Tag Archive for: Fitna

Rubio: Obama’s Strategy for the Middle East has Backfired

In a Washington Post op-ed piece Florida Senator Marco Rubio wrote:

The fall of the Iraqi city of Ramadi to the Islamic State and recent gains by the group in Syria are the latest signs that President Obama’s strategy to defeat this brutal terrorist group is failing. But the problem is far bigger than that. The president’s entire approach to the Middle East has backfired.

The Middle East is more dangerous and unstable than when Obama came into office — a time when Iraq and Syria were more stable, the Iranian nuclear program was considerably less advanced and the Islamic State did not yet exist.

Much of this instability is a result of Obama’s disengagement from the region, best symbolized by the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq in 2011. The vacuum created by America’s pullback has been filled by bad actors, including terrorist extremists, both Sunni and Shiite, who have flourished in the absence of U.S. leadership.

On one side are the radical Sunni extremists of al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and affiliated groups. The Islamic State has capitalized on the political grievances many Iraqi Sunnis have with their sectarian Shiite leaders, as well as the divisions between Syrian Sunnis and the brutal Alawite-dominated Assad regime, which is supported by Iran. The Islamic State’s black banner is now spreading as far afield as Libya and Afghanistan.

On the other side is Iran, a country run by a militant Shiite clerical regime that is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and has as its primary goal regional domination and the export of the Iranian revolution. As the Obama administration has focused on negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran, Tehran has exploited U.S. weakness and expanded its reach into Syria, Iraq and Yemen, among other countries.

To begin to deal with the challenges we face, we need a reassertion of U.S. leadership in the region and specifically in the fight against the Islamic State.

Keep reading here.

The Victory of Names

We have won a national skirmish. The Christian Democrats of the Czech Republic have made a statement rejecting political Islam as being incompatible with Western (Kafir) civilizational values. (See article below)

To defeat political Islam, we must have the right naming. Names shape the argument. For instance, once you accept the name of “undocumented worker” instead of “illegal alien” you will never win the argument. The Left and Islam are brilliant at naming. We will never defeat the religion of Islam, but we can defeat a political ideology. The Christian Democrats have taken the first step towards victory by calling Islam by the right name, political Islam. .

Note: this naming in the Czech Republic is not an accident. I have been active in this country and my books on the Sharia and the Sira have been translated into the Czech language.


 

KDU-ČSL: Political Islam incompatible with democracy

Prague Post, May 24, 2015

Christian Democrats says Europe should not allow ‘manifestations of hatred toward its fundamental values’ Zlín, South Moravia, May 24 (CTK) — The Czech junior government Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) stood up against political Islam at their congress this weekend, saying it includes elements incompatible with democracy, it ensues from a resolution the congress passed today.

“The KDU-CSL makes difference between Islam as a religion and political Islam as an ideology including some elements that are incompatible with democracy and human rights,” the resolution says. “The European non-Muslim majority must conduct a permanent dialogue with the Muslim minority, based on emphasizing European values,” the resolution says and adds that within the dialogue, too, a clear difference must be made between Islam as a religion and political Islam as a state ideology.

According to the KDU-CSL, Europe must not tolerate manifestations of hatred toward its fundamental values. “Self-confident Europe must require that in Muslim countries, too, the freedom of religion be respected as is respected by us, Europeans,” the KDU-CSL’s resolution says.

The resolution was read at the congress by MEP Pavel Svoboda (KDU-CSL ).

He said many migrants have established themselves smoothly in Europe, have families and are full-fledged members of the European community. “Unfortunately, religious habits tend to be mixed together with the approach to the ideas of the state and law,” Svoboda said, adding that the CzechRepublic has not been faced with this problem so far. The West has been turning a blind eye to the problem for a long time, Svoboda said.

“For many Muslims, our view of democracy and human rights is sinful because it contradicts the Sharia law. Since the mainstream parties in Europe failed to deal with the problem, it was unfortunately taken up by the extreme right with all the infamous stuff attached to it, which is swelling nationalism and populism,” Svoboda said.

“It is necessary to say a clear no to populism and hatred, and yes to the protection of culture, democracy and fundamental human freedoms. Multinational Europe – yes, challenging of the basic European civilization — no,” Svoboda said.

The delegates to the KDU-CSL congress today rejected the European Commission’s plan to introduce quotas for the distribution of the refugees flowing to Europe.

The decision making on the number of accepted refugees should remain in power of individual EU countries, the delegates agreed. Simultaneously, they called for aid to be provided to the refugees.
“We have to distinguish between various migrants,” KDU-CSL deputy head Ondrej Benešík told the congress, referring to economically-motivated migrants from Africa and the war refugees coming from the Middle East.

As for the former group, it is the business of the people-traffickers, who smuggle the migrants to Europe across the Mediterranean, that should be suppressed above all, Benesik said.
The KDU-CSL congress also condemned the persecution of Christians in the world, mainly in the Middle East and in North Korea. Up to 100,000 Christians die as a result of persecution annually in the world. The number of the persecuted reaches tens of millions, said Svoboda.

Read more.

VIDEO: Minneapolis Muslims prefer Sharia, want blasphemy laws in U.S.

Note the unanimous opposition to the freedom of speech and support for criminalizing criticism of Islam — and even for murdering those who insult Muhammad. All freely and openly expressed on a sunny day in Minneapolis.

Video thanks to Ami Horowitz.

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Freedom, Provocation and Targets

Islamic State has 30,000 foreign jihadis from over 100 countries

Islamic State has 30,000 foreign jihadis from over 100 countries

30,000: that’s an awful lot of Muslims who fell for this Nothing-To-Do-With-Islam form of Islam. How to explain so many misunderstanders? After all, none of them existed in a vacuum before they joined the Islamic State. They learned their Islam somewhere. Are we to believe that the slickness of the Islamic State’s video presentations alone was enough to induce this throng to throw over the true, peaceful Islam it learned down at the corner mosque and join up with the hijackers of their religion? We live in an age of infantile analysis.

“ISIS has 30,000 foreign fighters from more than 100 countries,” by Abdelhak Mamoun, Iraqi News, May 29, 2015:

(IraqiNews.com) According to a report to the UN Security Council, nearly 30 thousand foreign fighters were recruited currently in the ISIS ranks. They came from 100 countries around the world including countries that had been untouched by the activity of terrorist groups such as Chile and Finland.

The members of the Security Council will meet on Friday to discuss a report on “foreign terrorist fighters” and consider possible measures to combat this threat.

This is the first report of its kind in the United Nations, which addresses the issue of “foreign fighters”, and includes countries such as Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, in addition to North African countries such as Libya.

The report indicated that the number of recruits in ISIS ranks has increased by about 70% during the past nine months.

This sudden rise poses concern about the spread of extremism phenomenon globally, and breadth of its geographical scope to include several countries experiencing the stability, including European countries.

The report indicates that the flow rate of foreign fighters into Iraq and Syria is currently higher than ever before, with the emergence of signs of an accelerating growth of ISIS organization in Libya.

US officials said earlier this year that 3,400 people from Western countries, including 150 from the United States have traveled to Iraq and Syria to join militant groups.

British officials have estimated that more than 700 British have traveled to Syria during the past three years, nearly half of them returned to their country.

The report describes Iraq, Syria and Libya as “real finishing school” for terrorists, pointing out that Tunisia, Morocco, France and Russia, in particular, may contribute in terrorist attacks in the future due to the number of fighters from these countries.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Video: Minneapolis Muslims prefer Sharia, want blasphemy laws in US

Graphic: The carnage committed in the name of Allah

Miami: Muslim pleads guilty to aiding jihad terror groups

“The case evolved from FBI monitoring of Internet chat rooms frequented by Muslim extremists…” Watch for the jihad-enabling groups in the U.S. to start calling for restrictions on FBI monitoring of Muslim chat rooms.

“Kenyan man pleads guilty in US terrorism support case based on chat room intercepts,” by Curt Anderson, Associated Press, May 28, 2015:

MIAMI — A Kenyan man pleaded guilty in the U.S. on Thursday to terrorism support charges in a case that involved Internet chat room and other online communications with undercover FBI operatives.

Mohamed Said pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations. A factual statement signed by Said identifies those groups as al-Shabaab in Africa and extremist organizations operating in Syria, including al-Qaida.

Said, 27, faces a maximum 15-year prison term when he is sentenced Aug. 14 by U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro. A co-defendant, Gufran Mohammed, is already serving that same 15-year sentence after pleading guilty last year.

The case evolved from FBI monitoring of Internet chat rooms frequented by Muslim extremists, according to court documents. FBI undercover employees posed as online terrorism recruiters and fundraisers in communications with both Mohammed and Said, who were both overseas.

Said admitted in the factual statement that in 2011 he received more than $11,600 in wire transfers from Mohammed for al-Shabaab and that he had told Mohammed later, “I sent it and it was distributed among the mujahedeen.”

“I am sending more this week (Allah willing),” Mohammed wrote back….

Mohammed is a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from India who has a master’s degree in computer science from California State University in Los Angeles.

But…but…poverty causes terrorism!

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41 Muslims from the US have tried to join the Islamic State in 2015

Islamic State has 30,000 foreign jihadis from over 100 countries

Australia: 12 Melbourne Muslimas flee suburbs to join Islamic State

Graphic: The carnage committed in the name of Allah

U.S. saw Islamic State coming, didn’t order airstrikes, let it take Ramadi

Did they want the Iraqis to win a great victory over the Islamic State all by themselves? Or did they want the Islamic State to take Ramadi? We need answers, but almost certainly aren’t going to get them from a press that covers for Obama at every turn.

“U.S. Saw Islamic State Coming, Let It Take Ramadi,” by Eli Lake, Bloomberg, May 28, 2015:

The U.S. watched Islamic State fighters, vehicles and heavy equipment gather on the outskirts of Ramadi before the group retook the city in mid-May. But the U.S. did not order airstrikes against the convoys before the battle started. It left the fighting to Iraqi troops, who ultimately abandoned their positions.

U.S. intelligence and military officials told me recently, on the condition of anonymity, that the U.S. had significant intelligence about the pending Islamic State offensive in Ramadi. For the U.S. military, it was an open secret even at the time.

