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.

The Candlemaker’s Petition by Frederic Bastiat

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We candelmakers are suffer­ing from the unfair competi­tion of a foreign rival. This for­eign manufacturer of light has such an advantage over us that he floods our domestic markets with his product. And he offers it at a fantastically low price. The moment this foreigner appears in our country, all our customers de­sert us and turn to him. As a re­sult, an entire domestic industry is rendered completely stagnant. And even more, since the lighting industry has countless ramifica­tions with other native industries, they, too, are injured. This foreign manufacturer who competes against us without mercy is none other than the sun itself!

Here is our petition: Please pass a law ordering the closing of all windows, skylights, shutters, cur­tains, and blinds — that is, all openings, holes, and cracks through which the light of the sun is able to enter houses. This free sunlight is hurting the business of us deserving manufacturers of candles. Since we have always served our country well, gratitude demands that our country ought not to abandon us now to this un­equal competition.

We hope that you gentlemen will not regard our petition as mere satire, or refuse it without at least hearing our reasons in support of it.

First, if you make it as difficult as possible for the people to have access to natural light, and thus create an increased demand for artificial light, will not all domestic manufacturers be stimulated thereby?

For example, if more tallow is consumed, naturally there must be more cattle and sheep. As a result, there will also be more meat, wool, and hides. There will even be more manure, which is the basis of agri­culture.

Next, if more oil is consumed for lighting, we shall have extensive olive groves and rape fields.

Also, our wastelands will be covered with pines and other res­inous trees and plants. As a re­sult of this, there will be numerous swarms of bees to increase the production of honey. In fact, all branches of agriculture will show an increased development.

The same applies to the shipping industry. The increased demand for whale oil will then require thousands of ships for whale fish­ing. In a short time, this will re­sult in a navy capable of upholding the honor of our country and grat­ifying the patriotic sentiments of the candlemakers and other per­sons in related industries.

The manufacturers of lighting fixtures — candlesticks, lamps, candelabra, chandeliers, crystals, bronzes, and so on — will be espe­cially stimulated. The resulting warehouses and display rooms will make our present-day shops look poor indeed.

The resin collectors on the heights along the seacoast, as well as the coal miners in the depths of the earth, will rejoice at their higher wages and increased pros­perity. In fact, gentlemen, the con­dition of every citizen of our country — from the wealthiest owner of coal mines to the poorest seller of matches — will be improved by the success of our pe­tition.

Translated and slightly condensed by Dean Russell from Selected Works of Frederic Bastiat, Volume 1. Paris: Guill­aumin, 1863. pp. 58-59.

Please Protect Us from Santa Claus

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A modest proposal by David J. Hebert and Austin Middleton:

Dear Mr. President:

We applaud your valiant efforts to protect the American economy from the pernicious effects of cheap imports, but we fear you have overlooked one of the worst culprits.

Readily available goods for the consumer at reasonably low prices have been shown time and again to be toxic to domestic producers, who are the backbone of any advanced society. We urge you to expand your scope and protect us from someone your predecessors have neglected to stop: Santa Claus.

Every year on December 24, we struggle to fall asleep, anxious over the arrival of the villain known as Father Christmas. Santa’s crimes are not breaking and entering or stealing foodstuffs. No, Santa is guilty of the much more serious crime of destroying American jobs. Products imported from abroad and consumed domestically make Americans worse off. Every “gift” from Santa represents a reduction in measured American welfare; this is one of the fundamental assertions of national income accounting when calculating gross domestic product. In fact, the North Pole is worse than other countries, for the North Pole does not receive any goods produced for export from the United States. Thus, the US trade deficit with the North Pole is entirely one-sided.

American jobs lost due to Santa

Mr. President, using the methodology your own Council of Economic Advisors employed in evaluating the effect of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, where the volume of dollars spent by government equated jobs created or saved, we can estimate the employment impact the North Pole deficit has.

