Don’t wish Christians ‘Merry Christmas’ says Isma

The Rakyat Post

"With Christmas looming this Thursday, Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) has once again stirred up controversy by saying Malays should not wish Christians “Merry Christmas” and celebrate along with them.

" 'According to Isma activist Abu Ameen in his commentary, while it was natural for Muslims to show kindness to their fellow neighbours as part of Allah’s commandments, the community should also ask themselves whether this gesture is permissible under Islam.

“'Especially at this time and age, Muslims should not be singled out as being unfriendly or not part of the community.

“ 'How then can a simple wish be non-permissible in Islam? Many Muslims are also confused how saying ‘Merry Christmas’ and participating in Christmas celebration is considered a blasphemy for them.”

From the Iron Burka: "The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing (1 Corinthians 1:18), and those who deny that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God are antichrist (1 John 2:22).
"Don’t wish Christians ‘Merry Christmas’ says Isma."

Mayo Clinic atrium piano, charming older couple...

Mayo Clinic atrium piano, charming older couple...   "Fran & Marlo Cowan (married 62 years in 2008 when this was taken) playing impromptu recital together in the atrium of the Mayo Clinic. To read more about the day we took this lovely video go here.  "The song is Old Grey Bonnet."

More here 

Fark comments here.   
Hat tip to Jack Hamner of Orcutt, CA

Obama Apologizes to Castro

 

The Weekly Standard  "Cuban communist leader lectures Obama for 30 minutes."

"Barack Obama apologized to Cuban president Raul Castro during their phone conversation after the American commander in chief's opening remarks. Speaking to reporters at his final White House press briefing of 2014 Friday afternoon, Obama gave more details about his phone call with the communist leader of Cuba earlier this week before the announcement of a change in U.S. policy on the Caribbean island nation.

 

This happened at the Mandela funeral

"Obama began the phone call with Castro with what he described as 15 minutes of opening comments. It was the first conversation between the heads of state in both countries since 1961.

" 'I apologized for taking such a long time," Obama said. Castro responded by reminding Obama that the American president was still young enough to beat Castro's brother, former Cuban president and revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, who once gave a 7-hour-long speech.

"According to the president, Raul Castro proceeded to speak to Obama uninterrupted for 30 minutes.

rightwingnews.com

Islamic militants buy plumber's old truck, use it in Syria

Snopes

 

 A photo posted on an Islamic militant group's Twitter feed shows a Texas plumbing company's old truck turned into an anti-aircraft firing weapon on the front lines of Syria's civil war. The company wants to make clear they're not aiding terrorists. 

USA Today  "It's all because of a photo posted on an Islamic militant group's Twitter feed. It shows one of Mark-1 Plumbing's old work trucks with its logo on the side, turned into an anti-aircraft firing weapon on the front lines of Syria's civil war. " 'We had no intentions or no idea that this would even happen," said Jeff Oberholtzer, son of Mark-1's owner. "He traded the truck in himself in November 2013 at an AutoNation Ford dealership about 20 miles away in Houston.

"The truck immediately went to auction and likely traded owners over and over before apparently winding up in the hands of a Chechen group named Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, a dealership spokesman said." 

From Snopes:

 Oberholtzer said that shortly after the photo went viral, he started receiving phone calls accusing his company of supporting terrorist groups. Regardless of how this truck ended up in Syria, Oberholtzer said he has learned a valuable lesson and will be removing the company's logo before selling any more trucks:

We have a secretary here, she's scared to death. We all have families. We don't want no problems. We have nothing to do with terror at all.

 ... Hat tip to Jeff Hayden; Plano, TX 

You want torture? Feed the Gitmo prisoners the First Lady's school lunches

 

 http://terrellaftermath.com/

Dec 20, 1944; the siege of Bastogne begins. Then and now images from Bastogne

"An American tank moves past another gun carriage which slid off an icy road in the Ardennes Forest during the Battle of the Bulge, Dec. 20, 1944."

Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Wikipedia: Siege of Bastogne "was an engagement in December 1944 between American and German forces at the Belgian town of Bastogne, as part of the larger Battle of the Bulge. The goal of the German offensive was the harbour at Antwerp. In order to reach it before the Allies could regroup and bring their superior air power to bear, German mechanized forces had to seize the roadways through eastern Belgium. Because all seven main roads in the Ardennes mountain range converged on the small town of Bastogne, control of its crossroads was vital to the German attack. The siege lasted from December 20–27 when the besieged American forces were relieved by elements of General George Patton's Third Army."

http://screamingducks.com/campaigns/battle-of-the-bulge/bastogne-then-and-now/

• More Bastogne images, then and now
• Then and now photos from Battle Detective
Elsewhere in the Ardennes: In the Footsteps of Battlegroup [Kampfgruppe] Peiper " Much of the route that Peiper and his Kampfgruppe took can still be followed today. The following photos show a look of today's area that Kampfgruppe Peiper fought through. 

In 1944 Battle of the Bulge, Albert Darago, then 19, took on a German tank by himself ,... "Seventy years ago, Darago, now 89, crept down a long, open hill with a loaded bazooka, figuring that he was going to die. He peeked over the top of a hedge and, at a distance of a few yards, fired at a German tank, disabling it." ...

Sony: tell me again what the definition of "super power" is..

First it all started with caustic texts by Sony execs...

 

...who really weren't so "progressive, but rather regressive.

Remember how Hollywood is called "courageous" when they portrayed conservatives as outrageous? Next is a typical example of Hollywood "courage":

"Law & Order": another TV show that sucker-punches half the American population 
 "We began watching a 2009 episode of "Law and Order" entitled "Fed" last night and I had to shut it off at the start. We saw people like ourselves - TEA partiers, portrayed as rifle-toting, hateful bigots. Only Hollywood is capable of inspiring dislike and outrage by the simple means of the skillful acting of those who portray people like you and me as despicable and violent. They give us the same treatment they give to pharmaceutical  and insurance companies.
"May God bless all courageous conservatives in our country trying to stem the socialist tide sweeping America because the left has such massive force to bring against them. And the propaganda is being spoon-fed to the American public. How do we stand a chance?" The Tunnel Dweller;  February 28, 2011. 

That would be a pro-Bush TEA Partier on the right.

Training for president should also include a semester of Econ 101. Period

 

 comicallyincorrect.com

Krauthammer: How to fight the lone wolf

Charles Krauthammer

Pakistani human rights activists light lamps as they take part in a protest 

in Karachi on December 18, 2014, against the attack by Taliban militants

 on an army-run school in Peshawar

"The lone wolf is the new nightmare, dramatized and amplified this week by the hostage-taking attack in Sydney. But there are two kinds of lone wolves — the crazy and the evil — and the distinction is important.

"The real terrorists are rational. Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, had been functioning as an Army doctor for years. Psychotics cannot carry that off. Hasan even had a business card listing his occupation as SoA (Soldier of Allah). He then went out and, shouting “Allahu Akbar,” shot dead 13 people, 12 of them fellow soldiers. To this day, Hasan speaks coherently and proudly of the massacre. That’s terrorism."... Read more.

2009: White House Christmas Decor Featuring Mao Zedong Comes Under Fire

Fox News

"Mao Zedong is in the White House, hanging out with a drag queen. Not far away, Barack Obama is making a play to have his head etched in stone.

"Critics of President Obama are setting their sights this week on the official White House Christmas tree, which features controversial ornaments including an orb depicting the late Chinese dictator, another that shows drag queen Hedda Lettuce, and yet another that shows a picture of Mount Rushmore -- with Obama's head pasted to the side of Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Roosevelt's.

"God rest ye, merry gentlemen.


Click here for photos of the White House Christmas Tree decorations.

Battle of the Bulge; Stavelot, Krinkelt and Rocherath on Dec 19, 1944

Local Battle of the Bulge survivor recalls that day  Video:   "Barely an hour out of Denver, there is a hidden treasure of information from World War Two.

The invaluable history lesson is not in a museum. Instead, the lesson comes from a man who lives at an assisted living center in Strasburg.

"Ted Montgomery, 89, has a lot to teach about America's involvement in WWII. He loves to talk and he loves his country.

"Montgomery was 19 years old when he was inducted into the Army at Fort Logan in Denver." ...

Murdered civilians carried from building to common grave in Stavelot, Belgium.



