DEDICATED TO EXPOSING DISINFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA AND TO PROMOTING UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS - WITH SHARP ANALYSIS AND BLUNT COMMENTARY. NO ADS. NO TIP-JAR. JUST THE TRUTH.
Ali Gharib / ThinkProgress:
Right-Wing Pundits Jumped To Blame Muslims And ‘Jihadists’ For Norway AttacksDiscussion: Guardian, Erick's blog, American Power, Wall Street Journal, EcoLocalizer and The Atlantic Online
A golden bell ornament that archaeologists believed belonged to a priest or important leader from the Second Temple Period was found in an ancient drainage channel in ruins next to the Western Wall on Thursday, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced.EVERY TIME THEY STICK A SHOVEL IN THE HOLY LAND THEY PROVE THE BIBLE IS TRUE - AND THAT THE HOLY LAND BELONGS TO THE JEWS.
The small bell, which has a loop for attaching to clothing or jewelry, was found underneath what is today known as Robinson's arch. The area underneath the arch was the central road of Jerusalem, which lead from the Shiloah Pools in the City of David to the Old City and the Temple Mount.
The excavations were led by Israel Antiquities Authority and the National Parks Authority and financed by The City of David Foundation, which runs the archeological park across the street.
“It seems the bell was sewn on the garment worn by a high official in Jerusalem at the end of the Second Temple period (first century CE),” the excavation’s lead archeologists, Eli Shukron and Professor Ronny Reich of Haifa University, said in a statement. “The bell was exposed inside Jerusalem’s main drainage channel at that time, among the layers of earth that had accumulated along the bottom of it.”
They believed that the bell fell off the official’s clothing while he was walking along the road and rolled into the drainage channel, where it has sat for nearly 2,000 years.
The archeologists based their findings on the verse in Exodus: “…And upon the skirts of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the skirts thereof; and bells of gold between them round about” (Ex. 28:34,36)
Christian Extremist Is Charged in Norway
Campers Tricked; Suspect Is Called Anti-Islam
By STEVEN ERLANGER
Utoeya, an island outside the capital, on Saturday."
The suspect in Friday’s bomb and shooting attacks was described as a gun-loving, highly religious Norwegian obsessed with what he saw as the threat of multiculturalism and Muslim immigration to the cultural and patriotic values of his country.
IT'S FASCINATING HOW THE NYTIMES IS RUNNING WITH THE HEADLINE "CHRISTIAN EXTREMIST, BUT THEY'VE NEVER DONE THE SAME THING WITH MUSLIMS TERRORISTS, NOT WITH THE FORT HOOD JIHADIST OR OTHERS.
WHY THIS DISPARITY IN HOW TERRORISTS ARE TREATED?
THEY HATE THEY RIGHT-WING AND CHRISTIANITY, BUT NOT ISLAMISM.
WHY?
BECAUSE THEY ARE POSTMODERN LEFTIES WHO SHARE A COMMON ENEMY WITH THE JIHADISTS:
POSTMODERN LEFTISTS AND JIHADISTS BOTH HATE JUDEO-CHRISTIANITY AND WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
WHICH IS WHY I HAVE LONG ARGUED THAT WE NEED TO ERADICATE LEFTISM IF WE'RE EVER GONNA DEFEAT JIHADISM.
(AND NO: THIS DOESN'T MEAN KILL ALL LEFTIST OR ALL MUSLIMS!)
UPDATE #1:
LOOKIE HERE: 90 MINUTES LATER AND THE NYTIMES HAS CHANGED THEIR ANTI-CHRISTIAN HEADLINE - NOW THEY'RE JUST SMEARING THE RIGHT-WING:
Norway Charges Right-Wing Extremist
Campers Tricked; Suspect Is Called Anti-Islam
Scientists have created more than 150 human-animal hybrid embryos in British laboratories.Read more here.
The hybrids have been produced secretively over the past three years by researchers looking into possible cures for a wide range of diseases.
The revelation comes just a day after a committee of scientists warned of a nightmare ‘Planet of the Apes’ scenario in which work on human-animal creations goes too far.
Figures seen by the Daily Mail show that 155 ‘admixed’ embryos, containing both human and animal genetic material, have been created since the introduction of the 2008 Human Fertilisation Embryology Act.( Tony Blair's government)
Three labs in the UK – at King’s College London, Newcastle University and Warwick University – were granted licences to carry out the research after the Act came into force.
All have now stopped creating hybrid embryos due to a lack of funding, but scientists believe that there will be more such work in the future.
The figure was revealed to crossbench peer Lord Alton following a Parliamentary question.
Last night he said: ‘I argued in Parliament against the creation of human- animal hybrids as a matter of principle. None of the scientists who appeared before us could give us any justification in terms of treatment.
‘Ethically it can never be justifiable – it discredits us as a country. It is dabbling in the grotesque.
‘At every stage the justification from scientists has been: if only you allow us to do this, we will find cures for every illness known to mankind. This is emotional blackmail.
‘Of the 80 treatments and cures which have come about from stem cells, all have come from adult stem cells – not embryonic ones.
‘On moral and ethical grounds this fails; and on scientific and medical ones too.’
Josephine Quintavalle, of pro-life group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: ‘I am aghast that this is going on and we didn’t know anything about it.
‘Why have they kept this a secret? If they are proud of what they are doing, why do we need to ask Parliamentary questions for this to come to light?
‘The problem with many scientists is that they want to do things because they want to experiment. That is not a good enough rationale.’
