Amazing grace in Charleston

Cal Thomas

 

. . . "In violent streets we have become used to calls for retribution, appeals for justice, rioting, looting, marches, and self-appointed civil rights leaders hogging cameras and microphones with angry people standing behind them and chants of “no justice, no peace.”

"But this, this act of forgiveness by grandsons and sons, daughters, husbands, and other relatives of the dead is so out of character, so distant from the “norm” we have come to expect, so not Ferguson, Mo., or Baltimore, so not the Middle East, that it makes the world stop and pause.

"Preachers call it “grace,” which they define as “unmerited favor.” The accused killer doesn’t deserve it, but he is offered forgiveness nonetheless. It speaks volumes about the character and spiritual strength of those extending grace to him. In a normal person, grace might bring repentance and, yes, salvation, which is what at least one of the relatives said she was praying would happen to Dylann Roof, a deeply troubled 21-year-old who is accused of the murders.

"When the world sees such acts of kindness, it doesn’t know what to say. For many it is unfamiliar territory. And yet it is precisely the outworking of what those in that prayer meeting found in the Bible they were studying and the God to whom they prayed. It is a part of the nonviolence taught and practiced by Martin Luther King Jr. His refusal to respond to violence with violence helped turn the hearts of many and change the laws of a nation.

"Photos of church services following the killings showed a racial diversity and a coming together that might not just heal Charleston, but serve as a model for the rest of the nation about how to react to senseless violence. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s emotional response to the murders also served as a needed balm that can help heal Charleston’s deep wound.

“Amazing Grace” is a hymn sung in churches, at funerals, and on other occasions. It is familiar even to those who are not regular churchgoers and may not fully appreciate its meaning. It’s author, John Newton, was a slave trader. The story of his remorse, repentance, and salvation has been told in books and films, but never better than in the first verse of his hymn:

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

Full article

Coulter: Forget ‘Moronic’ Confederate Flag Talk, Ban ‘Democratic Party’ To Help Blacks [VIDEO]

Daily Caller    "In an interview on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” Coulter also jumped on “liberal talking points” about the flag’s connection to Republicans, adding that Democrats were the ones who “supported the Confederate(s)” in the Civil War.

The best-selling author made the remarks one day after South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called for the flag to be taken down from the state house’s lawn.

 

“I think it’s completely moronic,” Coulter said. “I mean, this is an awful thing that happened in Charleston. Luckily, it’s quite rare. But to jump on this and go back to a litany of liberal talking points that make Republicans look bad, how about banning the Democratic Party?”

“They were the ones who supported — who were on the Confederate side of the Civil War. They were the ones that supported segregation for a hundred years,” Coulter said. “If we want to do something nice for black people, how about ending immigration which is dumping millions of low-wage workers on the country, taking jobs from African-Americans, as enumerable studies have shown.”

“I mean there are all sorts of  nice things you could be doing here,” Coulter said." . . . Video

Forgiving Their Attacker, His Christian Victims Heaped Burning Coals on His Head

National Review Online   ". . .Terrorists have proven they can change national policies, change public opinion, and even change cultures — all in their favor.

"But not always. And certainly not in South Carolina. In fact, it’s difficult to recall a more profound terrorist failure than Dylann Roof’s attack on Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Yes, he succeeded in his immediate object of killing innocent men and women, but if he sought to weaken the bonds between black and white Americans, to weaken the power of the black church in the black community, or to in any way discredit the black community itself, his failure was total. That’s because of the character of the people he victimized, and it’s ultimately because of the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." . . .

Still trust our "free press"?

Obama Demanding Iran Deal As It's His Last Best Hope To Keep Promises Made In Cairo Speech

The Lid

 

.."Many have claimed that Barack Obama is recklessly pursuing a nuclear deal with Iraq because he wants a foreign policy achievement for his presidential legacy. According to Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the US that is true, but not in the way one thinks.  He is not trying to preserve his legacy to the American People, he is trying to preserve his legacy to the Muslim world by keeping the promise he made during his 2009 speech at Cairo University in Egypt.

"President Obama's speech in Cairo was historic.  No other President has gone to a foreign nation to so publicly throw a strong ally under the bus., he gave  unprecedented support for the Palestinians and recognized Iran's right to nuclear power,  downplayed the role of terrorism, and made Hamas look like a rowdy Boys Glee Club." . . .

Former Ambassador Oren related in recent Foreign Policy article that every policy move made by the Obama administration toward the Muslim world was signaled in that speech.

On Hillary Clinton

The fact that many people are still prepared to vote for Hillary Clinton to be president of the United States, in times made incredibly dangerous by the foreign-policy disasters on her watch as secretary of state, raises painful questions about this country.
  The following article.

 Hillary’s Abysmal Record as Secretary of State Alone Should Disqualify Her from the Presidency. . . This is one of the painful but inescapable signs of our time. There is nothing in her history that would qualify her for the presidency, and much that should disqualify her. What is even more painful is that none of that matters politically. Many people simply want “a woman” to be president, and Hillary is the best-known woman in politics, though by no means the best qualified. What is Hillary’s history? In the most important job she has ever held — secretary of state — American foreign policy has had one setback after another, punctuated by disasters." . . .

Say bye-bye to Hillary's Russian reset. . . "Let's hope that one of those reporters obsessed with the Confederate Flag will ask Hillary Clinton about the reset five years later.  Without question, Russia is one of the biggest failures of the Obama foreign policy.  And Hillary Clinton owns it, reset button and all."

Looks like Hillary has been Less than Forthcoming with her E-mails

. . . “Once again the Benghazi Committee uncovers information that should already be part of the public record but was not made available to the American people or congressional investigators,” said Gowdy, R-S.C. “These emails should have been part of the public record when Secretary Clinton left office and at a bare minimum included when the State Department released Clinton’s self-selected records on Libya. For that reason, the committee has made the decision to release the latest set of Clinton’s public records unearthed by the committee.' ” . . .

It would be nice if leftists abhorred images of Che, the hammer & sickle and the red star as much as they abhor the confederacy's flag...

The Astute Bloggers
 "Lincoln is one of my heroes.
"The rebels seceded to save the horror of slavery - and that they got what they deserved.
"But the confederate flag is no worse than images of Che and the red star and the hammer & sickle."

 

" If we really want to stop horrors like what happened in Charleston, then what we really need to do is stop the race-baiting - which stokes the flames on both extremes, and focus on ridding the streets of sociopathic psychos."

"I blame Obama and Sharpton and Holder and 6 years of race-baiting - from Trayvon to Ferguson to Baltimore - for stoking the flames and making things worse than  they were in 2008.

"It is no accident that the NBPP was watching the polls in Philly and committing voter intimidation in behalf of Obama and that Holder dropped the case against them as soon as he was sworn in.

"Stoking the flames of racism was a key part of their playbook. And a classic Alinsky strategy.
"Things really won't get better until Obama is gone, and then only if he is replaced by a GOP POTUS."Sadly,  Obama and his comrades will do whatever they can between now and the next election to make the race war worse - as they think it helps them at the polls.
"Sigh.

"Obama has truly been the worst, most harmful and destructive POTUS of all-time."

Obama Rips Confederate Flag; Laments “Distorted Impression” of Muslims

Oops, sorry; we posted the wrong photo. We meant to use the one below.

 Voice of Lillpop

 

"Barack Obama continues to build on his paradoxical reputation as a racist agitator and defender of throat-cutting, Jihad-crazed Muslims.

"In response to the evil murder of nine church-going African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina, Obama joined the lynching crowds that would blame the tragedy, at least in part, on the Confederate Flag.

"As reported, "The president has said before he believes the Confederate flag belongs in a museum, and that is still his position," Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman, told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday.

"A museum, sir?

"Then what about the Koran, the Islam equivalent of the Holy Bible, and the Users Manual for decapitations, throat cuttings, live burning, and other barbaric acts against infidels who fail to embrace the murderous dogma of Mohamed, the Prophet?

"Shall this murderous volume from the sixth century be consigned to a museum and banned from public exposure to protect Christians, Jews, and others who regard Mohammed and Islam as deadly religious frauds?

"Paradoxically and curiously, when it comes to “Religion of peace” blood letting and abuse, Barack Obama is far more understanding and anxious for tolerance.

"As reported: President Obama stressed religious tolerance during an Iftar dinner to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, linking the murders of nine black Christians in South Carolina with the killings of three Muslims in North Carolina earlier this year.

"As Americans, we insist that nobody should be targeted because of who they are, or what they look like, who they love, how they worship. We stand united against these hateful acts."
Obama lamented the "distorted impression" that many Americans have of Muslims.
"Here in America, many people personally don’t know someone who is Muslim. They mostly hear about Muslims in the news — and that can obviously lead to a very distorted impression," Obama said.

"Of course, learning about the Confederate Flag from the media is entirely acceptable, as long as the news promotes the false narrative that the Confederate Flag, and the South, is all about racism, slavery, hangings, burning crosses, and other evils committed by hooded white Christians!

"Distorted impressions, indeed, sir!"