Dec 19th, 1944  "1944 – At a meeting of senior Allied commanders, Eisenhower decides to appoint Field Marshal Montgomery, commanding British 21st Army Group, to lead all Allied forces to the north of ” the Bulge” in the line created by the German attack. General Bradley, commanding US 12th Army Group, is responsible for all Allied forces to the south. The arrangement is not made public at this time.
1944 – It is decided that the Japanese 35th Army on Leyte is no longer to be reinforced or supplied. Nonetheless, fighting continues to the north of Ormoc and throughout the northwest of the island.
1944 – Forces of the German 6th SS Panzer Army reach Stavelot in the north while elements of 5th Panzer Army approach Houffalize. Some US forces between these advance continue to defend positions around Gouvy and St. Vith.
1944 - During the Battle of the Bulge, American troops began pulling back from the twin Belgian cities of Krinkelt and Rocherath in front of the advancing German Army."

Krinkelt-Rocherath, December 17, 18 and 19, 1944    ..."As we moved through the snow everyone was quite as we all knew that in a short time we would be engaged with the enemy.  The column stopped and we wanted to move on.  Lieutenant Lahner, our Platoon Leader, was called to meet with the Company Commander and the other Platoons leaders.  We had hopes that, maybe something better was being planned for us.  We began to talk among ourselves guessing what our next move may be.  After 20 minutes Lieutenant Lahner returned.  He talked briefly to Sergeant Ward, our Platoon Sergeant.  I wasn’t close enough to hear the conversation.  Immediately our Company turned and started moving in almost the opposite direction.  We took the road that ran from Wahlerscheid to Rocherath and Krinkelt."
Source:  The official online home of Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge

The Battle of the Twin Villages   "The battle in and around the "Twin Villages" Krinkelt and Rocherath in December 1944.  This clip is dedicaded to the men of the 2nd US Infantry Division Indianhead. They fought a heavy battle during the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes in Belgium."

 

standwheretheyfought

Supporting Repression and Torture in Cuba; a Reading List

 

http://terrellaftermath.com/

American Thinker    "There is a book our president should read. He might find the U.S. should “be better than that” when it comes to supporting torture. 

"It is the sort of book that once started, it can’t put it down. But the president might find he would want to put it down because the grisly tortures endured by the author for 22 years are almost too much to comprehend.

"The book is Armando Valladares’ Against All Hope, the account of his decades’ long imprisonment and torture by the regime of Fidel Castro. It makes for grim reading.  Arrested for not denying Christ and for not supporting Marxism, Valladares was tortured, starved and even thrown into a pit of human excrement.  At one point, rats were about to eat his genitals. A guard intervened at the last moment." ... More here.

James Longstreet; Beyonce now free to travel to Cuba ..."Who else off the radar was delighted with this move?  Who else in the inner circle of the President?  The Congressional Black Caucus, for another.  Recall the jaunt to Cuba by leaders of that caucus and their publicized praising of the Castro regime." ...

Leftists are drawn to dictators, but they come by that honestly.

Mona Charen: Cold War Replay: This Time We Lose  "Has there ever been a president more eager to make concessions to vicious regimes than Barack Obama? The opening of diplomatic relations with Cuba is the latest and, one fears, not the last in a string of preemptive concessions." ...  Full article

Elliott Abrams: Obama and Cuba: The Triumph of Ideology over U.S. National Interests 

... "The Obama White House conducted these negotiations itself, with no meddling from the State Department. The centralization of all activity in the White House continues, and in this case the American negotiator was Ben Rhodes. Rhodes is a speechwriter with a graduate degree (M.F.A.) in creative writing, so one might wonder if he struck the hardest bargain possible. But of course those would not have been his instructions anyway: The president didn’t want a hard bargain. He wanted to destroy 50 years of American policy toward the Castro regime." ...

You can continue to embargo tyrants; period

"Sen. Ted Cruz on Obama’s Castro Bailout: Obama “does Not Understand the Difference between our Friends and our Enemies".
"After Handing Victory to the Castros, Obama Admits No Indication Castros are Changing their Ways on Human Rights.
"Krauthammer on Obama Castro Bailout: “Is there No Tyrant that Obama will not Appease for Nothing in Return?' ”...

From RedState: Engaging Cuba Is the Right Move "For too long the United States’ only policy toward Cuba consisted of sanctions and non-engagement. Engaging Cuba is the right thing to do. Unfortunately, President Barack Obama is doing it the wrong way." ...

legalinsurrection.com/

Did Obama’s new Cuba policy just launch Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign?