Wednesday, May 13, 2015

FLASHBACK: FBI Warns of Train Derailment Threat

Gateway Pundit ..." As we await more information on the train derailment in Philadelphia on Tuesday night it should be noted that the FBI put out several warnings since 9-11 on possible sabotage of US trains."

 amtrak wreck

"The FBI warned of stolen “derailers” after the 9-11 attacks.
This warning was first published in 2003.
ABC News reported:
Devices that could be used by terrorists to derail trains are being stolen from rail facilities around the country, the FBI warned today.

Nine derailers, a piece of railroad equipment used to derail train cars for safety purposes in railyards have been stolen recently, sources said, citing the FBI’s weekly intelligence bulletin.

The theft of these items is strange since they are of little use outside of the rail industry, according to the bulletin.
. . . Full article...

Railroads have been targeted in the past by terrorists, the bulletin said.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Report: Florida professor bullies student for refusing to condemn Christian faith

SpokaneFAVS
 Here's your liberal tolerance..

 Polk State College/YouTube
"It almost sounds like a scene straight out of the movie “God is Not Dead.” On Tuesday, May 5, Campus Reform said that Lance “Lj” Russum, a humanities professor at Polk State College, allegedly failed a student after she refused to condemn her own Christian faith. According to Campus Reform, the 16-year-old student identified only as “G.L.,” was failed after she refused to “concede that Jesus is a ‘myth’ or that Christianity oppresses women during a series of mandatory assignments at the Florida college.”

"A press release from Liberty Counsel said the student received a “zero” on four separate papers because she did not “conform to his personal worldviews of Marxism, Atheism, Feminism, and homosexuality.”

"In a letter to the dean, Liberty Counsel demanded a full investigation of the teacher, including his behavior and course content. The public-interest law firm also demanded the student’s papers be reviewed and graded by a different instructor.

"In a press release issued May 4, Liberty Counsel added:

"Russum’s classroom behavior is a reflection of his personal biases. Mr. Russum’s Facebook likes and profile pictures include Fidel Castro and Jesus Christ making an obscene gesture. The website “Rate my Professor” shows that G.L. is not the first student to be subjected to the professor’s viewpoint discrimination. His college email signature line includes a quote from a Marxist who praises Lenin, Stalin, the Khmer Rouge, and Adolf Hitler. These, along with the inappropriate course content, show that Professor Russum is seeking to impose his own values on students, in violation of the Constitution.

“ 'Mr. Russum should not be permitted to use his position to punish students who do not conform to his anti-Christian views,”. . . Keep reading...
By  Joe Newby

Much Ado About the First Lady

Mrs. Obama: I Feel Alienated, and That’s Proof of America’s Racism
One’s personal grievances are not conclusive evidence of society-wide problems.
 . . . "I certainly do not dispute that the first lady may, indeed, have experienced feelings of alienation or discomfort in a Chicago museum. But we have abandoned the duty of distinguishing between feelings that are “real” and perceptions that are true. Mrs. Obama uses her private feelings as evidence of a certain public reality: Because she feels discriminated against, she is in fact being discriminated against. Cohen, for his part, accepts that unquestioningly.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/418274/mrs-obama-i-feel-alienated-and-thats-proof-americas-racism-ian-tuttle

 No, Mrs. Obama, America’s Museums Aren’t Racially Discriminatory . . . "One can hear in this latest lecture her infamous 2008 campaign remark: that America is “downright mean.” What she is suggesting — and the Obama duo’s treatment of race relations over the past six years makes this clear — is not that free and independent-minded black Americans are refusing to take advantage of the nation’s 17,000 museums, but that curators and crowds have quietly signaled that black Americans are not welcome. 
"That is bunk. " . . .  Read more
Angry Meal
. . . "But what does the aggrieved Mrs. Obama’s allegation of black Americans’ being “invisible” mean in the age of African-American ubiquity in high-visibility entertainment and sports, or in light of the careers of billionaires such as Michael Jordan, Jay-Z, BeyoncĂ©, or Oprah Winfrey, or national black leaders such as Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Clarence Thomas, Ben Carson, Eric Holder, or Barack Obama? Does she mean “invisible” academics like Cornel West or Henry Louis Gates? Are actors such as Morgan Freeman or Denzel Washington “frustrated”? Do university admissions officers practice a sly sort of discrimination against college-age African Americans with impressive test scores and GPAs, as they do in the case of qualified Asian Americans?" . . .
I fear we are seeing now the tip of the Obama racialist iceberg, and in the remaining 18 months are going to witness far more polarization and alleged grievances against the supposedly culpable so-called majority culture.
Ferguson and Baltimore may well be harbingers of what awaits us all.
 . . . "One major part of his legacy will be the way his “divider and conqueror” political tactics have highlighted the many pathologies plaguing black urban culture in this country, and have brought about a massive deterioration in “race relations.' ”. . .

