaaaacky. I've enjoyed it, for once, so far.
ReplyDeleteIt beats reading position papers. It beats listening to Hillary and The Bern and O'Mallard.
By the way, why is there not ever any Million Man Muslim March on Washington Against Terrorism ?
If there has been one, I missed it.
It's past time for a few anti-muslim tirades.
DeleteThey've been on the war path for 1400 years.
Corrected - Grappling with attacks, U.S. leaders ask Muslim Americans to fight back
Delete(In Dec 7 item, corrects paragraph 15 to insert dropped word "not")
By Doina Chiacu
Facing what President Barack Obama has called a new phase of terrorism, U.S. officials appealed to Muslim Americans on Monday to fight harder against extremist ideology.
The Obama administration has defended Muslim Americans after attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, and the inflammatory rhetoric that came in its wake, while a parallel message to Islamic communities is gaining urgency: please help.
As Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested banning all Muslims from entering the country on Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson stood in solidarity with an imam and leaders of other faiths at a northern Virginia Islamic center.
Johnson would not comment on Trump's remarks but urged Americans not to vilify Muslims or throw a "net of suspicion" over an entire community.
But he had also made another appeal, this one to Muslim communities.
"Terrorist organizations overseas have targeted your communities. They seek to pull your youth into the pit of violent extremism. Help us to help you stop this," he said.
Since the deadly Nov. 13 attacks by Islamic State followers in Paris and last week's California shootings, there has been a clear call from American officials for Muslims to help police themselves.
Three days after the Paris attacks, Obama urged Muslims around the world to ask "very serious questions" about how extremist ideologies take root and protect children from the idea that killing can be justified by religion.
"To some degree, that is something that has to come from within the Muslim community itself," Obama said at a news conference in Antalya, Turkey, after the G20 summit. "I think there have been times where there has not been enough pushback against extremism."
The president made a similar plea in Sunday's Oval Office address on counterterrorism efforts. On Monday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Muslims will have to speak out against radicalizing forces in their own community.
"We would like to see leaders in the Muslim community stand up and speak out more forcefully in terms of condemning these hateful, radicalizing messages that we see from extremist organizations," Earnest said at a news briefing.
Leaders of the Islamic center where Johnson spoke, All Dulles Area Muslim Society, who said they have been doing all they can since the Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.
"There's more denunciations coming from the Muslim community - not just now but for 14 years. Mosques are speaking out left and right," said Rizwan Jaka, a trustee of the Virginia center.
The center has been working with local and federal law enforcement and created think tanks and nonprofit organizations dedicated to counter-radicalization, he said.
But people who get radicalized tend not to go to mosques or be involved in their communities, which makes them harder to spot, he said.
The center's imam, Mohamed Magid, said his center will try to do more to help parents keep children from being influenced by extremist ideology online.
Magid said attacks in Paris and California have taken a toll on his community in Sterling, Virginia. Even the center's private security company said it could no longer protect the mosque from an attack.
"We are out there fighting this war," Magid said. "We are not scared of (Islamic State). I don't care - we are not going to hide."
Read more at Reutershttp://www.reuters.com/article/california-shooting-muslim-idUSKBN0TR0CJ20151208#tvthIo7jZLQkZud3.99
Do you really believe the imam?
I don't.
Let him put together that Million Man Muslim March on Washington Against Terrorism.
If he did I imagine it would be woefully attended.
After all they cheered after 9/11.
DeleteHe seems to genuinely enjoy campaigning- and the media spotlight that comes with it.
ReplyDeleteAnd an Independent run really just requires deep pockets and a big ego. Mr Trump has both.
Pledge or no pledge, do not be shocked if to see Mr Trump on the ballot as an independent in 2016.
If he does that Trump would deserve to be sent to the moslem hell.
DeleteThat would cool him down considerably.
:):):)
ReplyDeleteA rant worthy of The Donald.
heh
December 8, 2015
Egyptian TV host's searing rant against Obama
By Carol Brown
Ahmed Moussa is a well-known Egyptian television host and a strong supporter of President Sisi. This past weekend, Moussa delivered a blistering attack against Obama that held nothing back. Moussa, who expressed enormous respect for the American people, exposed Obama as the liar that he is. This 3-minute video is a must-see.
VIDEO
How far we have fallen when Egyptians speak the truth more clearly and more readily than most of our own leaders.
Hat tip: The Right Scoop, with enormous thanks to MEMRI
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/12/egyptian_tv_hosts_searing_rant_against_obama.html
ReplyDeleteMURDOCH Backs Trump: 'Complete Refugee Pause' Makes Sense.....Drudge
Donald Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric undermines US national security by boosting the Islamic State (IS) group, the Pentagon has warned.
