Miami, FL: Possible FCAT Science Cheating at Crestview Elementary?

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An official complaint has been filed with the Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools regarding suspected test cheating on the FCAT Science exam at Crestview Elementary School during the 2013-2014 school year. The complaint is based upon a report from Mr. Keith Guthrie.

Guthrie stated he had suspicions about test scores on the Grade 5 FCAT Science exam involving two students (one ESE, the other ESOL). Mrs. Matilda Ysidro, told Guthrie that she witnessed the former Science Coach, and current Grade 5 Science teacher, Ms. Lori Caraccia assisting these two students last school year by “emphasizing” the answers on the science exam.

Guthrie came to me “for direction,” as his case is similar to the test cheating on the Industrial Arts exams at Miami Norland Senior High School in April 2012. Guthrie knew my experience with exposing test cheating. I have also represented Guthrie in past grievances and labor disputes with Crestview administration.

Guthrie told me that the events occurred while Ms. Caraccia was testing these two students for the Grade 5 FCAT Science exam during the last school year. Mrs. Ysidro told Guthrie she walked in on them and observed Ms. Caraccia “emphasizing” the right answers. During a second interview with Guthrie, Ysidro said as students were taking the test, if the student marked the wrong answer, Ms. Caraccia would tell them, “You better check your answer”, in some cases multiple times, until the student marked the right answer before moving on to the next question.

Mr. Guthrie deemed what Mrs. Ysidro told him as credible because the two students in question attended his classes. One student was ESOL, the other ESE, and both students failed his class. Both students hardly participated in class and displayed Level 1 performance on their last FCAT Reading exams. Yet both students scored Level 5 on the Grade 5 FCAT Science exam- a clear disparity between classroom performance and their FCAT Reading scores.

Guthrie said only five (including these two) Grade 5 students scored a Level 5 on the Grade 5 FCAT Science exam.  He knew the other three students; he tested them; and their scores were reflective of their classroom achievement and other test scores.

I advised Mr. Guthrie to email the Florida Department of Education Inspector General. He indicated he would email his complaint. Mr. Guthrie has not contacted the FL DOE IG at the time this column was published.

The Florida Department of Education investigators simply need to obtain the names of the five students who scored a Level 5 on the Grade 5 FCAT Science exam; identify those coded as ESOL and ESE and confirm with Mr. Guthrie that they failed his class.  After the two students, and potentially others, are identified, retest them using a different proctor. As the school went from a “D” to a “C,” and Grade 5 FCAT Science performance shot up from 27% in 2013 to 38% in 2014.

Recently school administrators have been involved in cheating scandals in other states (Atlanta, El Paso, Houston, and Philadelphia). Ms. Caraccia was the Science Coach appointed by the principal and on her leadership team. It will be up to the District, and the FLDOE IG, to determine whether or not school administration was aware of possible cheating (coaching) of these students and, if so, when they knew it.

The dramatic rise in Crestview’s school grade from a “D” to a “C” (Crestview scored 477 points; 42 points above the minimum of 435)  lead to a total a payout of $40,000- $50,000 in teacher incentives from the Florida School Recognition Program.

Hopefully it was an isolated incident, but given that test cheating at Norland went largely unnoticed and unpunished by the FLDOE and by law enforcement, the message is clear that cheating pays.

I am reporting what was told to me by Guthrie. This case is not unlike what happened at Miami Norland Senior High School two years ago.  Only a complete and thorough investigation will get to the bottom of how widespread the test cheating is, as was the case at Norland.

If substantiated, many troubling questions are raised: why is there cheating on different levels within the Norland feeder pattern?  What will the District do about it? Will the people involved go the way of Emmanuel Fleurantin or Brenda Muchnick? Time will tell.

The following is a comparison of FCAT Science test results for Crestview Elementary.

Elementary
School Percentage Passing (Satisfactory and Above)
Grade
Level		 Science
(Achievement Level 3 and Above)
2013 2014
Dade
Top of Form CRESTVIEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (1161) Bottom of Form
5 27 38 

 

Elementary
School Percentage Passing (Satisfactory and Above)
Grade
Level		 Reading
(Achievement Level 3 and Above)		 Mathematics
(Achievement Level 3 and Above)		 Science
(Achievement Level 3 and Above)		 Writing Essay
(3.5 and Above)
2013 2014 2013 2014 2013 2014 2013 2014
Dade
Top of Form CRESTVIEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (1161) Bottom of Form
3 41 48  40 42  NA NA  NA NA 
4 55 56  61 58  NA NA  42 30 
5 49 55  42 48  27 38  NA NA 

 

Introducing kids to adult/youth “gay clubs” in communities, outside of schools. A dangerous intro to “gay sex.”

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Probably the fastest and most dangerous way that schoolchildren are introduced to homosexual behavior is through adult-youth “community” gay clubs, which are run by homosexual (and transgender) activist adults and seek to attract local high school and middle school children.

Contingent of men and children from Boston LGBT club BAGLY marching in Youth Pride Parade. They were shouting “Trans Rights Now!”[All photos by MassResistance]

This is the fifth part in our series on this year’s annual GLSEN Conference held in Boston in April 2014 which brought together LGBT teachers, school officials, and education activists (and their “allies”) — along with children as young as fifth grade
— where they outlined their latest tactics for the schools.

Community “LGBT youth” clubs: Mixing vulnerable kids with adult “gay” activists

Unlike the “gay straight alliance” clubs inside the schools – which are themselves outrageous — these meet at various places in the community and are completely unsupervised by any outside entity. However, schools know this and are still cooperative in steering vulnerable kids to these clubs, where the kids develop relationships with the adult activists. In our experience, the school authorities do not notify parents when they introduce their child to these groups.

“Business card” given out to kids at the conference.

How dangerous can these clubs get?  Most parents and public officials don’t have a clue.  Back in 2007 MassResistance posted a shocking public letter written by a 20-year-old homosexual activist in Maine describing the abuses going on by adults to kids in the local “gay youth” club. It included his own admission of sexual relations with two younger boys.

Last year a Massachusetts mother introduced legislation to stop the public schools from steering students to outside “gay clubs” after a counselor at her 16-year-old son’s high school referred the boy to a local club without the parents’ knowledge or consent.

Here’s from the mother’s testimony before the Massachusetts Legislature:

Our son was seeing a [therapist] for childhood traumas that are known to cause sexual identity issues in adolescence.

At [the gay club] our son was told that he was born gay, could never change, and that anyone who didn’t embrace his sexual identity was a hater and a homophobe, including his family. . . He was provided with sexually provocative and anti-Christian literature .  . .

The school administrators defended [the school counselor’s] actions [in referring him to them].

