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Are Our Universities Producing Spoiled Brats?

There are plenty of fine universities in America today where the students are challenged and stretched. But all too many schools are coddling their students rather than challenging them, thereby producing graduating classes filled with lots of spoiled brats.

How bad are things on some campuses?

Not only are schools offering coloring books and crayons during finals week to help students deal with stress.

Not only are schools providing safe-spaces where students can go to escape from the conflicts of the real world.

Not only are schools issuing guidelines for campus speech, replete with the latest trigger warnings to guard against microaggressions.

All that is absurd enough.

But schools are now responding to student tantrums: If you threaten to throw a fit, we will back down, post haste. We do not want to get you upset!

In the home, parents know how to deal children who throw tantrums. They don’t give in to the screaming and crying and foot stomping. They hold their ground and they remind their child that this is the way things are going to be, like it or not. And rather than rewarding their child’s tantrum, they discipline their child for such unhealthy behavior.

In contrast, many of our campus administrators haven’t learned how to respond to student tantrums — or even to the threat of a tantrum. We can’t upset our students! And if the threatened tantrum is coming from outside the school, rather than standing up to the few bullies, the university caves in — always, it seems, in the direction of political correctness.

Anarchy Now, Failure Later

What kind of example are these schools setting for their students? And how will their grads deal with the conflicts and problems and stresses of the real world.

Take, for example, the recent uproar at Berkeley over a planned speech by Ann Coulter. Just the threat of protests was enough to shut the event down, in light of which Stanley Kurtz observed that “America’s colleges continue their descent into low-grade anarchy.”

A legal letter from the Berkeley College Republicans and the Young America’s Foundation responding to Berkeley leadership hit the nail on the head (with some fitting sarcasm, to boot). “Thank you for conceding in your letter today that UC Berkeley chooses to limit speech as a direct result of the successful misconduct of ‘some of the same groups that previously engaged in local violent action,’” Harmeet K. Dhillon wrote. “In other words, all one has to do to silence conservative speakers at UC Berkeley, is to don a mask and become violent, or place anonymous phone calls to the administration threatening such violence.”

It’s that simple. Just throw the college version of a tantrum and the college version of your parents (the school’s faculty and administration) will quickly back down.

This reminds me of an old Andy Griffith episode about a spoiled kid who always got his way – that is, until Sheriff Griffith got involved. There’s a lesson here for the entitlement generation, which also suffers from of a lack of good parenting.

As I’ve shared before, a friend of mine in the business world told me that it’s more and more common for college and university grads to have trouble on their jobs. But it’s not because they lack intelligence or the necessary academic training. Instead, it’s because they can’t take correction, having been shielded from it during much of their upbringing and education. “You may be my boss, but you’re making me feel bad, which makes you a bad person, since I’m a good person and therefore a good employee.”

Put On Your Big Boy Pants

I may be exaggerating the sentiments, but not by much. After all, kids are being raised today in a “never-lose” environment, where everyone gets rewarded and scores are not kept in sports games. By the time they get to college, the mentality that the “world revolves around my feelings” is deeply entrenched within them. This is the fault of their upbringing as much as it is their own fault, and as things begin to implode on our campuses, it’s high time for change.

What’s really unfortunate is that there are so many fine young people on our campuses and there are plenty of schools producing fine grads. But this generation is getting tarred by the bad reputation of some of its loudest representatives, and it is for them — the bad apples — that I have a simple word of advice: Grow up.

In fact this word of advice applies to some educators as well. If we will act like adults, young people will follow our lead. (For more from the author of “Are Our Universities Producing Spoiled Brats?” please click HERE) http://joemiller.us/2017/04/universities-producing-spoiled-brats/

Protest All You Want, but Science Can’t Tell Trump How to Govern

April 23, 2017/

by Logan Albright

[Yesterday], a group of concerned citizens participated in the March for Science, a gathering on the National Mall in Washington, DC, protesting the Trump Administration’s attitudes towards science, accompanied by the assertion that science should be a motivating factor in determining public policy. The appeal to science is one of the progressive movement’s go-to tactics in the attempt to appear reasonable and unbiased. After all, science doesn’t have a political agenda, right? As Joe Friday said, it’s “just the facts, ma’am.” And since science is synonymous with learning, inquiry, and critical thought, the only people who would reject science must be ignorant, unintelligent, and superstitious. The trouble with this line of reasoning is that it anthropomorphizes science into something that has opinions, conclusions, and recommendations. This not only fundamentally misunderstands the concept of science, but can lead down some pretty dangerous roads if we’re not careful. First of all, let’s get straight what science is and is not. The word “science” is only a noun for grammatical convenience. In reality, science is not a “thing,” but a set of methods that, when applied appropriately, can answer certain questions about the world in which we live. Science is a process. It is not something you can “believe in,” and it cannot “say” anything. When you hear people claiming to believe in science or that science says the Earth is warming, they are misusing the term and projecting their own beliefs onto a set of abstract principles. And while science is excellent at answering questions when applied properly, it can also be applied improperly, or used sloppily to give answers that don’t reflect reality. This is why it’s so ridiculous to assign conclusions to science. The conclusions are really those of certain fallible humans who have used certain techniques in an effort to answer questions. You can argue that their techniques were good or bad, but you can’t just declare an entire discipline in agreement on any questions of great import. It’s all well and good to say that science should guide public policy, but what does that really mean? In one sense, this is basically the same as saying language should guide public policy. It’s so obvious as to be meaningless. Every road and bridge, every piece of military equipment, all telecommunications were designed and constructed using scientific principles. Without science, it would be impossible to have any public policy at all. What these protestors really mean, of course, is that they want their particular conclusions on controversial topics to be the standard by which government operates, particularly when it relates to climate science. But even if we could all agree that climate change is caused by man and is something that will cause problems, science cannot tell us what to do about it. Decisions about tradeoffs between human welfare now and in the future, prioritizing some people over others, and central planning versus individual freedom are well outside the scope of the scientific method. I cannot help but be reminded of our most scientifically minded president, Woodrow Wilson. The only president to hold a Ph.D., Wilson was eager to use science to guide the country forward, and this eagerness caused him to embrace some things that, in hindsight, were really, really bad ideas. The American eugenics movement, supported by Wilson, held that the nation could be improved by forcibly sterilizing the unfit, the criminals and the mentally disabled and allowing only the strongest to breed. Darwin’s theory of natural selection gave scientific credence to the idea that this was possible, and so-called enlightened men went along with it. Tens of thousands of Americans were forcibly sterilized before the horrors of World War II soured us on the idea. The point of this story is not to say that global warming alarmism is akin to eugenics, but to point out that science cannot answer the moral questions, such as “Is it okay to rob people of their liberty for the good of the species?” That is the domain of philosophy. Personally, I would rather more energy be spent on ensuring that our president has a good philosophy of government than on flogging for science that can be misused and manipulated — and that ultimately can’t answer life’s most important questions. (For more from the author of “Protest All You Want, but Science Can’t Tell Trump How to Govern” please click HERE) http://joemiller.us/2017/04/protest-want-science-cant-tell-trump-govern/

CANADIAN DOG JIHAD?

( Muslims do not assimilate, they infiltrate )

Dog owners are being warned to keep a close eye on their pets after a disturbing discovery at a popular Vancouver park. Dogs have found and eaten abandoned pieces of pizza stuffed with sewing needles in an off-leash area of Strathcona Park twice in the past few weeks.

Pakistan

CTV News  (h/t Richard S) In one case, an owner noticed her dog had a piece of food in his mouth, and saw a string hanging out of his mouth as he was about to swallow.

“I pulled it out and it was a bundled up piece of pizza that had been sewn together,” DJ Larkin told CTV News.

She threw it out, thinking it was strange but hoping it was an isolated incident, but when she heard another dog was injured in a similar incident, she felt compelled to come forward.

The other dog swallowed the ball of pizza, which had several needles in it, and needed surgery to remove one from its throat.

The incidents have been reported to the City of Vancouver, and officials say they’re investigating. Larkin said she’s also been in touch with the BC SPCA.

“It’s so upsetting because it’s a really popular park for East Van dog owners, and I can’t imagine any reason to do that except to intentionally injure an animal,” she said.

Pascal the puppy was left for dead after cruel Muslim children covered him in industrial glue and dragged him through mud in Istanbul

Larkin said she’s never had any other experiences with strange things found in the park, but said she’d heard reports of people finding rat poison left out in the area.

The dog owner says she no longer feels comfortable bringing her dog to the park, and others who were at the grounds on Friday said they’re keeping a close eye on their animals.

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=UWhYE7qiB0

The watchman on the wall sounding the ALARM

Taxpayer-funded Arab group behind lawsuits to stop terror-haven travel ban

( Muslims do not assimilate, they infiltrate )

Time to cut funding to sanctuary cities and groups that exist to Islamize the U.S. via ACCESS hosts emergency town hall to fight Trump’s Muslim ban

Source: ACCESS hosts emergency town hall to fight Trump’s Muslim ban

DEARBORN—On Wednesday, ACCESS’s Take on Hate campaign organized an emergency town hall in response to President Trump’s executive order on immigration.

The event, originally scheduled for the Arab American National Museum, had to be moved to the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center to accommodate the unexpectedly large turnout.

More than 1,200 people attended the town hall to listen to organizers and lawyers deliver informed comments, offer legal advice and address concerns that both affected and confused citizens had regarding the administration’s new policies.

Take on Hate’s Asha Noor served as the moderator of the event’s discussion portion. Lawyers Noel Saleh of the Arab Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, Abed Ayoub, policy director of the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee and Khaled Beydoun, law professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, each gave overviews outlining their assessment of the climate after the executive orders were issued.

Ayoub began the panel debriefing the audience on the events and chaos that unfolded almost immediately after the travel ban was signed Friday, Jan. 27, at 4:30 p.m.

The ban, he reminded the audience, affected those from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya.

“Individuals from those seven countries could not enter the U.S.,” he said, adding that “some green card holders were forced to sign abandonment forms.”

Ayoub additionally advised Lebanese audience members, some of whom came to the United States on a visa, to not return to their country of origin if they were concerned with the travel ban.

He warned that Lebanese nationals on a visa or green card may not be able to reenter.

Though Ayoub acknowledged claims that spread across social media and messaging platforms that additional countries would be added Wednesday, were rumors, he didn’t deny the possibility of an expansion to the ban.

“Additional countries can be added,” he said. “We don’t know when they’ll be added; we don’t know what those additional countries are going to be.”

However, in a Feb. 2 letter provided to Dearborn-based immigration lawyer Mohamed Elsharnoby, the Department of State stated that “there is no addendum, annex or amendment now being worked on to expand visa revocations or the travel ban to countries other than those currently implicated in the executive order.”

Elsharnoby, who shared the letter with The AANews, said frazzled and frantic Arab Americans should be relieved that said rumors are untrue.

“There are no current plans to do so, and there is nothing to worry about it,” he said.

The State Department confirmed to the American National Lawyers Association that these allegations were false.

Saleh brought a seasoned perspective to the panel discussion. Having served on the ACCESS board since 1989, he helped the ACLU coordinate legal work to Arab and Muslim communities post 9/11.

“We’ve won the first round, but we never won the battle,” he said.

Lawful permanent residents, Saleh said, were able to reenter thanks to the pushback caused by community activism in the airports on Sunday.

On the litigation end, Saleh was among those celebrating attorneys’ efforts and accomplishments during a tireless and thankless weekend.

“We filed four lawsuits in various parts of the country,” he said. “In every lawsuit we’ve been successful in obtaining a temporary restraining order requiring the government to…put on hold provisions contained in the terrorist entry memorandum.”

The importance of activism

With steadfast determination, Saleh commended the audience for “having won the first round”, but reminded them that “that’s not necessarily winning the battle.”

While his speech complemented Ayoub’s in theme, he differed slightly with him regarding of the importance of citizen protest and activism.

“The old way of doing things with activism and community engagement is not going to work,” Ayoub said. “There has to be a real strategy driven by real professionals. Anything otherwise is going to hamper our movement forward as we take these issues on.

“Litigation without activism will never be effective,” he added. “Activism — the pushback, the demonstrations— forced this administration to back off.”

For his part, Beydoun delivered a powerful oration that sought to empower and embolden the collective psyche bludgeoned by Trump’s executive order.

He issued a caveat against the impending threats of counter-radicalization policy in pitting each Muslim and d Arab against one another.

“Support of counter-radicalization is support of the Muslim ban,” he stressed.

Beydoun galvanized the qualities of self-determination and a strong sense of solidarity and identity. He called for “leadership that speaks to power, not bend before it; leadership that celebrates Arab and Muslim identity rather than emulating Whiteness; leadership that uplifts the holy segments of our community rather than snapping selfies with the highest ranking government officials.”

To summarize the Arab/Muslim “Take on Hate” actions:

• helped put a temporary halt to the “terrorist entry memorandum” that would have stopped unvettable terrorists from entering the U.S.
• advocated (incited?) Muslims to wage not just litigation jihad but also to take “pushback” (qital?), and
• told the Muslim audience not to “emulate Whiteness”

That’s how Muslims take on hate? Worse, ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services) has received nearly $4 million in taxpayer dollars in 2017.

At least $30M since 2008. The funds consisted of “Refugee and Entrant Assistance_Discretionary Grants”. In other words, Muslims are getting millions of dollars in taxpayer money to bring in more Muslims.

They have as a ‘project’ their national network, they gave $6,000 to a building fund to an Islamic center of Boston (page 43 here – pdf). Taxation for Islamization.

The watchman on the wall sounding the ALARM

Paris: Knife-wielding Muslim tackled by police at Eurostar terminal

() Muslims do not assimilate, they infiltrate )

April 23, 2017 9:51 am By Robert Spencer 2 Comments

Another would-be jihad murderer wins more votes for Le Pen. Enough to pull France off national suicide watch? We shall see.

“Passengers flee in panic as knife-wielding man is tackled by police at Paris’ Gare du Nord Eurostar terminal just days after terror attack rocked France,” by Paddy Dinham, Dave Burke and Nick Fagge, Mailonline, April 22, 2017:

Panicked passengers fled in terror as a knifeman was arrested at Paris’ Gare du Nord station just a day before the French presidential vote.

The drama happened on a day of unrest in the French capital, during which police released tear gas after being pelted with flares and other makeshift weapons in a pre-election riot.

Footage of the station arrest shows armed police surround the man, who was restrained on the ground.

Panicked passengers abandoned their luggage as they fled, and boarding of Eurostar services was briefly suspended this afternoon. Police sources say the arrested man is a 20-year-old from Mali.

Tensions are high across France following Thursday night’s ISIS-inspired assassination of police officer Xavier Jugele by fanatic Karim Cheurfi at the Champs Elysee.

Today masked protesters hurled bottles and stones at legions of officers who flooded central Paris following the killing. A 200-strong mob hijacked a peaceful rally organised by left-wing unions and communists.

Voters will go to the polls tomorrow in the first round of the country’s presidential election.

Describing the incident at Gare de Nord, a French police official said that a man carrying a knife walked into the station and was flagged to officers, who arrested him immediately before anyone could be harmed.

French TV network BFMTV reports that the man did not resist arrest, and a police source said he claimed he was carrying the knife because he was afraid for his life. He was not previously known to police.

Another police source added that the arrest caused a ‘panic movement’ with a number of travellers abandoning their luggage in the middle of the station.

One police source said that some people saw the man, a 20-year-old Malian, ‘inside the station, knife in hand’ and pointed him out to police, who detained him….

To read all articles http://pamelageller.com/

Saturday Night Cinema: Brief Encounter

Another Michigan doctor and his wife charged with performing female genital mutilations on minors as young as six

The Front Page Cover

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 Top Headlines 

Study: Trump has eliminated $86B in regulations. (The Hill)

 

Trump demands border wall funds as part of spending bill. (The Washington Times)

 

Deported Dreamer lawyers vague on details. (Washington Examiner)

 

ISIS-claimed attack in Paris mars final days of campaigning ahead of Sunday's election. (CNS News)

 

CIA, FBI launch manhunt for leaker who gave top-secret documents to WikiLeaks. (CBS News)

 

While Bill O'Reilly was crashing and burning, the stock of O'Reilly Automotive was soaring. (Washington Examiner)

 

Nobody works in one in five U.S. families. (The Washington Free Beacon)

 

EPA begins Trump's process of cutting down size of government workforce. (Washington Examiner)

 

The insane punishment a school gave a teen over a water gun. (The Daily Signal)

 

Berkeley reverses decision to cancel speech by conservative pundit Ann Coulter. (The Washington Post)

 

Policy: Ignorance of U.S. tax policy fuels leftward sentiments. (The Daily Signal)

 

Policy: Earth Day and the divestment campaign against humanity. (American Enterprise Institute) ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/digests/48674

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liar-nObama’s Rules of Engagement

Killed 17 Navy Seals

by ipatriot.com

{ipatriot.com} ~ The catastrophe at the compound in Benghazi, Libya has been well documented – books, movies, etc. Needless to say, there aren’t too many Americans who aren’t familiar with attack that killed four Americans, and the subsequent cover-up... To this day, no one has been held to account. Not liar-nObama, liar-Hillary, Susan Rice, etc. Yet recently we were reminded of another entirely preventable event which took the lives of 38 fighters, 30 of which were American and 17 were U.S. Navy SEALs. The 17 included one officer and 9 senior enlisted – 7 Chiefs, 1 Senior and 1 Master Chief Petty Officer. Trust me when I say these gentlemen have been missed – not only to their loved ones, but operationally as well. Sara Carter at Circa.com recounts the attack on Extortion 17, the August, 2011 downing of a Chinook helicopter gunship, and the greatest single day loss of Special Operations lives in American history. Mark Levin also highlighted this on his radio show the other evening...  http://ipatriot.com/eye-witness-2011-afghan-massacre-killed-17-navy-seals-obamas-rules-engaged-killed-american-heroes/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CehIP--MV8c

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liar-nObama entangled in brand-new

'political espionage' scandal

by Bob Unruh

{wnd.com} ~ While the claims of collusion between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia seem to have dropped abruptly off the media radar, there is a new report of collaboration between a U.S. political campaign and foreign powers... But the campaign was that of liar-Hillary Clinton, and the chief architect was Barack liar-nObama’s CIA director, John Brennan, the report says. “One side did collude with foreign powers to tip the election – liar-Hillary’s,” writes George Neumayr in the American Spectator. “Seeking to retain his position as CIA director under liar-Hillary, Brennan teamed up with British spies and Estonian spies to cripple Trump’s candidacy,” Newmayr wrote...  http://www.wnd.com/2017/04/obama-entangled-in-brand-new-political-espionage-scandal/

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NYPD Boss Alberto Randazzo Jailed For

28 Years In Elite Pedophile Ring Sting

by MIchael DePinto

{freedomoutpost.com} ~ The federal investigation into the elite pedophile ring is moving full steam ahead and heavy hitters have been employed to lead prosecutions... Randazzo was caught in February 2013, when a witness found disturbing text messages on Randazzo’s phone and uncovered emails from women sending Randazzo pictures of them molesting their children.  When the witness confronted him, Randazzo admitted his sexual interest in mothers having sex with their children. At sentencing the government presented evidence that at least five women complied with Randazzo’s solicitations and sexually abused children in order to satisfy his sexual desires...

http://freedomoutpost.com/nypd-boss-alberto-randazzo-jailed-for-28-years-in-elite-pedophile-ring-sting/

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaAKQu-FSlM

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Afghan official: Gunmen attacked

army base, 100 casualties

by foxnews.com

{foxnews.com} ~ An Afghan official says more than 100 army personnel have been killed or wounded after gunmen wearing army uniforms stormed a military compound in Balkh province... Daulat Waziri, spokesman for the Afghanistan Ministry of Defense, said Saturday that the attack a day earlier on a compound of the 209th Corps of the Afghan National Army killed or wounded dozens of soldiers and other personnel. He says there were 10 attackers. Two carried out suicide attacks and eight other attackers were killed in the battle, Waziri said...  http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/22/afghan-official-gunmen-attacked-army-base-100-casualties.html

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Left, Dems Attacking Free Speech

Is Only The Beginning

by Rick Wells

{rickwells.us} ~ Judge Jeanine Pirro offers her insights into the latest hand-wringing by the left over an illegal who was deported... First they view a clip of DHS Secretary Kelly defending the actions of his Customs and Border Protection agents in the case, which has now gone into the realm of the ridiculous in the nature of the claims made by the Mexican who is now where he belongs, in his country. Kelly says, “You would expect someone that was here under the DACA rules to be extra-specially cautious in terms of getting crosswise with our laws. He didn’t, so he’s gone.” Judge Jeanine explains that DACA is not an absolute protection, that if you violate those rules, you can be deported.” It’s kind of like the deal for violating the immigration laws, that have been nullified. Geraldo apparently was advocating for another chance – a DACA – as in what a nation of saps we’ve become. As a DACA illegal who is still breaking our laws, he should have kept more up to date with the policies of the CBP. They no longer do catch and release, they do catch and process for deportation, as Judge Jeanine points out. He’s clearly lying...  http://rickwells.us/judge-jeanine-left-dems-attacking-free-speech-is-only-the-beginning/

VIDEO:  http://video.insider.foxnews.com/v/5406137047001

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Does Steve Bannon Have Something to Offer?

by Peggy Noonan

 

{peggynoonan.com} ~ My late friend Bill Safire, the tough and joyous New York Times columnist, once gave me good advice. I was not then a newspaper columnist, but he’d apparently decided I would be. This is what he said: Never join a pile-on, always hit ’em when they’re up. Don’t criticize the person who’s already being attacked. What’s the fun in that, where’s the valor? Hit them when they’re flying high and it takes some guts.

So, in the matter of Steve Bannon:

I think we can agree he brings a certain amount of disorder. They say he’s rough and tough, and there’s no reason to doubt it. They say he leaks like a sieve and disparages his rivals, and this can be assumed to be correct: They all do that in this White House. He is accused of saying incendiary things and that is true. A week into the administration he told Michael Grynbaum of the Times the media should “keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while.” “I love a gunfight,” he reportedly said in the middle of his latest difficulties. When he tried to muscle members of the Freedom Caucus to vote for the liar-nObamaCare replacement bill, a congressman blandly replied, “You know, the last time someone ordered me to do something I was 18 years old, and it was my daddy, and I didn’t listen to him, either.” When I said a while back that some of the president’s aides are outlandish, and confuse strength with aggression, he was in mind.

But there’s something low, unseemly and ugly in the efforts to take him out so publicly and humiliatingly, to turn him into a human oil spot on the tarmac—this not only from his putative colleagues but now even the president. “I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late,” Mr. Trump purred to the New York Post’s Michael Goodwin.

So let’s take a look at something impressive Mr. Bannon has done. I’ve been meaning to write of it for a while. In 2014 he did a live Skype interview for a conference on poverty at the Vatican. BuzzFeed ran it during the campaign under the headline “This Is How Steve Bannon Sees the Entire World.”

It shows an interesting mind at work.

The West is currently facing a “crisis of capitalism,” he said. The world was able to recover after the world wars in part thanks to “an enlightened form of capitalism” that generated “tremendous wealth” broadly distributed among all classes. This capitalism was shaped by “the underlying spiritual and moral foundations . . . of Judeo-Christian belief.” Successful capitalists were often either “active participants in the Jewish faith” or “active participants in the Christian faith.” They operated on a kind of moral patrimony, part tradition, part religious teaching. But now the West has become more secular. Capitalism as a result has grown “unmoored” and is going “partly off track.”

He speaks of two “disturbing” strands. “One is state-sponsored capitalism,” as in China and Russia. We also, to a degree, see it in America. This is “a brutal form of capitalism” in which wealth and value are distributed to “a very small subset of people.” It is connected to crony capitalism. He criticizes the Republican Party as “really a collection of crony capitalists that feel they have a different set of rules of how they’re going to comport themselves.”

The other disturbing strand is “libertarian capitalism,” which “really looks to make people commodities, and to objectify people, and to use them almost.” He saw this strand up close when he was on Wall Street, at Goldman Sachs . There he saw “the securitization of everything” and an attitude in which “people are looked at as commodities.”

Capitalists, he said, now must ask: “What is the purpose of whatever I’m doing with this wealth? What is the purpose of what I’m doing with the ability that God has given us . . . to actually be a creator of jobs and a creator of wealth?”

With both these strands, he says, the middle class loses ground. This has contributed to the “global revolt” of populism and nationalism. That revolt was fueled, too, by the financial crisis of 2008. None of those responsible on Wall Street were called to account: “No bonuses and none of their equity was taken.” The taxes of the middle class were used to bail them out.

There’s more in the conversation, which lasted 50 minutes and included the problem of racist and anti-Semitic overtones in populist movements. But it’s a thoughtful, serious talk, and its themes would reverberate in the 2016 election.

You can see Mr. Bannon’s basic or developing political and economic philosophy as half-baked, fully baked, or likely to explode in the oven. And it is fair to note his views haven’t seemed to gel or produce very much in the first dozen weeks of the Trump era.

But what Mr. Bannon offered in the interview was a point of view that was publicly declared and could be debated.

What will take its place if he leaves the White House or recedes as a figure? What worldview will prevail, to the extent Mr. Trump does worldviews? Policy changes accompanying Mr. Bannon’s diminishment this week included the president’s speaking approvingly of the Export-Import Bank and NATO, declaring that China isn’t a currency manipulator after all, suggesting the dollar may be too strong, and hitting Syria and Afghanistan.

None of that sounds like Candidate Trump.

It is possible what we are seeing is simply the rise of a more moderate or conciliatory or establishment Trump White House. But it also looks like the rise of the Wall Street Mr. Bannon painted as tending to see people as commodities. Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, is said to be Mr. Bannon’s most effective internal foe. He is the new rising figure. There are many Wall Street folk—some from Messrs. Bannon and Cohn’s old stomping ground, Goldman Sachs—in influential administration posts. They don’t come across as the kind of people who exhaust themselves pondering the meaning of the historical moment or tracing societal stresses and potential responses.

Will all these changes, in policy and perhaps personnel, hurt Mr. Trump? Probably a little. But nothing dramatic right now, because his supporters knew they were making an unusual choice in making him president, and they will give him time.

But if the Trump White House is itself changing dramatically, we’ll look back on this week as the moment the change became apparent.

I end with Safire, who’s been gone eight years. I still miss him, and I thought of him this week when I received good news. He’d received the same news 39 years before. I think he’d be happy, clap me on the back, call me kid. And I’m telling you the first chance he got to take a deserved shot, he’d take it. And if instead I’d endured some personal or professional loss, he’d be first one on the phone.

He had style. Style is good.

Beautiful Easter and Passover to my readers, who wrote in this week and reminded me how beautiful they are. I know that’s corny, but sometimes life is corny.

http://www.peggynoonan.com/does-steve-bannon-have-something-to-offer/

The Front Page Cover

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 Patriots' Day 2017 

"Don't fire unless fired upon. But if they want a war let it begin here." —Captain John Parker, commander of the militiamen at Lexington, Massachusetts, on sighting British troops

          On this day in 1775, American militiamen at Lexington and Concord confronted 700 British Red Coats — firing the opening volley for American Liberty. The British governor had ordered his troops to seize weapons in Concord. It is no small irony that the first shots of the Revolution were fired in response to a gun confiscation order.

          Please join us in honoring their sacrifice, and that of generations of Patriots since, including those Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines who continue to shoulder the burden of Liberty. Read a full account of the battle in Mark Alexander's Patriots' Day column.

          Please also consider supporting our Patriots' Day Campaign. Your support fuels our vital mission to arm grassroots Patriots with the right perspective on the most important issues of the day. Our mission and operations are funded entirely by the voluntary financial support of Patriots like you!  ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/digests/48625

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China Still Playing a Double Game in Korea

by WILLIAM R. HAWKINS

{familysecuritymatters.org} ~ There is still time for a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis. Pyongyang has not yet conducted another nuclear test, as was feared might happen during the birthday celebration of Kim Il Sung last weekend... And the failed missile test that was conducted was not of an ICBM that could reach America. The development of a nuclear weapon that can strike the United States is an absolute red line that would justify pre-emptive military action by Washington. The best route to a peaceful settlement runs through the People's Republic of China (PRC). There were high hopes movement along that path had started in the wake of the summit between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on April 7. Yet, reports that Beijing was ready to act with determination to corral its client state were overly optimistic. Though much has been made of China halting imports of coal from North Korea since mid-February, overall trade between the two countries has actually increased in 2017. This is a disingenuous posture given China's ability to water down such resolutions and perhaps even conspire with Russia to veto resolutions; letting Beijing off the hook even if it took an anti-DRPK stand in terms of rhetoric... http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/china-still-playing-a-double-game-in-korea?f=must_reads

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Time for the US to stop Qatar’s

support for terror

by Jonathan Schanzer

{defenddemocracy.org} ~ Secretary of Defense James Mattis is on a Mideast tour to “continue efforts to strengthen regional security architectures.” While his meetings in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel are likely to attract most of the press coverage... his discussions in Qatar Saturday could be the most consequential. Since August 2014, US-backed coalition aircraft have flown tens of thousands of sorties to bomb ISIS. Almost all of them are commanded out of the sprawling, high-tech al-Udeid air base in Qatar. In other words, the base is crucial to our war efforts. But it comes with serious baggage. The Treasury Department’s top terrorism-finance official, Adam Szubin, stated last year that Qatar has demonstrated “a lack of political will . . . to effectively enforce their combating terrorist financing laws.”...  http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/schanzer-jonathan-time-for-the-us-to-stop-qatars-support-for-terror/

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Trump’s Syria strategy must target

Assad’s chief protector: Iran

by Emanuele Ottolenghi

{defenddemocracy.org} ~ The strikes ordered on April 6 by President Trump to respond to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons attack helped restore America’s credibility in the region after years of retreat... But if the president wants to really hurt Assad, he should push back against Iran, the strongman’s chief protector. Disrupting Iran’s airlifts to Syria by re-sanctioning its civil aviation sector would be a good place to start. Even after the Iran nuclear deal reached in 2015, the United States can still use non-nuclear sanctions to counter Iran’s regional ambitions and ongoing support for terrorism. In practice, however, this measure has been rarely used, especially with regards to Iran’s ongoing airlifts to the Assad regime and Hezbollah. Regrettably, the deal lifted U.S. aviation sanctions against Iran exactly at a time when the sector became vital to Tehran’s war efforts in Syria. Put simply: the deal has made it legal to sell aircraft to airlines that are accessories to Assad’s war crimes and keep Hezbollah armed to the teeth. The president should reverse this and bar any new aircraft from reaching Tehran until Iran stops fueling Syria’s civil war with its commercial airliners...  http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/emanuele-ottolenghi-trumps-syria-strategy-must-target-assads-chief-protector-iran/

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No More Kicking the Can

by Anthony Ruggiero

{usnews.com} ~ Visiting the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea on Monday, Vice President Mike Pence reiterated that the liar-nObama administration's policy of "strategic patience" towards Pyongyang had ended... Three days earlier, the Trump administration released its review of North Korea policy, one it says will be based on "maximum pressure and engagement." If implemented correctly, the new policy could mark a welcome shift in Washington's long-sputtering North Korea policy. The new policy is distinct from that of the past 12 years, as Presidents George W. Bush and Barack liar-nObama held back from applying significant pressure on the Kim regime. In 2007, Bush authorized the return of money to North Korea that had been held for two years in Banco Delta Asia, a bank in the Chinese tax haven of Macau that the U.S. had sanctioned in 2005 for providing financial services to Pyongyang. Those sanctions represented the apex of Washington's North Korea sanctions, and their rollback marked the beginning of those sanctions' decline...  https://www.usnews.com/opinion/debate-club/articles/2017-04-20/donald-trumps-new-north-korea-policy-sets-the-right-tone

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Haley, in rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council, is fighting hard to dissipate 'conventional wisdom'

by Kambiz Foroohar
{jewishworldreview.com} ~In her first session holding the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley tried to turn the spotlight from Israel to Iran, the latest target of the Trump administration's tough talk. It wasn't easy.

"If we are speaking honestly about conflict in the Middle East, we need to start with the chief culprit, Iran, and its partner militia, Hezbollah," Haley told the Security Council Thursday. "For decades they have conducted terrorist acts across the region."

For the past two weeks, Haley had encouraged nations attending the quarterly open meeting on "the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question" to tackle Tehran's role in Yemen and Syria and its support for Hezbollah, topics she sees as more central to the theme of Middle East peace.

Few nations appeared to go along with Haley's attempt to shift the discussion. In the early hours of the debate, Iran was seldom raised.

