What’s interesting in the news today?
1. Countering extremists, by inviting extremists?
From Breitbart “As the White House Countering Violent Extremism Summit is entering its second day, the names of some of the participants are leaking out and raising concerns. This is especially true of the Boston delegation – one among those from three cities that the Obama Administration has labelled a pilot for how religious leaders can work with law enforcement to counter violent threats.
One Boston Muslim leader taking part in the summit, Nicole Mossalam, has been dishonest about her controversial mosque blocking congregants from giving police information during their investigation of the Boston Marathon bombing. Another Muslim leader from Boston invited to the White House summit designed a lawsuit to stop the Boston media from reporting what it knows about the radical nature of the largest Islamic center in New England. In addition, this man, Nabeel Khudairi, persecuted moderate Muslim members of his own mosque after they tried to warn New Englanders about Islamic extremists in their midst.
As we expected and warned, the Islamic Society of Boston’s (ISB) Cambridge mosque – the radical Muslim Brotherhood front group attended by the Boston Marathon bombers – was invited to join the summit and is represented there by its executive director, Nichole Mossalam. A few days ago, in Breitbart News and the Washington Times, we reported how over the past decade, 12 of the ISB’s worshippers have either been killed, imprisoned, or declared fugitives due to their involvement in terrorist activity. In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, Ms. Mossalam told media outlets that the ISB urged members to contact law enforcement “immediately after the bombings in case they knew of anyone who might have been involved.”
In reality, the ISB sent out the first email about the bombings to its members a full seven days after the Marathon was blown up, urging them not to talk to the FBI without first contacting the ACLU and the ISB. The ISB wrote: “We have been informed that the FBI may be starting to question some of the community members about the two suspects. Insha’Allah we want to help as much as we can, but of course not put ourselves at risk either. Seeking representation does not imply any guilt on your part but is simply a way of protecting your own rights.””
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2. Libya as a gateway to Europe.
From TheTelegraph “Islamic State militants are planning a takeover of Libya as a “gateway” to wage war across the whole of southern Europe, letters written by the group’s supporters have revealed.
The jihadists hope to flood the north African state with militiamen from Syria and Iraq, who will then sail across the Mediterranean posing as migrants on people trafficking vessels, according to plans seen by Quilliam, the British anti-extremist group.
The fighters would then run amok in southern European cities and also try to attack maritime shipping.
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3. ISIS is expanding it’s reach. And it looks like they’ve joined with Boko Haram as well.
From TheGatewayPundit “ISIS forces have joined with Boko Haram in Libya and are moving on the Tunisian border.
ANSA Italiano reported, via Religion of Peace:
Libyan premier Abdallah Al Thani told Tunisian radio Express FM that Isis and Boko Haram members have joined or are about to join terrorist groups in Libya and added that the latter are getting close to the border with Tunisia.
With regard to the Egyptian military intervention, Al Thani said that the aerial bombardments against Isis positions in Libya were carried out with the approval of the Libyan government and that the United Nations Security Council refused to arm the Libyan state in its fight against terrorism.
Meanwhile, Tunisia has deployed military units along its border with Libya both on the ground and at sea and the army has been reinforced with units from the national guard and customs, in order to defend the country from “possible threats to its territorial integrity” and “prevent any attempt of infiltration by terrorists” said ministry of defense spokesman, colonel Belhassen Oueslati.”
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4. Now that Obama’s amnesty plan has been blocked activists are making threats.
From NationalReview “Illinois Democratic congressman Luis Guiterrez cautioned Republicans against celebrating a federal judge’s decision to halt the White House’s unilateral push for illegal alien amnesty, predicting unprecedented “militancy” in the immigrant community against the injunction.
The long-time advocate for illegal immigration angrily denounced the Texas judge’s decision that the Obama administration’s overstepped its executive authority. But Gutierrez also took aim at those who supported the judicial ruling.
“The Republican party is making a critical mistake,” he said. “The militancy that will be activated throughout the immigrant community — in terms of voter registration, voter participation, voter anger at the Republican party as a party in the United States — I think you’re going to see it in an unprecedented manner.””
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5. Yet another good reason to stop it.
From Breitbart “An estimated 5,000 aliens were either arrested for committing crimes or absconded over a three year period while they were participating in a supervision program that allowed them to be released from detention and into U.S. communities, the latest publicly available data shows.
In an audit released earlier this month, John Roth, the inspector general (IG) for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), revealed that a total of 2,010 aliens were arrested for committing crimes while they were participating in a supervised release program in 2010 (576), 2011 (729), and 2012 (705).
Furthermore, the DHS watchdog found that a total of 2,760 aliens absconded while they were enrolled in the same scheme over the same period — 2010 (927), 2011 (982), and 2012 (851).”
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6. This is govt. stupidity at it’s worst.
From TheWashingtonPost “New federal rules that make it harder to get narcotic painkillers are taking an unexpected toll on thousands of veterans who depend on these prescription drugs to treat a wide variety of ailments, such as missing limbs and post-traumatic stress.
The restrictions, adopted last summer by the Drug Enforcement Administration to curb a national epidemic of opioid abuse, are for the first time, in effect, forcing veterans to return to the doctor every month to renew their medication, although many were already struggling to get appointments at overburdened VA health facilities. And even if patients can get appointments, the new rules pose an additional hardship for many who live a good distance from the health centers.
Although the tighter regulation applies to everyone on opioid painkillers, it’s hitting veterans especially hard because so many are being treated for horrific injuries sustained during the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and have become dependent on the Department of Veterans Affairs’ beleaguered health-care system for medical care.”
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7. Obama must be spending too much time with Sharpton. Now his DoJ is getting in on the shakedown business.
From CNN “The Justice Department is preparing to bring a lawsuit against the Ferguson, Missouri, police department over a pattern of racially discriminatory tactics used by officers, if the police department does not agree to make changes on its own, sources tell CNN.
Attorney General Eric Holder said this week he expects to announce the results of the department’s investigation of the shooting death of Michael Brown and a broader probe of the Ferguson Police Department before he leaves office in the coming weeks.”
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Wandering Views 
6. I have told you of the struggles Mr. P has with his back. He is considered 80 disabled by the VA. He is in constant pain. When he had the last back fusion the surgeon started to remove the previous one but the “screws” wouldn’t come out so he left that fusion and fused above it. Now the screws have migrated out into soft tissue and are causing a tremendous amount of pain. When he walks any more that 30 minutes his right leg goes numb. The only exercise he can do is swim because it puts no pressure on his body. I wouldn’t believe this story if I didn’t see it and live it every day.
In December he went to the VA for a checkup and to have prescriptions refilled. That location hadn’t had a doctor in several months. Without even looking at his chart she cut his prescription in half. The trip, driving out to Austin and back put him to bed for 3 days once we returned. This has put a severe dent in what we are able to do. We have had to skip social events because he is in too much pain. We cancelled a weekend getaway because there was too much walking involved.
He needs another surgery but is too afraid to have it because right now he would have to take whoever the VA sent him to.
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Oh and I just realized the last surgery was two years ago today.
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An article in The Washington Times reminded me about this discussion of “an existential threat” to America. “Existential” means a real, existing situation. Susan Rice says there is no existential threat like there was in WW II or the Cold War.
There was no “existential” threat in WW II. We could have let Japan have the Eastern/Southern Pacific and they would have left us alone. Hitler would have had Europe and left us alone until he settled with Russia. No “existential” threat.
Abe Lincoln once said, and this was in the 1860’s. “No European nation can drink a cup of water from the Ohio River without our permission.”
No existential threat.
Islam is here. I hear that we are going to allow Syrian refugees to come to America. They will not melt into the culture the way the Jews, Irish, Italians, Germans, etc. did.
Someday, some legal ruling will be made in the USA based on sharia.
Watch for it. It will pass us by in the mainstream media. But that is the existential threat.
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Interesting on Libya, you all do know the USNavy has an air station on the eastern side of Sicily?
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Deleted: So they can come to the aid if Benghazi happens to be attacked?
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY JEH JOHNSON: We in the administration and the government should give voice to the plight of Muslims living in this country and the discrimination that they face. And so I personally have committed to speak out about the situation that very often people in the Muslim community in this country face. The fact that there are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world and the Islamic faith is one about peace and brotherhood.
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There seems to be an awful lot going on the last couple of days. I’ve saved links aplenty, but they’re clogging up my bar, so here comes a news dump. 🙂
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/19/us-usa-washington-gaymarriage-idUSKBN0LN0B520150219
“A judge in Washington state on Wednesday ruled that a florist who refused to sell flower arrangements for a gay couple’s wedding violated state anti-discrimination law, court records show.
Florist Barronelle Stutzman was sued by both the state Attorney General Bob Ferguson and the couple, Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed, in 2013.