In recent years, these outside “gay youth clubs” have also emphasized cross-dressing, transgenderism, and even sex-change medical procedures for kids. MassResistance recently documented how these clubs partner with even more extreme groups and radical government-funded transgender programs.

Conference workshop

At the GLSEN LGBT Teachers Conference it was clear that steering kids to these outside “gay youth clubs” and getting them involved with adult homosexual activists is no accident, but a part of their agenda. To start with, they had a workshop devoted to it:


“Youth / adult collaboration” involving homosexual activists is every parent’s nightmare. But the homosexual movement sees this as an important “positive” way for youth to be helped to free themselves from the influence of “homophobic” parents, and particularly their religious beliefs. In their eyes, this is good for kids’ emotional and psychological well-being.

There are various strategies for using schools to get kids involved with these groups. As mentioned above, one is to have a trusted counselor or advisor to suggest it as a “support group.”

In contrast the image they carefully craft for public officials, concerned citizens, and the media, is a well-honed script describing education programs, emotional and psychological support, and claims that reinforcing homosexual behavior prevents suicides.  The latter claim often references the unscientific and discredited Mass. Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

This article from the local Wellesley MA newspaper is a classic example of how the community “gay youth” clubs carefully craft their image for the public. It was passed out at the conference.

“BAGLY”

Note that the conference workshop presenters are from BAGLY (Boston Alliance of Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Youth) . BAGLY is the largest, most aggressive (and most well-funded) LGBT “youth club” in Massachusetts.

BAGLY is run by a middle-aged man who dresses as a woman. As an official member of the state-funded Massachusetts Commission on GLBT Youth, BAGLY has an entrée into public schools across the state. It helps organize the annual “Youth Pride” Day and runs the accompanying evening “Youth gay/transgender” prom in Boston City Hall. (We have a full report on this year’s “Youth Pride” event coming up. Here’s our report from Youth Pride Day 2009.)

A group of activists from BAGLY posed for us at the 2014 Youth Pride event earlier this year.

BAGLY does not hide the fact the fact that children and adults freely mix (see top photo). Its website admits that it has no minimum age, and that:

All LGBTQ youth ages 22 and under are welcome to participate in BAGLY’s program activities and events. The average age range of the youth who currently participate in our weekly programming is 14 – 20, while our annual events are usually more inclusive of 21 and 22 year-olds.

BAGLY’s attitude toward sexual activity between participants is also very clear:

[O]ur approach to programming and services is youth-centered, non-judgmental and “sex-positive” (meaning we think consensual sex is natural and healthy).

Despite all of this, the state continues to fund BAGLY’s activities and the schools continue to include it.

“WAGLY”

Literature from WAGLY (West Suburban Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Youth) was also distributed and promoted to kids at the conference. As BAGLY is mostly centered around the Boston inner-city area, WAGLY is located in the western suburbs.

ABOVE: WAGLY contingent marches in this year’s “Youth Pride Day” parade.LEFT: These are the kinds of people they pair up schoolchildren with: Man marching at left of top photo, wearing WAGLY shirt, is wearing women’s high-heel shoes.

WAGLY uses many of the same strategies to attract schoolchildren as the other “LLGBT youth” community clubs. They seem to focus on offering kids “a welcoming place” for “support,” and the group meets in unsupervised “gay friendly” settings away from the public schools.  Some of WAGLY’s literature, which was passed out at the conference, is shown below.

In 2010, the WAGLY adults and kids marched with a different banner, but the same purpose.

“LGBT Coalition of Western Massachusetts”

The LGBT Coalition of Western Massachusetts is also disturbing because it is much more overtly adult-oriented than the others. But seems to use the same “mentoring” tactics to attract kids and to involve them in ts events and activities. Their literature was also passed out at the conference.

RIGHT: LGBT Coalition booklet passed out at conference.BELOW: Excerpt from the LGBT Coalition booklet describing their youth/adult “mentoring” program.
Postcard passed out as part of the LGBT Coalition package, also pitching their “mentoring” program.
And, of course, a business card.

Other “LGBT youth” community groups

There are several other “LGBT youth” community clubs across the state that are quite active, but weren’t promoted at this conference. However, we’ve observed that those groups use the same tactics and work as closely as they can with local public school administrators and teachers.

It is shocking that most parents, citizens, and even politicians are completely unaware that this is happening to vulnerable kids in their public schools and communities – and that teachers are being instructed in how to promote it to schoolchildren at conferences like this. MassResistance will continue to expose this!

Sarasota, Florida hosting Female Wounded Warriors Retreat on September 16-19, 2014

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“Women veterans are increasing in numbers for military service and will continue to do so….”

Georgie Alfano-Cronk

Georgie Alfano-Cronk

Annually the Sarasota County Veterans Commission (SCVC) recognizes the Veteran of the Year, Woman Veteran of the Year and Auxiliary Person of the Year. In 2010, the Female Veteran of the Year Award went to Ms. Georgie Alfano-Cronk.

Far too often, when someone receives an award they tend to quietly return home and place their award on a shelf to just collect dust. But not so with Alfano-Cronk. Alfano-Cronk is a U.S. Army disabled woman veteran.

Alfano-Cronk states, “We have many ‘women warriors’ that need our recognition and assistance in transitioning back into their communities or back into the work force”. Alfano-Cronk has become a passionate advocate for America’s women veterans.

Alfano-Crock notes, “No matter where our female veterans are in their lives; whenever they need help navigating the VA system or just need an ear to listen to one of their concerns, they dial my phone number. As a former police officer and retired New York State Correction Sergeant I can easily look at a veteran’s life and view their problems without passing judgment on them.” She knows how hard the road of life can be because she herself has been there and done that.

By 2011, she had convinced the SCVC that a special committee should be named and formed to assist woman veterans after military service. She was nominated for and became the Chairwoman of this newly formed committee.

Fast forward from November 2011 to the present when Alfano-Crock discovered a not-for-profit organization, which loves veterans and their families as much as she does, and partnered with them. This organization is the Professionals Assisting Military Families & Friends (PAMFF). Working together the SCVC and PAMFF decided to have a free retreat for America’s women warriors. The retreat allows women wounded warriors a safe environment to share their transitional concerns and receive free counseling and access to support groups after the retreat is over.

Then there was that little problem of fundraising for the retreat.

SCVC and PAMFF knew early on that they wanted to make this a totally free event. The PAMFF committees, without any major contacts or knowledge of grants or fundraising, began to solicit donations from veterans’ organizations and community members. But would that be enough financial support? As the applications starting rolling in from women veterans across America, the PAMFF selection committee, decided that none of the women veterans should be turned away and so the original number of 10 applicants allowed to participate in the event increased to 15 women veterans. There is still a waiting list and applications are no longer being accepted.

The reaction from women veterans clearly shows a need to support, recognize, and help them as much as there is for their male counterparts.