A recent Gallup poll reports that 77 percent of Americans identify as some sort of Christian and are therefore eligible to receive presents from Santa for good behavior. Crime-rate data published in the National Crime Victimization Survey, which gives a sense of the prevalence of naughty behavior, indicates that in 2013, there were 2,905 property crimes reported for every 100,000 people. Unreported crimes, however, are not reflected in these data, and Santa, of course, knows if you’ve been bad or good. As a means of attempting to capture this unreported bad behavior, assume that 90 percent of crimes go unreported, or that actual bad behavior is 10 times as common as the data suggest. This means that there are approximately 68,895,000 people who have been “good” for the year and are thus eligible for Christmas gifts.

Economist Joel Waldfogel’s groundbreaking analysis estimates that the average person receives $462 worth of Christmas gifts each year (in 1992 dollars), meaning that Santa takes away from us a potential $53 billion (2013 dollars) worth of economic activity. This is enough economic activity to employ another 1,193,000 full-time workers at the median household salary of $44,389. With the economy recently experiencing one of the worst downturns since the Great Depression, these jobs have never been more crucial to a nation’s recovery. But Santa’s economic terrorism does not stop there.

Santa as an anti-competitive monster

Recognizing the serious problems with monopolies, the US government passed a trilogy of bills (the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890 and the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act in 1914) as a sort of last resort to counter the oppressive behavior of corporations, which tended to grow to an unreasonable size. History is rife with examples, from John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil to Bill Gates and Microsoft, where the government successfully stepped in and corrected obvious market failures and improved the lives of all citizens.

“How does this apply to jolly ol’ Saint Nick?” you ask. His company has successfully integrated both vertically (Santa’s elves do everything in house, from production to distribution) and horizontally (while Santa is best known for making toys, he has expanded his empire into tablets, personal computers, and even automobiles, as recent car commercials attest). What’s more, he is also likely to be the single biggest violator of intellectual property rights in all of human history. Santa has an unfair advantage compared to other businesses, which must purchase their materials and shipping services from other companies.

This unfair business advantage has forced companies in the United States to kick off the holiday shopping season the day after Thanksgiving with a ritual known as “Black Friday.” In an attempt to capture what little of the market they can before Santa and his band of thieves dump toys, electronics, and other consumer goods on the world economy, some stores advertise sales as great as 50 percent off suggested retail price. This business practice is clearly unsustainable.

Illegal labor practices

Santa has managed to grow his empire through perhaps the most nefarious of means: child and slave labor. According to the critically acclaimed 1994 documentary The Santa Clause, starring Tim Allen, Santa has been using child elf labor since the beginning of his operation. Will Farrell’s 2003 documentary, Elf, confirms that once a worker becomes a part of Santa’s conglomerate, he or she is bound there for life, as we see when Santa personally comes to New York City to collect the rogue elf, Buddy.

Further, the working conditions of Claus’s cadre of elf labor are unknown. We do, however, know from NASA and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency’s geothermal imaging of the North Pole that no significant thermal activity exists. This means that elves lack basic necessities like lighting and heat; it also means that their work must be done by hand. Forced to endure six months of night, the elves’ working conditions fail every reasonable standard set by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The United States has historically led the charge of correcting these practices elsewhere, which has had the demonstrable effect of improving people’s lives worldwide. Yet, Mr. President, you and Congress refuse to act in this situation, leaving elves perpetually impoverished.

Bypassing border control

Santa’s ability to penetrate the woefully unmonitored Canadian border highlights the potential threat of other undocumented immigrants’ entry. The US Customs and Border Protection division of the Department of Homeland Security, sharing responsibility with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has proven incapable of securing entry into the country and collecting the duties levied by law on all imported goods. Despite the tracking of Santa’s whereabouts each year by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), nothing has been done to protect our borders from this scoundrel. We must agree, though, that attempting to capture Santa may be a moot point, as he has been estimated to travel in excess of 650 miles per second, which no current military technology can keep up with.

Recommendations

The fact of the matter, Mr. President, is that all foreign producers have a degree of Santa in them from a domestic perspective. Foreign producers sell us goods and services, and while they do not do so at zero price like Santa, they still charge a lower price that our domestic counterparts are either unwilling or unable to match. Unlike Santa Claus, however, these foreign producers send us their “gifts of good cheer” 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. What’s more, they do not restrict their gift giving to any particular religious group, but instead offer their gifts to all the boys and girls regardless of religious affiliation.