The pair were longtime customers of Stutzman’s Richland business, Arlene’s Flowers, and asked her to provide decorations for their wedding following the state’s legalization of same-sex marriage.
Stutzman maintained that her Christian beliefs prevented her from selling flowers for the same-sex wedding, “because of (her) relationship with Jesus Christ,” according to court documents.”
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Spill it.
http://www.wnd.com/2015/02/hsbc-whistleblower-spills-lynch-evidence-to-senate/
“The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday conducted a two-hour session with HSBC whistleblower John Cruz in its investigation of attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch’s role in the Obama administration’s decision not to prosecute the banking giant for laundering funds for Mexican drug cartels and Middle Eastern terrorists, WND sources have confirmed.”
“The staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee focused Wednesday on Cruz’s allegations, first reported by WND Feb. 6, that Lynch, acting then in her capacity as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, engaged in a Department of Justice cover-up. Obama’s attorney general nominee allowed HSBC to enter into a “deferred prosecution” settlement in which the bank agreed to pay a $1.9 billion fine and admit “willful criminal conduct” in exchange for dropping criminal investigations and prosecutions of HSBC directors or employees.
On Feb. 12, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, had decided to postpone the Senate vote on Lynch’s confirmation until the last week of February, when Congress returns from the Presidents Day recess. The decision is widely attributed to allowing Vitter and the Senate Judiciary Committee staff time to pursue the allegations concerning Lynch’s role in the HSBC scandal.”
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Disturbing.
http://freebeacon.com/issues/anti-semitic-pro-islamic-state-graffiti-continues-to-plague-d-c/
“Anti-Semitic, pro-terror graffiti continues to plague an affluent neighborhood in Washington, D.C., causing worry among some residents as anti-Jewish incidents continue to spike across the globe.
A swastika with the words, “F***ing D.C. cops” was spotted this week along 19th and N Streets NW in the Dupont Circle neighborhood in downtown D.C., according to residents and photographs obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The anti-Semitic image is the latest in a months-long string of similar drawings spray painted on sidewalks and buildings in the Dupont Circle area.
The unknown vandals have repeatedly gone after Jews and have expressed support for the Islamic State, according to a number of photos obtained by the Free Beacon as investigated over several months.”
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Laughable claims.
http://hotair.com/archives/2015/02/18/no-major-scandals-wapo-demolishes-va-secretarys-claim-to-have-fired-60-employees/
““Recommending people to receive a letter about their wrongdoing is not the same thing as being fired,” read a recent piece in The Washington Post. These are words you would think would never needed to be written, but the Obama administration has opened up new frontiers for the fact checking industry.
In an appearance on Meet the Press on Sunday, VA Secretary Robert McDonald was quizzed about his efforts to reform that scandal-plagued agency. “Nine hundred people have been fired since I became secretary,” McDonald asserted. “We’ve got 60 people that we fired who have manipulated wait times.”
It sounds like a strong response to the outrageous discovery in the spring of last year that American veterans had suffered or even died as a result of being unable to receive care at VA facilities. Worse, administrators with that agency in a variety of locations systematically covered-up of the extent of the wait times veterans faced. It was a scandal that cost VA Sec. Eric Shinseki his job, and cast doubt on the administration’s oft-repeated claim that skillfully managed governmental programs can improve the lives of average Americans.
The Post’s Michelle Ye Hee Lee dug into the facts surrounding McDonald’s claim to have largely cleaned house since the scandal broke. She didn’t seem to like what she found.”
“Of the 75 employees, only eight employees have actually been removed, as of Feb. 13, 2015. Twenty-three cases were pending. Five employees resigned before a decision was made on their case. Others were demoted, were on probationary termination, had some other disciplinary action, or had no action taken at all.”
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This will be fun to watch.
http://capitolcityproject.com/tea-party-candidate-narrowly-lost-election-sues-democrats-defamation-deceptive-edit/
“This past November in California’s 24th Congressional district, actor and Tea Party candidate Chris Mitchum — who is the son of Hollywood legend Robert Mitchum — ran against Dem. Rep Lois Capps and narrowly lost the election.
The race was neck-and-neck until the Capps campaign completely spliced and butchered a quote from Mitchum that made it sound as if he wouldn’t put California’s 24th district first — or represent the district at all — if he were to win the election and go on to Washington. The end result was so damaging it very well could have tipped the scale in Capps’ favor as she rode on to victory.
Now, because of the dishonesty, he’s seeking revenge and has filed a lawsuit against Rep. Capps — along with the DCCC– for defamation.
“After careful examination of the facts, I have authorized my attorneys to file a lawsuit today seeking to hold Representative Capps, her associates and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Washington responsible for maliciously, knowingly and improperly manipulating my digital image and audio message so as to distort and destroy the public’s accurate perception of my campaign and message and it’s positive support for my candidacy,” Mitchum told the Daily Caller.
Just how deceptive was the edit? Pretty much as bad as one can get.”
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They Don’t have the votes, or the guts to ban them in Congress so this is essentially a back door ban attempt.
http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/14/batfe-to-ban-common-ar-15-ammo/
“In a move clearly intended by the Obama Administration to suppress the acquisition, ownership and use of AR-15s and other .223 caliber general purpose rifles, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives unexpectedly announced today that it intends to ban commonplace M855 ball ammunition as “armor piercing ammunition.” The decision continues Obama’s use of his executive authority to impose gun control restrictions and bypass Congress.
It isn’t even the third week of February, and the BATFE has already taken three major executive actions on gun control. First, it was a major change to what activities constitute regulated “manufacturing” of firearms. Next, BATFE reversed a less than year old position on firing a shouldered “pistol.” Now, BATFE has released a “Framework for Determining Whether Certain Projectiles are ‘Primarily Intended for Sporting Purposes’ Within the Meaning of 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(17)(c)”, which would eliminate M855’s exemption to the armor piercing ammunition prohibition and make future exemptions nearly impossible.
By way of background, federal law imposed in 1986 prohibits the manufacture, importation, and sale by licensed manufacturers or importers, but not possession, of “a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a handgun and which is constructed entirely . . . from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or depleted uranium.” Because there are handguns capable of firing M855, it “may be used in a handgun.” It does not, however, have a core made of the metals listed in the law; rather, it has a traditional lead core with a steel tip, and therefore should never have been considered “armor piercing.” Nonetheless, BATFE previously declared M855 to be “armor piercing ammunition,” but granted it an exemption as a projectile “primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes.”
The new exemption is more restrictive and a joke.
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Yes please!
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-02-18/trey-gowdy-time-for-a-select-committee-to-investigate-the-irs-scandal
“At a Republican Party fundraising breakfast in his district on Wednesday, Representative Trey Gowdy suggested that the congressional GOP needed to investigate the IRS’s scrutiny of political groups with the same intensity that it was investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi.
“I’m glad that the speaker of the House convened a select committee on Benghazi,” said Gowdy, a former prosecutor who chairs that panel. “I think it makes every bit as much sense to convene a select committee on the IRS. Now that we have the Senate, the Senate has tools the House doesn’t have in terms of getting e-mails and cooperation. It has nothing to do with politics. Do you really want an IRS targeting you based on your political beliefs?”
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Don’t worry, the Obama admin assures us they are “monitoring” people like this. I’m sure he’s the only one that got thru…..
http://nypost.com/2015/02/18/isis-jihadi-who-led-execution-of-christians-could-be-an-american/
“The masked jihadi who led the executions of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya over the weekend could be an American recruited by ISIS, a US official told The Post on Wednesday.
Intelligence experts are currently analyzing the facial features and speech patterns of the unidentified extremist seen in gruesome video released by the Islamic State on Sunday.
“They are analyzing the video now, using facial recognition and they continue to analyze his speech patterns,” said an official who requested to not be named. “He sounds American to me.”
Professor Erik Thomas — a linguistics expert at North Carolina State University — added that based on distinctive word pronunciations, he also believes the unidentified man in camouflage “sounds like an American” with some Arabic influence mixed in, according to ABC News.”
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See…. a lot. 🙂
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You don’t hear the term “guttersnipe” too often, but it would be someone like Bill O’Reilly who would use it. 😉
I’m no fan of his — this could be a legit criticism or not, but it will be interesting to see how it unfolds.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/02/bill-oreilly-mother-jones-report-garbage-202825.html
Fox is generally under very close scrutiny by the left so this story is getting a lot of (gleeful) play in some circles & on social media.
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The accusation sounds like a stretch from this article by Howard Kurtz whom I generally respect:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/02/19/oreilly-denounces-mother-jones-story-on-his-war-reporting/
Still, O’Reilly does himself no favors by blowing his top in responding.
But that’s O’Reilly.
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