Alfano-Crock notes that since women veterans were trained to be strong and independent, like their male counterparts, that often a women veteran will not ask for help until she is in a full blown, major crisis. And often they do not know where to find the proper resources to help them or to move ahead. Women veterans have a tendency to fall through the cracks of an already saturated VA health care system.

Alfano-Crock is adamant that female veteran’s needs are “totally different” than the needs of our male veterans and wounded warriors.

Women naturally process life’s ups and downs differently than men do and need a different type of an environment to vent and must have a trust system in place with a counselor prior to sharing their personal stories and unique concerns.

From Tuesday, September 16th to Friday, September 19th, 2014 fifteen “woman warriors” will share their lives with each other, and with PAMFF’s licensed clinicians and female community volunteers and form “battle buddy relationships” that will hopefully blossom and grow. “After all,” says Alfano-Crock, “the most therapeutic sharing sessions are those that are done in a nurturing environment with other veterans present who have gone through the same sequence of events and realize the type of traumas that often accompany military life and war. No one understands a veteran better than another veteran who has ‘walked the walk’.”

RETREAT INFORMATION:

Event Title: “A Season of Change – You Can!” 1st Annual Retreat for Female Veterans.
What: Topics for discussion will be: MST, TBI, PTS, Balance in One’s Life, Heeding the Red Flags, Interviewing and Job Hunting Techniques, Meditation, Resources, and many more.
When: September 16th – 19th
Where: Christian Retreat Conference Center in Bradenton, FL

EDITORS NOTE: Applications are closed for this retreat. For any additional questions or information you may contact Georgie Alfano-Cronk at (941) 266-2769 or PAMFF at (941) 224-1094. PAMFF still needs financial assistance to keep the retreat free for the 15 attendees. PAMFF must secure approximately $400.00 per person in donations. If you wish you may send a donation to PAMFF, P.O. Box 2171, Sarasota, FL 34230. The featured image is of Ladda Tammy Duckworth an American woman wounded warrior and politician who has been the U.S. Representative for Illinois’s 8th congressional district since 2013.

“We wanted to watch him grow up. He was a sweet smart sensitive boy”

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Four-year old Daniel Tragerman z”l, the first Israeli child killed by Hamas during Operation Protective Edge.

On Friday afternoon, 4-year old Daniel Tragerman died of shrapnel wounds from a Hamas mortar fired randomly at the Nahal Oz Kibbutz in the Sha’ar Hanegev region hard by the frontier with Gaza.  The IDF said the mortar round was fired near a school used by Gazans as a refuge landing outside the Tragerman home. The irony was that he was within minutes of leaving home with his parents and brothers to travel to safety at his grandparents in Kiryat Ono, near Tel Aviv. The Times of Israel reported:

 Gila Tragerman said a shell had exploded in their kibbutz, Nahal Oz, some time earlier, convincing the family to leave for her parents’ house in Kiryat Ono, near Tel Aviv.

“The suitcases were already packed,” she said. “A minute before the explosion I went out to take Uri’s baby carrier (her young son) from the clothesline and met the neighbor. I asked him if they were leaving and told him we were setting off now. I went inside and there was the Color Red siren.

“The children were playing in a tent inside the house, and from the moment of the siren to the explosion only three seconds passed. We didn’t have time to get the children and go into the protected room.”

Gila said her son Daniel was very disciplined when it came to rocket sirens.

“He always rushed to the protected room,” she said. “The moment the alarm sounded he knew what to do and where to go. When everyone reached the protected room Daniel would say ‘now we’re all safe.’”

Tragerman called her son a “beautiful, smart, sensitive boy. So sweet…We wanted to watch him grow up with his brothers and fulfill himself.”

Daniel Tragerman was the first Israeli child to die in the 48 day old Operation Protective Edge. That the total of casualties to 68, including 64 IDF service personnel.

The Times of Israel noted  the reaction of Israeli PM Netanyahu:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas would pay a “heavy price” for the killing. In a phone call to local Sha’ar Hanegev council head Alon Shuster, Netanyahu said the IDF and Shin Bet would intensify their operations against Hamas and other Gaza terror groups until sustained calm was guaranteed for Israel.

US Ambassador  to Israel Dan Shapiro  wrote on his Facebook page:

“I condemn in the strongest terms this outrageous terrorist attack and offer condolences to the boy’s family. Israel has the right and obligation to defend itself, which the United States supports”

But the rockets and mortar keep raining death on Israel from Hamas in Gaza. This weekend so far more than 250 rockets were fired. The barrages ranged across the country into central Israel, but were especially fierce in the south and as far east as Beersheba. . Besides the fatal mortar attack in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, rockets smashed into a synagogue in Ashdod injuring three, while, a house in Sderot was severely damaged.

Hamas has fired more than 3,600 rockets during the 48 days, 600 the IDF maintains from positions near schools, homes, Mosques and even hospitals.   IDFreported  an air attack taking out a major Hamas command center in a residential apartment building in Gaza City on Saturday evening.

The mortar that killed 4 year old Daniel Tragerman was likely supplied by Iran. Hamas fired the mortar from a position near the grounds of an UNWRA School that provided refuge for Gazan civilians.  We wonder what UNWRA spokesperson Chris Gunness   would say at this time? He who cried tears over Gazan civilian deaths falsely accusing the IDF of war crimes, while subsequently it was revealed those casualties were caused by misfired Hamas rockets.  Would he now protest the Hamas mortar men who fired   the rounds that killed young Dan Tragerman in Nahal Oz? Perhaps we should tweet him and ask. I am reminded of a poster toted around by a pro-Hamas protester at our Stand for Israel Rally here in Pensacola that said Israel murders children in Gaza.  When challenged he said that he was pro-humanity, not pro-Hamas. Some humanity!  Our deepest rachmonis goes out to the Tragerman family for the loss of their son, the late beloved Dan Tragerman z”l.   He will be laid to rest Sunday at the Hevel Shalom cemetery in the Eshkol Regional Council in the northern Negev.

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

Connecting the Red Dots: Where convicted illegal alien murderers were released

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I grew up believing you people in Washington took your oaths seriously to protect the citizens yet ICE released 169 convicted killers and a total of 35,000 other criminals back into our society because their home countries won’t take them back. Together, they committed nearly 88,000 crimes, according to recently released report.

Question: A total of 36,000 illegal aliens involved whose countries won’t take them back must be a large number of countries. So how many are there?

Do you in Congress have the names of the countries refusing to back their citizens? Do you know which of those countries we currently give financial aid? Do you plan on stopping all aid immediately to any country that won’t take back their citizens? If not, why not?

What about transferring them all to Guantanamo Bay so they won’t be a threat to U.S. citizens?

unnamed (12)

Click on the map for a larger view.

