Cal Thomas
by H. Sterling Burnett.
by Majid Rafizadeh{ americanthinker.com } ~ Why Eastern Europeans are much more reluctant to accept Muslim migrants than their Western counterparts can be traced back to circumstances surrounding a pivotal battle, that of Kosovo, which took place today, June 15... exactly 630 years ago today in 1389. It pitted Muslim invaders against Eastern European defenders, or the ancestors of those many Eastern Europeans today who are resistant to Islam. Because the jihad is as old as Islam, it has been championed by diverse peoples throughout the centuries — Arabs in the Middle East, Moors Berbers and Africans in Spain and Western Europe, etc. Islam's successful entry into Eastern Europe was spearheaded by the Turks, specifically that tribe centered in westernmost Anatolia or Asia Minor and thus nearest to Europe, the Ottoman Turks, so-named after their founder, Osman Bey. As he lay dying in 1323, his parting words to his son and successor, Orhan, were for him "to propagate Islam by your arms." This his son certainly did; the traveler Ibn Batutua, who once met Orhan in Bursa, observed that although the jihadi had captured some one hundred Byzantine fortresses, "he had never stayed for a whole month in any one town," because he "fights with the infidels continually and keeps them under siege." Christian cities fell like dominoes: Smyrna in 1329, Nicaea in 1331, and Nicomedia in 1337. By 1340, the whole of northwest Anatolia was under Turkic control. By now and to quote a European contemporary, "the foes of the cross, and the killers of the Christian people, that is, the Turks, were separated from Constantinople by a channel of three or four miles." By 1354, the Ottoman Turks, under Orhan's son, Suleiman, managed to cross over the Dardanelles and into the abandoned fortress town of Gallipoli, thereby establishing their first foothold in Europe: "Where there were churches he destroyed them or converted them to mosques," writes an Ottoman chronicler. "Where there were bells, Suleiman broke them up and cast them into fires. Thus, in place of bells there were now muezzins." Cleansed of all Christian "filth," Gallipoli became, as a later Ottoman bey boasted, "the Muslim throat that gulps down every Christian nation — that chokes and destroys the Christians." From this dilapidated but strategically situated fortress town, the Ottomans launched a campaign of terror throughout the countryside, always convinced they were doing God's work. "They live by the bow, the sword, and debauchery, finding pleasure in taking slaves, devoting themselves to murder, pillage, spoil," explained Gregory Palamas, an Orthodox metropolitan who was taken captive in Gallipoli, adding, "and not only do they commit these crimes, but even — what an aberration — they believe that God approves them!"...
Cal Thomas
There are many addictions besides drugs, sex and power. There is also our increasing addiction to debt. According to Money Magazine, reporting on figures from the New York Fed, “Americans’ debt hit a new high of $13 trillion last year, surpassing the previous record set in 2008 by $280 billion.”
On a personal level, individual American debt averages $7,800, according to the U.S. Census. Credit card debt and student loans account for a good portion of it, depending on one’s age, with people 75 and older having the least debt and middle aged and younger people having the most.
This is chump change when it comes to spending by the federal government. Citizens Against Government Waste has just published its annual Pig Book, detailing wasteful and unnecessary pork barrel spending by politicians.
To raise your outrage to its proper level, the book needs to be read in its entirety, but here are just a few of its lowlights. Remember “earmarks,” those spending additions to bills that resemble leeches on one’s body? A “moratorium” was placed on them in fiscal year 2011, but Members of Congress have been pressuring their leadership to get rid of them so that they might resume bragging to constituents how they are “bringing home the bacon.”
According to CAGW, 282 earmarks were added to spending bills in the fiscal 2019 budget, a 21.6 percent increase from fiscal 2018. That cost taxpayers $15.3 billion in additional money we don’t have and must borrow. Earmarks are added in secret, so their authors are unknown to the public. How’s that for transparency?
Seven earmarks were added for the overpriced, over budget and overdue F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (total $1.8 billion), “including eight additional planes for the Air Force, six for the Navy, and two for the Marine Corps. In development for nearly 18 years and eight years behind schedule, total acquisition costs now exceed $428 billion; nearly double the initial estimate of $233 billion. A 2019 DOD Selected Acquisition Report noted that the F-35’s lifetime operation and maintenance costs will total approximately $1.2 trillion, the most expensive weapon system in U.S. history.”
This is the Pentagon’s equivalent of California’s ludicrous $77 billion high-speed rail project, which at least has been sharply cut back. Unfortunately, when it comes to federal spending, failure is never a sufficient reason to stop.
Speaking of the West Coast, how about this one — $65 million for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund. “For the third consecutive year,” notes the Pig Book, “President Trump’s budget recommended eliminating its funding because it favors state, local, and/or industry interests, and are ‘not optimally targeted … favor certain species and geographic areas over others,’ and do not direct funds to programs and projects that have ‘the greatest need or potential benefit.’” When it comes to spending, logic never wins.
Here’s a favorite: $13.8 million for wild horse and burro management (largest amount ever). Since FY 1992, Congress has added earmarks totaling $18 million for this program. Perhaps if Congress looked at the south end of these animals they would see their own reflection, which is the image many Americans have of them.
One more (but there are many more): $12 million for the aquatic plant control program, the largest amount ever. Since FY 1994, aquatic plant control projects have been earmarked by Sen. Minority Leader Chuck scumbag-Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL). Spending is always bipartisan.
Historically, a contributing factor to the decline of great nations has been massive and uncontrolled debt. We are headed for a similar abyss. Read the Pig Book, be outraged and then vote them out of office.
~The Patriot Post
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