Why ‘Draw Mohammed’? The Artist Explains

‘I draw Mohammed,’ Fawstin says, ‘because the enemy tells me I can’t.’

Andrew C. McCarthy  . . . "The narrative betrays ignorance of Islam’s blasphemy proscriptions. Insulting speech barely scratches the surface of all that is forbidden. Classical sharia prohibits all artistic expression that depicts animate life — deeming it an offensive imitation of Allah’s creative act. Far beyond insult, moreover, sharia forbids speech that subjects Islam to any objective examination that could result in negative criticism. Also forbidden are words that imply unbelief; that could be taken to rebuke Allah or Mohammed (even if gently or in jest); or that appear to deny a principle established by authoritative sharia scholarship. Islamic supremacists would apply prohibitions to non-Muslims as well as Muslims, because they believe that Allah has commanded them to impose sharia on the unwilling. And as for Muslims, speech that announces or implies apostasy is punishable by death." . . .

Emails show Hillary aides constantly complimented her looks

N.Y. Post   "Busy as they were, Hillary Clinton’s aides found time to constantly compliment their boss’ appearance, according to the latest batch of e-mails released by the State Department.

"When a photo of Clinton on her Blackberry started lighting up the Internet in April 2012, an aide forwarded it to Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills under the subject line, “Photo gone viral!”

"Mills passed it along to Clinton, who wanted to know why it was so popular.

“'You look cute,” responded Mills.

"Undersecretary Judith McHale wrote her boss in May 2012 that she had seen an article mentioning how good Clinton’s hair looked.

“ 'Fun seeing the great press you are getting on all things sartorial and hair related! Who would have thunk it in this stage of our lives,” McHale said.

"And when a magazine featured Clinton on the cover, press aide Philippe Reines described the photo as “spectacular.” Longtime aide Huma Abedin agreed, chiming in, “It’s gorgeous.”

"Another email showed Clinton offering advice on how to beat jury duty." . .  .

2015's bumper crop of fake hate crimes, fictional racist events, and bogus claims of anti-gay animus

. . . Many incidents ranging from definitively fake to almost certainly fake. The best thing to do is just kick back, relax and enjoy 2015’s greatest hits of hoaxes in all their dumb glory.  

Daily Caller  "The year 2015 saw an absolutely bumper crop of fake hate crimes, fictional racist events, bogus claims of anti-gay animus and comically sad misunderstandings about innocent symbols.

"It’s hard to know where to start. America’s precious-snowflake college students and various hangers-on came up with so many incidents ranging from definitively fake to almost certainly fake. The best thing to do is just kick back, relax and enjoy 2015’s greatest hits of hoaxes in all their dumb glory." . . .

"1. Delusional students at the University of Missouri were so dizzy with racism they saw imaginary Ku Klux Klan hoods. " . . .

"2. A Columbia University student pitched a fit and cried racism because she couldn’t get into a Yale frat party." . . .

"3. Students at the University of Delaware freaked out because they thought the remains of lanterns hanging from a tree were nooses." . . .
"4. A foreign student hung a noose at Duke University for totally non-racial reasons but the school collectively cracked up, anyway." . . .
"5. Someone slapped easily-removable black tape over portraits of black professors at Harvard Law School." . . .
"6. Two students at Calvin College used snow to draw swastikas and the words “white power” on cars." . . ."(RELATED: Professor Blames White Privilege For The Existence Of Michigan)". . . 
"7. A gay man falsely claimed fraternity members kicked him out of a party because he is gay — and choked him and stripped him." . . .

Much more here.

Iran Arrests 9 Christians on Christmas Day for Celebrating Jesus Christ Read

A stranded Iranian Christian migrant holds the Bible as he prays at dawn in front of a fence reinforced by barbed wire and a wooden barricade at the Greek-Macedonian border near to the Greek village of Idomeni, November 30, 2015. About 1,500 migrants mainly from Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Morocco, Algeria, Somalia and other African and Asian countries have been stranded at the Greek-Macedonian border for nearly two weeks.
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/iran-arrests-nine-christians-christmas-day-celebrating-jesus-christ-153745/#IZcd3qcIFv1P7QcF.99

"Christian Post  The government of Iran reportedly arrested a group of nine Christians on Christmas Day for celebrating their faith at an in-house church in the city of Shiraz.