RELATED ARTICLE: The Feds Let Go of Dozens of Convicted Murder Illegal Immigrants, See Where They Are on This Map | National Review Online

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is courtesy of 100PercentFedUp.com.

Real Islamophobes are the American media: jihadist mass murder in U.S. goes unreported

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Everyone is focused on ISIS and their horrific actions abroad. But what if there were a series of jihadist murders here in the United States that went virtually unreported by the national media – impossible, right? Not so fast.

As American Uncensored News reports, “For two bloody months, an armed jihadist serial killer ran loose across the country. At least four innocent men died this spring and summer as acts of “vengeance” on behalf of aggrieved Muslims, the self-confessed murderer has now proclaimed.”

“Meet Ali Muhammad Brown. His homicidal Islamic terror spree took him from coast to coast. The 29-year-old career thug admitted to killing Leroy Henderson in Seattle in April; Ahmed Said and Dwone Anderson-Young in Seattle on June 1; and college student Brendan Tevlin, 19, in Essex County, New Jersey, on June 25. Tevlin was gunned down in his family Jeep on his way home from a friend’s house. Ballistics and other evidence linked all the victims to Muhammad Brown. Police apprehended him in July hiding in an encampment near the Watchung Mountains of West Orange, New Jersey.”

So why are we just now learning about this? I know, I’m just a despicable Islamophobe and a fear monger attempting to scare everyone.

I realize all the cultural jihadi apologists just cannot wrap their minds around the simple fact that Islamism is a threat to western civilization and our liberty and freedoms.

Muhammad Brown told investigators that Tevlin’s slaying was a “just kill.” The devout Islamic adherent proclaimed: “My mission is vengeance. For the lives, millions of lives are lost every day.” Echoing jihadist Fort Hood mass killer Nidal Hasan, Muhammad Brown cited Muslim deaths in “Iraq, Syria, (and) Afghanistan” as the catalysts for his one-man Islamic terror campaign. “All these lives are taken every single day by America, by this government. So a life for a life.” When a detective asked him to clarify whether all four murders were “done for vengeance for the actions of the United States in the Middle East,” Muhammad Brown stated unequivocally: “Yes.” He added that he was “just doing (his) small part.”

Four men lost their lives due to a single jihadist — now what if there are 1,000 like Ali Muhammad Brown in America right now? Could there be other instances of jihadist murders occurring in America and not being reported as such? It’s irresponsible to say the least and complicity dangerous at its worst. We continue to dismiss this threat globally and we have a president who refers to it as a JV team. Domestically, we are enslaved to the false gods of political correctness and the cultural jihad enablers who attempt to force us into silence.

Consider the fact that we have a massive media army in Ferguson, Missouri but hardly a peep on this very disturbing series of jihadist murders. At least there has been some news on this out of Seattle, but otherwise it has been muted. America Uncensored goes so far as to say it was completely censored: “(We) did a search on the confessed Muslim mass murder’s name, and CNN has not even mentioned him once, ever.”

Here we have Eric Holder whisking off to Ferguson and talking about opening a “criminal investigation” by the FBI into the beheading of Foley and vowing to bring “justice.” What about the necessity of investigating these horrific murders? How are Holder and the Department of Justice going to track down an armed terrorist army? I wish he’d focus on this case and Obama would declare war against ISIS. Like that’s going to happen.

Islamophobic? That implies a fear of the Islamist threat – seems like that term should apply to our national media, not to me.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on AllenBWest.com. The featured image of Ali Muhammad Brown is courtesy of NWCN.

Americans among 12,000 Muslims from 50 countries waging jihad in Syria

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Where did these Americans learn their understanding of Islam? We all know, on pain of charges of “Islamophobia,” that no Muslims in the U.S., none, agree with the Islamic State, or want to bring Sharia Westward, or have any desire to restore the caliphate. None, you greasy Islamophobe. So how did these Americans come to misunderstand Islam? Were they reading “Islamophobic” writings that they mistook for the genuine article?

“Americans among 12,000 foreign fighters in Syria: US,” AFP, August 21, 2014:

Washington (AFP) – Some 12,000 foreign jihadists from 50 countries, including Americans, have gone to fight in Syria since the conflict began, the US State Department said Thursday.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, estimated that more than 100 US citizens have traveled or tried to travel to Syria to join the conflict.

They have traveled to join radical groups including the Islamic State (IS), militants fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria who have expanded into neighboring Iraq.

“We think that there are approximately 12,000 fighters from at least 50 countries in Syria — foreign fighters, including a small number of Americans — that may have traveled to Syria since the beginning of the conflict” more than three years ago, said deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.

“They may all not still be there,” she said, without revealing an estimated number of Americans.

US officials have been unable to identify an organized recruitment effort aimed at US citizens, as is the case in Europe.

Washington has publicly stated that Western fighters pose an especially dangerous risk, especially when they return to their countries of origin.

In late September, President Barack Obama is scheduled to host a Security Council summit with other heads of state focusing on the acute threat posed by foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq.

During his August 12 visit to Sydney, Secretary of State John Kerry said that Washington and Australia agreed to take concerns about the threat posed by jihadist foreign fighters in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere to the United Nations.

RELATED ARTICLES: 

California: Black convert to Islam killed waging jihad for ISIS in Syria
Hagel: Islamic State “an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether it’s in Iraq or anywhere else”
Islamic State threatens jihad mass murder attack in Chicago
Hamas-linked CAIR’s Nihad Awad: “Israel is the biggest threat to world peace and security”
Kentucky Catholic church paints ن on door in solidarity with Christians persecuted by Islamic State

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of demonstrators chant pro-al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as they wave al-Qaida flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, June 16, 2014. (AP).

What is the Divine Message in Two Executions on the same day?

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Two men were executed on city streets, on August 9, 2014, one in Miami Beach and one in a small Missouri town, on the same Sabbath morning, one at 9:00 am and the other less than three hours later. One has been determined by the police to have “no evidence of a hate crime” committed against him, and the other has received overwhelming worldwide media attention for exactly that, because a White police officer riddled with bullets the face and body of the unarmed Black teen.

NO EVIDENCE OF HATE CRIME IN RABBI'S EXECUTION

For a larger view click on the image.

The other unarmed victim of execution was a 60-year-old Rabbi walking in a placid Jewish Miami Beach neighborhood on his way to synagogue, assassinated by two Black youths carrying a loaded gun, while on foot, clad in brightly-colored shirts, proud to kill and walk away from the dead grandfather. Is there anything wrong with this picture, other than the assassinations of unarmed men? Is this merely a chance coincidence of tragedies, or is there a Divine message here?