WE ARE IN A CIVILIZATIONAL STRUGGLE AGAINST ISLAM.EXCERPT #2:
NOTE:
THIS DOESN'T MEAN WE ARE IN A WAR WITH EVERY SINGLE MUSLIM ANY MORE THAN WW2 WE WERE AT WAR WITH EVERY SINGLE GERMAN OR EVEN EVERY SINGLE NAZI.
BUT JUST AS WE WERE AT WAR WITH NAZISM THEN, WE ARE AT WAR WITH ISLAM NOW.
THE SOONER A MAJORITY OF US ACCEPT THIS THE BETTER. THE FAILURE TO ACCEPT THIS HAS LEAD US TO WASTE TIME AND TREASURE ON TACTICS AND STRATEGIES THAT CANNOT HELP US WIN - LIKE "DEMOCRATIZING" AFGHANISTAN, A GOAL I ONCE SHARED.
IF WE WANT TO TURN THE MUSLIMS THERE INTO PEOPLE WHO CAN LIVE UNDER DEMOCRACY AND THE RULE OF SECULAR LAW, THEN WE NEED TO TURN THE MUSLIMS THERE AWAY FROM ISLAM.
http://astuteblogger.blogspot.com/2011/05/ww4-is-really-return-to-real-ww1.htmlMY RECORD ON THIS IS CLEAR.
NOTE:
This does NOT mean exterminate Muslims. This means LIBERATE them from islamism. More than 1 billion people are enslaved to this hideous ideology. We must liberate them.
CRUSHING Nazism didn't mean exterminating all Nazis or Germans; it did mean eradicating Nazism and bringing the worst perpetrators of Nazi atrocities to justice - summary or military.
So it must be with islamism.
Or we will lose.
Authorities say a New York City cab driver is recovering after being brutally stabbed by a passenger who first demanded, "Are you Muslim?"ONLY ENRIGHT TURNED OUT TO BE A LEFTIST IN FAVOR OF THE GROUND ZERO MOSQUE.
The attacks occurred as New York is in the midst of a contentious debate over plans to build an Islamic community center and mosque a few blocks from the site of the former World Trade Center.
"I think this clearly demonstrates that hate speech often leads to hate crime when you have the constant vilification of Islam and Muslims on talk radio, in newspapers, on cable news and on the Internet," Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told AOL News.
Police said Ahmed Sharif, 43, of the borough of Queens was driving his taxi on Manhattan's East Side Monday night when he was hailed by a pedestrian on the street. Roughly one block from his destination, the passenger, identified as 21-year-old Michael Enright, of Brewster in upstate New York, allegedly asked Sharif, "Are you Muslim?" When Sharif said yes, Enright pulled out a knife and slashed Sharif in the neck, face and shoulders, police said.
Despite his injuries, Sharif was able to lock the attacker in the back of the cab and call for help. The suspect managed to get out of the vehicle, but police quickly located him and took him into custody.
I think there's a good chance that Breivik will turn out to be another Enright. Only a much more twisted, insane, evil Enright. One who deserves the death penalty - which is sadly unavailable in the EU.The apparent anti-Muslim assault on a New York city cabbie by a man shouting “Assalamu Alaikum. Consider this a checkpoint" produced an immediate round of recriminations over its connection to opposition to a New York Islamic Center and an apparent rising tide of Islamophobia.
But as often at the intersection of politics and violent crime, the story doesn't appear to fit any easy stereotype: The alleged assailant, Michael Enright, is — according to his Facebook profile and the website of the left-leaning media organization Intersections International — a student at the School of Visual Arts and a volunteer for Intersections, which recently produced a statement of support for the Park51 project and is funded by the mainstream, liberal Collegiate Church of New York.
ANYONE WHO TRIES TO TIE THIS BLOG OR MY VIEWS TO THIS HORRIFIC ACT IN OSLO OR THIS PSYCHOTIC MASS MURDERER BREIVIK IS SCUM
MY RECORD ON VIOLENCE AGAINST INNOCENT MUSLIMS IS CLEAR:
EXCERPT #1:
http://astuteblogger.blogspot.com/2011/03/either-house-of-saud-misunderstands.htmlWE ARE IN A CIVILIZATIONAL STRUGGLE AGAINST ISLAM.EXCERPT #2:
NOTE:
THIS DOESN'T MEAN WE ARE IN A WAR WITH EVERY SINGLE MUSLIM ANY MORE THAN WW2 WE WERE AT WAR WITH EVERY SINGLE GERMAN OR EVEN EVERY SINGLE NAZI.
BUT JUST AS WE WERE AT WAR WITH NAZISM THEN, WE ARE AT WAR WITH ISLAM NOW.
THE SOONER A MAJORITY OF US ACCEPT THIS THE BETTER. THE FAILURE TO ACCEPT THIS HAS LEAD US TO WASTE TIME AND TREASURE ON TACTICS AND STRATEGIES THAT CANNOT HELP US WIN - LIKE "DEMOCRATIZING" AFGHANISTAN, A GOAL I ONCE SHARED.
IF WE WANT TO TURN THE MUSLIMS THERE INTO PEOPLE WHO CAN LIVE UNDER DEMOCRACY AND THE RULE OF SECULAR LAW, THEN WE NEED TO TURN THE MUSLIMS THERE AWAY FROM ISLAM.http://astuteblogger.blogspot.com/2011/05/ww4-is-really-return-to-real-ww1.htmlMY RECORD ON THIS IS CLEAR.