We therefore urge you to be logically consistent: either recognize every foreign producer that sends exports to the United States as if they were like Santa Claus, celebrating their efforts at enriching our lives, or recognize that Santa is simply another foreign producer, and condemn his activity as destroying American jobs.

ABOUT DAVID J. HEBERT

David Hebert is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Ferris State University. His interests include public finance and property rights.

ABOUT AUSTIN MIDDLETON

A lifelong resident of Northern Virginia, Austin Middleton is a PhD student of the history of economic thought specializing in Adam Smith’s political philosophy at George Mason University.

Merry Christmas 2014

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Most mornings, I turn on the TV in the play room across from my bedroom in order to listen to it as I get ready for my day. (I don’t keep a TV in my bedroom. Just never think about watching TV in bed.) I usually begin with about half an hour of soothing instrumental music. Then, I listen to a couple of Christian programs.

I become the words I ingest, so I aim to ingest healthy words, especially first thing in the morning.

One of my favorite Christian speakers is Joseph Prince, who pastors a church in Singapore. I especially appreciate his knowledge of Greek and Hebrew etymology.

The 14-minute video excerpt below is what I heard on TV Christmas Eve morning.

It is my gift to any of my readers who wish to view it.

To all, I wish you a Merry Christmas.

UK Opting Out of EU Revealed: First in Daniel’s Dream of Lion (UK) with Eagle’s Wings (US) Alliance?

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“If referendum was today … Britons WOULD vote to QUIT Europe, reveals expert new survey.” The full story of this headline is linked at the end, but our headline suggests what the prophet Isaiah said, that God declares the end from the beginning, Isaiah 46:10.

When asked about the end of the world, the Great Teacher who divided BC from AD said to understand the book of Daniel, Matthew 24:3,15.

The word “Daniel” means God is my judge and he faithfully faced potential life or death situations in Daniel 1-6, suggesting a lesson for us. If we don’t have something we are willing to die for (like Daniel) do we really have something worth living for? Or are we going with the flow so nothing matters? And in that case, do we matter? Do we want our lives to count for something?

In Daniel 7, God revealed the nature of earthly governments as fierce beasts of prey. A lion, bear, leopard and dragon represented Bablon, Medo-Persian, Grecia and Rome. But the book of Daniel was also “sealed” until the time of the end (Daniel 12:4) which implies an end-time meaning that wouldn’t be seen until we see how it fits again!

So while the lion with eagle’s wings represented the kingdom of Babylon (and Babylon had many lion sculptures), the interpretation also fits now when the four beasts are said to be “four kings [kingdoms] which shall arise out of the earth.” This was written when Babylon was declining under the last king, Belshazzar, Daniel 7:17.

With this in mind, perhaps we should ask, What do the other beasts represent? There’s a bear and if God knows the end from the beginning, He probably knew we would be using a bear to represent Russia. The bear had three ribs in its mouth. Could they represent the Ukraine, Georgia and Belarus?

The 3rd beast was a leopard with four heads. As we look to major players in this vision that includes our time, we shouldn’t miss China that could be aligned with Japan, Korea and Thailand.

And finally the dragon-like beast with 10 horns that in the original interpretation represented the 10 tribes that roamed Europe after the Roman Empire fell. All the Protestant Reformers were united in their view that the “little horn” described in Daniel 7:21,25 represented the papacy.

The relationship of these beasts to the end-time in the book of Revelation is seen in chapter 13 where a beast comes out of the sea, but waters represent nations and peoples, Revelation 17:15. It’s an amalgamation of Daniel’s beasts with a mouth like a lion, feet like a bear, looks like a leopard, but it has the total of 7 heads and 10 horns from Daniel 7. This is the papacy as it survived those kingdoms.

This political cartoon had a “deadly wound” from a sword. This could be the end of the Holy Roman Empire as Napoleon’s General Berthier took the pope prisoner and he died in exile.

But that “deadly wound” was healed as Mussolini gave the Vatican area and the deadly wound healed, and the world “wonders after the beast,” [representing the geopolitical system as our cartoons do with an eagle, bear, donkey, elephant, etc]

With that in mind, it’s not hard to see the papacy again having a central role for the European Union, even as the pope speaks great words, Daniel 7:8.