The teen’s execution is the object of intense scrutiny by multiple law enforcement agencies and government officials, including the President of the United States, the FBI, the Missouri State Police, the Governor of Missouri, and the United States Department of Justice, operating under the banner of a “hate crime.”

On the other hand, the Rabbi’s execution is being investigated by the local police, claiming there is “no evidence of a hate crime.” The investigation has produced no suspects. The investigations of the entire string of crimes against Jews in North Miami Beach likewise remain unsolved. No FBI agents have been brought in to scour the confined area for clues. No Department of Justice officials are assisting the local police in locating and forcefully prosecuting the predators who first attacked Jewish cars on the Sabbath of July 26, writing “HAMAS” and “JEW” on the vehicles.

There is no concern about the federal prosecution of the next crime committed a day later in the dead of night, when the majestic front pillars of a Miami Beach synagogue were defaced with bright red swastikas and the word “HAMAS” once again appearing.

Without the heat turned to red hot pursuit of the criminals brazenly desecrating the synagogue, with their crimes being investigated solely as “criminal mischief” versus hate crimes, the felonies escalated days later to assassination of a Rabbi on a sunny Miami Beach street, just two blocks from the synagogue, while his grandchildren walked behind him as he was executed.

At the Rabbi’s memorial service the next day, August 10, the car of a mourner was marked with a now-familiar word, “HAMAS,” in the escalating stream of crimes against Jews.

Is there a climate of hate against Jews that is producing hate crimes in Miami Beach? Of course. To deny this premise is to obliterate the pattern of escalation of the crimes against property and person, the textual clues used like “HAMAS” and “JEW,” and the temporal contiguity of the crimes… July 26, July 27, August 9, and August 10.

In the brief span of two weeks, multiple Jewish-owned cars in proximate Jewish neighborhoods have been assailed with eggs, cream cheese, sharp objects, and anti-Semitic words; a stately synagogue was defaced with swastikas and “HAMAS” painted permanently on its pillars; two blocks down the same street, a father of six was assassinated in front of his grandchildren on their way to synagogue on the Jewish Sabbath; and the car of a mourner attending the memorial of the Jew massacred in broad daylight was marked with “HAMAS” upon it.

In conclusion, even if there were “no evidence of a hate crime” and serial hate crimes now being committed against Jews in the United States, in Miami Beach, perhaps there is a Divine message here – that Jews should be as protective and as prominent in defending the precious lives of our People as are other minorities victimized by hearts and fists bursting with hate. If we Jews do not heed this message, we bring upon ourselves the world’s disrespect for failing to descry the grave injustices that lead men to put other men into early graves because of their face or their faith.

Our voices should be a chorus against injustice to our own People … a chorus that rings around the world and all the way to Heaven.

POSTER - STRING OF MB HATE CRIMES V. JEWS

For a larger view click on the poster.

Why is the ‘Conservative’ BizPac Review endorsing Democrat Karen Brill?

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Voters_Guide-2014-web-optimized-231x300The Palm Beach County based BizPac Review has sent out its August 26th primary endorsements. Jack Furnari sent out “Jacks 2014 Conservative Primary Voters Guide“. Furnari describes himself as “a conservative writer and political strategist in Boca Raton.” On Jack’s list is Karen Brill running for re-election for the Palm Beach School Board District 3 seat.

Many wonder why a conservative publication endorsed Brill, a liberal Democrat, over her conservative opponent John Hartman. Brill is pro-Common Core and was recently installed by the Florida School Board Association as President of the Greater Florida Consortium of School Boards.

The Greater Florida Consortium of School Boards’ 2014 Legislative Program has a “Priority Goal” to:

Support Common Core State Standards and Accountability, and develop a workable timeline for the implementation of accountability, but not before July 1, 2017, that includes student, teacher, principal, school and school district assessment, professional development, and evaluation.

Karen_Brill

Karen Brill, Democrat Palm Beach School Board, District 3.

Brill will be responsible to implement the Consortium’s legislative program, which includes:

  • Repeal requirements for districts to adopt EOCs in every subject not covered by the state assessment program.
  • Allow alternative ways for Post-Secondary Readiness Test compliance, such as Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, AICE, or Dual Enrollment programs.
  • Oppose any further expansion of the Florida Tax Credit and John McKay Scholarship Programs.
  • Provide state funding for any increased costs to the employer’s contribution to the Florida Retirement System.
  • Identify alternative revenue sources, including efforts to enforce the states existing sales tax on all internet sales made in Florida, and study a phase out of exemptions on non-essential goods.
  • Extend the voter-approved operation millage authority from four (4) years up to ten (10) years.
  • Provide state wide assessments in multiple languages for the first two years of testing.

Does this sound like a conservative legislative program? Is Brill, who will be pushing this program, a conservative? Many think not.

Brill’s campaign website states, “Prior to joining the School Board, I was actively involved in education locally, statewide and on the national level – most notably as an advocate for students with disabilities.” Yet, as President of the Consortium Brill will be working against further expansion of John McKay Scholarship Programs that help students with disabilities. Is this an oxymoron?

We will let you decide if Jack’s picks are conservative or not. Some may want to re-consider the Jack and BizPac Review 2014 Voter Guide?

Big Fat Lies About Fat

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Americans are obsessed with fat; either with eating it or being it. We’ve been told that we’re too fat and we’re told that eating fat is bad for you.

Being fat is your own business. You’ll feel better if you lose a few pounds, but you will enjoy your next meal if it has a fat content rather than being a bland cereal…which explains why so many cereals today have some surgery covering or content.

The fact is you can eat almost anything you like and remain a healthy weight if you just don’t eat too much of it. It’s not rocket science.

For politicians, however, controlling what we eat has become an obsession. A demented Democratic Representative, Rosa DeLauro, from Connecticut, has proposed a bill—the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Tax Act—SWEET for short, that would penalize people one-cent for every teaspoon of sugar used in their drink of choice. It’s none of her business, let along the government’s, what you want to drink.

AA - New Food Plan to Fight ObesityThis obsession with what we eat has been personified by First Lady Michelle Obama who championed the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kinds Act that overhauled nutrition standards affecting more than thirty million children in schools around the nation.

It authorized the U.S. Department of Agriculture to set standards for all food and beverages sold during the school day. The law includes vending machines, snack cards, and daytime fundraisers. That now means that campus bake sales, the most popular fundraiser, now has to pay heed to a federal law that forbids selling cakes, cupcakes, or cookies.

Laws like this are a perfect example of how intrusive into the ordinary lives of Americans of all ages are laws that are slowly killing the concept of personal choice and personal freedom. They also demonstrate how wrong such laws are when they are written and passed by people who are clueless about nutrition.

A recent Gallup poll on “consumption habits” revealed that “Nearly twice as many Americans say they are actively trying to avoid fat in their diet (56%) as say they are actively avoiding carbohydrates (29%). However, fewer Americans are avoiding fat now more than a decade ago.”

