UPDATE to the hostage story.
From MSN
“An Algerian airstrike reportedly killed 34 hostages and 15 of their Islamist militant captors, reports say. Seven are still alive, including two Americans, and four have been freed by the Algerian military.
ANI said a spokesman for the kidnappers told the agency those hostages were three Belgians, two Americans, a Japanese and a Briton. No details were given for the Algerians who were also captured.
Earlier reports claimed 34 hostages and 15 of their al-Qaida-linked kidnappers were killed by the Algerian armed forces’ air strike. Reportedly, the kidnappers were holding 41 hostages.”
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What’s news today?
I guess we start with the obvious.
From TheGuardian
“Obama’s proposals to reduce gun violence – at a glance.”
“The president unveiled a series of legislative measures that require congressional approval, and executive actions that don’t.”
13 that he needs Congress for, and 23 Executive Orders.
Gee, I wonder if one of them will make it illegal for the govt. to arm Mexican cartels? It’ll be fun when they send out the gun running Justice Dept. to prosecute violators of these new rules. That’s some serious irony there.
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Also, check out number 16, the one about Doctors asking patients about guns. There’s a little problem with that, and a little more irony.
From Breitbart
“When Obama signed his 23 Executive Orders this morning, #16 was to clarify that Obamacare “does not prohibit doctors [from] asking patients about guns in their homes.” Yet it must be understood that even if they ask these questions, they can’t compile their answers into a list which they then pass on to the government.
This prohibition comes courtesy of Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).
When Obamacare was being debated in the Senate in 2010, Reid inserted an amendment that forbids the government from using doctors to compile information for a gun registry.”
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Rand Paul has legislative solutions of his own in mind.
From TheDailyCaller
“Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul plans to introduce legislation in Congress soon nullifying the executive orders on guns announced by President Barack Obama on Wednesday, a source familiar with the plans confirmed to The Daily Caller.
The Republican legislator plans to reveal his plans for legislation during an appearance on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News on Wednesday night, the source said.”
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New York State has their own ideas as well.
From CNSNews
“As New York lawmakers approved the nation’s toughest gun control laws, the first since the Connecticut school shooting, gun enthusiasts lined up to criticize the state for what they called an overreach driven by political ambition.
Signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday, the New York legislation tightens a ban on assault-style rifles, calls for background checks on ammunition purchases, outlaws large-capacity magazines and tries to keep guns out of the hands of mentally ill people deemed to be a threat.”
“Besides outlawing a broader array of military-style weapons, the measure restricts ammunition magazines to seven rounds, down from the current 10, creates a more comprehensive database of people barred from owning guns, and makes New York the first state to require background checks to buy bullets. The system will also help flag customers who buy large amounts of ammo.”
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And despite claims to the contrary, al Qaeda isn’t on the run.
From TheWallStJournal
“Militants with possible links to al Qaeda seized about 40 foreign hostages, including several Americans, at a natural-gas field in Algeria, posing a new level of threat to nations trying to blunt the growing influence of Islamist extremists in Africa.
As security officials in the U.S. and Europe assessed options to reach the captives from distant bases, Algerian security forces failed in an attempt late Wednesday to storm the facility.
A French effort to drive Islamist militants from neighboring Mali that began with airstrikes last week expanded on Wednesday with the first sustained fighting on the ground. France’s top target, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, claimed responsibility for the Algeria kidnappings, calling it retaliation. The claim couldn’t be verified, although AQIM has its origins in Algeria and operates across a swath of Africa.”
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Has anyone seen my “Shocked Face”? I’ll need it for this last one.
From TheAP
” Federal immigration agents were prepared to arrest an illegal immigrant and registered sex offender days before the November elections but were ordered by Washington to hold off after officials warned of “significant interest” from Congress and news organizations because the suspect was a volunteer intern for Sen. Robert Menendez, according to internal agency documents provided to Congress.
The Homeland Security Department said last month, when The Associated Press first disclosed the delayed arrest of Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta, that AP’s report was “categorically false.””
😯
Found it!
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Wandering Views 
Another difference between North and South: In the South girlfriends are real people who sit in the stands and are talked about by Brent Musburger.
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I was reading the President’s gun plan in the paper while waiting in the barber shop. I didn’t see anything in it that was good or bad. It was a bunch of nothing so far as I could tell.