The point of concern regarding Daniel 7 is that Christ receives His kingdom in verse 14 and it appears to be separate and distinct from these four fierce beasts. This is matched with a message from Revelation 18:2-4 that calls us out of Babylon.

There are major clues in the previous chapter (17), but suffice it to say that the term “Babylon” represents all false systems of government, medicine, education, welfare, correction and religion. Everywhere we turn, someone is hyping something for financial or some other gain when, in most cases, there “None of the above” is the best answer for us.

But before this is all over, we can expect the forces behind One World Government to make a major push for compliance, even as everyone was expected to bow to the image or face the fire in Daniel 3.

So far from a book of myths that atheists, evolutionists and so-called “educators” might wish to paint it, the Bible is the guidebook showing the God knows the end from the beginning and we need to study it well to be sure we are on His side. The stakes are high and the results are for ever.

This column is based on an article by Owen Bennett in the Express titled “If referendum was today … Britons WOULD vote to QUIT Europe, reveals expert new survey.”

Trying to Use the United Nations to Destroy Israel

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The right of Israel to exist as a nation was officially recognized by the United Nations on November 29, 1947 when it adopted Resolution 181 favoring the partition of the area claimed by the Zionist movement. The resident Arabs refused to accept the land set aside for a “Palestinian” state.

The British “mandate” of the area dated from the Versailles Treaty in 1919. Previously the Balfour Declaration was issued by the British government, favoring the establishment of a Jewish national home in what was then referred to as Palestine.

In 1946 following World War Two and in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust that killed six million Jews in Europe President Truman announced his support for the creation of a Jewish state. Throughout 1947 the United Nations Special Commission on Palestine had examined the issues involved and recommended the partition of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state.

The Arabs, then and now never ceased to oppose the existence of a Jewish state. To have a state of their own would require acknowledging Israel and that is why, to this day, there is no Palestinian state, nor ever was one.

AA - Israel Provincea

For a larger view click on the map.

In the wake of several Jewish revolts against the Roman Empire, Emperor Hadrian changed the name of Judea, Samaria and the Galilea to “Syria Palaestina” and the name of Jerusalem to “Aelia Capitolina.” The name change did nothing to eliminate Israel whose restoration remained an active dream for two millennia.

Now, having refused to come to any agreement with Israel despite years of negotiations and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza to give the Palestinians living space in addition to an area in the West Bank, the Arab League is turning to the United Nations.

In the years since the 1947 resolution the U.N. has long engaged in anti-Israel activities. As Anne Bayefsky wrote in the Jerusalem Post, “From November 24, 2014 until December 5, 2014, the UN human rights headquarters in Geneva mounted a public exhibit that was pure incitement. UN-driven anti-Semitism that takes the form of seeking to demonize, disable and ultimately destroy the Jewish state.”

“The exhibit was entitled: ‘La Nakba: Exode et Expulsion des Palestinians en 1948’ or ‘The Nakba: Exodus and Explusion of the Palestinians in 1948.’ The occasion was the annual UN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Solidarity Day marks the adoption by the General Assembly on November 29, 1947 of the resolution that approved the partitioning of Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state.” It was rejected by Arab states. “Thus,” wrote Ms. Bayefsky, “the Arab war to deny Israel’s right to exist began.”

The day following the Fatah (formerly the Palestinian Liberation Organization) announcement of its intent to seek a U.N. resolution, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with a delegation from the Arab League to discuss the resolution that sets a timeline for an Israeli withdrawal to its pre-1967 borders. Indeed, they want to declare East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital and want the assurance that “refugees” could “return”. The Obama administration has been the first to break with the long tradition of good will and solidarity that has existed between the U.S. and Israel.

As Rabbi Aryah Spero noted in a December 17 CNS News commentary, “Despite the partnership between the terrorist organizations Hamas and Fatah (the new name for Arafat’s PLO) some European nations are demanding that Israel immediately accede to the Hamas/Fatah demands or they will proceed in the U.N. to declare a Palestinian State and impose on Israel conditions that will not only strip her of her capital, Jerusalem, but place Israelis in instant jeopardy from rockets launched against her from this newly declared state abutting Israel. Like Gaza before, this newest Palestinian state will become a terrorist state and a proxy of Iran.”