Over the years as a book reviewer and avid reader, I have read “You Must Eat Meat” by Max Ernest Jutte, MD and Frank Murray, and “The Cholesterol Delusion” by Ernest N. Curtis, MD. Both books authoritatively debunk what Americans have repeatedly been told about meat and cholesterol, but my earliest advisor on these and other food related topics was Rebecca Caruba, my Mother, who taught gourmet cooking for three decades in local adult schools and who authored two cookbooks. She was a keen student of nutrition and early on warned students against margarine, telling them to use real butter and to enjoy all manner of meats, cheeses, and other foods we are constantly told are not good for us.

Cover - Big Fact SurpriseAt this point I want to add Nina Teicholz to the list of heroes like my Mother and the authors of the two books mentioned above. A skilled journalist, she has written a 479-page book, “The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat, and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet”. The fact that it includes nearly 140 pages of tiny, single-spaced notes regarding every detail in the book tells you why it took some nine years to write it.

Simply stated, everything Americans think they know about our diets is wrong, the result of a deliberate campaign to convince us that eating fat is bad for us when, in fact, creamy cheeses and sizzling steaks are the key to reversing the obesity, diabetes, and heart disease that affect too many Americans.

As William Davis, M.D., author of “Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health” said, “A page-turner story of science gone wrong…Misstep by misstep, blunder by blunder by blunder, Teicholz recounts the statistical cherry-picking, political finagling, and pseudo-scientific bully that brought us to yet another of the biggest mistakes in health and nutrition, the low-fat and low-saturated fat myth for heart health.”

The myth began in the 1950s with Ancel Benjamin Keys, a biologist and pathologist at the University of Minnesota. He was searching for the causes of heart disease. The nation was extremely fearful about it and the heart attack that President Eisenhower had while in office only added to their fears. Keys concluded that cholesterol was a major factor, but as Teicholz points out “It is a vital component of every cell membrane, controlling what goes in and out of the cell. It is responsible for the metabolism of sex hormones and is found at its highest concentration in the brain.”

Keys and other researchers, however, noting that cholesterol was the primary component of atherosclerotic plaques, assumed it to be “one of the main culprits in the development of coronary disease…This vivid and seemingly intuitive idea,” says Teicholz, “has stayed with us, even as the science has shown this characterization to be a highly simplistic and even inaccurate picture of the problem.” Keys would devote his life to advocating his misinterpretation of cholesterol and fat.

The problem with the word “fat” is that it has two very different meanings. One is the fat we eat and the other is the fat on our bodies. A book worth reading is “Fat: It’s Not What You Think” by Connie Leas, published in 2008 by Prometheus Books. As Ms. Teicholz notes, “A large number of experiments have since confirmed that restricting fat does nothing to slim people down (quite the reverse, actually), yet even so, the idea that there could be such a thing as ‘slimming fat’ will probably always seem to us like an oxymoron.”

I know that few will read Ms. Teicholz book, but you will surely welcome knowing that “saturated fat has not been demonstrated to lead to an increased risk of heart attacks for the great majority of people, and even the narrowing of the arteries has not been shown to predict a heart attack.”

The problem for all of us is that the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health both adopted the incorrect analysis of Keys et all, institutionalizing the diet-heart hypothesis and thus are setting the nutrition agenda.

My Mother cooked the most wonderful meals every day and more so on Sundays. She lived to 98 and my Father to 93, eating all manner of meat dishes along with fish and other choices. We all ate cheeses with gusto. And, yes, we loved pasta and Mother’s fabulous home baked breads and desserts. I am coming up soon on age 77 and my diet reflects what kept them alive and disease-free for all of their years.

If you or someone you know is seriously obsessed with their weight and health, recommend “The Big Fat Surprise” to them. I recommend it to you!

© Alan Caruba, 2014

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is courtesy of WallpapersPlanet.com.

How did Charlie Crist, Nan Rich and Rick Scott respond to the Catholic Bishops candidate questionnaire?

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The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops is the nonpartisan public policy voice of the Catholic Church in the sunshine state. The Florida Conference has released its Candidate Questionnaire Project responses from those running for Governor, U.S. Congress and the state legislature.

The deadline for primary candidate responses was Tuesday, July 29, 2014 for the Primary Election and is Tuesday, October 7, 2014 for the General Election. How did Charlie Crist, Nan Rich and Rick Scott respond to the Catholic Bishops?

Charlie Crist did not respond. However, Nan Rich and Rick Scott did provide responses with comments. It is useful to understand where these candidates stand on issues of importance to the Catholic Church in Florida as public policy has had and will have great impact on the Catholic Church and its institutions.

Here are the replies from Nan Rich and Rick Scott to the questions asked by the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops:

DO YOU SUPPORT OR OPPOSE?

ABORTION WAITING PERIOD: Requiring a 24-hour waiting period before obtaining an abortion?

NAN RICH

OPPOSE
Candidate Comments: I oppose requirements that impose mandatory, medically unnecessary delays on women before they can access reproductive health services.

RICK SCOTT

SUPPORT

COVERING THE UNINSURED: Using federal and state funds to decrease the percentage of uninsured Floridians by at least 50 percent?

NAN RICH

SUPPORT

RICK SCOTT

NO RESPONSE
Candidate Comments: With the historic reforms we made, our Medicaid system is better off today than it was before we took office. We received a waiver from the federal government to make our system more accessible and affordable to low income people who most need access to high quality medical care. 

Some states have chosen to spend MILLIONS of taxpayer money to grow their Medicaid program even more, however I have consistently said that Florida would only expand Medicaid if it did NOT cost taxpayers. It would be wrong to make promises to provide care that the state could ultimately not afford or sustain.

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: Restoring funding for the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program (VPK) by increasing the per-pupil scholarship amounts to the 2009-2010 school year levels?

NAN RICH

SUPPORT

RICK SCOTT

SUPPORT

FREEDOM TO SERVE: Allowing individuals and organizations the freedom to serve the public in accord with moral or religious beliefs concerning the sanctity of life and marriage?

NAN RICH

OPPOSE
Candidate Comments: I don’t believe employers should be able to impose their religious beliefs on their employees.

RICK SCOTT

SUPPORT

JUVENILE INDICTMENT MINIMUM: Establishing a minimum age at which a child can be tried as an adult?

NAN RICH

SUPPORT

RICK SCOTT

NO RESPONSE
Candidate Comments: I believe the law should allow for discretion depending on the severity of the crime.

PARENTAL EMPOWERMENT: Allowing parents to designate an approved percentage of the State’s per-pupil funding for each school-age child that can go toward tutoring, dual enrollment, prepaid college, virtual schooling, and nonpublic school tuition?