NOTE:
This does NOT mean exterminate Muslims. This means LIBERATE them from islamism. More than 1 billion people are enslaved to this hideous ideology. We must liberate them.
CRUSHING Nazism didn't mean exterminating all Nazis or Germans; it did mean eradicating Nazism and bringing the worst perpetrators of Nazi atrocities to justice - summary or military.
So it must be with islamism.
Or we will lose.
THERE IS NO PLACE FOR THE KILLING OF INNOCENTS - OR FOR ANY EXTRA-JUDICIAL OR EXTRA-MARTIAL KILLING.
- OUT SIDE THE THEATER OF WAR AND WITHOUT A JUDICIAL PROCEEDING KILLING IS MURDER AND MURDER IS EVIL.
ANYONE WHO TRIES TO TIE THIS BLOG OR MY VIEWS TO THIS HORRIFIC ACT IN OSLO OR THIS PSYCHOTIC MASS MURDERER BREIVIK IS SCUM.
- KILLING IS ACCEPTABLE IN THE THEATER OF WAR AND AFTER JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS (FOR CRIMES WHICH HAVE THE DEATH PENALTY AT THE TIME OF THE CRIME WAS COMMITTED).
HAVING THIS BLOG AND ARGUING THESE POINTS PROVES THAT I BELIEVE THAT WE NEED TO WAGE A NON-VIOLENT WAR OF IDEAS, AND CONVERT INNOCENT PEOPLE WHO HAVE EVIL CREEDS - NOT USE VIOLENCE AND KILL THEM.
NOTE:
I did not assume this was an act of islamo-terrorism. I accepted the first reports that islamists had taken credit for it at face value. This blog's first post on it posed it as a question, and only after an islamist group took credit did we jump on the bandwagon. We regret it.
UPDATE: UPDATE: HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...Breivik had set up his own business, Breivik Geofarm, and a month ago had started to run an organic farm in Hedmark in eastern Norway. There he reportedly produced and stored fertilizers that he was able to use in explosives.
He was known to be active on the internet, expressing extremist Islamophobic views on forums and criticizing immigration policies.
He recently claimed that politics today was not about socialism vs. capitalism but nationalism vs. internationalism. He argued on a Swedish news website that the media were not critical enough about Islam and claimed that Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom in the Netherlands was the only "true" party of conservatives.
He argued that socialism was breaking down traditions, culture, national identity and other societal structures and that this in turn made society weak and confused.
On July 17 he set up a Facebook and Twitter account, posting a single tweet, "One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests."
He claimed to be well-read and worshiped the Norwegian World War II hero Max Manus. On his Facebook profile he listed his favorite books as "The Trial" by Franz Kafka and "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell and his favorite television show as "Dexter," a series about a Miami police forensics expert who moonlights as a serial killer of criminals whom he believes have escaped justice.
Authorities say a New York City cab driver is recovering after being brutally stabbed by a passenger who first demanded, "Are you Muslim?"ONLY ENRIGHT TURNED OUT TO BE A LEFTIST IN FAVOR OF THE GROUND ZERO MOSQUE.
The attacks occurred as New York is in the midst of a contentious debate over plans to build an Islamic community center and mosque a few blocks from the site of the former World Trade Center.
"I think this clearly demonstrates that hate speech often leads to hate crime when you have the constant vilification of Islam and Muslims on talk radio, in newspapers, on cable news and on the Internet," Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told AOL News.
Police said Ahmed Sharif, 43, of the borough of Queens was driving his taxi on Manhattan's East Side Monday night when he was hailed by a pedestrian on the street. Roughly one block from his destination, the passenger, identified as 21-year-old Michael Enright, of Brewster in upstate New York, allegedly asked Sharif, "Are you Muslim?" When Sharif said yes, Enright pulled out a knife and slashed Sharif in the neck, face and shoulders, police said.
Despite his injuries, Sharif was able to lock the attacker in the back of the cab and call for help. The suspect managed to get out of the vehicle, but police quickly located him and took him into custody.
I think there's a good chance that Breivik will turn out to be another Enright.The apparent anti-Muslim assault on a New York city cabbie by a man shouting “Assalamu Alaikum. Consider this a checkpoint" produced an immediate round of recriminations over its connection to opposition to a New York Islamic Center and an apparent rising tide of Islamophobia.
But as often at the intersection of politics and violent crime, the story doesn't appear to fit any easy stereotype: The alleged assailant, Michael Enright, is — according to his Facebook profile and the website of the left-leaning media organization Intersections International — a student at the School of Visual Arts and a volunteer for Intersections, which recently produced a statement of support for the Park51 project and is funded by the mainstream, liberal Collegiate Church of New York.
ANYONE WHO TRIES TO TIE THIS BLOG OR MY VIEWS TO THIS HORRIFIC ACT IN OSLO OR THIS PSYCHOTIC RIGHT-WING MASS MURDERER BREIVIK IS SCUM
MY RECORD ON VIOLENCE AGAINST INNOCENT MUSLIMS IS CLEAR:
EXCERPT #1:
http://astuteblogger.blogspot.com/2011/03/either-house-of-saud-misunderstands.htmlWE ARE IN A CIVILIZATIONAL STRUGGLE AGAINST ISLAM.EXCERPT #2:
NOTE:
THIS DOESN'T MEAN WE ARE IN A WAR WITH EVERY SINGLE MUSLIM ANY MORE THAN WW2 WE WERE AT WAR WITH EVERY SINGLE GERMAN OR EVEN EVERY SINGLE NAZI.