"There has been a steady deterioration of human rights abuses in Iran during Hassan Rouhani's tenure as president, including executions and suppression of religious and ethnic minorities," said Shahin Gobadi of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

" 'This is just another case in point. Actually, the clerical regime is one of the top violators of rights of religious minorities, including Christians, in the world. The regime has institutionalized repression of the Iranian people as the main tool of its survival."

"NCRI reported that plain-clothed agents of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security raided the church on Friday, Christmas Day, and confiscated personal items, including satellite dishes, along with arresting the nine Christians." . . .

Christ & Culture; The Christ of the Cinema

White Horse Inn  "In his book on director Martin Scorsese, the late film critic Roger Ebert described the ominous context in which he previewed The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). Prior to its release, he was invited to a private screening and watched the film alone. "This was not a perk," he writes. "It was a security measure." Ebert was led to a townhouse where the director was living under a shadow of death threats. The TV evangelists of the time had thundered with denunciation and outrage. One church leader, Campus Crusade for Christ founder Bill Bright, offered to cover the costs of the studio investment if he could obtain all the film negatives. He vowed to destroy them.

"The graphic content of the film was understandably upsetting to religious audiences, but the level of reaction that it provoked was astonishing. During the film's release, a French fundamentalist group launched Molotov cocktails inside the Parisian Saint Michel Theater and injured thirteen people. Organized protests and boycotts in the United States caused major theater chains to refuse screenings. Some cities sought wholesale bans, many succeeding. The following year, Blockbuster Video caved to pressure and declined to rent the video in stores. The charge was blasphemy, and Scorsese's film was a tipping point in the "culture wars." It would become a key target in Michael Medved's influential book Hollywood vs. America (1992).

" . . . For many Christians, the box office remains a battle to be fought and won."

Our Weasel Of The Week!

Nice Deb  "Yes, It’s time to present 2015’s last statuette of shame, The Golden Weasel!!

"Every Tuesday, the Council nominates some of the slimiest, most despicable characters in public life for some deed of evil, cowardice or corruption they’ve performed. Then we vote to single out one particular Weasel for special mention, to whom we award the statuette of shame, our special, 100% plastic Golden Weasel. This week’s nominees were particularly slimy and despicable, but the votes are in and we have our winner…the envelope please…

The Washington Post’s Disgusting Cartoonist, Ann Telnaes:

JoshuaPundit: "For a new bottom in political  Weaselness well below the norm, even in an election season. Simply an indecent person.

"I have nothing more to say about this disgraceful, vicious human being I didn’t say above in the link. She is simply a vile human being without decency who richly deserves a Weasel.

"Rep Ipso Loquiter…the thing speaks for itself.

"Happy New Year Everyone."

Samuel L. Jackson's America-Bashing: a Huge Disservice

Jackson

Lloyd Marcus  "Okay, I will say it out loud. Far too many Hollywood celebs are self-aggrandizing idiots when it comes to politics and culture. Their worldview makes them feel superior to the rest us. Neither facts nor common sense will change their minds. Ronald Reagan nailed it when he said, “It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.”

"Here's a prime example of a liberal making void-of-reality statements while thinking himself superior. Black superstar actor Samuel L. Jackson said he wished the San Bernardino shooters “was another crazy white dude” rather than Muslims. Jackson said such attacks gives people “legitimate reason” to look at their Muslim neighbors and friends the way they look at young black men. 

"Mr. Jackson, I am black. I resent your assumption that Americans are racists looking for reasons to look cross-eyed at Muslims and young black men. Frankly, members of both groups (Muslims and blacks) have declared war on Americans." . . .

HOUSE DEMOCRATS MOVE TO CRIMINALIZE CRITICISM OF ISLAM

Robert Spencer  "December 17, 2015 ought henceforth to be a date which will live in infamy, as that was the day that some of the leading Democrats in the House of Representatives came out in favor of the destruction of the First Amendment. Sponsored by among others, Muslim Congressmen Keith Ellison and Andre Carson, as well as Eleanor Holmes Norton, Loretta Sanchez, Charles Rangel, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Joe Kennedy, Al Green, Judy Chu, Debbie Dingell, Niki Tsongas, John Conyers, José Serrano, Hank Johnson, and many others, House Resolution 569 condemns “violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States.” The Resolution has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary"

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and author of the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book is The Complete Infidel’s Guide to ISIS. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.