The Islamic State had been contesting territory in and around Ramadi for more than a year and had spoken of the importance of recapturing the city. The U.S. intelligence community had good warning that the Islamic State intended a new and bolder offensive on Ramadi because it was able to identify the convoys of heavy artillery, vehicle bombs and reinforcements through overhead imagery and eavesdropping on chatter from local Islamic State commanders. It surprised no one, one U.S. intelligence official told me.

Other observers were willing to speak on the record about how many had seen the Islamic State’s assault on Ramadi coming. “The operations on Ramadi have been ongoing for 16 months,” said Derek Harvey, a former intelligence adviser to David Petraeus when he commanded the counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq. Harvey said many observers had seen the Islamic State’s series of probing attacks and psychological operations aimed at the Iraqi army and local tribes: “Everyone knew that Ramadi for some reason was a major focus.” He conceded that he did not know the exact timing of the Ramadi offensive beforehand and acknowledged that he was surprised at how effective the operations were….

RELATED ARTICLES:

Australia: 12 Melbourne Muslimas flee suburbs to join Islamic State

Islamic jihadists murder 10 with car bombs at Baghdad hotels

41 Muslims from the US have tried to join the Islamic State in 2015

Islamic State has 30,000 foreign jihadis from over 100 countries

Australia: 12 Melbourne Muslimas flee suburbs to join Islamic State

Graphic: The carnage committed in the name of Allah

Defeating ISIS: A Biblical View of America’s Role [Part 3]

PART THREE: 

HIGHLIGHTS OF PART TWO

Part two explained from scripture that God’s love of people and His hatred of evil are inseparable and presented what should be the natural and necessary response of righteous men and women who wish to live in a world of justice, compassion, and order.  Part two also cited studies that identify the large majority of Americans as Christians of some “brand” and who, basically, concur with the moral principles of the bible. Let’s now consider the immediate and necessary role for America to play in quickly stopping the rapidly advancing Nazis of our time (to which millions have people have chanted for 70 years, “Never again!)

Read Part 1 and Part 2.

RESPONDING AS A NATION: THE POWER OF THE ARAB COUNTRIES, THE NEW COALITION OF ARAB NATIONS, AND THE RESPONSIBILITY OF AMERICA

On a larger scale, just as ungodly nations were destroyed in the Old Testament, the ungodly “world scale gang-bangers” need to be destroyed.  In Old Testament times, there was one situation in which God specifically told the Israelites not to pray for the enemy: “Do not pray for the well-being of this people” (Jeremiah 14:11).  Similarly, in the New Testament, Jesus did not pray for Satan.  ISIS is not simply the radical arm of Islam that establishes Sharia and devises even more cruelty than is conceived by the policies of these laws (cutting off limbs, executing women who have been raped, etc.).  The mission of ISIS is purely demonic and in this writer’s opinion, the “soldiers” (given: this is an insult to the word “soldier”) of ISIS are either demonically oppressed or possessed.

Because America is ultimately threatened in the not too distant future, we must participate in pushing back the forces of evil.  The evil has spread too far around the world already, and it’s already present here in America (see Parts I and II for more information).  We’ve already seen an Islamic extremist military psychiatrist murder many soldiers at Ft. Hood, many people killed in the Boston marathon, a woman’s head severed while she was at work in a factory in Moore, Oklahoma, and more horrors right here in our homeland.  Whether we like it or not, America is already “in the thick of things.”  The battle exists not only half-way around the world, but in America.

Also, whether it was right or wrong to seek to establish democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq, we committed to help the people of these countries live in freedom.  Formerly known as Mesopotamia, Iraq is the very cradle of Christianity (and is now nearly devoid of Christians).  How much more should we now rescue those who suffer the backlash of our abandonment?  Psalm 82:4 says, “Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”  Do you remember when thousands of joyful Iraqi’s proudly held their ink stained thumbs in the air, indicating that they had just voted?  We have left almost all of them to be driven from their homes or to be struck down by the swords of ISIS.

It is way past time for our leaders to map out and enact a clear strategy to defeat our enemies.  We could have stopped ISIS by leaving 15,000 troops in Iraq, but our president chose not to do that (our military leaders advised against this action).  We could have stopped them as they left Syria.  We could have stopped them as they marched from city to city in Iraq.  Iraq isn’t exactly covered with forests and canyons to protect them from our sight.  In Desert Storm, we discovered how easily we destroyed forces of evil with such basic weaponry as A-10 jets (while some people questioned if these planes could be useful at all).  Of course, presently A-10’s are being decommissioned right here in my hometown of Tucson, Arizona, where many of our A-10’s are based.

Also, we chose to ensure the downfall of Gaddafi without helping to stabilize Libya, predictably enabling the Muslim Brotherhood to come to power.  In fact, America sent tanks, fighter jets and millions of dollars to the Muslim Brotherhood.

We could have stood our ground when Assad crossed our president’s “line in the sand,” leaving more room for the terrorists to gain ground.  Of course, these and many other examples of non-action have proven the disastrous consequences of America’s continual abdication of world leadership.

Fortunately, people as evil as the ISIS terrorists are “like the chaff which the wind driveth away” (Psalm 1:1).  But it is probable that righteous men and women must do their part in this life before the Lord executes final judgment in the life to come.  Hopefully, the civilized world will unite around strong leadership, which we pray will emerge (and discussed soon).