Alan Caruba: Obama's Middle East Debacle; Other Commentaries on This Very Topic

And yet all this is lost on Obama's 50,000,000 voters, making one fear for this nation's destiny. TD

Warning Signs
http://comicallyincorrect.com/
 The Saudi King Salman -among others-begs off Obama's conference
. . . " As far as the Middle East is concerned, Obama seems to have no idea of the history or the dynamics that affect all the actions there. His Secretary of State, Kerry, is no better. He met with Arab officials last Friday and they told him they want a defense treaty in the event they were attacked by “external forces”, something that the Congress will not approve so long as Obama is in the White House."
. . . 
 "Writing in The New York Times on May 8, Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, put it bluntly, “It doesn’t matter what these politicians think now or have said in in the past. Peace between Israel and the Palestinians is not happening in the next two years.” That’s how long we all have to wait until Obama leaves office."
. . . 
 “ 'The Israelis look around the Middle East and see nothing but conflict, carnage, instability and danger,” said Schanzer. “The Obama doctrine—which includes a deliberate contraction of American power in the Middle East—has undeniably made Israel less safe.”
It has made the U.S. and the world less safe too." . . .
( Emphasis added, TD)
 
Related articles:
How Obama’s Made Sure to Leave Every Part of the World More Dangerous than He Found It  . . ."Alas, seven years later, a seemingly endless stream of apologies, attempts to placate the world’s miscreants, and inappropriate stabs at moral equivalency are primary components of a spectacularly failed U.S. foreign policy. Seems the “cowboy” Bush and all those opportunistic militarists at the Pentagon are not the reason so many bad guys take issue with the U.S. Similarly, the infamous time-dishonored plea for time regarding negotiations with Russia speaks to a comfortable familiarity with weak negotiating positions. With regard to Putin, “flexibility” can be read as “I have to look tough now, but just wait until I’m safely elected to a second term — then I’ll feel free to cut a deal — any deal.” . . .  To wit:
An early world apology tour, focused on the Muslim world, during which the newly elected U.S. president issued meae culpae for alleged inappropriate U.S. actions around the world; interestingly, no mention was made or concern evidenced of considerable U.S. blood spent to save Muslim lives.
The expedient selling out of Poland and the Czech Republic on missile defense in the interest of an oversold “reset” with Putin’s Russia.
A quick and forceful condemnation of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in the aftermath of his country’s “Arab Spring” street protests — to the benefit of the viscerally anti-democratic, ruthless, and anti-American Muslim Brotherhood.
A missed opportunity to gain negotiating leverage with a weakened Iranian regime by failing to support the dissident Green Movement in Iran, circa 2009.
A historic breach (complete with personal insults) with a sitting Israeli prime minister who has the fortitude to place Israel’s security interest ahead of Mr. Obama’s nuclear legacy.
An infamous “line in the sand” when proof of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s use of weapons of mass destruction against Syrian rebels was revealed to the world, but forgotten when the U.S. began relying on Iranian boots on the ground to fight the formerly J.V. army known as ISIS.
  RTX1BY01
. . . "The leading Gulf Arab power has complained for years that Washington does not take its concerns seriously. It thinks a focus on settling the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program has distracted the United States from more urgent problems.

" 'The conspiracy theorists of old have been proven right. The U.S. creates threats for us and then offers us more weapons systems. That does not bode well for us," said Sami Alfaraj, a Kuwaiti security adviser to the six-nation GCC." . . .

What is meant by the Islamization of a non-Muslim nation

Islamization Explained..." I mirror this outstanding video that lucidly and logically explains the mechanisms behind hostile Islamic takeover with most graphic images removed ,because YouTube gradually succumbs to Islamist blackmail and becomes more and more Sharia compliant. Two of my previous videos were removed ,ostensibly because of "inappropriate" content. This content is freely available on Google ,which owns YouTube."


'Islamization' of Paris a Warning to the West

European Muslim takeover - insider view part 3 of 4 
" Brave Israeli reporter infiltrates Islamist radicals in Europe and gives us an invaluable insight into the culture of Islamic Supremacy"

Restoring grave markers

 From Tom Pawlak at Guardian Eagles
"Military graves need polishing and restoring. Easy, if you ever painted a bedroom you can do this."