European anti-Semitism is steeped in centuries of enmity and it is reasserting itself again within the living memory of the Nazi Holocaust that sought to kill every Jew in Europe. U.S. pressure is a major departure from decades of support for Israel. At the same time President Obama has lifted sanctions against Iran, giving it more time to develop nuclear weapons he has been threatening sanctions against Israel if it continues to permit the construction of housing in Jerusalem.

The Arab demand that it is the heir to “Palestine” and that Jerusalem is a holy city is absurd. As Rabbi Spero notes, “Unlike the Jewish Bible that mentions Jerusalem over 700 times, the Koran never mentions Jerusalem, even once. Jerusalem is simply a location they conquered and has become, as with other places, a symbol of Islamic power and control over Judaism and Christianity.” By this thinking, the Arabs should demand the return of Spain which they had also conquered.

In sum, the Arab League, Europe, and Obama’s U.S. policy want Israel to accept terms that amount to suicide.

That is not going to happen. The months and years ahead will be no less filled with the kind of turmoil and threats that Israel has lived with since it declared its independence in 1948. A world that turns its back on Israel is asking for its own apocalyptic destruction.

© Alan Caruba, 2014

RELATED ARTICLE: Bill to Get U.S. Out of UN Introduced in New Congress

There Is But One Way

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The great Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in 1818 and died one of the major pillars of American History in 1895.  He refused to except the bonds of either physical external slavery heaped upon him by others. Mr. Douglass also did not succumb to self- inflicted slavery in his own mind. Unfortunately, far too many of our countrymen and women today have fallen prey to the slavery of self defeat and bitterness which in turn is negatively affecting our republic. Meanwhile, the United States as a whole continues to decline because many sovereign individuals are achieving far below their positive potential.  I am forever amazed at how Frederick Douglass focused upon and obtained his own freedom, long before America battled within herself to free the slaves. Douglass lived a full life as an author, statesman and abolitionist. He was arguably the greatest orator of the 19th century.

His skills as a public speaker were so refined that many of his white abolitionists became offended because although they wanted blacks to be free, they certainly didn’t think that a black man should out shine them in the arena of public oratory. Some were known to say that the excellence of Frederick Douglass as a speaker was just going a bit too far and he needed to tone it down a bit.  Many abolitionists, believed blacks to be victims who would always need help.  They way that progressive liberals view black Americans today.  Whereas, Mr. Douglass argued that blacks were just as capable as everyone else to fend for themselves.

Of course, Frederick Douglass was himself, living proof that an individual could arise from even the lowest station in life and obtain their highest God given potential.  Douglass’ mode of thinking offended others who refused to accept the concept of black men reaching the upper realm of accomplishment. That sort of reminds me of the progressives of today who think that Blacks and almost everyone else should exist under the control of others who would control us from cradle to grave. My belief is that if Frederick Douglass could ascend to the level of success he enjoyed, then today unless one is dead, totally disabled or paralyzed there is no excuse to simply exist. The only other exception to that rule is if the government throttles the economy into retraction through over regulation and high taxes, making it near impossible to create more opportunities via jobs or entrepreneurship.

I believe that a seed of greatness is placed within each of us by our loving creator. Unfortunately, there is an ambitious class of leftist thinkers who want to stunt the growth and achievement of certain people, especially black men. The founders of our republic had hoped to create a long lasting form of government of free men who would sustain and expand the concept of a society that recognized the unalienable God given rights of everyone. Not unmotivated wards of the state, who’s government drones want to tell us what doctor to see, or what we may or may not teach our children.  I personally believe that America will return to her position of greatness. If “We The People” first seek out and travel our individual path to greatness. For as my own father often said, that a nation is no greater the path taken by the people.

