Take Your Pick of Lies about Ozone, Methane or Mercury

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Is it surprising that the Environmental Protection Agency continues to tell big fat lies about anything it wants to ban, but is reluctant to show the “science” on which the bans are based?

There is currently a piece of legislation under consideration by Congress, the Secret Science Reform Act, to force the EPA to disclose its scientific and technical information before proposing or finalizing any regulation.

This is what Nicolas Loris of The Heritage Foundation had to say regarding the mercury air and toxics rule that the EPA claims would produce $53 billion to $140 billion in annual health and environmental benefits. “The two studies that represent the scientific foundation for 1997 ozone and PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards are highly questionable and the data concealed, even though the studies were paid for by federal taxpayers and thus should be public property.”

In addition to claims about carbon dioxide as a dreaded “greenhouse” gas, methane is also getting the attention of those opposed to “fracking”, a technique that has provided access to both natural gas and oil. James M. Taylor, a Senior Fellow with The Heartland Institute, a free market think tank, noted in January that “Natural gas has high methane content, but the methane is converted to energy when natural gas is burnt.” Citing U.S. Energy Information Administration data, Taylor noted “The ongoing decline in methane emissions supplements ongoing declines in U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.” Since 2000 both are down between 6% AND 9%.

The EPA is forever claiming billions in “health benefits” that result from their regulations. The public never gets to see the data on which such claims are based. The regulations, however, cost billions.

The day before Thanksgiving, the EPA announced that it intends to propose an updated national standard for ground-level ozone, otherwise known as smog, based in part on the enforcement of rules concerning mercury. The previous day, the Supreme Court said it would review the agency’s standards requiring reductions of mercury emissions and other elements the EPA regards as toxic air pollution.

To put all this in perspective, in August CNS News’ Penny Starr reported on a study by the National Association of Manufacturers regarding the EPA’s proposed regulation of ozone. It found that “it could be the costliest federal rule by reducing the Gross National Product by $270 billion per year and $3.4 trillion from 2017 to 2040, and adds $3.3 trillion in compliance costs for the same period.” NAM president, Jay Timmons, said “The regulation has the capacity to stop the manufacturing comeback in its tracks.”

Concurrently with NAM, the American Petroleum Institute released an analysis of the NAM study that said “The nation’s air quality has improved over the past several years, and ozone emissions will continue to decline without new regulations.” NAM’s vice president of energy and resources policy, Ross Eisenberg, said, “We are rapidly approaching a point where we are requiring manufacturers to do the impossible.”

That, however, is exactly what the ozone regulation is intended to do. This has nothing to do with health and everything to do with destroying the nation’s power producers and manufacturers, reducing vital electrical energy, and forcing factories of every description to close.

At the upper levels of the atmosphere, the stratosphere, ozone is essential to the survival of life on Earth because ozone filters harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight. Otherwise the radiation would damage both plant and animal life. The reason you get sunburned is that too much UV radiation has caused it. Like everything else in nature, too much or too little determines the harm or benefit it provides, but that too is largely determined by nature.

Ozone is a form of elemental oxygen, but it’s not something you want to breathe. As Wikipedia notes, “It is not emitted directly by car engines or by industrial operations, but formed by the reaction of sunlight on air containing hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides that react to form ozone directly at the source of the pollution or many kilometers down wind.” The initial mandate of the EPA to clean the air and water has been achieved. That is why smog is relatively rare nationwide. Further regulation is regressive.

As for mercury, in 2011 the EPA issued 946 pages of new rules requiring U.S. power plants to sharply reduce their emissions of mercury even though they were already quite low. As with the proposed ozone rules, the EPA claimed that they would cost $10.9 billion annually to implement, but would save 17,000 lives while generating $140 billion in health benefits. This is all just hogwash. Such figures are just plucked out of the air or, worse, based on “science” the public paid for but is not allowed to see!

Does anybody find it bizarre that, while the EPA is trying to remove the tiniest amounts of mercury in the environment, in 2011 Congress passed a law eliminate the incandescent light bulb and required their replacement by fluorescent lights that contain mercury?

As Willie Soon and Paul Driessen wrote in a 2011 Wall Street Journal commentary, “Mercury has always existed naturally in Earth’s environment. Mercury is found in air, water, rocks, soil and trees, which absorb it from the environment.” They noted that “Since our power plants account for less than 0.5% of all the mercury in the air we breathe, eliminating every milligram of it will do nothing about the other 99.5% in our atmosphere.”

The fundamental EPA lies about ozone and mercury involve the issue of toxicity. Since both are a natural part of the Earth, and since the Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and since life expectancy has been increasing dramatically in recent decades, the likelihood that either represents a threat requiring the expenditure of billions to reduce tiny amounts of their emissions is based on environmental ideology, not on science.

Even if it was based on alleged science we would, as noted, not be allowed to see the data. If this reminds you of the way ObamaCare was foisted on “the stupid voters”, you’re right. The EPA hopes you are stupid enough not to realize that it is engaged in the destruction of the economy.

Editor’s Note: Help Dr. Jeremy W. Grabbe of SUNY Plattsburgh at Queensbury by participating in his survey about climate change. Go to www.surveymonkey.com/s/WHLF7XS and take a minute to answer the questions.

© Alan Caruba, 2015

Despite the Horror, Syrian and Iraqi Christian Refugee Children (And Their Parents) Experience Christmas

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Florida based Love-Link Ministries partnered with Christmas for Refugees to bring Christmas to the refugee-riddled Middle East. Rev. Bob Armstrong joined William J. Murray in bringing true joy to the war-ravaged lands. Bill is the author of seven books including his bestselling autobiography, “My Life Without God,” which detailed his childhood in the dysfunctional home of atheist/Marxist leader Madalyn Murray O’Hair. I have been on his board for three decades.

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Rev. Bob with Syrian refugee children.

I have ministered in 45 countries, but nothing really prepared me for how great the need truly is, and how we (and your giving and prayers) had such a tremendous impact upon Middle East refugees. Several thousand Syrian and Iraqi Christian refugee children (and their parents) were given a genuine Christmas this year, in spite of their horrific circumstances.

Instead of spending money on renting event banquet halls, local churches were utilized for free. Plus, the local pastor obviously knew most of the precise, devastating situations and most of the refugees, as well as the dramatic needs of each family.

In Lebanon, in the city of Zahle near the Bekaa Valley, close to the Syrian border, the True Vine Church helped in this monumental effort to reach refugee children. The host pastor’s name — yes, his birth name – is Pastor Jihad!!!! You read that right! He has been to the United States several times before 9-11, but after 9-11, he was denied for five years simply because of his name! I understand why. What a terrific pastor!

Parents of the refugee children, having suffered so much when forced to flee their homeland in Syria to Lebanon by ISIL warriors, also participated in their own service while their children enjoyed a sumptuous meal in their own culture. BEFORE any child or adult received a meal or any food bags, the Christmas Gospel was taught to them. Many were Muslims. To hear Muslim children singing at the top of their lungs how Bethlehem was the place of the birth of the Savior of the world was absolutely breath-taking!!

Isam Ghattas and William Murray

Isam Ghattas and William J. Murray oversee the Christmas event for refugees.

Multiplied thousands of displaced Iraqi Christian refugees have recently come to Jordan because of the July, 2014 takeover of the city of Mosul by Islamic State Sunni fighters that was so heavily reported in the media. Most escaped with just the clothes on their backs. Islamic State Sunni fighters took their homes and gave them a choice: “Renounce your faith, leave or die.”

Many Christians chose to flee for their lives. One 72-year-old man, living in the basement of a Jordanian church, described his situation: “In one moment, I lived in a comfortable home with 1,800 square feet; and now I exist with my entire family in only 180 square feet!” (See the picture of me with him below)

To many, this might have been the very best Christmas these refugees have ever experienced, in spite of their urban plight. Many were forced from their mostly comfortable homes in Iraq.

We supplied Christmas dinner, the Christmas story, Christmas carols, a bag of candy, an entire week’s worth of food for an entire family (called a “Joy Bag”), and prayer the week before Christmas to those needy Christian refugees. Over 300 children and their parents received this humanitarian Christian program the week before Christmas at just one event held at the Orthodox Church. In all, over 1,000 refuge children in Jordan will be reached during the Christmas season.

Bible Society of Jordan participated as well by giving each family an adult Bible, a children’s picture Bible and children’s coloring and activity books with stories from the Old and New Testaments.

Even Santa Claus and Winnie the Pooh visited the new St. Ephrem Orthodox Church in Amman (headed by Priest Emmanuel) to give out bags of candy to the delight of the refugee children.

The United States’ media does not give the entire picture of what is happening in the Middle East. We are experiencing the worst refugee crisis since World War Two. As reported two weeks ago on CBS 60 Minutes, nearly two million Syrian refugees have crossed over into Lebanon and now make up one-fourth of that nation’s entire population. The population of Beirut has doubled just in the last three years!

Refugees with their Joy Bags

Refugees with their Joy Bags.

Bill Murray and I had just entered Jordan from a few days in doing the same with Syrian refugees in Lebanon. We traveled extremely close to ISIL, or Islamic State (IS) -controlled enclaves to help develop relief to those who suffer.

I was within a football-field length from ISIL warriors and fighters!! In northeast Lebanon there is a place called “Private Tent City,” as opposed to the United Nations tent cities provided for some refugees. This “private” place charges money and at this one area, serves as a place for IS fighters to “regroup” in the winter months! Obviously, no pictures. No police go in there; no Lebanese army never enters the “private tent city.”