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Ricky, only if her boyfriend is on the field.
😉
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1. Episcopal priest to give inaugural benediction; Atlanta pastor had bowed out over gay views
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/01/16…#ixzz2IFYR2mSJ
2. Mr. Obama picked a man that is in conflict with God’s Word to give the benediction.
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Chas my concern is how Mr. Obama is going to use Obama Care to try an track guns alsol.
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Michael Barone in this column touches on something that continues to bother me: the president’s overtly partisan (almost scolding) “tone” which seems only to have increased since his re-election.
http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbarone/2013/01/17/ivorytower-obama-cant-abide-views-he-doesnt-share-n1490568
“What we do know, from Bob Woodward’s ‘The Price of Politics,’ is that Obama is not very good at negotiating. He apparently can’t stomach listening to views he does not share. …
“The question is whether Obama wants legislation or to stick it to the opposition. …”
Well, I think we all know the answer to that. 😉
Honestly, I have to hit the mute button or simply leave the room anymore when he speaks. 😦 😦
What a abject failure in leadership this administration has been (and continues to be, apparently).
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But of course if you are a Korean pop star you can call for the death of American children and still get to hang out with the president.
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And this was supposed to be a “post-partisan” president? Hardly. I can’t remember a more partisan president in my lifetime. He projects an absolute disdain for conservatives or anyone who disagrees with him.
He doesn’t even seem to want to try to bridge the gap in a nation that is divided right down the middle. His goal appears to be to widen it. What a disappointment.
I know, we need to be praying for the president. And I’ll confess that I’m not very faithful at that. 😦 Lord, help soften my attitude. …
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Donna J
“I know, we need to be praying for the president. And I’ll confess that I’m not very faithful at that. Lord, help soften my attitude. …”
The Lord calls on us to ‘Love’ our enemies, not ‘Like’ or ‘Agree’ with them.
Maybe we should also pray for his wife and kids.
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What do you think? Random crime? Or another victim of the journalistic malpractice over at The Journal News. Can the police really say for sure at this point either way? I understand they need to, can’t have all those folks who were identified start panicing. They’re all armed ya’ know.
http://newyork.newsday.com/news/nation/journal-news-map-listed-guns-permits-stolen-from-new-city-home-cops-say-1.4463741
“Two handguns and two pistol permits were stolen from the New City home of a man whose name and address are listed on the website of a local newspaper as possessing gun permits, police said.
The thieves ransacked the house Wednesday night, breaking into two safes on the home’s third floor and stealing a third safe. The guns were in the stolen safe, police said.
Clarkstown police said they had no evidence the burglary was connected to the controversial map.
“The burglary is still under investigation and there are no facts to support this correlation at this time,” Clarkstown Sgt. Joanne Fratianni said in a statement. “If the investigation develops further information, it will be released accordingly.”
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And here is a good post on the culture shift:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2013/01/15/let-freedom-ring/
“And lest anyone think this is a call to arms or a manifesto of malediction, it is not. If we are reviled, we shall not revile in return. If we are hated we shall pray to God for more love. If we are excluded from polite society, we will still include all Christ-exalting, Bible-believing, broken hearted sinners in the fellowship of the redeemed. And if we are esteemed by some as better off dead, we will not cease to offer the words of life…. “
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Very good article, DonnaJ. It puts the proper context on the Christian response to an increasingly unbelieving world.
The hard part is that in the US we are so conditioned to being positively received by the institutional structure of our own country, that the stark reality that we are living in a ‘post-Christian’ culture is hard to believe and cope with.
Over the years, Christianity brought many benefits to our society—the work ethic, respect for law, resistance to corruption being but a few. As our society becomes increasingly UN-Christian, these benefits fade away. It is tempting to try to reverse this trend by re-instituting the benefit itself–sometimes legislatively. But that does not work, I think, because the benefits were side-effects of true, practiced Christianity.
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I pray for the President every time Joe Biden opens his mouth. 🙂
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Great article, Donna J.
Debra, your conclusions are also right on point.
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I read Obama’s directives — its not much, more or less its a call for more information sharing between jurisdictions and agencies.
Al-queda has become a generic name in the same way Kleenex is used to mean tissue paper, its generic for Islamic terrorist. Most groups which call themselves al-queda have nothing to do with the original organization.
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KBells 🙂 Yes, there is that motivation. 😉
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