First to lead the fight was the King of Jordan, and America is giving a billion dollars to Jordan over the next two years.  Even China is giving aid to fight ISIS.  Saudi Arabia has over 200,000 active duty personnel with 75,000 soldiers, the fourth largest military budget in the world (52 billion per year), and has just agreed to take the lead in an Arab coalition to fight ISIS.  This coalition is only in the planning stages and will not be formed in time to save Yemen.  But at least many countries of the Middle East are beginning to clean up their own mess.  Certainly, the Saudis have a more immediate investment in seeing the defeat of ISIS.  Of course, in doing so, they come against Iran, as well, which is a necessary course of action.

The Egyptian Armed forces is reported to have more than 468,500 active personnel, in addition to 800,000 personnel available in reserve and over 400,000 paramilitary personnel making it one of the largest armies in the world (Wikipedia).

Jordan has the fifth most militarized nation in the world with 100,000 active military personnel and nearly 65,000 active reserves.  They will contribute to the coalition.  However, there are internal problems that have kept these countries from working well together.  But if these countries used even half of their forces, ISIS could be destroyed very quickly.

Strong leadership has not yet emerged from the United States.  How strong will be the leadership of Saudi Arabia has yet to be seen.  Of course, God has allowed the present circumstances for a reason, but that does not let America or any nation off the hook from standing up for righteousness against an evil enemy.  Especially an enemy that has designs upon our own nation (indeed, this is its foremost goal).   While the Arabs are forming a coalition, America could act now.  America could immediately provide strong leadership and take much stronger action than it is taking.  Of course, even if victory is quickly achieved, it will take at least a generation to defeat other forms of terrorism around the world, and in this writer’s view, battles against evil will never cease until the return of Christ (see the last chapter of the Book of Revelation).

It’s never too late to take leadership and then turn it over to Arab coalition, should that coalition prove effective.  Keep in mind that the number one responsibility of our government is the security of Americans and that America is presently “in the thick of things” right here on our own soil (see Parts I and II for more details).  Keep in mind that a great threat to America exists at this very moment and the time for decisive action is passing quickly.  Eight miles from the border of Texas is an ISIS training camp.  The State Dept. denies that this is true, but offers no proof of this denial.

Whether you believe we must individually forgive these particular enemies or not is irrelevant to the needed action.  Forgive and love our enemies all you want to, personally.  That’s what Jesus commands.  But our nation must help to stop the senseless murder and rapid advance of darkness, just as the world should have stopped Hitler and could easily have stopped him early in his campaigns.

America must lead the execution of thorough judgment upon ISIS, upon all Islamic terrorists (including upon those that have been released from GITMO and from the jail that released the present leader of ISIS), and upon any other mutation of terrorism that threatens our national security.

Do we need boots on the ground?  We need Arab boots. That’s for certain.   One biblical objection to this suggestion to join with the Arabs is that in biblical times, whenever the armies of Israel joined with ungodly nations, no good came of it.  But these Islamic theocracies are not technically our “enemies.”  As with all the Arab nations, they violate human rights as a way of life, and they persecute women in heinous ways.  Therefore, they are not ideal allies.  Yet considering that these nations are not our enemies and considering how easy it would be for them to defeat ISIS with the right leadership, it seems incumbent upon the United States to provide this leadership.  Such leadership would include providing air power, weaponry and Intel on the ground.  If this leadership proves to be necessary only temporarily, all the better.  Aligning with the Arab nations is no different than aligning with China and Russia to defeat Germany in WWII.  Some people believe that we should withdraw entirely from the Middle East.  We already see how our abdication of leadership has affected Russia, China, and Iran, as well as how this show of apathy and cowardice has affected our allies.  Further or continued abdication would continue to erode the trust of any nation that we can still call an ally.   Also, as already mentioned, whether America likes it or not, we are truly in the middle of the fight right now with terror cells in every state.  As smoke rises in the Middle East, we can provide leadership there – now – or we can exponentially increase our efforts to combat evil in America in the future.

Joining with Iran would be the height foolishness.  That would be the clear equivalent of God’s injunction in the Old Testament to not unite with our enemies.  Yet this is what America seems to be doing!  Iran is the #1 supporter of terror in the world and chants of “death to America” continue to ring in the darkness that covers that land.  Presently, Iran’s Middle East direct influence extends into Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.  Is it any wonder that Arab nations that are friendly to the United States are drawing closer to Israel, hoping that help can come from that nation?  Saudi Arabia has even offered a corridor through their nation for Israel to attack Iran.

Iran would easily defeat ISIS, but it would also add to its territory.  In fact, as America does little, the Shia fighters of Iran are taking the lead.  These Shia militias are quickly eclipsing the Iraqi forces in importance in Iraq.  The result of letting Iran take the lead will likely be to firmly establish Iran as the dominant force in Iran, doubling their territory while on their way to create nuclear weapons in the near future.  Providing help to the Arab nations, primarily in the form of leadership, would press Iran back out of the picture and help to preserve religious liberties in Iraq, helping Iraqis to regain ground lost when American pulled out the 15,000 troops.

Putting his own life in danger, Egypt’s President El Sisi has spoken directly to the leaders of Islam, advocating for them to stand up against Islamic fanaticism and also advocating for Arab boots on the ground.  El Sisi took the stand of a righteous man.