These Republicans Authorized Obama Spying to Stop Israel From Attacking Iran Nukes, Stopping Deal

Debbie Schlussel  "Did you know that several top Republican Members of Congress secretly helped Obama push the absurd Iran deal, while they publicly vehemently opposed it? Here’s who they are and what they did.

"As you may know, yesterday’s much hyped, front page Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that the Obama Administration extensively spied on Israel and stepped up the spying for the express purpose of successfully pimping the Iran deal. None of that should have been the big news it has become. 

. . . But while they were pretending to cheerlead Netanyahu and preened for the cameras in on-air denunciations of the Iran deal, they were–behind the scenes–helping Barack Obama not only foil any Netanyahu lobbying against the Iran deal but also any possible Israeli attack on Iran which might destroy the nuclear warheads and silos

. . . The list, as you’ll note, features New York Congressman Peter King, another hypocrite grandstander who loves the cameras as much as Mike Rogers and did as much as Rogers to make us safe: nothing. Like Rogers, he served on the Intelligence Committee for the entire time the Iran deal was being negotiated and pimped. So did Nunes. Here is the rest of the list of Republicans on the committee:

Devin Nunes, CA, Chairman   
Jeff Miller, FL
K. Michael Conaway, TX
Peter T. King, NY
Frank A. LoBiondo, NJ
Lynn A. Westmoreland, GA
Thomas J. Rooney, FL
Joseph J. Heck, NV
Mike Pompeo, KS
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, FL
Michael R. Turner, OH
Brad R. Wenstrup, OH
Chris Stewart, UT

Journalist: Sanders would be ‘a lousy commander in chief’

Matt Vespa  “The religious conservatives are not going to be happy about the fact that he has a son out of wedlock,” Jaffe said in reference to Levi Sanders, the subject of “Bernie Sanders Has a Secret” in Politico Magazine.

"He added that the elder Sanders had avoided the draft during the Vietnam War in a “very suspect” way.

“ 'He was of age,” Jaffe said. “He didn’t dodge the draft, but I think it’s safe to say he avoided the draft. He filed for [conscientious objector status] on religious grounds, but there’s nothing in Judaism that says you can’t fight a war. The Israelites were pretty damn good at fighting.' ” . . .

THE YEAR OF THE LEFTIST LIARS

A turning point for America and for Western civilization?

Thomas Sowell

. . . "It is always hard to know when a turning point has been reached, and usually it is long afterwards before we recognize it. However, if 2015 has been a turning point, it may well have marked a turn in a downward direction for America and for Western civilization.

"This was the year when we essentially let the world know that we were giving up any effort to try to stop Iran — the world's leading sponsor of international terrorism — from getting a nuclear bomb. Surely it does not take much imagination to foresee what lies at the end of that road.

"It will not matter if we have more nuclear bombs than they have, if they are willing to die and we are not. That can determine who surrenders. And ISIS and other terrorists have given us grisly demonstrations of what surrender would mean.

"Putting aside, for the moment, the fateful question whether 2015 is a turning point, what do we see when we look back instead of looking forward? What characterizes the year that is now ending?

"More than anything else, 2015 has been the year of the big lie. There have been lies in other years, and some of them pretty big, but even so 2015 has set new highs — or new lows." . . .

CLINTON TO N.H. NEWSPAPER: BENGHAZI FAMILIES CONFUSED, SHE NEVER BLAMED ATTACK ON VIDEO

The Lid

. . . "Clinton replied that other family members believe differently and stressed she had sympathy for all involved. “I can’t recite for you everything that was in a conversation where people were sobbing, where people were distraught, the president and the vice president, we were all making the rounds talking to people, listening to people,” said Clinton. “I was in a very difficult position because we have not yet said two of the four dead were CIA … This was a part of the fog of war.' ”

. . . 

. . . "And if the information was changing as she claimed, how does that explain the fact that at the same time, Clinton was saying one thing in private and something entirely different in public?

"There is no logical reason to believe that the families were lying, especially when one considers that the President and Susan Rice (the UN ambassador at the time) each claimed publicly the attack was caused by a video. And if she told the families it was the video, why did she tell the Egyptian Prime Minister and her Daughter it was a pre-planned terrorist attack?

"Conway Sun Columnist Tom McLaughlin is correct,  someone is lying, and based on the facts it wasn’t the victim’s families hindered by “the fog of war.“

"Allow me to suggest that if any of her fellow Democrats [would] . . .  research the available information such as the facts above they would have to agree that a liar like Ms. Clinton has forfeited any chance if moving back to the White House." . . .