BUT JUST AS WE WERE AT WAR WITH NAZISM THEN, WE ARE AT WAR WITH ISLAM NOW.
THE SOONER A MAJORITY OF US ACCEPT THIS THE BETTER. THE FAILURE TO ACCEPT THIS HAS LEAD US TO WASTE TIME AND TREASURE ON TACTICS AND STRATEGIES THAT CANNOT HELP US WIN - LIKE "DEMOCRATIZING" AFGHANISTAN, A GOAL I ONCE SHARED.
IF WE WANT TO TURN THE MUSLIMS THERE INTO PEOPLE WHO CAN LIVE UNDER DEMOCRACY AND THE RULE OF SECULAR LAW, THEN WE NEED TO TURN THE MUSLIMS THERE AWAY FROM ISLAM.http://astuteblogger.blogspot.com/2011/05/ww4-is-really-return-to-real-ww1.htmlMY RECORD ON THIS IS CLEAR.
NOTE:
This does NOT mean exterminate Muslims. This means LIBERATE them from islamism. More than 1 billion people are enslaved to this hideous ideology. We must liberate them.
CRUSHING Nazism didn't mean exterminating all Nazis or Germans; it did mean eradicating Nazism and bringing the worst perpetrators of Nazi atrocities to justice - summary or military.
So it must be with islamism.
Or we will lose.
THERE IS NO PLACE FOR THE KILLING OF INNOCENTS - OR FOR ANY EXTRA-JUDICIAL OR EXTRA-MARTIAL KILLING.
- OUT SIDE THE THEATER OF WAR AND WITHOUT A JUDICIAL PROCEEDING KILLING IS MURDER AND MURDER IS EVIL.
ANYONE WHO TRIES TO TIE THIS BLOG OR MY VIEWS TO THIS HORRIFIC ACT IN OSLO OR THIS PSYCHOTIC MASS MURDERER BREIVIK IS SCUM.
- KILLING IS ACCEPTABLE IN THE THEATER OF WAR AND AFTER JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS (FOR CRIMES WHICH HAVE THE DEATH PENALTY AT THE TIME OF THE CRIME WAS COMMITTED).
HAVING THIS BLOG AND ARGUING THESE POINTS PROVES THAT I BELIEVE THAT WE NEED TO WAGE A NON-VIOLENT WAR OF IDEAS, AND CONVERT INNOCENT PEOPLE WHO HAVE EVIL CREEDS - NOT USE VIOLENCE AND KILL THEM.
NOTE:
I did not assume this was an act of islamo-terrorism. I accepted the first reports that islamists had taken credit for it at face value. This blog's first post on it posed it as a question, and only after an islamist group took credit did we jump on the bandwagon. We regret it.
... there is a specific jihadist connection here:
“Just nine days ago, Norwegian authorities filed charges against Mullah Krekar, an infamous al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist who, with help from Osama bin Laden, founded Ansar al Islam – a branch of al Qaeda in northern Iraq – in late 2001.”
This is a sobering reminder for those who think it’s too expensive to wage a war against jihadists.
I spoke to Gary Schmitt of the American Enterprise Institute, who has been critical of proposed cuts in defense and of President Obama’s Afghanistan withdrawal plan.
“There has been a lot of talk over the past few months on how we’ve got al-Qaeda on the run and, compared with what it once was, it’s become a rump organization. But as the attack in Oslo reminds us, there are plenty of al-Qaeda allies still operating. No doubt cutting the head off a snake is important; the problem is, we’re dealing with global nest of snakes.”
UPDATE:UPDATE: HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...Breivik had set up his own business, Breivik Geofarm, and a month ago had started to run an organic farm in Hedmark in eastern Norway. There he reportedly produced and stored fertilizers that he was able to use in explosives.
He was known to be active on the internet, expressing extremist Islamophobic views on forums and criticizing immigration policies.
He recently claimed that politics today was not about socialism vs. capitalism but nationalism vs. internationalism. He argued on a Swedish news website that the media were not critical enough about Islam and claimed that Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom in the Netherlands was the only "true" party of conservatives.
He argued that socialism was breaking down traditions, culture, national identity and other societal structures and that this in turn made society weak and confused.
On July 17 he set up a Facebook and Twitter account, posting a single tweet, "One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests."
He claimed to be well-read and worshiped the Norwegian World War II hero Max Manus. On his Facebook profile he listed his favorite books as "The Trial" by Franz Kafka and "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell and his favorite television show as "Dexter," a series about a Miami police forensics expert who moonlights as a serial killer of criminals whom he believes have escaped justice.
I THINK MAYBE THERE'S A POSSIBILITY THAT THIS BREIVIK IS ACTUALLY A PSYCHOTIC LEFTIST WHO DID THIS HORRIFYING ACT TO DISCREDIT THE RIGHT.
DO YOU THINK THIS IS TOO WEIRD TO BE TRUE!?!? BELIEVE THAT IT COULD NEVER HAPPEN!??
ER UM...IT DID BEFORE - IN NYC: AT FIRST THEY TRIED TO BLAME THE RIGHT:Authorities say a New York City cab driver is recovering after being brutally stabbed by a passenger who first demanded, "Are you Muslim?"ONLY ENRIGHT TURNED OUT TO BE A LEFTIST IN FAVOR OF THE GROUND ZERO MOSQUE.