As we remember the importance of and celebrate patriotism, we must not forget morality. In fact, Thomas Jefferson stated, “The practice of morality being necessary for the well being of society.  He, meaning God has taken care to impress it’s precepts so indelibly on our hearts that they shall not be effaced by the subtleties of our brain.” We all agree in the obligation of the moral precepts of Jesus, and nowhere will they be found delivered in greater purity than in his discourses. Ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls, Americans all. With each passing day that our great, but troubled republic drifts just a bit further from the principles rooted in moral strength, courage and God’s living word.  We are witnessing a deterioration of affairs both foreign and domestic.

Yes, there is still much to be admired, love and be thankful for in being able to call America home.  But we cannot afford to allow her to remain on the present course leading away from her Biblical foundation toward utter disaster. Our freedom and right to be able to promote the Bible, Christmas, the Constitution, and traditional marriage has been disintegrating precipitously. Mainly because of our unwillingness or inability to boldly steer the United States away from the grip of those who’s only mission is to fundamentally change our worthy nation into a worthless dictatorship.

Government schools, along with the dragon media, and even major Christian denominations were handed over to those who did not have our nation’s best interest at heart.  As a result, several generations of young Americans have been indoctrinated away from the moral, intellectual and spiritual glue that holds our nation together.  So now, for the first time in our republic’s history, most government school and college graduates desire communism than liberty and capitalism.  Our seventh president Andrew Jackson, also known as old hickory said concerning the Bible, “That Book sir is the rock upon which our republic rests.”  Unfortunately today, America is sinking in a foundation of sand.

But we don’t have to settle for this.  Because as we improve, America regenerates. There is a clear and present course we can embark upon that begins with prayer.  Just as our founding fathers knew the power and purpose of prayer to almighty God. There is a process: within the God given wisdom of our founding documents, we have been granted clear and certain processes for bringing about change concerning that we perceive as wrong for our land.

We must participate:  Participating within the process for change is the ultimate key to our success. It is foolish to gripe and complain about what one considers wrong our unjust in our land and not participate in the process of changing it for the better.

No one said that the battle would be easy. But we need to persevere as we prepare to welcome in the New Year.

Concerning the fight to reignite the flame of freedom, we must be ready to engage to effort until good triumphs over the forces of evil.  The battle is not always won by the strongest, the smartest, or the most elite. But ultimately, victory comes to those who persist without wavering. I personally believe, that despite the dark clouds of progressivism engulfing America and the enemies from within acting as if they have triumphed through treason, I believe that ilk will soon be in for a rude awakening.  Or as President Ronald Reagan once said, “we win, they lose.”

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and may you have a most Happy New Year.

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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Islamic State to Ferguson protesters: “Hey blacks, ISIS will save you”

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As I wrote about here, Islamic jihadists and supremacists have long tried to co-opt black Americans’ sense of grievance, and channel it into the jihad. The Islamic State has had its eye on the Ferguson protests since they began.

“ISIS tries to influence criminals in Ferguson,” by Farrah Fazal, KSDK, December 23, 2014:

FERGUSON, Mo. — The tweets say “Hey blacks, ISIS will save you,” and use the hashtags #IslamicState, #Ferguson and #Coming. The terror group ISIS, or Islamic State for Iraq and Syria was recruiting criminals and anarchists in Ferguson.

The FBI received the intelligence through situational reports. ISIS was targeting the criminals, not the peaceful protesters in Ferguson. ISIS wants nothing to do with people fighting for social justice.

The U.S. Attorney in Southern District of Illinois, Steve Wigginton, said ISIS wants people who hate the U.S. government as much they do.

“We received intelligence reports for law enforcement showing actual tweets ISIS was putting out encouraging Americans to join the people who were burning down buildings in Ferguson to engage that kind of conduct across America,” said Wigginton.

We are learning the terrorists called ISIS were trying to reach out to criminals in Ferguson during unrest. 12-22-14

He said situational reports show ISIS is recruiting heavily on the internet and through social media techniques. Somebody captured a picture of a person carrying an “ISIS is here” banner while CNN anchor Jake Tapper was interviewing peaceful protesters on live TV.

“They are trying to reach the people who are anti government to begin with. We have a number of those individuals in the U.S., whether they are sovereign citizens, whether they are anarchists, they all showed up at one point or another in the St. Louis area in the last few months,” said Wigginton.