ISIL has kidnapped 26 Lebanese Army soldiers. ISIL has contacted the relatives of these kidnapped soldiers and has threatened them that if they do not blockade the main highway running north and south in Lebanon, their relative will be beheaded! So we had to drive around a couple of blockades. War is hell!

One of my very best friends, Bill Murray, the Christmas for Refugees founder, stressed: “Our main thrust is to assist Christian refugee children and their families. But if Muslim parents’ consent that their children can receive the Christmas message at the dinners, that is a part of the mission given us by the Lord. We doubled the amount of what we did last year at Christmas. We hope to double it again next year!”

Jordan’s Manara Ministries’ Isam Ghattas, our local Jordanian coordinator, urged: “No one can conceive how great the need really is. These refugees are creating a humanitarian crisis.” Our evangelical relief and development agency met many needs. The popular Ghattas was overwhelmed by grateful parents and children. One can tell from the smile on Isam’s face that the years of he constantly helping people is extremely rewarding to him personally. The exact same with Armstrong and Murray.

Most Iraqi refugees in Jordan fled their homeland with almost nothing. In one church basement (a church near Amman; no name mentioned for security reasons), 56 refugees live in 12 – 10’ x 10’ cubicles. Some are being moved to “trailer homes”. Forget the “double-wides,” these supposed “homes” are about one-third of a regular mobile home. Refugees use a different trailer for communal cooking for 20 families. Over 95% of Iraqi Christian refugees cannot get employment.

Most are considered “in transit” to permanent residence in another country that will take refugees. However, for most, that dream will always remain a dream.

We met with some leading pastors of the Assyrian and Chaldean churches, who also participated in the feeding programs. Here was the tragedy: looking into the “pleading” eyes of that Chaldean priest who showed the list of over 800 children he had registered for the meals. Unfortunately, the original budget was for only 100 meals. The priest had to make the tough decisions.

Refugee kids enjoy their Christmas dinner

Refugee kids enjoy their Christmas dinner.

It is my prayer that next year, everyone who wants, will be fed and blessed. Fortunately, the program was able to increase the number to 200 children, all newly arrived Iraqi children from Mosul, at that church. We are actively exploring ways to expand this worthy outreach into Iraq itself and even Egypt.

Despite deplorable conditions and an extremely bleak future, the laughter of the children could be heard and the ear-to-ear smiles could be seen at distribution points in Jordan and Lebanon, as they experienced a true “Christmas to remember” especially in a very unfamiliar place.
Grateful refugee parents shed tears of joy at seeing the children being able to have a Christmas time despite the horrid situation they find themselves in currently.

The Christmas program events presented in both Lebanon and Jordan were truly non-denominational. Christmas events were held at evangelical, Orthodox and Catholic churches. The Christmas for Refugee program was accepted by and cooperation received from churches of all faiths in both nations.

In the face of the disgraceful refugee crisis this Christmas there was a positive outcome due to the generosity of many people. Multiplied thousands of refugee families greatly benefited, and were blessed, because of this successful program.

Again, my gratitude to those who made a financial investment into this worthy cause. Most importantly, thank you for your continued prayers for safety. Obviously, I am back home with Kim and Brittany for Christmas. But a part of my heart is with those dear children and parents in the Middle East.

I also want to thank MAOZ Israel for your substantial donation to this cause, where that offering shows that even Messianic Jewish Believers in Israel genuinely care about their fellowman, the Arabs.

I have already committed to next year to be a vital part of this worthy and effective outreach.

P. S. I also met personally with General Georges Sada while in Jordan. He was head of Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Air Force. As a strong Christian, (the only one of over 120 of Saddam’s Cabinet) he later headed the Evangelical Christians in Iraq. He was also my host in Iraq years ago. It was a great reunion. We are exploring ways to reach more Iraqi refugees.

Pro-Police ‘Breathe Easy, Don’t Break the Law’ t-shirt goes viral

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Indiana Police Officer Jason Barthel created the ‘Breathe Easy, Don’t Break the Law’ t-shirt allowing citizens across America to show support for their law enforcement officers.

The Daily Signal’s Philip Wegmann reports:

One small business is booming as the debate rages over police shootings.

With a T-shirt, police officer Jason Barthel ignited a national controversy. Ten days before Christmas, the owner of South Bend Uniform Co. debuted T-shirts emblazoned with this controversial message: “Breathe Easy, Don’t Break the Law.”

Barthel twisted the rallying cry of a national protest sweeping the country. Since early December, numerous NBA and NCAA basketball teams have sported “I Can’t Breathe” warm-up jerseys commemorating the last words of Eric Garner and protesting his untimely death.

Frustrated that this apparel “made it seem as if there were a lot of people thumbing their nose at the police,” Barthel told The Daily Signal that he fashioned his own T-shirts as “a retort to the ‘I Can’t Breathe’ movement.”

“Up until that point, nobody from our side of the world—the police world—had really said anything on our behalf,” Barthel said.

Barthel, a 13-year veteran of the Mishawaka Police Department, wants to fill that void.

“From the perspective of a policeman,” the clothing communicates that “we’re here for you, and we won’t have any problems with you if you’re not breaking the law.

[ … ]

Some members of the community aren’t convinced.

In an open letter, a coalition of community leaders condemned a product they believe “damages the goal of unity and further divides our community.”

Joined by the local president of the NAACP, Rev. Terrell Jackson, three members of the South Bend City Council urged Barthel to “discontinue sales.”

This is more than an idle threat considering that, according to a report by the Star Tribune, public records show that the city of South Bend made purchases of more than $64,700 from Barthel’s company in 2013 alone.

Read more.

Reader’s may order a Breathe Easy, Don’t Break the Law t-shirt by clicking here.

New issue of al-Qaeda magazine devoted to “jihad in America”

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Trying to “strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah” (Qur’an 8:60).

“New issue of jihadist magazine produced by al-Qaeda in Yemen suggests attacks on U.S.,” by Karen DeYoung, Washington Post, December 24, 2014 (thanks to Block Ness):

A new issue of Inspire, the English-language online magazine produced by al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen, is devoted to “jihad on America” and suggests targeting major American figures as well as Western commercial airliners, according to a report Wednesday by SITE Intelligence Group.

The issue is the 13th since Inspire was first published online in 2010. Its founder, Samir Zafar Khan, was born in Saudi Arabia to Pakistani parents but grew up in New York state.

Khan, a blogger on jihadist themes who was well-known to U.S. intelligence, is believed to have traveled to Yemen and joined al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, the year before the magazine’s debut issue.

Khan, an American citizen, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011, along with Anwar al-Awlaki, also an American, whom President Obama described as AQAP’s “operational commander.”

The most infamous article published by Inspire, a Khan-authored instructional guide titled“How [sic] to Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of your Mom,” was used by the Boston Marathon bombers in a pressure-cooker explosive they planted in their April 2013 attack, according to prosecutors in the case.

The cover of the new Inspire issue is of a commercial airliner whose undercarriage is being blown up. According to the SITE report, the magazine states that it is “committed to arm Muslim individuals — as well as Muslim groups.”…

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Young Jewish Activist called “Brain Dead” by CNN News official for questioning their Anti-Israel Bias

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Hayley Nagelberg is a 17 year old Jewish activist who hails from New Jersey. Last week, she attended the 64th International Conference of United Synagogue Youth of the Conservative Movement held  in Atlanta, GA. She was there with 700 teen age members who came from congregations all over North America. Atlanta also happens to be the headquarters location of CNN which is next door to the conference Omni hotel site. On the morning of December 22, 2014, she and a group of USY attendees had a seminar on the Jewish doctrine of “love you neighbor as yourself”. She endeavored to apply this teaching in an encounter that followed  with Richard Davis, the long term Executive Vice President of News Standards and Practices at CNN and Etan Horowitz, CNN’s Mobile Editor. Unfortunately, during an exchange with Davis he accused her of being ‘brain dead”. Why? Because spunky Nagelberg had the chutzpah to call Davis to account for their reportage of the November 18, 2014 Har Nof  Jerusalem synagogue murders of American Israeli Rabbis Moshe Twersky (ז״ל), Calman Levine (ז״ל), and Aryeh Kopinsky (ז״ל), British Israeli Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg (ז״ל) and Druze first responder Zidan Saif (ז״ל) . They were  killed by  Palestinian  cousins Abed Abu Jamal and Ghassan Muhammad Abu Jama in an act of butchery  armed with meat cleavers, axes and a gun.

Nagelberg wrote about the encounter with CNN news officials in a Times of Israel blog post, “Today I Was Asked By CNN If I Am Brain Dead”.  The trigger for her questions to CNN’s Davis had to do with the cognitive disconnect in their headlines for the Har Nof barbaric attack that many of us caught in the initial CNN news that broke  on November 17, 2014. Nagelberg wrote:

The first headline I witnessed from CNN read “Two Palestinians Killed”; the next said “Four Israelis Two Palestinians Killed”; and later, the story would also read that this attack took place in a mosque.

She spoke of her disdain given what Davis told her and colleagues in the Omni conference room:

Davis told me and my peers and staff that it is up to us, and everyone else, as consumers to check other news sources if we think we may want more information. He said, “You can’t be in the news business and also be a babysitter to the people that only read the first paragraph”. I was confused. Isn’t it a news organization’s job to provide the facts? While an educated reader should always check a variety of news sources for different presentations, one should expect a leading news distributor to get the basic story right. And in a day and age where most people only read headlines, or maybe the first few lines or paragraphs if you’re lucky, shouldn’t CNN make sure that all salient and truthful information can be found there?