Inside Fidel Castro’s luxurious life on his secret island getaway


Via iOTW Report comes this column from the NY Post

 Inside Fidel Castro’s luxurious life on his secret island getaway
For 17 years, Juan Reinaldo Sanchez served as bodyguard to Fidel Castro. But when he became disillusioned with the Cuban dictator’s hypocrisy and tried to retire in 1994, Castro had him thrown in prison. Sanchez made 10 attempts to escape the island, finally making it to the US in 2008. Now he reveals all in his new book, “The Double Life of Fidel Castro.” In this excerpt, Sanchez exposes “El Jefe’s” privileged life.
"To Cubans, Fidel Castro presents himself as a man of the people, claiming to make only 900 pesos a month (about $38) and owning no property other than a modest “fisherman’s hut” somewhere on the coast.

"In truth, El Jefe is worth hundreds of millions and owns 20 properties, including a chalet where he goes duck hunting every year and a private marina in the Bay of Pigs.

"His main home is Punto Cero, where his family was kept hidden away. No one knew until recently that he had a wife, Dalia, with whom he had five sons, all with “A” names: Alexis, Alex, Alejandro, Antonio and Angelito. Even Fidel’s own brother, RaĂşl, did not meet them until the children were adults. . . .

" Perhaps most extravagantly, Fidel Castro has his own secret island." . . .Full article here.

Cartoon Punch Down



. . . "Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau’s approach is different from the Fawstin way. He explained it in his acceptance speech for a Polk lifetime achievement award last month. It’s the punching bag theory of cartooning. He says that satire must always punch up at the powerful and never punch down at the powerless.

"Now they tell me. There are rules for satire.

"I like Doonesbury but haven’t liked its politics ever since the entire cast cheered Nixon’s wage/price controls back in the early 70’s. But that’s no reason to not appreciate a good cartoon. Doonesbury has been like an ongoing play with well developed characters who grow over time. It’s witty too. Most of the time.
. . .


 "Mark Steyn, on the other hand, hates Trudeau’s guts. So I picked out some of the good stuff from his column  'A Contemptible Man Strikes Down':" . . .

A Contemptible Man Punches Down

The offices of Charlie Hebdo: That's cartoonist's blood on the floor

. . . "Ah, so Charlie Hebdo is to blame for provoking ordinary, peaceful, moderate Muslims into supporting the Allahu Akbar guys who killed them.
Traditionally, satire has comforted the afflicted while afflicting the comfortable. Satire punches up, against authority of all kinds, the little guy against the powerful. Great French satirists like Molière and Daumier always punched up, holding up the self-satisfied and hypocritical to ridicule. Ridiculing the non-privileged is almost never funny—it's just mean.


"Is Islam, which will be the world's largest religion by mid-century and already controls a 58-member voting bloc at the UN attempting to impose a global blasphemy law, really "a powerless, disenfranchised minority"? Does even someone as blinkered and parochial as Garry Trudeau think Charlie Hebdo was "punching down"?" . . .

 Charlie Hebdo dead, Vilks in hiding, Hedegaard shot, Rehman firebombed, Nekschot vanished, Molly Norris fled, Kurt Westergaard attacked by an Islamic axeman... But Garry Trudeau is on stage congratulating himself on "afflicting the comfortable". You can't "punch down" much lower than sneering at the dead and those no longer able to speak, can you?

This same "disenfranchised minority" has the world powers quaking in our boots, bowing and apologizing before them in fear.

This German cartoon needs no translation:

A Tribute to Baltimore

Moonbattery: "Baltimore has been taking it on the chin in terms of publicity, so let’s run a public service announcement on the city’s behalf. Maybe this will inspire some tourism to help jump start the local economy:"     H/T to iOTW Report
Baltimore is awesome! Watch the Orioles! Watch the Ravens! Take a boat tour in the harbor and then dine in one of the fabulous restaurants with a view. Visit the aquarium! You will love Baltimore!

Monday, May 11, 2015

The Failed Tactic of Flattering Islam; Why admiring the Muslim world won’t stop the bloodshed.


. . . "But there’s another argument against actions and events like Geller’s that needs dismantling. This is the received wisdom that we should avoid criticizing Islamic doctrine or Mohammed because it will alienate moderate Muslims who otherwise would help us against the so-called “extremist” jihadists.

"Geraldo Rivera on Fox News invoked this rationale in his hysterical attack on Geller for “spewing her hatred and making us all look like the intolerant jerks they are saying we are in the Middle East and elsewhere.” In other words, most Muslims dislike the jihadis, who have “hijacked” and “distorted” their faith, and want to support our efforts against them. But they are put off by our “insults” of Mohammed and our “intolerance” of the wonderful “religion of peace,” all of which serve to “recruit” new jihadists. Even Bill O’Reilly and Laura Ingraham skirted this notion, advising against making any image of Mohammed, and thus in effect ratifying the legitimacy of the shari’a law against any representation of Mohammed, good or bad." . . .
. . . http://www.debbieschlussel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/terroristsiraqtexas.jpg
 "Recently our historically challenged president whined about the Crusades and the Inquisition, with nary a word about the centuries of Muslim invasion, occupation, colonization, and brutal suppression in Christian Spain, Sicily, the Balkans, and Greece."
 