Isis terrorists made names for themselves by beheading American and International journalists and aid workers. They put those executions on YouTube.

“We are very concerned by threats posed by homegrown violent extremists from individuals who live in the same community they intend to attack,” said FBI special agent in charge of the Springfield Illinois area, Sean Cox.

Cox said terrorist groups like ISIS are recruiting more Americans….

How are they able to do that, when what they do has nothing to do with Islam?

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France: Now 1,000 soldiers deployed on streets to combat Christmas jihad terror attacks

Save the West!

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If you follow The United West you know that our primary work is to save America, Israel and the West from the evil Obama lefties and Muslim jihadis. On this show we feature three unique people who have the same goal and are on the front lines in the battle of ideas in the market place of truth.

With us Skyped in live from Israel is Jerusalem Jane with a report about threats she is receiving from the “religion of peace” proponents on the Jewish Temple Mount who don’t like the fact Is Jane is up there praying for Jewish people and Israel.

Also Skyped in live is Arie Egozi with our weekly report on the national security issues facing Israel on a daily basis.

Finally, in this jammed-packed show we have a special in-studio guest, Ken Abramowitz, who is working specifically on saving Western Civilization through a series of live presentations and a very focused web site – www.SaveTheWest.com.

Tune in and listen to Ken systematically explain the problem facing the West and the solution necessary to SAVE THE WEST!

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

Cops and the Robbers: Bill, Al, Eric and Barack (Part 2)

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The United West presents Part 2 of a two-part series on the horrible execution of two New York City police officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos by Muslim criminal, Ishmael Abdullah Brinsley.

Our “big” idea is that this sad event is a sign of things to come, particularly if any element of the Muslim Brotherhood collaborates with the Nation of Islam in the urban centers of American cities.

Join us as we develop the timeline of both Ferguson and New York and you will see how Al Sharpton, figures out how to exploit both tragedies for his own self-aggrandizement!

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of Al Sharpton who followed Mayor Bill de Blasio to Washington to meet with President Obama. Photo: Ron Sachs: AP.

Ruining Christmas 2014

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As usual, those for whom laws, ethics, and good will mean nothing have come together to try to ruin Christmas for the rest of us.

Christmas means different things to different people and depends to a large degree on age. For the young it is a magical time of getting gifts. As one grows older it is a time of giving gifts and sending cards. And for the very old who have outlived many family members and friends, it is tinged with sadness. In between is an orgy of advertising using Santa Claus to sell cars and much else.

I will begin with a fulsome condemnation of those who go to court or raise a cry about the presence of Christmas displays or any religious symbol on “public land.” The Constitution does not forbid this. It forbids “the establishment of religion” which was understood to mean laws that made a particular religion a state religion such as the Church of England that exists today. The fact that some courts today do not understand this does not change the meaning or intent of the Constitution.

Christmas 2014, it must be said, is fraught with all manner of threats to our society and our nation.

sharpton-de-blasio-obamaAfter several weeks of portraying police as the problem, two of them were assassinated as payback for the deaths of a Ferguson, Missouri thug and a Staten Island petty thief. Insanely some people marched in the streets shouting that they wanted “More dead cops.” From the President and his “advisor” Al Sharpton, the Attorney General, and even the Mayor of New York, the message was that the police are the enemy.

It is progressives—Communists—who are the enemy. Welcome to the 1950s all over again.

Obama and Holder have been ginning up racial division since they took office. It casts a pall over a nation that prides itself on having a BLACK President, a BLACK Attorney General, and a legion of BLACKS who have worked hard to achieve success in public service and the private sector.

All this may strike some as strange given the outcome of the recent midterm elections in which the Republican Party won 54 of the Senate’s 100 seats, expanded its majority in the House, and now have 31 governors because the voters want real CHANGE. Will they get it? Sadly, Americans are beginning to think that there is a third party, the Government Party, composed of those in Washington, D.C. for whom our demands hold little merit while they toil to make government bigger. I hope the GOP proves me wrong in 2015.

Another sad feature of American politics these days is the fact that it is owned by two families, the Bushes and the Clintons. America is a Republic, not a monarchy. Something is terribly wrong when both parties have no one else to offer than Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton, members of two political families that have been around since the 1970s. Enough is enough!