Davis then doubled down on the lack of journalistic ethics with his cavalier explanation:

Davis’ explanations for the aforementioned, horribly misleading and false headlines boiled down to human error. In an attempt to explain CNN’s headlines, which did not account for the terrorist actions or reasons these people were killed, Davis said that these headlines only surfaced for minutes before being taken down. However, he said, because of the world we live in, someone took a screenshot and circulated those headlines and spread them around the world. This, Davis said, was not CNN’s fault. To expound on how the words “mosque” and “synagogue” could have been swapped, Davis gave an even more infuriating response. Apparently, in the room where the headlines were written, there was some conversation taking place regarding a mosque in Damascus. “Haven’t you ever written something you heard instead of what you meant to write?” he asked.

She and her USY colleagues became increasingly aware that Davis was expressing anti-Israel bias, noting:

Davis explained to those of us who were still listening that we simply have opinions about Israel. And, he went on, when one person has an opinion about anything, a news report may seem wrong to that person. However, to everyone else, it could be perfectly right. I know I was not alone in feeling that his justification of CNN’s misleading reporting was a farce. Moreover, we were distraught about his implication that so many news sources have anti-Israel tendencies because Israel is in the wrong.

Not satisfied with Davis’s answers, Nagelberg approached him about the misleading CNN Har Nof headlines. After proving that she had seen them, this led to Davis’ dismissive comment:

When I managed to satisfy his questions, I wanted to know why CNN, when releasing the headlines at issue, couldn’t call it a terrorist attack. Davis explained that they would never jump to a conclusion that anything is a terrorist attack. “Okay”, I said, fully understanding the weight that the word “terrorist” carries. “But by the time it was known that it was four Israelis and two Palestinians, it was known that there were meat cleavers and stabbings involved. Why couldn’t you call it an ‘attack’?” I continued. His response? “You’ve got to be kidding me? One word? Are you brain dead?”

She concludes with this observation:

How many Israelis must be killed for the facts to be correct? How many innocent Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, or the West Bank, or within the land of Israel, must be caught up in this web of lies before their stories can be freely shared? How many mornings must I wake up in fear as I reach for my phone to scroll through countless stories, from countless news organizations, trying to get a complete picture of what happened in my homeland while I slept?   How many hashtag campaigns, angry teenagers, and nasty emails must you see before you understand that your news is not balanced, is not fair, and is not accurate?

I cannot sit back any longer and watch people like you continue to misreport the truth. In my fantasies, the answer to all of these questions is zero. The time for change is now, and if you are not prepared to be a part of the change, I ask you ‘Are you serious? Are you brain dead?’

We commend Ms. Nagelberg for her pursuit of truth in media reporting. Problem is that Davis at CNN is part of a large contingent of reporters and news editors in the mainstream media who don’t  think twice about demonizing and derogating Israel and Israelis. Israelis, as she pointed out in her blog post already had CNN’s number:

 An Israeli hip hop group (HaDag Nachash) released a song ten years ago called שירת הסטיקר (Shirat HaStikar). The song’s lyrics include the lines that appeared on bumper stickers throughout Israel, “CNN משקר” (CNN Mishaker) – “CNN lies”. I don’t think anyone could have fathomed ten years ago just how true that line would prove to be.

Kol Hakavod (outstanding) Ms. Nagelberg. Brickbats to Mr. Davis at CNN for his callous disregard for  truth in reporting.

RELATED ARTICLE: The Anatomy of a Scourge: Anti-Semitism is Back With a Vengeance

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review.

Salon: “No proof that Jesus even existed”; Muhammad’s existence “established beyond the shadow of a doubt”

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In October, Jeffrey Tayler wrote in Salon that the Qur’an “backs up jihad, suicide attacks (“martyrdom”), beheadings, even taking captive women as sex slaves.” This was singular for Salon, which usually whitewashes the truth about Islam and jihad and excoriates those who expose it as “racists” and “bigots,” but now it is clear why Tayler was able to get away with it: he is supremely hostile to Christianity. Here, he gives a characteristic Salon Christmas greeting: Jesus likely never existed, but Muhammad’s existence is well established.

“Let’s make Bill O’Reilly’s head explode: We desperately need a war on Christmas lies,” by Jeffrey Tayler, Salon, December 22, 2014 (thanks to Scott):

Some 2,000 years after the alleged event, religious scholars, despite their best efforts, have still found no proof that Jesus even existed. Although it might seem reasonable to suppose such a one as he walked the earth in the Middle East, historical records kept by the Romans (then in charge of Judea and Samaria) and contemporary chroniclers make no mention of him. The Gospels are not historical records and don’t count; they were composed decades afterward. It has even been credibly proposed that Paul and his cohorts created the savior with strokes of their quills by mythologizing history. Footnote: If you’d still like to believe in a prophet whose existence has been established beyond the shadow of a doubt, try Muhammad.

I think Tayler is somewhat overstating his case, but I welcome investigation of the existence of Christ and the reliability of the New Testament narratives. I wonder, however, if Tayler has ever seriously investigated the existence of Muhammad, even as he takes it to be “established beyond the shadow of a doubt.” In my book Did Muhammad Exist?, I show that there is serious reason to doubt that he did. These include the facts that:

1. In the contemporary accounts written by the people the Arabs conquered, the writers describe the conquerors in detail, but make no mention of their having a new prophet, a new religion, or a new holy book. This is extraordinary, since the conquests themselves were supposed to have been inspired by that holy book and prophet.

2. Those early accounts call the conquerors “Ishmaelites,” “Saracens,” “Muhajirun,” and “Hagarians,” but never “Muslims.” They don’t seem to know this word, which is likewise extraordinary, since it is supposed to be the only word the conquerors called themselves.

3. No record of Muhammad’s words or deeds appears until more than 125 years after he is supposed to have died. No record of Muhammad’s reported death in 632 appears until more than a century after that date.

4. The Arab conquerors, in their coins and inscriptions, don’t mention Islam or the Qur’an for the first six decades of their conquests. Mentions of “Muhammad” are non-specific and on at least two occasions are accompanied by a cross. The word can be used not only as a proper name but also as an honorific.

5. The Qur’an, even by the canonical Muslim account, was not distributed in its present form until the 650s, over 20 years after Muhammad is supposed to have died. Yet no contemporary account even mentions the Qur’an until the early eighth century.

6. During the reign of the caliph Muawiya (661–680), the Arabs constructed at least one public building whose inscription was headed by a cross – a symbol abhorrent to Islam.

I await Salon’s investigation of these issues! But I won’t be holding my breath. For Salon, outside of Tayler’s October piece, Islam is non-white, non-Christian, and non-Western, and hence good, while anything associated with the heritage of most Salon writers is ipso facto evil and to be condemned.

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A beautiful message for Christmas and all mankind [VIDEO]

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Every year, British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s produces a special Christmas commercial. This one is cinema-quality and particularly touching. Enjoy something uplifting for a change.

EDITORS NOTE: This video originally appeared on AllenBWest.com. The featured image is titled ‘It surely behoves us as a society to retain the first world war’s deaths with a degree of reverence.’ Photograph: Sainsbury’s/PA.

Geert Wilders’ Anti-Islamization Immigration Stand Resonates Across Europe

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Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party (PVV) in the Netherlands is being investigated for the second time in five years by Dutch prosecutors for  alleged hate speech during  his March 2014 local election campaign rally statement of “fewer Moroccans”.  This comes while his ratings in Dutch polls has rocketed him to the top with fully 30 seats in the Hague parliament, if snap elections were held.  That is more than the combined seats currently held by the ruling Rutte coalition of the PvdA and VVD parties.  Note  this remark: “The short message of PVV-leader Geert Wilders to the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte: ‘The revolution in The Netherlands has started now, Mark.”

Poll 21-12-2014

Dutch polls 12-21-14. For a larger view click on the image.

Wilders drew attention to that irony in a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) op-ed, “Talking About the Moroccan Issue is not A Crime”.  Wilders is exercising free speech, something that Americans take for granted as a right guaranteed under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.  Wilders’ message about “fewer Moroccans” reflects the social consequences of permissive mass Muslim immigration undermining the social fabric of foundational  Western values of, liberty, freedom and tolerance. In Holland’s case it is exemplified by the rejection of those values by the Dutch Moroccan émigré community that even Dutch liberal parties have begrudgingly come to recognize.

What Wilders’ PVV and other parties in EU countries deemed ‘far right” have drawn attention to is the seeds of destruction of national values from compliance with UN humanitarian refugee programs straining resources and social welfare budgets caused by Jihadist warfare in the Middle East.  That is reflected in the rallies in Dresden and throughout major cities in Germany this Christmas season by the Pegida movement (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West).

As Al Jazeera reported Pegida rallies for “the right to preserve and protect our Christian-Jewish dominated West culture”, and against parallelgesellschaft – a German term used to describe immigrant communities that maintain their cultural norms and don’t integrate in local society.”  The third mass Pegida rally of more than 17,500 occurred Monday night before the Semper Opera House in Dresden where the Pegida movement arose in October. The trigger for Pegida was the more than 200,000 Syrian refugees granted asylum by Germany. Recently, the short lived Swedish Social Democrat liberal government fell on a no confidence vote allegedly provoked by the anti-immigration Swedish Democrat party. It had forged an alliance with center right parties in Sweden’s parliament over the issue of a ballooning social welfare budget to accommodate 80,000 Syrian war asylumees.

Participants hold German national flags during a demonstration organised by anti-immigration group PEGIDA in Dresden

Pegida Rally  Semper Opera House Dresden, Germany 12-22-14. Source: Reuters.