NAN RICH

OPPOSE

RICK SCOTT

NO RESPONSE
Candidate Comments: I believe parents know what’s best for their child’s education. I continue to support school choice, so that all of Florida’s children have a greater opportunity for a quality education that best meets their needs. Specifically I support the John McKay scholarship program for our students with disabilities and our Florida tax credit scholarship program that provides funding for scholarships to eligible children of families that have limited resources.

UNANIMOUS JURY FOR A DEATH SENTENCE: After unanimously determining guilt, requiring a unanimous jury recommendation to sentence someone to death rather than the current 7-5 simple majority?

NAN RICH

SUPPORT

RICK SCOTT

OPPOSE

WAGE THEFT RESOLUTION: Preserving the opportunity for local governments to establish mechanisms to resolve wage theft disputes?

NAN RICH

SUPPORT

RICK SCOTT

NO RESPONSE
Candidate Comments: It is appropriate for local governments to establish, if they see fit, the mechanisms for resolving wage theft disputes. However, I remain open to supporting efforts to streamline the procedures so that employers throughout the state are not subject to a patchwork of varying regulations – which would create additional financial burdens for job creators

To view all responses received by the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops Candidate Questionnaire Project go here.

CAIR: A Shocking Textbook Expert on Peace and Religion

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Why is the above image wrong?  Let us count the ways.

1. The quote does not come from the Council on American Islamic Relation (CAIR). It does not even come from a press release. It comes from a fatwa issued by the Fiqh Council of North America at a press conference convened by CAIR. The press release, dated a day earlier, did not contain any such line.

2. CAIR is not a religious authority. It is an activist and advocacy group. In fact, in that press release, CAIR described itself as, “America’s largest Muslim civil rights group.” Educational material should not use advocacy groups as authorities, let alone as experts on religious interpretation. Perhaps the textbook should have quoted a Muslim religious scholar or just explained that the Fiqh Council of North America issued a fatwa on this issue. Maybe the authors thought that using the correct terminology would be scary or confusing. But that would be kind of bigoted, wouldn’t it?

3. Neither the quote provided in the text nor the full fatwa actually validate the textbook’s claim that “people may mistakenly think that Islam encourages violence.” This fatwa does call on Muslims to refrain from violence against civilians, including terrorism. But it does not state anything about the religion encouraging or not encouraging other forms of violence, such as against militaries.

And finally…

4. No one should listen to CAIR on the issue of peace. The organization simply is not credible. If you are wondering what we mean about this, just look up the following phrases together: CAIR, unindicted co-conspirator, joint venturer, U.S. vs. Holy Land Foundation.

If you care about accuracy in textbooks, contact Verity Educate to find out what you can do.

Islamic State vows to ‘break the American cross’

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ISISWhiteHouse2The Islamic State jihadis think of the U.S. as a Christian nation, and so they think of destroying it as breaking the cross, which language is also reminiscent of this:

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, “By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, son of Mary (Jesus) will shortly descend amongst you people (Muslims) as a just ruler and will break the Cross and kill the pig and abolish the Jizya (a tax taken from the non-Muslims, who are in the protection, of the Muslim government). Then there will be abundance of money and no-body will accept charitable gifts. (Bukhari 3.34.425)

“Islamic State vows to ‘break the American cross,’” Reuters, August 19, 2014:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Islamic State, the Sunni militant group which seeks to establish a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria, released a video on Tuesday that gave the strongest indication yet it might attempt to strike American targets.

The video with the theme “breaking of the American cross” boasts Islamic State will emerge victorious over “crusader” America. It follows a video posted on Monday warning of attacks on American targets if Washington struck against its fighters in Iraq and Syria.

The latest footage speaks of a holy war between the al-Qaeda offshoot and the United States, which occupied Iraq for nearly a dacade and faced stiff resistance from al Qaeda.

Islamic State’s sweep through northern Iraq, bringing it close to Baghdad and in control of the second city, Mosul, drew U.S. airstrikes on the country for the first time since the end of the American occupation in 2011.

The video showed footage of President Barack Obama as well as strategic U.S. ally King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, and attacks on American soldiers.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Islamic State beheads US journalist James Foley in video
Islamic State jihadist justifies beheading as “100% Islam”
Islamic State jihadis screaming “Allahu akbar” burn Bibles, cut fingers off for wedding rings
Islamic State to U.S.: “We will drown all of you in blood”

ISIS Beheads American Photo Journalist — Threatens second U.S. Captive

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The Islamic State, formerly ISIS, in retribution for US air strikes in Northern Iraq, released a video of the purported beheading of intrepid American Photo Journalist James Wright Foley attired in an orange jump suit.  Foley was captured in Northern Syria in November 2012. Foley was previously held captive by Gaddafi forces in Libya in 2011 for 44 days. Foley, a native of Rochester, New Hampshire was working for the on-line Boston publication, Global Post that had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to find and release him.  The video of his beheading was promptly taken down from YouTube under rules that Google has established as being too violent.    At the conclusion of the video there is a shot of another captive American Journalist, Steven Joel Sotloff.   Sotloff according to a report in the International Business Times (IBT) was captured near Aleppo on August 4, 2013. Sotloff, the IBT noted was,” a freelance journalist who had reported on Egypt, Syria, and Libya for TIME, the Christian Science Monitor, the National Interest and Foreign Policy magazine. There is also rumored to be another American aid worker captured by ISIS in the Syrian civil conflict.

Steven Joel Sotloff with ISIS Executioner

Steven Joel Sotloff with ISIS Executioner. Source: #ISIS.

This barbaric act by ISIS is reminiscent of the beheading on February 1, 2002 in Karachi, Pakistan  of Wall Street Journalist, Daniel Pearl, by Al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed in Karachi, Pakistan and American Contractor Nick Berg executed on May 7, 2004 in  Iraq by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of the predecessor of ISIS, Al Qaeda in Iraq.

The Reuters account noted the contents of the graphic ISIS video entitled, “A Message to America”:

The video opened with a clip of U.S. President Barack Obama saying he had authorized strikes in Iraq.

“Obama authorizes military operations against the Islamic State effectively placing America upon a slippery slope towards a new war front against Muslims,” words appear in English and Arabic on the screen.

It showed black and white aerial footage of air strikes with text saying “American aggression against the Islamic State”

A person identified as James Foley and wearing an orange outfit is seen kneeling in the desert as a man in black dress with a black mask stands beside him, holding a knife.

“I call on my friends family and loved ones to rise up against my real killers, the U.S. government, for what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and criminality,” the kneeling man says.

The man in the mask speaks in a British accent and says: “This is James Wright Foley, an American citizen, of your country. As a government, you have been at the forefront of the aggression towards the Islamic State.”