There is no question among those of us old enough to remember when America had a set of beliefs, some spiritual, some secular, that held our society together for the good of all. One of those was the belief that marriage was between a man and a woman. It has been that way for thousands of years, yet for Americans in 35 states “marriage” is now something between members of the same sex. I doubt, too, that you have read that the FDA has taken a first step to lift the ban prohibiting gay men from donating blood because of the high incidence of AIDS among them.

The same destruction of society can be found in the movement to legalize marijuana. It is a dangerous drug.

Beyond our shores, the nation has always had its enemies. They are more often than not nations who grant no freedom to their own citizens. The most recent example is North Korea and, for a variety of complicated and interrelated reasons (China!) the U.S. has been unable to respond with strength to its nuclear threats. The hacking of Sony Pictures was an act of cyber war, not “vandalism” as the President would have you believe. The threats that accompanied it made that clear.

The irony of our immigration problem is that America is still regarded with such high esteem that many want to come and live here. Some want it bad enough to sneak in. We now have several million illegal aliens living among us and both political parties do not see them has having broken the laws of our nation, but as potential new voters! That’s crazy and it’s dangerous when a President makes it known that he doesn’t think our borders must be defended. We have immigration laws for the same reason every other nation does and they must be enforced.

The hotspot in the world is the Middle East. Does anyone find it ironic that the “Prince of peace” was born in a nation, Israel, that much of the rest of the world wants to destroy? I find that depressing. The Arabs, supported by Europe and the Obama administration, are trying to get the U.N. to declare that the “Palestinians” are a state or nation. Only there has never been a Palestinian nation, a term invented by Roman Emperor Hadrian for the land 3,000 years of history records as Israel.

When you add in the butchery and slaughter of the Islamic State, you have everything you need to know about Islam; those who believe in cutting off the heads of Americans and others because they are unbelievers—infidels—need to be destroyed down to the last man. Add in al Qaeda and Boko Haram, and you have more enemies of mankind. There are over a billion Muslims and an estimated ten percent support the “holy war.” That’s a hundred million people and that’s a lot of trouble.

About the only good news is the way their dependence on oil has displayed the weakness of nations like the Russian Federation and Venezuela, among others. These nations have failed to develop a viable private sector. Cuba, dependent for years on Soviet support and then Venezuelan, both Communist, just scored a coup when President Obama granted it U.S. diplomatic recognition.

How many more Christmases will the world celebrate before we understand that Communism is a threat to mankind? There’s still too much of it in the world. It has found a home in the White House.

America has celebrated Christmas in the midst of two world wars in the last century and a score of lesser wars. We are a resilient people. We are reviving an economy that suffered a great financial crisis in 2008 thanks to bad government policies regarding mortgages and housing. The bad news is that those policies have been reinstated.

My Christmas will pass like the last 77 have. I wish it were a happier one.

© Alan Caruba, 2014

Released Al Qaeda Inspire magazine #13 titled ‘Neurotmesis: Cutting the Nerves and Isolating the Head’

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Today, December 24, 2014, the Al-Malahem media wing of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released the 13th issue of its English-language magazine Inspire, dated Winter 2014.

MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) reports”

This issue’s title, “Neurotmesis: Cutting the Nerves and Isolating the Head” includes the symbols for the Euro, the British pound, and the American dollar. Much of the content is devoted to lone-wolf attacks, including threats to airlines, with an emphasis on making hidden bombs.

The cover story, which is also titled “Neurotmesis,” states (p. 63): “[W]e have placed a policy, renewing what has already been started. We call it ‘Neurotmesis: Cutting the Nerves and Isolating the Head from the Body’. The nerves of the American war is its economy. Biidhnillâh, we will decapitate America from the rest of the world. Thereupon, we will have reigned supreme in this war. So we have to be innovetive [sic] and creative and come up with new ways of targeting the American economy, and master in choosing the most effective targets.”

The release coincides with the anniversary of the attempted 2009 Christmas Day airline bombing by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, also known as the “underwear bomber.”

Cover of Inspire Issue 13:

Inspire magazine cover

For a larger view click on the image.