ReplyDelete...
But responding to Mr Trump's remarks, the US Pentagon said a border closed to Muslims would harm American efforts to counter extremist ideology.
Dispelling the ‘Few Extremists’ Myth – the Muslim World Is Overcome with Hate
ReplyDeleteFriday prayers in Karachi, Pakistan, July 3, 2015. (Rizwan Tabassum/AFP/Getty) by David French December 7, 2015 2:55 PM @DavidAFrench
It is simply false to declare that jihadists represent the “tiny few extremists” who sully the reputation of an otherwise peace-loving and tolerant Muslim faith. In reality, the truth is far more troubling — that jihadists represent the natural and inevitable outgrowth of a faith that is given over to hate on a massive scale, with hundreds of millions of believers holding views that Americans would rightly find revolting.
Not all Muslims are hateful, of course, but so many are that it’s not remotely surprising that the world is wracked by wave after wave of jihadist violence.
To understand the Muslim edifice of hate, imagine it as a pyramid — with broadly-shared bigotry at the bottom, followed by stair steps of escalating radicalism — culminating in jihadist armies that in some instances represent a greater share of their respective populations than does the active-duty military in the United States.
The base of the pyramid, the most broadly held hatred in the Islamic world, is anti-Semitism, with staggering numbers of Muslims expressing anti-Jewish views. In 2014, the Anti-Defamation League released the results of polling 53,100 people in 102 countries for evidence of anti-Semitic attitudes and beliefs.
The numbers from the majority-Muslim world are difficult to believe for those steeped in politically correct rhetoric about Islam. A full 74 percent of North African and Middle Eastern residents registered anti-Semitic beliefs, including 92 percent of Iraqis, a whopping 69 percent of relatively secular Turks, and 74 percent of Saudis. RELATED: The Controversy over Syrian Refugees Misses the Question We Should Be Asking The trend toward Muslim anti-Semitism continues even when Muslim nations are far removed from the Arab–Israeli conflict. A solid majority — 61 percent — of majority-Muslim Malays harbor anti-Semitic attitudes, while only 13 percent of neighboring majority-Buddhist Thais are anti-Jewish.
The next level of the pyramid is Muslim commitment to deadly Islamic supremacy. In multiple Muslim nations, overwhelming majorities of Muslims support the death penalty for apostasy or blasphemy. Collectively, this means that hundreds of millions of men and women support capital punishment for the exercise of the basic human rights of freedom of expression and free exercise of religion: Moving beyond Islamic supremacy to the next step of the pyramid, enormous numbers of Muslims are terrorist sympathizers. It is still stunning to see how popular Osama bin Laden was early last decade, and even as his popularity plunged (as he grew weaker and more isolated), his public approval remained disturbingly high: But what about ISIS — the world’s most savage and deadly terror organization?
The latest polling data show that while a majority of Muslims reject ISIS, extrapolating from the populations of polled countries alone shows that roughly 50 million people express sympathy for a terrorist army that burns prisoners alive, throws gay men from buildings, and beheads political opponents.
DeleteIn Pakistan a horrifying 72 percent couldn’t bring themselves to express an unfavorable view of ISIS: But sympathy for terror is different from active support, and here’s where the numbers are difficult to pin down. I know of no reliable database that shows how many Muslims give to jihadist charities, spread jihadist propaganda on social media, support radical preachers, or otherwise take concrete actions to advance the terrorists’ cause. We do know, for example, that anti-Israel terrorism is so popular in Saudi Arabia that a telethon once raised $100 million to support the 2002 intifada. Shows of support included this charming scene: A 6-year-old boy, with a plastic gun slung over his shoulder and fake explosives strapped around his waist, walked into a donation center and made a symbolic donation of plastic explosives, according to Al Watan daily.
It is from this fertile soil that jihadists grow. And here the numbers decisively belie the “few extremists” rhetoric. In Iran alone, the Revolutionary Guard represents a proportionate share of the population similar to the combined strength of the active-duty Army and Marines here in the United States. Between Boko Haram, the Al-Nusra front, ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Yemeni militias, Libyan militias, and many others, the number of active jihadists numbers in the hundreds of thousands; some estimates indicate that 100,000 are fighting in Syria alone.
To give a sense of proportion, the United States is a nation that honors military service, respects its veterans, and engages in a massive military recruiting effort that includes offering soldiers generous salaries, pensions, benefits, and the best military equipment in the world. Even then, only about 0.4 percent of the American population engages in active-duty military service at any given time.