Wilders’ WSJ op-ed reflects the Dutch unease with the policies of the ruling coalition government in the Hague  Parliament. Those concerns have  that has now cross the EU and even here in America to comply with UN humanitarian refugee standards.  The subsequent generations of Muslim émigrés in host EU countries have led to spikes in Antisemitism, Synagogue fire bombings, allegations of sexual assault and grooming of non-Muslim women, tolerance of Shariah law in so-called Muslim dominated “no go areas”, murders perpetrated in the name of Jihad against Jews and others.  The specter stalking across the EU landscape of 28 members is the threat of homegrown Jihadists as returning veterans from the barbaric Salafist Islamic State.  That threat was crystallized by the murders of Israeli tourists and workers at the Brussels Municipal Jewish Museum by returning Syrian war French jihadist Mehdi Nemmouchet.

The large Muslim émigré communities in the EU were the results of granting host country citizenship coupled with the deficit in manpower to rebuild Europe following World War II. It was also a reflection  of the Eurabia paradigm articulated by the scholar Bat Ye’or  driven by OPEC control  over the  World’s and EU’s energy needs that arose during the October War of 1973. That led to the EC and the EU ‘accommodation’ of  Organization of Islamic Cooperation demands for tolerance of Sharia Blasphemy codes  demanded  by burgeoning Muslim émigré communities under the guise of host country hate laws.

That is the wind behind Wilders’ WSJ op–ed and the sudden emergence of groups like Pegida in Germany, and anti-Mass immigration parties in Denmark, Austria and Sweden.

Geert Wilders

Hon. Geert Wilders, PVV.

Note these excerpts from Wilders’ WSJ op-ed:

In the Netherlands, as in many other Western European countries right now, problems arise when Muslim immigrants refuse to assimilate and integrate into the wider community. In our case I referred specifically to the Moroccans not because I have anything against them generally but because they are one of the largest immigrant groups here and are over represented in our crime and welfare statistics.

Moroccans are suspects in violent robberies 22 times as often as indigenous Dutch. Between 1996 and 2010, more than 60% of the Moroccan male youths born in 1984 had at least once been suspected of a crime, a rate three times as high as their indigenous counterparts. … According to Dick Schoof, the Dutch national coordinator for counterterrorism and security, Moroccans also account for three-quarters of all Dutch Muslims who leave for Syria to wage jihad.

[…]

For almost a decade, my party has proposed three measures to address this issue. First, we want an end to immigration from Muslim countries. Second, we want to expel all criminals of foreign nationality and, for those offenders who have dual nationality, deprive them of their Dutch citizenship, sending them back to the country of their other nationality. Third, we want to encourage the voluntary repatriation of non-Western immigrants.

The prosecutor’s decision can’t be seen as being anything but politically motivated, especially when he has refused to prosecute two leading politicians of the governing Labor Party, Diederik Samsom and Hans Spekman, for similar statements on Moroccans. Mr. Samsom said that Moroccans have an “ethnic monopoly” on street crime, while Mr. Spekman said that Moroccans who don’t abide by the law have to be “humiliated in front of their own people.”

Polls have indicated that more than 43% of Netherlanders agree with me…. I was thus expressing the feelings of millions in my country. In a democracy, a public debate about important political issues, such as “the Moroccan issue,” shouldn’t be restricted by criminalizing the expression of certain problems and policy proposals.

 […]

Prosecuting me as an elected politician for expressing the opinions of my constituents is absurd. Excluding certain problems from the political debate by making it a crime to discuss them won’t lead to the disappearance of these concerns, let alone contribute to a solution. This prosecution, moreover, is also dangerous. People will begin to lose their trust in the democratic process. Festering political problems do not go away simply because they are kept in a dark corner. I wish the Dutch public prosecutor had been wise enough to see that.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review. The featured image is of a protest sign which reads “No Hatred, No Violence, No Koran” at the Pegida rally in Germany. Source: Al Jazeera Yermi Brenner

Former Muslim GITMO Guard Turns Traitor?

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 “Seeing religion practiced the way that the detainees (al-Qaeda terrorists) practice Islam is a really life changing experience in itself” (Terry Holdbrooks)

Is Terry Holdbrooks, a.k.a. Mustafa Abdullah, a propaganda agent for the sworn enemies of the United States of America?  That is a question for you and our government to answer.

In August 2002, Terry C. Holdbrooks Jr. (19), aka Mustafa Abdullah, enlisted in the US Army.  In June of 2003, Mr. Holdbrooks first deployment was to Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp (GITMO) as a prison guard.  Mr. Holdbrooks served as a military police officer with the rank of Specialist in the US Army between 2002 and 2005, attached to the 252nd Military Police, and later assigned to the 463rd MP Company.

Is Terry Holdbrooks A Traitor?

Six months into his GITMO assignment,  Mr. Holdbrooks embraced his Sunni Muslim al-Qaeda terrorist detainees ideology by joining their ranks as a new revert/convert to Islamic doctrine and theology.  Islamic doctrine teaches that all people are born Muslim and revert back to their original state when they accept Islam, thus they are referred to as Muslim reverts.

Mr. Holdbrooks articulated an important revelation during his Dec 12, 2014 lecture at the American Muslim Community Center Mosque in Longwood, FL relating to the behavior of the al-Qaeda detainees when he accepted  Islam as his new way of life.  Muslim terrorists are taught to play dumb when they are taken captive, that was until a non-Muslim guard converted to Islam. Mr. Holdbrooks says, “Detainees came out of the woodwork and most all could speak English as they were celebrating his becoming a Muslim.”

The detainees ability to speak english is important, most detainees hide this fact from their American captors hampering interrogations and costing American lives in lost intel. Mr. Holdbrooks makes no mention of reporting this incredibly valuable intelligence to his superiors.  Mr. Holdbrooks has picked sides in our military engagement with Islamic Jihad befriending his Al Qaeda sympathetic detainees Shaker Aamer, Ahmed Errachidi, and countless other(s).

Terry Holdbrooks Hates His Fellow American Soldiers

Mr. Holdbrooks does not hold his fellow American soldiers in as high regard as he does his al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorist detainees. Mr. Holdbrooks says, “I was questioning things from day one”, “I didn’t have a very high impression of my colleagues,” he says. Many of them were “ridiculous Budweiser-drinking, cornbread-fed, tobacco-chewing drunks, racists and bigots…who blindly follow orders, and within months stopped talking to them altogether…”

Mr. Holdbrooks explains his fascination with how the Muslim detainees would always appear happy embracing their Islamic way of life, under the harshest of situations.  Terry Holdbrooks couldn’t understand why he felt miserable inside, and his Al Qaeda and Taliban detainees seemed to be at peace with themselves.

The Army would later say that Mr. Holdbrooks has a personality disorder and was released before fulfilling his full commission.  In doing so – Terry Holdbrooks transformed himself into the marketable GITMO Guard Who Became a Muslim.

Mr. Holdbrooks says at the Longwood, FL Mosque that, “92% of the Gitmo detainees are innocent.”  The Director of National Intelligence released a “Summary of the Reengagement of Detainees Formerly Held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba” “Of the 603 former detainees tracked by US intelligence services, a total of 100 have now been confirmed as reengaging in “terrorism” or “insurgent” activities, while another 74 are suspected of reengaging.  This brings the total rate of recidivism to nearly 29 percent”, as reported in The Weekly Standard, 9/9/2013.

The GITMO detainees recidivism rate further exposes Mr. Holdbrooks spreading of pro Al-Qaeda propaganda in an effort to degrade our military efforts in removing and housing dangerous Islamic terrorists captured off the battlefield.  I suspect, Mr. Holdbrooks knows the false narrative of the GITMO detainees innocence provides fuel to those forces who wish to see GITMO closed forever.

After Mr. Holdbrooks AMCC Longwood Mosque lecture I had the opportunity to ask him if the Salafist views taught to him by detainees Shaker Aamer and Ahmed Errachidi, had influenced the Islam he was taught by his friends who were also high level al-Qaeda recruiters?

Mr. Holbrooks says, “Shaker Aamer is a brilliant and amazing man, I hate to think how his mental health has deteriorated.  However, when I first met him at Guantanamo he weighed around 250 lbs and when I left Guantanamo he dropped to around 175, obviously that was a combination of the hunger strikes.  He was a very influential individual but he could have mood swings, at times you would have to take what he said with a grain of salt and fact check if what he said was balanced and moderate.  I’ve heard of all the possibilities of his being an al-Qaeda recruiter…the first Qur’an that was given to me was the Yusuf Ali Meaning of the Holy Qur’an…what he (Rashidi) said was not always copacetic, so the answer is NO.”

Mr. Holbrooks answer is deceptive, Shaker Aamer and Ahmed Errachide are brilliant Islamic scholars according to this 2009 interview with cageprisoners.com.  Mr. Holdbrooks says this about Shaker Aamer, “…he’s a wonderful character- unbelievably intelligent, very polite, very well-mannered, great etiquette.  He is a very rational individual – if there was something he didn’t agree with, that he objected to, he’d explain it.  He’d be very polite no matter whom the guard was he was working with whether it was a very ignorant uncaring American with no recognition for his situation, or me, or Chris perhaps – he is always a very polite individual, and would explain whatever was going on in terms that anyone would be able to understand.  He is a wonderful person- I absolutely enjoyed spending time with him.”   Mr. Holdbrooks analysis of Shaker Aamer is opposite of what he told me on December 12, 2014.

Is the 2009 Terry Holdbrooks telling the truth about Al-Qaeda terrorist Shaker Aamer or what he told me on December 12, 2014 – both versions can’t be true?