Can America provide air power, Intel on the ground, and weaponry?  Of course.  America could easily take the lead in the battle to defeat ISIS.   Our efforts to merely “contain” ISIS are not working.  Can we airlift those in danger out of Iraq and other nations in order to save them?  We have done this with over a thousand Muslims, as well as with many Syrians, even bringing many of them to America.  With the Syrians that we’ve brought to America, we haven’t even attempted to separate the oppressed from the oppressors.  Why not airlift Christians and those of other faiths out of harm’s way?

Is it worth it to stand up against the darkness?  Here’s another way to ask the same question (biblically): “Is it worth it to live for Jesus, rather than let darkness rule the globe, resulting in the murder of millions of Christians and millions upon millions of people of many faiths and cultures?”  Christians and tens of thousands of people of other faiths are presently being slaughtered.

Pacifism is not advocated in the bible.  Powerful action is not optional.  It’s what defeated the Third Reich and with God’s help – and only with God’s help – it’s what will defeat Islamic terrorism and all forms of terrorism.  I say “only with God’s help” because without God’s favor, Israel was consistently subjugated by other nations.  With God’s favor Israel could not be defeated even by “giants.”  As Psalm 127:1-2 says, “Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it.”  America will have victory over any evil only to the extent that the nation turns to God as her strength.  Therefore, from a biblical point of view, God’s believing church in America must call out to Him and pray for the heavens to open in order for God’s power to flow through (2 Chronicles 7:14).  From a biblical point of view, and in the belief of this writer, only through such spiritual warfare will the necessary earthly battle turn in America’s favor.   Keep in mind that as posited in the many scriptures above, love of God goes hand in hand with hatred of evil; and it’s the hatred of evil – this outrage against mass extinction of innocents – that will undergird the passionate pursuit to rid the world of pure evil.  As Bernie Goldberg said recently, “When outrage dies, a piece of humanity dies with it.”   An upsurge of love of God in America, therefore, will greatly help to ignite outrage and necessary action.

While praying for our nation to turn to God, action against the enemies of civilization must be taken quickly.   Of course, believers in Christ know that He will someday go to war against Satan to bring last day’s events to a conclusion.  Until the return of the conquering Messiah, His expectation, I believe, is that Christians and righteous men and women of all faiths will protect their brothers and sisters around the world, as well as in their own countries.  Therefore, fighting Satan in these times agrees with scripture, just as the natural manifestation of righteousness is to hate evil and to love and protect innocent lives.  Leviticus 19:16 says, “Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life.”  How much more should we stand up for the lives of millions of innocents, including the lives of fellow Christians, and including the lives of our own families?  Let’s remember that Jesus was not a peacekeeper; He was a peacemaker.

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Learned analysts starting to realize airstrikes alone will not dislodge Islamic State

Illinois Muslim may plead guilty to trying to join jihad in Syria

Islamic State sex slave forced to recite Qur’an during rapes

Georgia Muslim pleads guilty to trying to join the Islamic State

Pamela Geller, Breitbart: What Qasim Rashid Doesn’t Want You to Know About Islam

Islamic State murders 262 as it takes Syrian city of Palmyra

Extortion 17 Cover-up: Who were the Afghans?

Last week we featured author Don Brown and his new investigative expose’ on the shoot down of (call sign) Extortion 17, a Chinook helicopter carrying members of the elite SEAL Team Six into battle in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011. Also on that aircraft was Patrick Hamburger, Army National Guard crew chief and an unidentified group of seven Afghan soldiers.

Who is Patrick Hamburger and why were these Afghan soldiers on this helicopter full of top-tier special operators? Tune in as we feature two special guests, Doug Hamburger, father of Patrick and Billy Vaughn, father of SEAL Aaron Vaughn.

Together we dig deeply into this U.S. cover-up to find out what really happened on August 6, 2011.

41 Muslims from the U.S. have tried to join the Islamic State in 2015

And it’s only May. But not to worry: all the learned analysts tell us that the Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam. “While D.C. Downplays Risk, U.S. Sees Shocking Rise in Terror Arrests This Year,” by Patrick Poole, PJ Media, May 27, 2015:

The arrest of two southern California men last week who were planning to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State brings the number of U.S.-based individuals involved in international terror-related cases this year to 40. (UPDATE: with the arrest of Houston-area Asher Abid Khan late Monday for supporting ISIS, the tally is now 41.)

This number highlights the metastasizing Islamic terror threat in the American homeland. At the current pace, by the end of June — halfway through 2015 — the number of cases will exceed the number from the past two years combined (48).

The Islamic State, as well as al-Qaeda affiliates and other Islamic terror groups, have repeatedly called for supporters to conduct attacks inside the American homeland:

Recent evidence gives cause for concern. As I noted here at PJ MediaFBI Director Comey downplayed the number of Americans who had traveled to Syria to fight with ISIS and other terror groups before the midterm elections. He stated on 60 Minutes that “roughly a dozen” were fighting in Syria. But in February, senior officials corrected that number. They admitted that 180 had traveled to Syria. They also admitted that 40 had returned to the U.S. and posed a potential threat. FBI Director Comey then said they were investigating ISIS suspects in all 50 states.

Underscoring the failure to alert the public regarding the threat, concerned citizens have not been able to find a list of the 40 individuals arrested this year. Until now, a public list simply didn’t exist.