The attacks occurred as New York is in the midst of a contentious debate over plans to build an Islamic community center and mosque a few blocks from the site of the former World Trade Center.
"I think this clearly demonstrates that hate speech often leads to hate crime when you have the constant vilification of Islam and Muslims on talk radio, in newspapers, on cable news and on the Internet," Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told AOL News.
Police said Ahmed Sharif, 43, of the borough of Queens was driving his taxi on Manhattan's East Side Monday night when he was hailed by a pedestrian on the street. Roughly one block from his destination, the passenger, identified as 21-year-old Michael Enright, of Brewster in upstate New York, allegedly asked Sharif, "Are you Muslim?" When Sharif said yes, Enright pulled out a knife and slashed Sharif in the neck, face and shoulders, police said.
Despite his injuries, Sharif was able to lock the attacker in the back of the cab and call for help. The suspect managed to get out of the vehicle, but police quickly located him and took him into custody.
MORE FROM POLITICO AT THE TIME:I think there's a good chance that Breivik will turn out to be another Enright.The apparent anti-Muslim assault on a New York city cabbie by a man shouting “Assalamu Alaikum. Consider this a checkpoint" produced an immediate round of recriminations over its connection to opposition to a New York Islamic Center and an apparent rising tide of Islamophobia.
But as often at the intersection of politics and violent crime, the story doesn't appear to fit any easy stereotype: The alleged assailant, Michael Enright, is — according to his Facebook profile and the website of the left-leaning media organization Intersections International — a student at the School of Visual Arts and a volunteer for Intersections, which recently produced a statement of support for the Park51 project and is funded by the mainstream, liberal Collegiate Church of New York.
Stay tuned.
IS ANDERS BEHRING BREIVIK REALLY ANOTHER MICHAEL ENRIGHT?
I THINK MAYBE THERE'S A POSSIBILITY THAT THIS ANDERS BREIVIK IS ACTUALLY A PSYCHOTIC LEFTIST WHO DID THIS HORRIFYING ACT TO DISCREDIT THE RIGHT.
IOW: A ROGUE FALSE FLAG ATTACK.
DO YOU THINK THIS IS TOO WEIRD TO BE TRUE!?!?
DO YOU BELIEVE THAT IT COULD NEVER HAPPEN!??
ER UM...IT DID BEFORE - IN NYC, AND IT ALMOST WORKED BECAUSE AT FIRST THEY TRIED TO BLAME THE RIGHT:Authorities say a New York City cab driver is recovering after being brutally stabbed by a passenger who first demanded, "Are you Muslim?"ONLY ENRIGHT TURNED OUT TO BE A LEFTIST IN FAVOR OF THE GROUND ZERO MOSQUE.
The attacks occurred as New York is in the midst of a contentious debate over plans to build an Islamic community center and mosque a few blocks from the site of the former World Trade Center.
"I think this clearly demonstrates that hate speech often leads to hate crime when you have the constant vilification of Islam and Muslims on talk radio, in newspapers, on cable news and on the Internet," Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told AOL News.
Police said Ahmed Sharif, 43, of the borough of Queens was driving his taxi on Manhattan's East Side Monday night when he was hailed by a pedestrian on the street. Roughly one block from his destination, the passenger, identified as 21-year-old Michael Enright, of Brewster in upstate New York, allegedly asked Sharif, "Are you Muslim?" When Sharif said yes, Enright pulled out a knife and slashed Sharif in the neck, face and shoulders, police said.
Despite his injuries, Sharif was able to lock the attacker in the back of the cab and call for help. The suspect managed to get out of the vehicle, but police quickly located him and took him into custody.
MORE FROM POLITICO AT THE TIME:I think there's a good chance that Breivik will turn out to be another Enright.The apparent anti-Muslim assault on a New York city cabbie by a man shouting “Assalamu Alaikum. Consider this a checkpoint" produced an immediate round of recriminations over its connection to opposition to a New York Islamic Center and an apparent rising tide of Islamophobia.
But as often at the intersection of politics and violent crime, the story doesn't appear to fit any easy stereotype: The alleged assailant, Michael Enright, is — according to his Facebook profile and the website of the left-leaning media organization Intersections International — a student at the School of Visual Arts and a volunteer for Intersections, which recently produced a statement of support for the Park51 project and is funded by the mainstream, liberal Collegiate Church of New York.
Stay tuned.
... there is a specific jihadist connection here:Update#5: THEY WANTED TO KILL MORE: UNDETONATED EXPLOSIVES FOUND
“Just nine days ago, Norwegian authorities filed charges against Mullah Krekar, an infamous al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist who, with help from Osama bin Laden, founded Ansar al Islam – a branch of al Qaeda in northern Iraq – in late 2001.”
This is a sobering reminder for those who think it’s too expensive to wage a war against jihadists.
I spoke to Gary Schmitt of the American Enterprise Institute, who has been critical of proposed cuts in defense and of President Obama’s Afghanistan withdrawal plan.
“There has been a lot of talk over the past few months on how we’ve got al-Qaeda on the run and, compared with what it once was, it’s become a rump organization. But as the attack in Oslo reminds us, there are plenty of al-Qaeda allies still operating. No doubt cutting the head off a snake is important; the problem is, we’re dealing with global nest of snakes.”
A terror group, Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami, or the Helpers of the Global Jihad, issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, according to Will McCants, a terrorism analyst at C.N.A., a research institute that studies terrorism. The message said the attack was a response to Norwegian forces’ presence in Afghanistan and to unspecified insults to the Prophet Muhammad. “We have warned since the Stockholm raid of more operations,” the group said, according to Mr. McCants’ translation, apparently referring to a bombing in Sweden in December 2010. “What you see is only the beginning, and there is more to come.” The claim could not be confirmed.UPDATE: 7 DEAD; BLAST FOLLOWED BY SHOOTING ATTACK NORTH OF OSLO
A large explosion shook central Oslo on Friday and blew out the windows of several government buildings, including one housing the office of the Norwegian prime minister, according to local media reports. There were initial reports of several injuries.Initial media reports described a chaotic scene as police cleared the area around the building and were searching for additional explosives, according to the daily Aftenposten. Photos and television footage showed a 17-story building with windows blown out and the surrounding street strewn with glass and debris.
The sound of the blast echoed across the city just before 3:30 local time, and a giant cloud of white smoke continued to rise hundreds of feet into the air over the city as a fire burned in one of the buildings. Reuters said the fire was in the building housing the country’s oil ministry.
Norwegian media reported that the prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, was safe.
The cause of explosion was not immediately clear, but a Reuters reporter described seeing the mangled wreckage of a car near one of the buildings.
While Norway has seen little political violence in recent years, the country has a small fighting contingent in Afghanistan and was one of several countries cited by Ayman al-Zawahri, the Al Qaeda leader, as potential targets for attack. In 2006, Norwegian newspapers reprinted Danish cartoons that angered Muslims by lampooning the Prophet Muhammad.
Three Norwegian men were arrested in July 2010 on suspicion of terrorism and were said to be a terrorist “node” in a larger global network, American counterterrorism officials said at the time.
Drawn and Quarterly's Editor-In-Chief and Publisher Chris Oliveros announced today that his company has acquired world English rights to Jerusalem: Chronicles From The Holy City, a graphic novel memoir from Guy Delisle. The book details the day to day life in Israel within the context of the conflicts that rock the area, based on the year the acclaimed cartoonist spent with his family in East Jerusalem.And in what company? And what accompanying religion? Here's the part signaling where his bias comes in:
Says Oliveros: "Jerusalem: Chronicles From The Holy City powerfully captures the conflict of the Gaza War, a three-week long military strike that resulted in over 1000 Palestinian deaths, while also showcasing olive gardens, check points and the architecture of the region. There has never been a book like it and it will surely become a handbook on the region much like Guy's Pyongyang is for North Korea."And which olive gardens would those be too? More importantly though, we see that there's no mention of Israeli side, whether it be people who suffered traumas from the rocket attacks the Hamas fired then (note that Operation Cast Lead isn't mentioned clearly as the name from the time either), or even any Jewish casualties. And according to Jewish Virtual Library:
On Saturday, December 27, 2008, the Israel Defense Forces launched an airstrike against Hamas terrorist cells in the Gaza Strip. Since the beginning of the operation, Palestinian sources claim, approximately nine-hundred Gazans were killed - most of whom were Hamas militant forces. Israel military officials state that over 500 Hamas gunmen have been killed in Operation Cast Lead's ground incursion.Will any of this info turn up in Delisle's graphic novel? I've got a sad feeling it won't. See also this Haaretz article from 2009 telling how Hamas admitted around 700 of its own terrorists were killed, and deservedly. And as Israel Matzav notes, the vast majority were terrorists, NOT civilians.
Background
Israel's Operation Cast Lead comes after three years of suffering thousands of daily Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel's southern cities.
Since the start of the operation, Hamas has increased their number of attacks and has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel. Hamas is firing an average of 80 rockets into Israel each day. Rockets were fired into Ashdod and Ashkelon and, for the first time, Grad rockets have been hitting Beersheba. It is clear that Hamas widened their rocket range in response to the incursion in Gaza.
Due to Hamas's endless and widespread barrage of rockets on Israeli towns, the IDF Home Front Command has expanded their security precautions to all towns within a 19- mile radius of Gaza.
Schools in Ashdod, Ashkelon, Beersheba and other southern cities are closed as Hamas continues purposely firing rockets into civilian centers including multiple kindergartens in all major cities. Since the Israeli airstrike began, four Israelis have been killed and over 176 were wounded while hundreds are being treated for shock. Israel's southern citizens have been forced to move into bomb shelters as their community's schools, buildings and roads are destroyed in front of their eyes.
In two weeks, Hamas has fired 500 rockets into Israel's southern cities. Many of these have been the more deadly Grad katyusha rockets. On January 6 a three-month old girl was wounded from a Grad rocket that was fired into Gedara. On January 8 four people were wounded as a mortar shells were fired at the Eshkol region.
Before 9/11, this cowboy president of ours had made it absolutely clear that he was planning on keeping his hands off of not just Iraq, but really every other country on the planet. Remember the whole “no nation building” thing? Back then, he was criticized as being too isolationist by the same people now convinced he’s out to conquer the world. What, then, prompted Islamist terrorists from atomizing 3,000 people that day? Bush’s interventist approach toward Texas?But then:
And as Christopher Hitchens points out, one of the synagogues devastated last Saturday had already been the site of a terrorist attack, back when Reagan and Thatcher were in charge of the US and UK and Saddam was our friend. Unless those terrorists were time travellers, it’s difficult to understand how their actions were caused by the regime change policy.Say what? Since when was that awful monster who's thankfully gone now our "friend"? Not only does that veer towards moral equations, it also reeks of "smear by association".
The fourth thing Sacco does well is portraiture. This book is just as much a Beard Parade (and Mustache Parade, and Grumpy Little Kid Parade, and Wrinkled Old Lady Parade) as R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis Illustrated, and there’s just as much care and attention put into differentiating each from the other. (The exception are the Israeli soldiers in the flashback sequences; they have a uniform build, the shadow of their pith helmets rendering them eyeless and inscrutable. Only the notably monstrous or humane gain individualization.) But even still there are standouts. Take Sacco’s frequent interview subject and companion Khaled: A Palestinian guerrilla marked for death by the IDF and constantly moving from place to place, he nonetheless has a Cheshire Cat serenity in his heavy-lidded face. We frequently see him in repose, including one sequence where he lies immobile in bed, staring directly at the reader as he speaks of his utter exhaustion with his life on the run.So on the one hand, the Israeli soldiers are depicted as villains via shadowy illustration, and on the other, either Sacco or Collins or both are referencing the "palestinian" as a guerrilla instead of terrorist or even enemy soldier, and using a tactic to get the audience's sympathy. What a very bad aftertaste.
...foods that contributed to the greatest weight gain were not surprising. French fries led the list: Increased consumption of this food alone was linked to an average weight gain of 3.4 pounds in each four-year period. Other important contributors were potato chips (1.7 pounds), sugar-sweetened drinks (1 pound), red meats and processed meats (0.95 and 0.93 pound, respectively), other forms of potatoes (0.57 pound), sweets and desserts (0.41 pound), refined grains (0.39 pound), other fried foods (0.32 pound), 100-percent fruit juice (0.31 pound) and butter (0.3 pound).I WILL TRY THIS FOR A MONTH OR TWO AND LET YOU KNOW HOW IT WORKS - BUT I AM SKEPTICAL.
Also not too surprising were most of the foods that resulted in weight loss or no gain when consumed in greater amounts during the study: fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Compared with those who gained the most weight, participants in the Nurses’ Health Study who lost weight consumed 3.1 more servings of vegetables each day.
But contrary to what many people believe, an increased intake of dairy products, whether low-fat (milk) or full-fat (milk and cheese), had a neutral effect on weight.
For 10 weeks, Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate one of these sugary cakelets every three hours, instead of meals. To add variety in his steady stream of Hostess and Little Debbie snacks, Haub munched on Doritos chips, sugary cereals and Oreos, too.
His premise: That in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most -- not the nutritional value of the food.
The premise held up: On his "convenience store diet," he shed 27 pounds in two months.
For a class project, Haub limited himself to less than 1,800 calories a day. A man of Haub's pre-dieting size usually consumes about 2,600 calories daily. So he followed a basic principle of weight loss: He consumed significantly fewer calories than he burned.
His body mass index went from 28.8, considered overweight, to 24.9, which is normal. He now weighs 174 pounds.
But you might expect other indicators of health would have suffered. Not so.
Haub's "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his "good" cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20 percent. He reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent.
"That's where the head scratching comes," Haub said. "What does that mean? Does that mean I'm healthier? Or does it mean how we define health from a biology standpoint, that we're missing something?"
Despite his temporary success, Haub does not recommend replicating his snack-centric diet.
Haub's sample dayEspresso, Double: 6 calories; 0 grams of fat
Hostess Twinkies Golden Sponge Cake: 150 calories; 5 grams of fat
Centrum Advanced Formula From A To Zinc: 0 calories; 0 grams of fat
Little Debbie Star Crunch: 150 calories; 6 grams of fat
Hostess Twinkies Golden Sponge Cake: 150 calories; 5 grams of fat
Diet Mountain Dew: 0 calories; 0 grams of fat
Doritos Cool Ranch: 75 calories; 4 grams of fat
Kellogg's Corn Pops: 220 calories; 0 grams of fat
whole milk: 150 calories; 8 grams of fat
baby carrots: 18 calories; 0 grams of fat
Duncan Hines Family Style Brownie Chewy Fudge: 270 calories; 14 grams of fat
Little Debbie Zebra Cake: 160 calories; 8 grams of fat
Muscle Milk Protein Shake: 240 calories; 9 grams of fat
Totals: 1,589 calories and 59 grams of fat
the DHS’ own internal documents list predominantly white conservative groups as the most likely terrorists, such as Ron Paul supporters, gun owners, gold bullion enthusiasts, and a myriad of other comparatively banal political interests that are largely the domain of white middle class Americans.THIS INSANITY IS JUST LIKE HOW OBAMA'S STATE DEPARTMENT HAD PUT ISRAEL ON THE TERROR LIST.
Though the screenplay is safely set in 1943 -- when the country was united against Hitler's Germany after years of debate, thanks to Pearl Harbor -- the film takes great pains to point out that the villain (played by Hugo Weaving) is a rogue scientist whose methods are considered too extreme even by the man who ordered the execution of eight million people.What?!? Oh, this is just great. When it comes to a movie like this, I wanted to hope it would be done properly in terms of historical allusions and common sense, if anything. Now they're giving me reason to feel very uncomfy about the screenplay and wonder if this too is another victim of political correctness of the most grimy sort.
Not only is the Holocaust nowhere hinted at in this comic-book version of history (something the similarly fantastic "Raiders of the Lost Ark,'' set in 1936, managed to do) Stanley Tucci's German refugee scientist is given a speech rationalizing the German people's embrace of Hitler. [...]
Suspicions that Marvel may be going to ridiculous lengths to avoid offending the German market are sort of confirmed in the press notes.
The Federal Election Commission says former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards’ 2008 presidential campaign should repay the treasury $2.3 million.
The commission on Thursday decided to order the repayment. Federal auditors said all but about $200,000 of the total came from federal matching funds the Edwards campaign received.
The campaign got nearly $13 million in matching funds. Edwards dropped out of the race Jan. 30, 2008. Federal auditors said the campaign understated its cash and overstated its expenses.
... Originally, the government committed a total of $12.5 billion to the struggling automaker, Old Chrysler, and the company’s newly formed Chrysler Group. Of those funds, $11.2 billion have been returned through principal repayments, interest and cancelled commitments, the Treasury said. The new Chrysler Group paid back $5.1 billion in loans in May.Even though that means $1.3 billion will not be recovered from the bankrupt Old Chrysler, the Treasury called it a “major accomplishment.” …
Only in the age of Obama is losing more than a billion bucks considered a “major accomplishment.”
IF THIS MONEY WAS COMING OUT OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY COFFERS - OR GE'S - THEN ALL HELL WOULD BREAK LOOSE.
BUT SINCE IT'S ONLY TAXPAYER MONEY, THE LEFT COULDN'T GIVE A CRAP.
Here in one of the poorest countries in the world, abortion is illegal and UNICEF estimates only 8 percent of Malian women use contraception.THE LACK OF CONTRACEPTION AND WEALTH ISN'T THE PROBLEM: THEY LACK MORALITY.
Infanticide or attempted infanticide has become the most common crime after theft and assault among inmates at the prison for women and girls in this West African capital.
Earlier this month officials said 25 out of the 122 female prisoners were being held for killing or attempting to kill their children.
With Zawahiri at the helm, Al Qaeda (AQ) continues to churn out propaganda of all kinds, but this most recent addition is unusual in that its main audience appears to be the very young. Get ready for Jihad cartoons.This is truly abominable. Not only is al Qaeda still around, they're exploiting and shaming the medium for indoctrination for jihad.
These screen capture photos are a first glimpse of an Al Qaeda created comic book that are scheduled for release soon. SITE Intelligence Group reported that on July 17, an AQ member in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) member posted about the upcoming cartoons in a Jihadist forum. [...]
The posting in the Jihadist forum indicated that the comic will be officially sanctioned by AQAP at the highest level. It appeared that the poster planned to go through the AQ hierarchy before releasing the comic, probably to enhance its credentials among the young Jihadist community and thus appeal more to its intended audience.
Applications for unemployment benefits rose by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 418,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, dipped to 421,250OBAMANOMICS IS DESTROYING OUR ECONOMY.
Applications have topped 400,000 for 15 straight weeks, a sign of sluggish hiring. Applications had fallen in February to 375,000, a level that signals healthy job growth. They stayed below 400,000 for two months. But applications surged to an eight-month high of 478,000 in April and have declined slowly since then.
The agreement will be presented to the other leaders of the 17 member euro zone at the meeting Thursday afternoon, after a week of market turbulence in which borrowing costs spiked in Italy and Spain.THE LAST MINUTE MEETING TOOK 7 HOURS!
Many see the meeting as a moment of truth, particularly for Mrs. Merkel, whose caution has been blamed by some for the region’s failure to stem the crisis.
“Nobody should be under any illusion: the situation is very serious,” José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, said earlier in the day. “It requires a response. Otherwise the negative consequences will be felt in all corners of Europe and beyond.”
The commission was arguing for a plan that would have private creditors swap Greek bonds that mature before 2019 for new 30-year bonds, thereby prompting a selective default, according to an official briefed on the negotiations who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The terms of the plan would imply a 20 percent reduction in the value of Greek bonds, the official said, a change that would raise tens of billions of euros to be directed to support the Greek bailout.In addition, the other countries in the euro area and the International Monetary Fund would contribute 71 billion euros, or $100 billion, to the rescue plan, up to 2014.
We've been "gifted" with a health care plan we are forced to purchase and fined if we don't, which purportedly covers at least ten million more people, without adding a single new doctor, but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents.
It was written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that didn't read it but exempted themselves from it, and signed by a President who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, for which we'll be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect, by a government which has already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that's broke.
'What could go wrong?'
Companies have long used criminal background checks, credit reports and even searches on Google and LinkedIn to probe the previous lives of prospective employees. Now, some companies are requiring job candidates to also pass a social media background check.IF YOUR VIEWS AREN'T PC, THEN YOU WON'T GET A JOB.
“All we assemble is what is publicly available on the Internet today," said Max Drucker, chief executive of Social Intelligence, which reviews the online activity of companies' job applicants.
A year-old start-up, Social Intelligence, scrapes the Internet for everything prospective employees may have said or done online in the past seven years.
Then it assembles a dossier with examples of professional honors and charitable work, along with negative information that meets specific criteria: online evidence of racist remarks; references to drugs; sexually explicit photos, text messages or videos; flagrant displays of weapons or bombs and clearly identifiable violent activity.
“We are not detectives,” said Max Drucker, chief executive of the company, which is based in Santa Barbara, Calif. “All we assemble is what is publicly available on the Internet today.”
The Federal Trade Commission, after initially raising concerns last fall about Social Intelligence’s business, determined the company is in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, but the service still alarms privacy advocates who say that it invites employers to look at information that may not be relevant to job performance.