So why the deception from Mr. Holdbrooks?  When I purposefully added the Salafi qualifier to the question of what was taught him by his terrorist friends, it created a psychological problem for him because Mr. Holdbrooks never denied he followed the Salafi movement – a fact which is very important. Mr. Holdbrooks knows that Salafi Islam is one of the most fundamental and violent Islamic teachings.  The Salafi Jihadist movement is described this way, ” The Salafi jihadist movement has attracted rootless and or committed internationalist militants. They fight for the jihad, seeking to re-create the Muslim ummah and shariat (Islamic Law) to build an Islamic community. Simultaneously conservatives and radical, they form a global network that has attracted Muslims from around the world to fight jihad in Kashmir, Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, and the Philippines.”

In a 2009 Cageprisoner.com interview,  Terry Holdbrooks is asked if he formed any kind of relationships with the detainees.  Mr. Holdbrooks responds, “A good number of them… Detainee 590; ‘the General’, as we call him.  There were rumors for most of the detainees as to how they received the nick names they had.  We’d talk for hours and hours – we’d talk about books, we’d talk about music, we’d talk about philosophy, we would talk about religion…fortunately he didn’t have anything bad to say about the US other than its most recent history…More often than not when I got the night shift I would generally stay up and talk with him throughout the night- we’d talk about the history of this war, what’s been going on, what’s taking place in the Middle East for the last two hundred, three hundred, four hundred years…590 stayed up one night and- we’d been talking about Islam for quite a while- I’d been studying Islam for quite a while at this point, and one night he stayed up with me and he transliterated how to say in English the declaration of faith, and watched me as I said it, and whatnot.  So I would say the first time I declared my faith in Islam was probably in Guantanamo- was probably that night, with him.”

Terry Holdbrooks sounds enamored with Al-Qaida detainee 590.  Based on this Al-Qaeda fighters world view on Islam as a life choice, Terry Holdbrooks chose Al-Qaida.

Things Are Not As They Appear With Mr. Holdbrooks Detainee Friends

Personal Information: Mohamad Al Ahmed Rachidi (The General) is a Moroccan national, born in 1966 (age 37) in Tangiers, Morocco. Source: The Quantanamo Docket, New York Times

“Reasons for Continued Detention: Detainee has known affiliations with several Islamic extremist groups to include a direct association with the leader of the Moroccan Islamic Fighting Group (GICM) as well as other contacts with known members of Al-Qaida.

Detainee traveled to Afghanistan to participate in Jihad against the US and is suspected of having received training at the Al-Farouq Training Camp. Although detainee is of moderate intelligence value, he has been completely uncooperative and not forthcoming with information. Other more cooperative Moroccan detainees can provide the same information. Detainee has repeatedly expressed his desire to harm Americans. He has been repeatedly violent while in detention.”

TF Guantanamo, the detainee is of medium intelligence value to the United States. Based on the above, detainee poses a high risk, as he is likely to pose a threat to the U.S., its interests or its allies.”Ahmed Errachidi succeeded in befriending GITMO guard Terry Holdbrooks and reverting him to Islam.  Mr. Holdbrooks, with the financial help of the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) is working in concert portraying Islamic terrorists captured on the battlefield as victims of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and gentle souls that should be free.

“(S//NF) Executive Summary: Detainee is a member of al-Qaida tied to the European support network. Detainee is a close associate of Usama Bin Laden (UBL) and has connections to several other senior extremist members. Detainee has traveled internationally on false documents and is associated with al-Qaida terrorist cells in the US. Detainee is a reported recruiter, financier, and facilitator with a history of participating in jihadist combat.

Detainee received advanced terrorist training, indicated his willingness to become a martyr, and served as a sub-commander of al-Qaida forces in Tora Bora. JTF-GTMO determined this detainee to be: o o o A HIGH risk, as he is likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests, and allies A HIGH threat from a detention perspective Of HIGH intelligence value.

In the summer of 1989, detainee entered the US legally under a tourist visa and traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, where he lived with his cousin until moving to Gaithersburg, Maryland. While in Atlanta, detainee applied for, and received a Social Security card. In the winter of 1989, detainee returned to Saudi Arabia, and later returned to Gaithersburg in 1990.

Detainee is extremely egotistical, has manipulated debriefers and guard staff, and will continue to attempt to do so to support his political agenda. Detainee refuses to participate in direct questioning, often citing imaginary, or assumed mistreatment of himself, or others, as justification of this refusal in a classic example of al-Qaida counter interrogation techniques.

(Source for Shaker Aamer material: The Guantanamo Docket)

CLASSIFIED BY: MULTIPLE SOURCES REASON: E.O. 12958, AS AMENDED, SECTION 1.4(C) DECLASSIFY ON: 20321101″

Al Qaeda Manual Found In Manchester

The manual was introduced as evidence at the embassy bombing trial in New York.  The manual illustrates, in part, techniques that Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters use if they are captured and under interrogation.

The detainees at GITMO are prisoners of war detained as a threat to United States National Security.  Terry Holdbrooks, in my opinion, sees these detainees as victims based on their personal stories of innocence and non-violent behavior directly towards him.  Mr. Holdbrooks sees his fellow American guards as ignorant, racist, and brutal.  While the al-Qaeda detainees are kind, gentle, and worthy of building deep personal friendships.

Our combat soldiers are trained, if held prisoner, to manipulate their captors and not divulge important military information.  The Al Qaeda Manual presented here shows our Islamic  enemies trade craft in great detail.  Remember,  Shaker Aamer is an al Qaeda recruiter and proficient at it.  I will highlight some of tactics used by Mr. Holdbrooks friends Shaker Aamer and Ahmed Errachidi/Rashidi.   If you wish to understand the Islamic Threat Doctrine devour this manual in its entirety.  Thismanual will gift an inquisitive reader with the equivalent of a masters education in understanding The Islamic Threat Doctrine and basic spy trade craft.

Shaker Aamer, based on his docket, is a skilled recruiter.  Mr. Holdbrooks senior officers should have known he was an ‘Ideologist‘ and could be easily compromised.

The Ideologist – Someone who is in his country but against his government, is considered a valuable catch and a good candidate for turning. (Mr. Holdbrooks, in my opinion, portrays himself as having such a personality profile).

Mr. Holdbrooks describes himself as a ‘sociologist’ and is fascinated by other peoples and cultures which drove his interest in GITMO’s Al Qaeda and Taliban detainees.

Mr. Holdbrooks may not see it this way but Shaker Aamer and Ahmed Errachidi turned a GITMO non-Muslim guard into a Muslim activist speaking out against GITMO and the U.S. Military while raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the MLFA who defends Muslim terrorists on American soil.

Lesson 18

Lesson 18 of the Al Qaeda Manual is the standard mantra coming out of GITMO terrorists being detained there.  Taken from the book: Advice Taken from the book “Mothakkarat Fida’i Asir”.

  1. Prove torture was inflicted upon you.
  2. Complain of mistreatment while in prison.
  3. Name names of those who tortured you to the Judge.
  4. Go on a hunger strike.
  5. Master the art of hiding messages.
  6. Create an Islamic program for themselves inside prison.
  7. Be a role model of selflessness.
  8. Say only what was agreed upon by your commander.
  9. Pretend to be naive and ignorant while maintaining alertness and foresight.
  10. Only mention well known dates or names while under torture

Life After GITMO

The New York Daily News reports, Mr. Holdbrooks was honorably discharged from the Army in October 2005 for generalized personality disorder which helps explain his downward spiral after being discharged.

A blog interview reports, “After his release from the Army Holdbrooks began drinking again, divorced his wife, suffered a series of seizures, as well as a fall that resulted in a skull fracture and the insertion of a titanium plate in his head.”  After hitting rock bottom and forsaking his Muslim identity.  Mr. Holdbrooks embraced his Islam again by reinventing himself as the GITMO Guard who reverted to Islam.

In a interview on the Deen Show  Mr. Holdbrooks says he has been in touch with many of his GITMO detainee friends and has travelled to Saudi Arabia and other locations throughout the Middle East. Where did the travel money come from? When asked how he contacted the GITMO detainees he said the internet is an amazing thing.

Are Mr. Holdbrooks travel and overseas contacts being monitored closely by DOD and Joint Terrorism Task Force?  We just hope so.

Moazzam Begg – Al Qaeda

On February 28, 2014, Mr. Holdbrooks wrote a statement of support for former GITMO detainee Moazzam Begg.  Mr. Begg’s DOD Joint Terrorism Task Force Docket states he was incarcerated for, “affiliation with three extremist organizations including Al-Qaida.  Begg  admitted to attending training at Al-Badr training camp near Khowst 12/93, as well as the Harakat Al-Ansar terrorist training camp.  Detainee was also an instructor at Derunta training camp, another Al-Qaida supported terrorist camp.  Begg has been associated with a senior Al-Qaida financier, as well as other key suspects currently under investigation by US authorities.  Detainee is a confirmed member of Al-Qaida.”

A further study of Moazzam Begg’s ‘docket’ will yield detailed information about who and what our enemies are and more importantly the type of person(s) Mr. Terry Holdbrooks is supporting as recently as February of 2014.

Terry Holdbrooks coming to the aid and comfort of known Al-Qaeda terrorist Moazzam Begg, in 2014, removes all doubt of where his allegiance lies.

Conclusion

Mustafa Abdullah aka Terry Holdbrooks

The Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) sponsored Terry Holdbrooks lecture at the AMCC Mosque, Longwood Florida on 12/12/2014 raising approximately $20,000 with only 75-80 Central Floridian’s attending.

The MLFA built a lucrative cottage industry defending Muslims convicted of terrorism and support of terrorism on United States soil.  One look at their current and past cases is a who’s who of domestic Islamic terrorists (see link above).

Terry Holdbrooks, by his own statements, is sympathetic to the hard core Al-Qaida and Taliban detainees captured on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Pakistan locked up at GITMO.  Mr. Holdbrooks publicly admitted he’s reconnected with many GITMO terrorists long after he left the Army.  What did Mr. Holdbrooks discuss with these enemies of the United States?

Are any of the terrorists Terry Holdbrooks contacted, one of the 29% of released detainees who have returned to the battlefield and Jihad?

How many other soldiers have been turned at GITMO?  I hope our military leaders have addressed the issue making sure that another Terry Holdbrooks is weeded out before being put in direct contact with our enemies – regular background checks would help.

So I ask again, Is Terry Holdbrooks aka Mustafa Abdullah, a propaganda agent for the sworn enemies of the United States of America?  I’m sorry to tell you this but the answer is Yes!

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in Family Security Matters.

Fracking is Fundamental

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“It is a sad day when a state chooses to listen to the fear, uncertainty, and doubts spread by anti-fossil fuel agitators rather than making a decision for economic strength that would benefit schools, communities, and many of its poorest citizens—especially when the vilified technology, hydraulic fracturing, has been used safely and successfully for more than 60 years and has brought prosperity to other formerly struggling regions.” – Marita Noon, Executive Director, Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy Policy Advisor, The Heartland Institute.

Responding to the announcement by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo that the state would ban fracking, Ms. Noon joined others, bringing their expertise to bear on a topic that remains a concern only because environmentalist enemies of energy in America continue to lie about it every chance they get.

The Fracking Truth book coverIn his book, “The Fracking Truth–America’s Energy Revolution: The Inside, Untold Story”. Chris Faulkner wrote “Furthermore, it’s been commonplace for decades. Worldwide, it’s estimated that more than 2.5 million wells have been fracked and the U.S. accounted for about half of those. Today, about 35,000 wells are fracked each year in all types of wells. And it’s impact on industry? It’s been estimated that 80% of production from unconventional sources such as shales would not be feasible without it.”

The Governor’s decision has everything to do with wooing the support of environmentalists in New York and nothing to do with the jobs and billions in tax revenue that fracking would have represented.

New York’s acting health commissioner, Howard Zucker, justified the decision saying that “cumulative concerns” about fracking “give me reason to pause.” Are we truly expected to believe that five years of study since the initial 2009 memorandum about fracking any provided reason to ban it? If the use of fracking technology dates back to 1947 without a single incident of pollution traced to it, what would it take to create “cumulative concerns” except ignorance or prejudice against the facts?

Even the Environmental Protection Agency has never found evidence of the chemicals used in fracking entering the nation’s groundwater. Moreover, fracking fluid is 99.5% water and sand. The rest is a mixture of chemicals similar to household products that could be found under the kitchen sink.

As Dr. Jay Lehr, Science Director of The Heartland Institute, a free market think tank, points out, “Today we only fracture wells that are drilled horizontally and that requires 1,500 feet of vertical depth for the well” and thus “all such wells are way below local water wells.”

How idiotic, then, is it to seal off some twelve million acres of the Marcellus Shale, an underground rock formation with natural gas reserves that have helped create energy production booms in North Dakota, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Colorado, and Ohio?

A December 19 Wall Street Journal editorial noted that just across New York’s border with neighboring Pennsylvania, “A 2011 Manhattan Institute study estimated that each Marcellus Shale well in Pennsylvania generates $5 million in economic benefits and $2 million in tax revenue.” Companies there have generated more than $2.1 billion in state and local taxes since the fracking boom began. As one observer noted, “The ban ignores New York’s “6% unemployment rate, a depressed upstate region, and the fourth highest electricity prices in the nation.”

I don’t know how long it will take for the vast majority of the U.S. population to conclude that everything the environmentalists and their propagandists in the nation’s schools and media have to say about energy is as vast a hoax as the now discredited “global warming”, since renamed “climate change.”

Energy is the master resource, the lifeblood of ours and the world’s economy, the basis for electricity, for the ability to travel vast distances, for machines that enable vast harvests of crops by barely 2% of the U.S. population, to power all manufacturing, and to heat or cool our living and workplaces.

Fracking is yet another technological miracle and, of course, the environmentalists oppose it.

© Alan Caruba, 2014

RELATED ARTICLE: CIA Veteran Sees Russian Connection to 2 Anti-Fracking Groups.

How Christmas Came to Hawaii

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As presented by Hoku Paoa Stevenson at the Summer Palace:

1786 Captain George Dixon was a long way from home. He reflected briefly on the lot of a sailing man. The warm breeze which rocked the Queen Charlotte gently at anchor was pleasant enough, but he would have welcomed the December winds and the roaring fires that were part of Christmas in England. He would have liked to look out on glistening holly and snow-covered spruce instead of the palm trees on the shoreline and he would surely miss the rich sweet taste of the traditional plum pudding.

Still, he was a sailor; he could make home of any port. And there was a great tradition to be observed, even if he had to make do with what he had. So, on this December 25, 1786, he ordered a Christmas dinner and a bowl of punch prepared. A pig was brought from shore and roasted, the galley crew made pie and for this special occasion, the day’s ration of grog was mixed with coconut milk.

From the deck of the Charlotte in Waimea Bay, Kaua`i, Sandwich Islands, his men toasted friends and family at home in England, and the miles between the two island kingdoms were bridged, for a moment, by the bumpers of the curious liquor. It was Hawai`i’s first Christmas.

1819 Close by in the bay, a light burned late below decks in another of His Majesty King George’s ships. Capt. Nathaniel Portlock added a final footnote to his log. That day he had gone ashore and distributed a pocketful of trifles to the native children who followed him wherever he went. This morning abroad ship, he had received a caller. He wrote the story of the visit in a single flowing sentence. “Kiana came off in a long double canoe,” he wrote, “And brought me a present of some hogs and vegetables which I received gladly, and made in a return that pleased him very much.” Christmas gifts had been exchanged in Hawai`i. The boatman who greeted Capt. Portlock, one of the first boats since Cook, was old before he saw another. Kamehameha had become ruler of all the islands and now in 1819 he was dead. His son, Liholiho, was the Iolani. The king’s storytellers told of one other Christmas that they could recall.

Two years before, Englishmen had come to Hawai`i during the season of Makahiki. After it was over, and the kapu on sailing lifted, the chiefs visited the ship. The next day, the Englishmen came ashore to feast with the chiefs because it was a special day for them, the anniversary of the birth of their Savior and religion, and they wanted to celebrate. Theirs beliefs were still not known in Hawai`i and the tabu system, along with the old gods, would soon be gone. Hawai`i had no religion.

In New England, where the evergreens hung heavy with snow and there was religion, there was no Christmas either. The law in New England had once forbidden the settlers from celebrating the festivals and customs that had flourished in the Europe they’d fled. The hard-working Puritans wished to free their church from all rites and ceremonies not specifically set forth in the Bible. Since the Bible was silent about Christmas, the Puritans listened to no sermon on that day. In 1819 as the Thaddeus prepared in Boston for the long missionary voyage to Hawai`i, the law was no longer in effect but the church’s doctrines were still faithfully followed. Christianity, but not Christmas, was on its way to Hawai`i.

1837 Honolulu Harbor was dotted with sailing vessels at anchor. There were more than twenty businesses under way in the city and its population had grown to many thousands. Kamehameha III was on the throne, a sugar plantation had been laid out on Maui, and an English language press had been printing for over a year. Seven groups of missionaries had followed the Thaddeus by 1837 and had settled into the work of preaching and teaching. The work had gone well. Schools, churches and a written Hawaiian language had long been established and the first written laws had been adopted. Christmas had been observed when it fell on the Sabbath and just twice there had been Christmas services in the meeting house on weekdays. Otherwise, in this Christian kingdom, the days passed without notice. The offices of the king’s government remained open, business was transacted and the day’s work was done. Now, in Christmas week, 1837, missionary wives made quiet shopping trips to town and in the evenings at home, talked about what they should cook and who they should invite to the coming holiday dinner. When they met, the men passed a word of holiday wishes.

It was a festive, warm-spirited season and it had nothing to do with Christmas. There were no celebrations necessary for being a Christian but there were two that proudly went with being an American. One was Independence Day; its date was fixed on the Fourth of July. The other was Thanksgiving. It was as old, almost, as their reformed religion. Hawaiian converts and Puritans celebrated it with gifts, social calls and feasting, on New Year’s Day!

But the sailing ships that lay at anchor in the harbor were not all from New England and not all had Puritan captains. Roman Catholics living in their district at Waianae followed their tradition by attending Mass on Christmas day, and there were merchants and mechanics from Europe and America who celebrated the holiday as they had at home. On December 30, 1837, late and apologetic, the English newspaper recognized both them and their holiday. “With all good wishes for the welfare of our patrons, and of every member of the community, we wish them a ‘merry Christmas’ and a ‘very happy new year’.” It was the first time the phrase appeared in print.

The Chief’s Children’s School was strict, even for a future king. Alexander Liholiho was ready for a holiday. When the cake arrived, it almost seemed to make it official. It was a Christmas cake, without any doubt, and it was delivered to the missionary master on Christmas Eve. It came with no card but none was necessary for nine-year-old Alex, his two brothers, little Emma Rooke or the other eleven students. A Merry Christmas was implied and they fulfilled the anonymous wishes by taking the day off from lessons.

1843 The Christmas celebration, happiest children’s day of the year, was thus appropriately carried into the lives of the missionaries and the schoolmaster noted its presence in his dairy for 1843. “The children,” he wrote, “thought it would be doing God’s service to devote this day to merriment”.

Three years of coping with youthful energy relaxes the most rigid of rules and princely pressures took their toll at the school. When Christmas cake came again to the dining hall, it came from the hands of the students. The newspaper, The Polynesian, had wished “gentle readers, all, a merry Christmas to you; may you never wake to a less pleasant morn”. Alexander and his brothers took the paper at its word. The girls mixed the cakes and the boys made candy in the best tradition. In another three years, there was another tradition. Alex and his brothers were in England but their classmates carried on with the celebration. “This evening,” the schoolmaster’s diary read, “all are making ready presents for Christmas.”

1856 Toys! Toys! For Christmas and New Year! Had set a style for Hawai`i’s holiday advertising. There had been a big Christmas lottery one year and the first of the pre-Christmas auctions had been held. The Polynesian had reported that “Christmas is becoming to be more generally noticed in Hawai`i”. And Alex Liholiho, now Kamehameha IV, had a happy idea. There had been no royal proclamation of Thanksgiving for three years and all previous notices had named the last day of the year. The King, who had witnessed the great festival of Christmas in Europe thoughtfully set aside December 25th, 1856, as a national day of Thanksgiving.

It pleased everyone – European and Americans, Anglicans and Puritans. The king’s aim was achieved. Everyone celebrated the day in their own way as a holiday. The Bethel, Fort Street, and Methodist Churches held joint services in Nu`uanu Valley, and later in the evening there was a lighter side. “I visited the circus,” a celebrant recalled, “and at night attended a Mechanic’s Subscription Ball. The most intricate quadrilles, foreign waltzes, polkas, mazurkas, redowas, etc., were danced to time and measure.”

It was a year’s experiment and it was not repeated, but Christmas was now a part of the life of the land. The evening ‘auctions for Christmas’ had become social events with front seats ‘for the ladies’. There was more Christmas merchandise in the stores and more stores closed for Christmas. By 1858 there were just one or two rituals missing from the Christmas celebration.

Then Mrs. John Dominis decided to have a party. And there were none missing. It was a Christmas Eve gathering for young people at the big house at Washington Place. There were a hundred round-eyed and delighted young people. There was a Christmas tree and party favors and then bells were heard at the windows! There was Santa Claus with gifts for everyone.

1862 It took half a column in the Polynesian to describe the event. The tree was lighted with candles and its branches bent with the gifts. Saint Nick held court in a doorway where he passed out more presents and handfuls of candy. “Later in the evening dancing commenced and when it ended is hard to say”. It was a Christmas to remember and only one is remembered better. The bishop had arrived in October to establish a mission of the Church of England. A month later, the king and his queen, the little Emma Rooke with whom he had attended school, stood before him to be confirmed. The king had first requested the mission years before and it had been accomplished with only much personal effort. Now it was done and Christmas was drawing near. The king was deep in grief because his only child, the Little Prince, had died only months before, but he felt that the church’s holy festival should be officially observed. In 1862, Christmas was proclaimed a national holiday in Hawai`i by authority of King Kamehameha IV. It was 76 years since the first observance in Waimea Bay.

The city threw itself into the preparations. Churches throughout the land threw spectacular celebrations. The king sent to the mountains for cypress boughs to decorate the temporary Anglican cathedral and supplied myrtle and flowers from Queen Emma’s garden. The Fort Street Calvinist Church produced a huge growing Christmas tree. In the newspapers, the merchants advertised ‘toys in great supply’ and ‘dolls of all kinds’, and Christmas displays took large parts of their stores. Children gazed in awe at the arrays of candy in the confectioner’s window and chanted a little rhyme.” Candies red as rosy morn, Cakes which Emperors wouldn’t scorn, Sugared roses without thorn, Made to order by F. Horn.”

To add to the gala appearance of the town, flags were displayed onshore and on the ships in the harbor. For a week before the holiday, the Anglican choir practiced carols. Guns on Punchbowl were readied for a salute. Kukui torches were prepared and fireworks were gathered. The king lent all his candelabra to the church. On Christmas Eve, all the churches were ready. The Catholic Cathedral of our Lady Of Peace was illuminated from pavement to dome with wreathes of light. Inside, the altars were beautifully decorated and more than a thousand candles were lit. The tree at the Fort Street Church carried more than 200 small lights and its branches were burdened with gifts for more than 70 students, with no two gifts alike. At 11:30, when midnight service began, the Anglican Church was ablaze with light from the king’s candelabra. Service continued until one a.m., then the guns were fired and flaming barrels of tar rolled from the heights of Punchbowl. The king and the bishop began their slow procession from the church to the palace. Behind them walked a vested choir of twenty and twenty torch bearers lit the way for the members of the congregation.

Throughout the streets of Honolulu the procession marched in slow cadence, singing Christmas carols. The assembly stopped briefly at several places to call out special greetings and light innumerable green candles, then marched on to the palace gates where Archdeacon Mason described a vivid scene: “The torches and blue lights were ranged round the small circular piece of water in the middle of the palace grounds. The fountains played grandly and the reflection of the torch lights, together with the clear brilliant moonlight of these latitudes on the water, and on the dark excited faces of the people, were very remarkable. At this moment, some really good fireworks were let off and rockets shot up into the air amidst deafening shouts from a thousand voices for the king and queen.

We sang the grand old carol, Good King Wenceslas, and after a glass of champagne punch we made the air ring with the national anthem and another round of protracted Hurrahs and so to bed.” Christmas had come to Hawai`i.

EDITORS NOTE: Our thanks to Hoku Paoa Stevenson for this feature which she presented at the Summer Palace to a keiki halau. She actually paraphrased a book which she had bought at a yard sale, a very old publication of Hawaiian Dredging’s.

Disturbing Christian persecution in the U.S. Army

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I received a very disturbing letter and call to action from a mentor, friend, American warrior, and Executive Vice President of the Family Research Council, Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin.

LTG Boykin is a founding member of America’s elite Delta Force. Today LTG Boykin still fights, and for all the right causes, such as that of Army Chaplain CPT Joseph Lawhorn. CPT Lawhorn is just another victim of the secular humanist policy influence led by Mikey Weinstein against the Judeo-Christian faith heritage in our military. Weinstein has advocated for Christians in the military to be punished for professing their faith.

But as you can see in this below letter of admonition, CPT Lawhorn’s commander at Ft. Benning, Col David G. Fivecoat issued the Army Chaplain a letter of concern for speaking of his faith –a letter that will go into CPT Lawhorn’s personnel file that has adverse consequences for selection for promotion. Why in God’s name would Col Fivecoat be concerned about an Army Chaplain speaking of his faith during suicide prevention training?

Ladies and gents, please join in and sign the petition to have this letter removed and perhaps a letter of reprimand should be placed in Col Fivecoat’s personnel file. Thus incident is appalling and we should all be outraged over the persecution of Christian faith in our military. Scroll down to read the letter.

December 17, 2014

Dear Friend,

This cannot stand. When a military chaplain cannot openly speak about his faith, military disarmament has reached a level that no budget cuts could ever produce.

On November 20th, Capt. Joseph Lawhorn, U.S. Army Chaplain at Fort Benning, participated in a mandatory suicide awareness and prevention briefing in which he gave a presentation describing resources – both spiritual and secular – that were available for handling such grave mental health situations. He went further and discussed his personal struggles with depression, describing the spiritual and religious steps that helped him during those dark times in his life.

As a result of the chaplain’s discussion of his faith, he was called into his brigade commander’s office on Thanksgiving Day. There Col. David G. Fivecoat issued Chaplain Lawhorn a Letter of Concern that is to remain in his personnel file for the duration of his stay at Fort Benning. This type of letter can be devastating for career military personnel and would likely prohibit further professional advancement of Chaplain Lawhorn.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on AllenBWest.com. The featured image is courtesy of Voice of the Persecuted.

A Pack of Wolves

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Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron responded to the terrorist attack in Sydney, Australia, in which two of more than 17 hostages were killed by an Islamic extremist. Referring to “lone wolf terrorists,” he said this was a reminder of danger that Britain faces.  It would seem to me that we have had enough Lone Wolves to constitute a substantial wolf pack, and enough “extremists” to consider them “conventional.”

How many people must die before heads of state concede that the crimes worldwide are not extreme, not unusual, and not lone wolves? 

This is Islamic-style warfare against the West, without the sophisticated weaponry, khaki uniforms or tanks. It is time to connect the voluminous dots between the burnings and beheadings in 624 AD and those executed today.

We so naively call them self-starters or lone wolves when, daily, thousands of individuals are inspired and encouraged by an imam in a mosque to be a Soldier of Allah, eagerly awaiting his turn to immerse himself in the blood of infidels.  Perhaps the designation helps the West cope with the 1.3 billion Muslims who have unleashed their millions into the world.  Perhaps the singular terminology keeps the West from considering war against the multitudes, or courageously declaring the Qur’an and Sharia antithetical to Western beliefs, or fear of inciting the so-called moderates to reach their full barbarous potential.

image001 (3)Must someone remind PM Cameron of the infamous 7/7 bombing of 2005 in London’s underground, or the new converts to Islam who beheaded British soldier, Lee Rigby, on a London Street?  Consider America’s Major Nidal Hasan, the psychiatrist who killed 13 and wounded 28 at Fort Hood, Texas; the Tsarnaev brothers, who killed two and injured more than 260 athletes and spectators at the Boston Marathon; the Itamar massacre of five members of Israel’s Fogel family and the more recent beheading of four rabbis and a policeman during religious services.

It is time to come to terms with the truth – that self-radicalization is a myth to befuddle the reality of the demonic cult, where the lone wolf is not alone but, rather, a product of Islam, trained from birth or conversion to hate and kill.  The West has chosen to disbelieve the incomprehensible because this is an army unlike any we have fought, with different rules, and different means of carrying out their depraved agenda of enslavement, torture, and destruction.  Not clad in khaki uniforms, these demons may be disguised as normal humans in street clothes, prepared to strike with the simplest and smallest of weapons – a knife or a vial of acid.

While the situation is deteriorating rapidly, the West is turning out students who are ignorant of Islam.  Taught by the left, liberals, Marxists, and Islamic apologists, from revised textbooks, our students are indoctrinated to believe that Islam is Religion of Peace, when in fact it has been a religion of conquest and cruelty for 14 centuries.  The history books paint and polish Islam while tarnishing Judaism, Christianity and America, omitting or changing facts that might expose the malevolence in our midst.  Our media aids and abets these efforts with the accusatory “Islamophobia” to keep the crimes under reported or swept under the rug.  Ask the average college students about Islam’s history and they will probably respond with a dead stare followed by an uncomfortable giggle at their own ignorance.

No, the murderers are not lone wolves. 

Whether they come as one or as nineteen, they are still part of a larger pack, each with his duty, just as we send our tanks to the front, each with its own driver and gunner, but part of a greater army.  Whether the Muslims rush a synagogue to behead people in prayer; or behead hundreds who refuse to pray to Allah; or throw acid at little girls in Israel; or beat Jewish youths on the streets of Paris or Brooklyn; or explode themselves or ram an auto into a crowd of people, or kidnap girls for sale or marriage/enslavement, or rape women on the streets of Sweden and Norway; or burn or stone women, or behead their own daughters for “honor,” they are One.  Whether they are ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, Boko Haram, Taliban or any of a formidable number of terrorist groups, they are all Islamic terrorists.

maro polo quote on muslimsEach new generation is taught from toddlerhood to hate and aspire to Islamic greatness by killing kafirs – Jews, as well as Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and other Muslims.

  • Parents are eagerly raising their babies to be suicide bombers for Hamas,
  • From their earliest school days, children learn that life has no value; they must kill for their god and state, and accept their own death and martyrdom while parents encourage and applaud the loss of their children’s humanity.  There is no hope for a life of beauty, music, creativity and career, of courtship and love-marriage, the joy of caring for a devoted pet, and discoveries of Western civilization.  They are robbed of everything we value.  Young kindergartners are trained to behead dolls and toy sheep that bleed red liquid, and their song includes the bleating of the wounded, dying lamb.
  • As the older child is taught to kill and hold a victim’s severed head, he poses for a photo taken by his proud father.
  • Young adults, no longer queasy about death, are able to play soccer with decapitated heads.
  • By the time they reach adulthood, they have no respect for women, children, or for animals.  These deranged sadists (who receive sexual satisfaction from causing pain or degradation to others) are able to inflict agony and suffering on defenseless animals throughout the year and celebrate Eid by torturing livestock (the worst animal cruelty in history is in Gaza), allowing them to bleat and bleed out until they lose consciousness and finally die. Muslims consider the torment, fear and excruciating agony to be Halal.
  • Finally, despite the singularity perceived by some, there is organization, the inevitable group mentality. For example, although not a single Muslim had seen the “blasphemous cartoons” in 2005, demonstrators went to the streets, set buildings afire, injured and even killed people throughout Europe.  Not taught to examine facts, they take their leaders’ opinions and follow the pack.

A recent survey showed that 80% of Palestinians support murder.  I would propose that the remaining 20% are, as Marco Polo is alleged to have said, “the moderate Muslim(s) who hold the feet of the victim.”  Where there are Muslims, there is violence with the expressed objective that Islam will rule the world, with Sharia law imposed over the host country’s laws.  If it cannot be done peacefully, they will do so sadistically. They are raised in a teamwork environment, faces covered for guilt-free anonymity.

The reality is that all these terrorists are indoctrinated from childhood to sacrifice their individuality for an organization, and are probably psychologically incapable of acting as lone wolves.

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Muslim NYPD cop killer told passers-by to watch

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It’s hard to “strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah” without an audience. “NYPD: Cop ambush killer told passers-by to watch,” by Tom Hays, Associated Press, December 21, 2014:

NEW YORK (AP) — The gunman who fatally ambushed two New York City police officers in their squad car had a long criminal record, a hatred for police and the government and an apparent history of mental instability that included an attempt to hang himself a year ago, police said Sunday.

Ismaaiyl Brinsley approached people on the street moments before opening fire and asked them to follow him on Instagram, then told them to “watch what I’m going to do,” Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.

A portrait of the shooter emerged as big-city police departments and union leaders warned officers to change up their routines and insist on extra backup a day after Brinsley carried out what he portrayed online as retaliation for the slayings of black men at the hands of white police.

Investigators were trying to determine if Brinsley had taken part in any protests over the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, whose names he invoked in his online threat, or simply latched on to the cause for the final act of a violent spree. Police said he had no gang affiliation.

Brinsley, 28, had at least 19 arrests in Georgia and Ohio and a troubled childhood so violent his mother was afraid of him, police said. Brinsley had also ranted online about police and government and expressed despair about his own life, Boyce said.

Boyce said Brinsley’s mother believed he had undiagnosed mental problems and may have been on medication later in life but detective said they were still trying to determine if he had a mental illness.

Brinsley approached a squad car from behind and fired four shots, fatally wounding officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, before running into a subway station and ultimately killing himself.

Hours earlier, Brinsley had shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend at her home outside Baltimore then made threatening posts online, including a vow to put “wings on pigs,” and references to a pair of police-involved deaths that have sparked racially charged protests across the country….

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On the Horrific Assassination of Two of New York’s Finest

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“The two officers were pronounced dead at Woodhull Hospital, where their colleagues and family members huddled tearfully. City Council President Melissa Mark-Viverito and Mayor Bill de Blasio were less than welcome guests at the poignant gathering. “We’re all in this together,” the mayor told grieving cops, according to a cop who was there. “No we’re not,” one officer said tersely in response.” – Taken from today’s New York Post.

I cannot appropriately express either the grief for the families, the rage I have towards the killer, or the deep disappointment I harbor for the New York City Mayor and the self-absorbed frauds he surrounds himself with, with words powerful enough to soothe my emotions. The below picture was sent to me by a former NYPD colleague of mine a little while ago. It is a warning sent out weeks ago to the officers of the NYPD about a credible threat to their lives.

bongino photo of officers killed

For a larger view click on the image.

As a child who grew up just miles down the same Myrtle Avenue Street where these two NYPD brothers in law enforcement were brutally assassinated on, just five days before Christmas, I understand the concerns of the citizens who live there. The death of any human being, whether at the hands of another citizen, or at the hands of law enforcement, is the death of a unique and invaluable collection of experiences we call a life. But, instead of a rational, dignified conversation about the very serious issues surrounding policing in modern America, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio chose to be a hustler. He chose to be a grotesque caricature of a leader, instead of a genuine leader and, in the process, he ratcheted up emotions by making specious correlations, he had no evidence to support, about the motives of the members of his own police department.

I spent most of my adult life in law enforcement. I spent most of my childhood on those New York City streets. Did I run into bad cops? Of course. Were bad cops the rule? Ridiculous. The cops I worked with had kids to feed, mortgages to pay, garbage cans to take out at night, homework to check, and a job where the possibility of never returning home was a black cloud that followed them overhead wherever they went. Just imagine for a moment walking into your office on Monday morning and finding the message above taped to your cubicle.

I ask you to join me tonight in asking The Lord to help the families of these heroic officers cope with the horror of their loss just five days before Christmas. I also ask you to join me in asking The Lord for men and women of character, on the many sides of this complicated and ongoing debate, to be given the strength and the platform to begin to heal this great nation from the damage imposed upon it by the hustlers among us who have profited handsomely from trafficking in division and hatred.

God bless America, and all those who defend her.

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RELATED VIDEO: NYPD Officers turn their backs to Mayor De Blasio As He Enters Police Press Conference

EDITORS NOTE: Dan Bongino is the bestselling author of the book Life Inside the Bubble and was the 2012 and 2014 Republican nominee for the United States Senate and 6th congressional district in Maryland. He served for over a decade as a special agent in the United States Secret Service, and currently owns a security consulting business. He is a contributor at Conservative Review, a radio host and a frequent guest media-commentator on political issues and security matters. The featured image is of Police Officer Rafael Ramos (left) and Police Officer Wenjian Liu who were killed in the line of duty Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn. (DCPI).

BGF logo

BGF tatoos. For a larger view click on the image.

About the Black Guerilla Family

The Black Guerrilla Family (BGF), originally known as the Black Family and Black Vanguard, is an influential African American prison gang active in California and Maryland. Since its formation in the San Quentin State Prison in California in 1966, the BGF has developed into a highly organized gang that resembles a paramilitary organization.

BGF members are highly influential within the prison system and are known to recruit correctional facility staff to aid their illegal activities. In addition, BGF is actively involved in drug trafficking, extortion, and violent crimes within the prison system. Cocaine and marijuana sales account for the majority of the gang’s income. Known alliances of the BGF are the Nuestra Familiar and Dead Man Incorporated.

Read more.