Here they are: the 40 U.S.-based individuals charged in Islamic terror-related cases in 2015….

Read the list here.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Learned analysts starting to realize airstrikes alone will not dislodge Islamic State

Illinois Muslim may plead guilty to trying to join jihad in Syria

Islamic State sex slave forced to recite Qur’an during rapes

Georgia Muslim pleads guilty to trying to join the Islamic State

Pamela Geller, Breitbart: What Qasim Rashid Doesn’t Want You to Know About Islam

Islamic State murders 262 as it takes Syrian city of Palmyra

Transforming Education beyond Common Core: Getting the Word Out About “Gaming for Social Change”

The dangers of indoctrination become clearer when one considers the fact that the games being supported by the Department of Education focus on “social change.” Most of the presentations at the four-day Games for Change event involved lessons about tolerance of the Muslim “other,” global warming, sustainability, bullying, Native American culture, nuclear disarmament, and sexuality.

As recounted in my previous article, gaming, or the use of video games for classroom instruction, aligns with the goals of the current Department of Education and the Common Core initiative.  Gaming helps to overcome the “achievement gap” by enabling students to proceed at their own pace.  Poor readers have less need to improve their reading skills as they are given access to curricular materials through images and sound.

Abstract thought is replaced by presumed “real-world problems,” and proponents tout gaming as a way to give students experience in solving such problems.  Realistically, the problems are pretend problems, and students give pretend solutions.  There can hardly be an objective evaluation for a fourth-grader’s proposal for solving world hunger or global warming (the stuff of lessons these days).  Instead of measuring a student’s knowledge of the subject matter, points are given for such things as “creativity” and “critical thinking.”  Such subjective criteria give teachers greater leeway in evaluating students and closing the achievement gap.

But through constant auditory and visual stimulation, gaming stymies independent thought.  The constant noise and moving images make it impossible to reflect in the way one can with books.  Thus, gaming allows even greater opportunities for indoctrination.

The dangers of indoctrination become clearer when one considers the fact that the games being supported by the Department focus on “social change.”

Such common sense observations are supported by the facts: the research does not show that gaming has a positive effect on learning.  The lack of credible research, of course, has had no bearing on the Department of Education’s push for the increased use of “digital learning.”  For years now the Department has been doling out grants to game developers to teach everything from math and science, to social and emotional intelligence, to ethics, and history.

This year it took the step of co-sponsoring the “Games for Change” festival in New York.  This first-day session, attended by Department of Education representatives, was called “Games for Learning.”  The theme of gaming in the classroom continued, though, into the following days, when government employees continued to participate.  At the event, developers were invited to apply for grants from non-profit arms of technology companies and associations, as well as from the U.S. government.

The Department of Education also used its resources to promote the event.  An announcement was made by Chad Sansing, who “teaches technology and project-based learning at the BETA Academy in Staunton, Virginia,” and Antero Garcia, a “Teaching Ambassador Fellow at the U.S. Department of Education” and Assistant Professor at Colorado State University, at medium.com, where Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had promoted the event himself.  Sansing and Garcia announced that The U.S. Department of Education and Games for Change, “with support from the Entertainment Software Association,” would be hosting “the Games for Learning Summit April 21 at the 2015 Games for Change (G4C) Festival.” Expected participants (over 250) included “nationally recognized educators, the designers of some of today’s most popular video games, and members of the U.S. Department of Education.”

Sansing and Garcia recalled participating in the White House “Game Jam” with teams of game designers and some “amazing teachers” at the beginning of the school year.  Sansing’s game-design project, they claimed, demonstrated the benefits of game-based learning: “media literacy, soft skills like collaboration, and technical skills like managing an online repository of A/V assets, to say nothing of the logic, math, reading, and writing skills . . . in navigating tutorials, communicating online, and building . . .  games.”  They added excitedly, “Students even discussed gender norms in character design and traditional gaming narratives.”  They listed the same benefits of gaming as commonly ascribed to Common Core: “critical thinking, persistence, and problem-solving to master, critique, play, and make.”

Who participated in the event?  What kinds of skills were promoted?  Industry spokespeople, government officials, and game designers came together to discuss “partnering” with each other as they uncritically promoted the benefits of gaming. The partnering is much like the “partnering” that has been revealed in the production of Common Core curricula and assessment, the crony alliance between the U.S. Department of Education, technology companies, and their non-profit arms (that serve to advance sales of the for-profit companies).

In spite of Sansing and Garcia’s claim that games would teach “logic, math, reading, and writing skills” most of the presentations at the four-day event involved lessons about tolerance of the Muslim “other,” global warming, sustainability, bullying, Native American culture, nuclear disarmament, and sexuality.

The cronyism and disturbing indoctrination lessons will be discussed in following installments.

Florida: Prayer March For Persecuted Christians and Jews 2015

We had a Prayer March For Persecuted Christians and Jews in Orlando, FL on May 16. Close to 300 people of all faiths and political affiliations attended.

Please watch the Video and I’m sure you will find it newsworthy and inspirational at the same time. Share this with your Pastors, Priests, Rabbis, Shaman’s, and Atheist friends – we are all in the same boat.