“Today your military air force is attacking us daily in Iraq. Your strikes have caused casualties amongst Muslims. You are no longer fighting an insurgency. We are an Islamic army and a state that has been accepted by a large number of Muslims worldwide.”

Following his statement he beheads the kneeling man.

At the end of the video, words on the side of the screen say “Steven Joel Sotloff” as another prisoner in an orange jumpsuit is shown on screen.

Global Post published this early account this evening of the loss of their colleague, Foley, “Reported beheading of James Foley not yet verified”:

The video asserts that the alleged killing of Foley is in retaliation for recent airstrikes by the United States against IS militants in northern Iraq. In it, Foley, kneeling next to an apparent IS militant, makes comments against the US for its actions. The militant also claims to be holding journalist Steven Joel Sotloff, who went missing in Syria a year ago.

Philip Balboni, GlobalPost CEO and co-founder, made the following statement: “On behalf of John and Diane Foley, and also GlobalPost, we deeply appreciate all of the messages of sympathy and support that have poured in since the news of Jim’s possible execution first broke. We have been informed that the FBI is in the process of evaluating the video posted by the Islamic State to determine if it is authentic. … We ask for your prayers for Jim and his family.”

GlobalPost, for whom Foley had reported in Syria, has mounted an extensive international investigation since November 2012 to determine who kidnapped Foley and where he was being held. Significant research has been undertaken throughout the Middle East, including along the Syria-Turkish border, in Lebanon, in Jordan and in other locations.

“Although Global Post’s investigation at one point led us to believe that James was being held by the Syrian government, we later were given strong reason to believe he was being held by Islamic militants in Syria,” Balboni said. “We withheld this information at the request of the family and on the advice of authorities cooperating in the effort to protect Jim. GlobalPost, working with a private security company, has amassed an enormous amount of information that has not been made public.”

National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden affirmed in a statement that US officials are working to authenticate the video.

“We have seen a video that purports to be the murder of U.S. citizen James Foley by ISIL. The intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity. If genuine, we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends. We will provide more information when it is available,” the statement said.

Foley was on a freelance assignment for GlobalPost when he was abducted in northern Syria on Nov. 22, 2012. He was on his way to the Turkish border when he was stopped by a group of armed men. Foley reported for GlobalPost from Libya and Afghanistan before traveling to Syria in the early days of the now long-running civil war that has taken the lives of more than 170,000.

Foley’s last article for GlobalPost detailed the growing frustration with the war among civilians in Aleppo.

The fact of Foley’s kidnapping was revealed publicly for the first time by his parents, John and Diane Foley of Rochester, New Hampshire, on Jan. 1, 2012, two months after his abduction. The only other American whose identity has been publicly revealed is Austin Tice, a freelance reporter for the McClatchy News Service and the Washington Post, who was kidnapped in August 2012.

The Foley family’s last public statement on the kidnapping came in October 2013.

While covering the Libyan civil war in 2011, Foley and two other journalists, American Claire Gillis and Spaniard Manu Brabo, endured a 44-day captivity in April and May of that year at the hands of then Libyan strongman Col. Muammar Gaddafi. A fourth journalist, South African Anton Hammerl, was killed when the journalists were captured by Gaddafi fighters near Benghazi in eastern Libya. Foley later returned to Libya to cover Gaddafi’s fall and eventual death. Foley and GlobalPost correspondent Tracey Shelton were at the scene of Gaddafi’s capture in October 2011.

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

Back from the Dead: The Return of the Evil Empire

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Below is a book cover I designed last month for Cliff Kincaid’s Back from the Dead: The Return of the Evil Empire written by him and three other authors. The book is now on Amazon.
Stalin_Poster_300.jpg
I modeled it on an iconic Stalin-era poster, changing Stalin to Putin and adding a peeling tri-color flag of the new Russia. The bad Soviet paint that had been hastily brushed over the old flag in the 1990s is now falling off in big clumps, revealing the solid red USSR flag with the hammer and sickle.

Putin is wearing a WWII-era St. Georgi ribbon on his chest, as do his murderous agents in the east of Ukraine today, falsely comparing their supremacist warfare on the independent Ukraine to WWII.

Since the old Evil Empire has now returned from its shallow grave, it is only appropriate that Putin would tower over a crowd of “undead” brainless followers. I had been tempted to sprinkle this gathering of zombies with the faces of modern Russian politicians and public figures, but they wouldn’t be recognizable in America anyway. The only face I couldn’t resist adding was that of Alexander Dugin (the bearded ghoul on the right), whose monstrous theories of Nazi-like national-chauvinism are fueling Russia’s modern supremacist movement, which Putin is so cleverly exploiting.

I got a complimentary copy of the book in today’s mail; it looks great and I can’t wait to read it. Here’s a synopsis from America’s Survival website.

A new book — Back from the Dead: The Return of the Evil Empire – exposes how America’s political leaders and intelligence agencies were caught off-guard as Vladimir Putin brought back the USSR, invaded Ukraine, and now threatens the world with a conflict that Putin’s apologists say could go nuclear.

The back cover and spine back from the dead

The back cover and spine. For a larger view click on the image.

The fall of the Berlin Wall misled many into thinking the Soviet KGB was dead. But infiltration of the West continued through “cultural Marxism,” and penetration by enemy agents, while the KGB, now called the FSB, looted Russia, consolidated its power, and rebuilt the Russian military, including its nuclear forces. America’s survival hangs in the balance.

Cliff Kincaid, founder and president of America’s Survival, Inc. (ASI), is a journalist and media analyst based in the Washington, D.C. area for almost 40 years and contributes one of the chapters in the new book. Other chapters are written by former KGB officer Konstantin Preobrazhensky and anti-communist analysts J.R. Nyquist and Toby Westerman. ASI has published the book, available on the website usasurvival.org and through Amazon.com

“Having fled from the Putin regime, Preobrazhensky understands modern-day Russia,” Kincaid said. “Analysts Nyquist and Westerman were writing about the return of Soviet military power under Putin at a time when Obama and Hillary were arranging a Russian policy ‘reset’ and Congress passed trade benefits for Russia.”

In reaction to assertions by some American conservatives such as Patrick J. Buchanan that Vladimir Putin is a Christian leader, Kincaid said that “We expose these claims as Russian disinformation, perhaps the greatest deception of all time.” The book describes in detail how Putin is using the Russian Orthodox Church as an ideological front in his war on the world, and how the Roman Catholic Church has failed to confront this evil. The book also examines how the KGB/FSB secretly manipulates Islamic and Palestinian terrorist groups and even the Iranian regime.

I have already made two book covers for Mr. Kincaid in the past, see them here.

back from the dead book cover

For a larger view click on the book cover.