In Britain, more Muslims join ISIS than join the British army. Jihadists, by contrast, have low life expectancies, second-rate gear, low salaries, and often have to break domestic laws and journey across battlefields to join terrorist insurgencies, but still they join. In Britain, for example, more Muslims join ISIS than join the British army.
Simply put, America’s leaders actively deceive the American people about the sheer scale of Muslim hatred and commitment to jihad. Rather than tell us the truth, the Obama administration and the media aristocracy constantly lecture Americans about discrimination, apparently believing that only their scolding keeps the great redneck masses at bay. Telling us the truth won’t send Americans on an anti-Muslim killing spree.
Instead, it will make us no more radical than Egypt’s president, who briefly made headlines earlier this year after calling for a “revolution” in Islam and decrying faith traditions that he admitted had been “sacralized over the centuries.” Telling the truth can demonstrate the scale of the problem and at least begin the process of convincing the American people that there is no quick fix, that the defense of the nation will require courage and resolve over the long term.
Islam has a problem. It is Muslims’ responsibility to reform their own faith. It is America’s responsibility to defend itself and its citizens. Neither goal is advanced by telling convenient, politically correct lies. After 14 years of war, can we finally tell the truth? — David French is a staff writer at National Review, an attorney, and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428146/more-than-few-islamic-extremists
Sisi is a good guy, as these things go. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt surely has him on their hit list.
First we show the Poles, then everybody else
DeleteHamtramck, Michigan moslem city council member
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi yesterday called for world action to halt the flow of weapons and fighters into and out of war-torn Libya, Egypt’s neighbour to the west.
ReplyDelete“Not confronting the situation in Libya will lead to new dangers in the region,” he warned after talks in Athens with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
...
Thousands of supporters of Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood have been jailed and hundreds have been sentenced to death, although many have won retrials.
Sisi’s visit to Greece is focused on co-operation in the energy and maritime transport sectors.
Why ISIS Isn’t Going Anywhere
ReplyDeleteWhat Congress needs to know about the Islamic State’s long game.
Michael Weiss
Note: This text was prepared for my testimony in front of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs on December 2, 2015.
Chairman Poe, Ranking Member Keating, Members of the Committee: I’m honored and also more than a little depressed to be here today, because the occasion that warrants my testimony is the mass murder of 130 innocent people two weeks ago in one of the most cosmopolitan and well-trafficked cities in the world.
The purpose of this hearing is to determine whether or not ISIS has altered its strategy of late and to weigh any possible U.S. policy responses to the Paris attacks. No doubt an implicit consideration of this discussion is that what has just transpired in France can and will happen in the United States eventually, and so this hearing is as much an effort to suss out ISIS’s desire and capability to hit us in the homeland.
I hope I’m not stating the obvious when I point out that ISIS has every intention of doing just that, and it’s largely a matter of luck that it hasn’t been able to already..........
.........Why else, after all, do American warplanes and drones bomb only Sunni extremists but not those extremists loyal to Bashar al-Assad, who have burnt people alive, and ethnically cleansed villages, and disappeared tens of thousands in dungeons, and displaced millions either internally or externally, and killed hundreds of thousands using every weapon in his arsenal, including sarin gas and the specially devised “barrel bomb”? And that’s when al-Assad isn’t buying oil from ISIS. Why, anyone traveling to Sunni communities in the region will hear, is the U.S. not just acquiescing to the military campaigns of Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds Force in Syria but actually providing both with close air support in Iraq? And why, it’s been asked in the last two months, has the U.S. allowed Russia to install its own no-fly zone in Syria, not for the purpose of bombing ISIS, as Vladimir Putin falsely claims (and as ISIS mockingly disclaims in its most recent issue of Dabiq), but for protecting al-Assad and eliminating any credible rebel challenge to his regime, including those U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army brigades and battalions that have fought and beaten ISIS?
Al-Baghdadi listens to these laments by Sunni Arabs and rubs his hands with glee for two reasons. One, he thinks he’ll never lack for a receptive audience, and two, our diplomats and press secretaries grope for a “counter-narrative” without realizing that U.S. policy is the ISIS narrative.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/12/08/why-isis-isn-t-going-anywhere.html
Interesting and informative talk to Congress by this fellow.
DeleteMonster Alligator Eats Burglary Suspect Hiding In FL Pond........Drudge
ReplyDeleteThe other day a burglar got stuck in a chimney and was burned to death when the owner lit a fire.
It's much easier to just get a day job.
Delete'The foreign fighter phenomenon in Iraq and Syria is truly global,' the New York-based security consultancy's report said.
ReplyDelete'The Islamic State has seen success beyond the dreams of other terrorist groups that now appear conventional and even old-fashioned, such as Al Qaeda.
'It has energised tens of thousands of people to join it, and inspired many more to support it.'