Go to our Facebook Page and friend us.  We have speakers at the ready to talk at schools, Churches, Synagogues, political clubs, and home groups of any size.  https://www.facebook.com/events/351504328371891/

Today we have the noble declaration of human rights enshrined in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

Despite Article 18, there are severe human rights violations in many countries, especially in the so-called 10-40 window. Christians and Jews are persecuted across Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, most of Asia (including China) and now Europe (via the European Union). Iran is one of the world’s most repressive states, and those who offend Sharia law may be publicly flogged or even executed by hanging in the streets.

In 2008 over 200 million Christians around the world were in danger of being tortured, persecuted, or killed for their faith.

North Korea and China see Christianity as a threat to their respective political systems.  As closed societies North Korea and China are able to keep news of the politically motivated persecution of the Christians from reaching the outside world.

The persecution of the Christians, Jews, Yazidis, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheists, Pagans, and the many others who do not follow the Islamic doctrine, theology, and politics also face persecution.

As Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolf wisely stated,  “The purpose of this March is to force awareness of this persecution into the public consciousness.”

Now you have been informed and all people of conscience have a duty to act.  All the leadership of Churches and Synagogues at the  local level must become the voice for their persecuted voiceless.  Prayer is good but your voices must shout out from every pulpit and bema – when my people bleed we all bleed.

Each act of persecution  anywhere in the world should be taken personally by everyone who is currently safe in the cocoon of western religious plurality and has the freedom to exercise your spirituality without fear.

The issue of persecuted Christians and Jews crosses all party lines and denominations.  Those individuals who believe in no faith at all are also targets of persecution – we are all in the same boat.

Each one of us has free will.  How you use that free will defines who you are as a person.  Be a part of the solution.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Eyewitness to Garland, Texas Islamic State Shooting

Do not miss the only eyewitness account of the Garland Texas jihad attack that was launched on May 3, 2015. “Martin,” the driver of the car that was immediately behind the Muslim shooter’s car, is our special guest. Listen to “Martin” detail his minute-by-minute heart-stopping experience and you will get a sense of the danger he went through on that frightening day.

In addition to “Martin” we have Dom the Conservative back with us to reflect upon the Garland attack and share some thoughts about Memorial Day.

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All Muslims share the same Islam

The Establishment is always telling us that there are good, moderate Muslims and extremist, jihadist Muslims and that the two different kinds have nothing in common with each other.

Wrong. What all Muslims have in common is the same Koran, the same prayers, the same Sunna of Mohammed and being a member of one umma (Islamic community).

Indeed, the Koran tells us that the jihadist is a better Muslim than the moderate Muslim. The phrase, Allahu akbar, is not only used a war cry, but every Muslim uses it in his daily prayers.

We are told that all Muslims want prosperity and democracy, but all Muslims do not want a democracy, because a democracy means that a Kafir is equal to a believer.

All of the Muslims share the Sunna of assassination. So instead saying they do not want violence of Garland, TX, they need to say that they reject the evil of the assassination Sunna of Mohammed. That would have real meaning.

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Obama: Climate Change Causes Jihad

Over at PJ Media I discuss the recent appalling and fact-free statements by Obama:

State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf was widely ridiculed in February for saying of the Islamic State (ISIS):

We cannot win this war by killing them, we cannot kill our way out of this war. We need, in the longer term, medium and longer term, to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it’s lack of opportunity for jobs.

On Wednesday, Barack Obama made it clear that Harf’s ridiculous analysis did not originate with her; rather, she was reflecting the company line. Said Obama:

Climate change constitutes a serious threat to global security, an immediate threat to our national security. It will impact how our military defends our country. We need to act and we need to act now. Denying it or refusing to deal with it endangers our national security. It undermines the readiness of our forces.

This was just a slightly more sophisticated restatement of Harf’s argument, for Obama went on to explain exactly how climate change threatened America’s national security:

I understand climate change did not cause the conflicts we see around the world, yet what we also know is that severe drought helped to create the instability in Nigeria that was exploited by the terrorist group Boko Haram.

And not just in Nigeria:

It’s now believed that drought and crop failures and high food prices helped fuel the early unrest in Syria, which descended into civil war in the heart of the Middle East.

Obama’s claims here are based on his fundamental assumption that poverty causes terrorism. Drought led to jihad in Nigeria, and drought, crop failures, and high food prices led to jihad in Syria. These claims are entirely in keeping with his steadfast refusal to acknowledge that jihad terror has anything to do with Islam.

He has to fill the vacuum created by his denial with something, and he has chosen what he (and Harf) no doubt believe is a nuanced and complex analysis: global warming causes poverty, poverty causes terrorism.

The problem with this is not simply that climate change is politically correct junk science in the service of authoritarianism and forcible income redistribution: Obama is wrong because poverty doesn’t really cause terrorism at all. The Economist reported in 2010:

Social scientists have collected a large amount of data on the socioeconomic background of terrorists. According to a 2008 survey of such studies by Alan Krueger of Princeton University, they have found little evidence that the typical terrorist is unusually poor or badly schooled.

In the same vein, CNS News noted in September 2013:

According to a Rand Corporation report on counterterrorism, prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2009, “Terrorists are not particularly impoverished, uneducated, or afflicted by mental disease. Demographically, their most important characteristic is normalcy (within their environment). Terrorist leaders actually tend to come from relatively privileged backgrounds.” One of the authors of the RAND report, Darcy Noricks, also found that according to a number of academic studies, “Terrorists turn out to be more rather than less educated than the general population.”