. . . " Are “moderate” Muslims “alienated” by [Russia's and China's] behavior and rushing to join the jihad against them? The obvious answer is no, for the simple reason that Russia and China are contemptuous of such juvenile psychological blackmail, pursue their national interests without regard for criticism by the “Muslim community,” and respond with brutal force to violent attacks.

The burden Michelle Obama must bear as no other first lady has had to do


. . . "The first lady urged Tuskegee University graduates never “to succumb to feelings of despair and anger.”

"Along with President Obama and the couple’s two children (and occasionally her mother), Michelle Obama has made sure to spend plenty of taxpayer dollars on an impressive run of sweet luxury vacations.
. . . 
 That same month, Michelle Obama and the first daughters Malia and Sasha jetted off to China for over a week of much-needed sightseeing. (RELATED: Globetrotting Michelle Obama Announces Luxurious Vacation To China)
As of July 2014, the Obama family had already spent a whopping $44,351,777.12 in taxpayer funds on vacations. That dollar amount is obviously substantially higher now. (RELATED: The Obamas Have Spent Over $44 Million In Taxpayer Cash On Travel)
In 2008, then-candidate Obama promised gullible New York Times columnist Bob Herbert that he would not take vacations if he were elected president. (VIDEO FLASHBACK: Obama Promises No Vacations For Himself As President)
 No, Mrs. Obama, America’s Museums Aren’t Racially Discriminatory ..."The dedication of New York City’s new Whitney Museum — a $420 million, nine-story behemoth, under construction in Manhattan’s meatpacking district for the past five years — was an occasion for celebration. Leave it to an Obama to employ the occasion for racial scolding.
"The Obama in this case was Michelle, who has long shared her husband’s constitutional inability to refrain from racializing a public occasion: “You see, there are so many kids in this country who look at places like museums and concert halls and other cultural centers and they think to themselves, well, that’s not a place for me, for someone who looks like me, for someone who comes from my neighborhood,” she said at the dedication ceremony. “In fact, I guarantee you that right now, there are kids living less than a mile from here who would never in a million years dream that they would be welcome in this museum. And growing up on the South Side of Chicago, I was one of those kids myself.” . . . Read more at: NRO

 Michelle Obama on a Racial Tear
 
' . . .I knew Michelle Obama's running around the campaign saying, "For the first time in my life I'm proud of my country." You listen to Reverend Wright, you know what these people think, you know what they have been exposed to. You know that they have got a giant chip on their shoulder. And she's making it plain that she always has had and that it's getting worse after six, seven years, almost, in the White House, it's getting worse. It isn't getting better. According to her own words.
. . .
" The very people who thought this was going to be a transformative event in its own right are unhappier today and angrier today than they were six and a half years ago, than they were 10, 15, 20 years ago.  You talk about an opportunity blown.  Barack Obama is gonna go down in the history books, but he could have gone down in the history books, Barack Obama could have played this, he could have wiped out the Republican Party.  He could have rendered the Republican Party unnecessary if he would have just been colorblind. If he would have just sought to inspire everybody. If he would have just taken his oratorical talents and skills and passion and sought to build people up and build the country up.  And I'm not talking about lying about it. " . . . Rush Limbaugh

Don't Draw Mohammed, Debate the Origins of Islam

 

Steve Chambers   . . . "There’s a far better and more important way to exercise free speech about Islam, and Robert Spencer in particular should be aware of it and is well placed to facilitate it.

"Publicizing cartoons of Mohammed is a thumb in the eye of Muslims, particularly pious ones holding to the Wahhabi and Salafist view that portraying or mocking Mohammed is blasphemy.  Cartoons are therefore a double outrage.  However, cartoons do nothing substantial to undermine the ideology of radical Islam that plagues the earth, they just expose a raw nerve among some Muslims and hence elicit sympathy from non-Muslims, even including prominent Fox News pundits such as Bill O’Reilly and Martha MacCallum and conservative Catholic leaders such as Bill Donohue.

"It would be far more effective to have a calm, protracted discussion and debate about the origins of Islam and the real life of Mohammed.  Such an event should be more akin to a panel discussion mediated by Jim Lehrer than a media circus presided over by Bill O’Reilly or Jon Stewart, and it should bring in views from across the political and religious spectrum.