The best single article on why the Iran nuke deal is a bad one. (Published today by a surprising source)

 

American Thinker  "The Obama administration agues that the breakout time for Iran to develop a bomb, if they choose to do so, will extended from 2-3 months to about a year as a result of the current deal.  This is patently false.  This article in the New York Times (!) today suggests that the increase in the breakout time that will result from the deal is from two months to three months, or a net gain of one month.  For this, Iran will have sanctions eliminated, and $150 billion released.  Does this sound like a fair exchange?

"Alan J. Kuperman writes in “The Iran Deal’s Fatal Flaw”:

Breakout time is determined by three primary factors: the number and type of centrifuges; the enrichment of the starting material; and the amount of enriched uranium required for a nuclear weapon. Mr. Obama seems to make rosy assumptions about all three.

Most important, in the event of an overt attempt by Iran to build a bomb, Mr. Obama’s argument assumes that Iran would employ only the 5,060 centrifuges that the deal would allow for uranium enrichment, not the roughly 14,000 additional centrifuges that Iran would be permitted to keep mainly for spare parts. Such an assumption is laughable. In a real-world breakout, Iran would race, not crawl, to the bomb. (snip)
…since the deal would permit Iran to keep only a small amount of enriched uranium in the gaseous form used in centrifuges, Mr. Obama assumes that a dash for the bomb would start mainly from unenriched uranium, thereby lengthening the breakout time. But the deal would appear to also permit Iran to keep large amounts of enriched uranium in solid form (as opposed to gas), which could be reconverted to gas within weeks, thus providing a substantial head-start to producing weapons-grade uranium.
Third, Mr. Obama’s argument assumes that Iran would require 59 pounds of weapons-grade uranium to make an atomic bomb. In reality, nuclear weapons can be made from much smaller amounts of uranium (as experts assume North Korea does in its rudimentary arsenal). A 1995 study by the Natural Resources Defense Council concluded that even a “low technical capability” nuclear weapon could produce an explosion with a force approaching that of the Hiroshima bomb — using just 29 pounds of weapons-grade uranium.

Remember there are many in the US who support Obama and this Iran deal:

 

Why state governments should take down the Confederate flag. (And this will not end with just the flag)

 

Volokh Conspiracy
. . . " It is long past time that state governments stopped displaying the Confederate flag, and otherwise honoring Confederate leaders. We should not honor people whose main claim to fame was waging a bloody war for the purpose of perpetuating and extending the evil institution of slavery. Some still deny that this was the motivation for Confederate secession. But overwhelming evidence proves otherwise. You don’t have to take my word for the proposition that slavery was at the root of the Confederate agenda, or even the word of John Stuart Mill. Take that of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, vice president Alexander Stephens (who called slavery “the cornerstone” of the Confederacy), and southern states’ own official statements outlining their reasons for seceding." . . .

21 Ways Obama Attempted to Assassinate the U.S.-Israel Relationship

Doug Ross   " America's heroine Pamela Geller points us to an exceptional summary of diplomat Michael Oren's new book. The former Israeli Ambassador to the United States -- no right-winger to be sure -- has outlined a stunning insider's look at Obama's assassination of the relationship between the two longtime allies. Adam Kredo, writing at Washington Free Beacon, outlines some of the most outrageous revelations.“ 'Prophecy was not required to foresee that an Obama presidency might strain the U.S.-Israel alliance,” Oren writes in the early pages of his book... Obama stacked his administration with senior officials hostile to Israel and pursued a policy of “daylight” with Jewish state, Oren recounts... “The first thing Obama will do in office is pick a fight with Israel,” Oren recalls a confidant as telling him in the early days of the administration.
Hillary had a large part in this as well, in case you wondered how she would affect our relationship with our old ally Israel

"Below are a series of passages that reveal in detail how the U.S.-Israel alliance hit historic lows under the Obama administration." . . .
 An excerpt:

2. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Commanders Never Trusted Obama
Oren recounts listening to Obama’s 2009 speech in Cairo while stationed in the IDF’s headquarters. “Their reactions typified that of a great many Israelis.”
These commanders “scoffed at what they regarded as Obama’s inexperience with the Middle East, where magnanimity is often seen as weakness. They cringed at his tendency to equate America’s moral foibles with the honor killings, human trafficking, and the suppression of women, foreign workers, and indigenous minorities rampant in many Muslim countries,” Oren writes.
Their opinions only grew dimmer when Obama “linked that legitimacy [of Israel] to the Jews’ ‘tragic history’ in the Holocaust. That linkage seemed to me to be the most damaging part of his speech.”

“As President, I spend most of my time focused on the Economy.”

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