The Times Online reported the following as far back as April 2005:

Three-quarters of the Al-Qaeda members were from upper middle-class homes and many were married with children; 60% were college educated, often in Europe or the United States.

There are innumerable examples of affluent Muslims becoming jihad terrorists. One was Maher “Mike” Hawash of Portland, Oregon, a well-regarded Intel executive who made $360,000 a year at the crest of a highly successful career. Around the year 2000, Hawash began to become more religious, growing his beard long, rejecting the nickname “Mike,” and attending the supremacist Islamic Center of Portland. Ultimately he served a seven-year prison term for conspiring to aid the Taliban….

Read the rest here.

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Democrat Senators want to Admit 65,000 Syrian Refugees

Dhimmi Democrat Senators Durbin of Illinois, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and 12 others have signed a letter calling for  the Obama Administration to admit  a flood of 65,000 Syrian Muslim Refugees ‘suggested’ by UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).  Their suggested acquiescence to this UNHCR amounts to fulfilling the Dar al Hijrah imperative in the Hadith (alleged sayings of Mohammed) to use migration to conquer the whole world for Islam. In our  upcoming June NER interview with Ann Corcoran of Refugee Resettlement Watch she notes that fully 92 percent of the small number of 800+ Syrian Refugees admitted to the U.S. under the 1980 Refugee Act were Sunni Muslims , the balance were Christians and other religious minorities. Be sure and watch her Center for Security Policy YouTube video which has now reached 530,720 hits:

How will the DHS under Secretary Jae Johnson vet Syrian refugees in camps in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan when it couldn’t do that for Somali, Iraqi and Bosnian refugees letting hundreds if not thousands of terrorist supporters in the U.S.?  Adam Kredo of The Washington Free Beacon reported Friday that the DHS admitted that several hundred terrorist supporters entered the U.S. illegally, and subsequently were admitted as refugees giving rise to Congressional demands for information and a likely hearing:

Congress is demanding that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) release documents detailing how many foreigners seeking asylum in the United States have been found to have ties to terror groups, according to a recent letter sent to the agency by leading lawmakers.

The letter comes on the heels of revelations by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that at least 638 aliens seeking asylum in America have been found to have connections to terrorists.

This “recent disclosure regarding the numbers of aliens found to have a ‘credible fear’ in cases where the terrorism bar to asylum eligibility may have applied raised the concern that hundreds of known and suspected aliens with terrorist connections may be attempting to take advantage of our country’s asylum system,” according to the letter, sent by leaders of four House committees on national security, the judiciary, and government reform.

The USCIS found that “the terrorism bar to asylum eligibility may be applicable to 299 aliens who were found to have a ‘credible fear’ of persecution in the first four months of Fiscal Year (FY) 2015, and to 339 aliens who were found to have a ‘credible fear’ in FY 2014,” the lawmakers disclosed.

The Hill reported on the Democrat Senate group support for the flood of 65,000 Syrian refugees nearly double the current allotment of 70,000 refugees from all countries being admitted under the ‘humanitarian refugee program”:

A group of Senate Democrats is urging the Obama administration to allow at least 65,000 Syrian refugees to settle inside the United States.

“While the United States is the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees, we must also dramatically increase the number of Syrian refugees that we accept for resettlement,” the group of 14 lawmakers — led by Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) — said Thursday.

The group letter noted the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) wants to resettle 130,000 Syrian refugees over the next two years and has thus far submitted more than 12,000 resettlement cases to the United States for consideration.

“Following the international community’s tragic failure to shelter Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazi genocide, the United States played a leadership role in establishing the international legal regime for the protection of refugees,” they wrote. “In keeping with this history, we urge your Administration to work to accept at least 50 percent of Syrian refugees whom UNHCR is seeking to resettle, consistent with our nation’s traditional practice under both Republican and Democratic presidents.”

On the same day, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) called the resettlement effort a “serious mistake” because of the security risks it poses.

[…]

[The Democratic group of Senators] said they understood the security concerns about the program.

“We must continue to carefully screen refugee applicants for all national security and terrorism concerns, but we urge you to devote sufficient resources and staff to ensure that this process does not hinder resettlement for legitimate refugees, many of whom are living in difficult, even life-threatening, situations,” they said.

Senators concluded by saying “it is a moral, legal, and national security imperative for the United States to lead by example in addressing the world’s worst refugee crisis of our time by greatly increasing the number of Syrian refugees who are resettled in our country.”

The UN suggestion for the U.S. taking in a massive wave of displaced Muslim Syrian refugees coupled the Democratic Senators appeal should vault this issue to the forefront of debate in the 2016 Presidential contenders’ debates. It is past time for Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), chair of the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security and Sen Jeff Sessions R-AL)  chair of the Senate Immigration and National Interest  Sub Committee to hold oversight hearings on the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and place a moratorium on UNHCR allotments of refugees from countries that hate us.  Gowdy was prompted to write letters to Secretary of State Kerry asking why contractors for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program have targeted Spartanburg, South Carolina for placement of Syrian refugees in his home congressional district.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review. The featured image is of Syrian refugee children.