We need "to achieve justice based on the two-state solution in accordance with Security Council resolutions," said Egypt's Ambassador Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta, referring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The current situation has become a "regressive status quo," he added.

The envoy from Bolivia -- which has a rotating position on the Security Council -- said without naming the U.S. that unrest in the Middle East stemmed in part from policies of "regime change" and "preemptive war" by global powers. He, too, then turned to the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

Haley's effort comes in a week in which the Trump administration has aimed sharp criticism at Iran, after earlier warnings to Syria and North Korea. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson tore into the Islamic Republic's 2015 agreement with world powers that curbed its nuclear program, saying it only delayed the day when Iran will get a nuclear weapon and "completely ignored" the Islamic Republic's other actions.

Iran joined the U.S. and five other world powers in signing the 2015 deal, and Tillerson acknowledged in a message to Congress April 18 that Iran has delivered so far on its end of the deal. Nonetheless, he said, the U.S. will review whether to reimpose economic sanctions that were eased under the accord.

The Security Council has kept an often critical focus on Israel for years, and Arab nations -- including U.S. allies in the region -- resisted shifting that emphasis. Israel's settlement policies were roundly criticized at the Security Council.

The council has been receiving monthly reports highlighting the "Palestinian question" since 2000 and holding a debate on the topic each quarter since 2010. Plus, quarterly reports on Israel's expansion of housing settlements are now required under a resolution critical of the U.S. ally. Former President Barack liar-nObama allowed the council to pass that measure in the closing weeks of his administration by having the U.S. abstain rather than exercise its veto power.

Nickolay Mladenov of Bulgaria, the U.N.'s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, touched on conflicts and instability in Syria and Lebanon but focused primarily on the Israel-Palestine conflict in his report to the council. He urged that Israel's settlement construction, which is illegal under international law, be halted.

"The question of Palestine remains a potent symbol and rallying cry that is easily misappropriated and exploited by extremist groups," Mladenov said. "Ending the occupation and realizing a two-state solution will not solve all the region's problems, but as long as the conflict persists, it will continue to feed them."

While Haley, 45, echoed Tillerson in hinting at a tougher line on Iran regardless of whether the country is complying with the nuclear accord, questions about the broader U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic remain.

"The Trump administration needs a grand plan on how to curb Iran's influence, and right now I don't see a plan," said Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

U.S. decided to breach the nuclear accord, it would come in conflict with global powers, including European allies, China and Russia, that continue to support it. Iran's ballistic missile tests were a violation of Security Council resolutions, Haley told the Council, a view which isn't uniformly shared.

The 2015 Iran deal also angered traditional U.S. allies in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, which says it's battling Iranian proxies in a war in neighboring Yemen. Iranian troops and Hezbollah allies also have backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime Trump targeted with cruise missiles this month following a chemical attack.

The U.S. seeks "to portray Iran as a criminal enterprise, not just as another bad country but as a rogue state that is engaged in horrible crimes across the region," said Suzanne Maloney, a senior fellow at Brookings Institute in Washington. "We are moving from a position of accommodation to one of confrontation across multiple fronts."

Defense Secretary James Mattis, on a tour of the Middle East, said Wednesday in Riyadh that the U.S. will "reinforce Saudi Arabia's resistance to Iran's mischief and make you more effective with your military."

But even with Haley's leadership role this month, Tehran's alliance with Russia, which holds veto power in the Security Council, means any resolution condemning Iran's regional influence is unlikely to pass.

"Building a broad consensus is tough," Maloney said. 

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0417/haley_UN_Israel_Iran.php3

Any attempt to act against the Syrian government will make Islamic State and other terror groups in the country stronger, London-based consultancy IHS Markit said in a recent report, calling such situation an “inconvenient reality” for Washington.

Over the last 11 months, 43 percent of Islamic State (Is, formerly ISIS/ISIL) military actions carried out were against the Syrian government forces of President Bashar Assad, the open-source data gathered by IHS Markit’s Conflict Monitor revealed.

The US-backed “moderate opposition” accounted for 17 percent of IS fighting between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017, with the remaining 40 percent being the jihadists’ skirmishes with rivaling rebel groups.

“It is an inconvenient reality that any US action taken to weaken the Syrian government will inadvertently benefit the Islamic State and other jihadist groups,” Columb Strack, senior Middle East analyst at IHS Markit, said as cited by the company’s website.

Strack described the current state of events in Syria by comparing Assad’s forces “the anvil to the US-led Coalition’s hammer.”

“While US-backed forces surround Raqqa, the Islamic State is engaged in intense fighting with the Syrian government around Palmyra and in other parts of Homs and Deir al-Zour provinces,” he said.

According to the analyst, weakening the Syrian forces, which are already overstretched on a large front, may lead to the jihadists moving from the desert to populated areas in the west of the country, which endangers such cities as Damascus and Homs.

Strack believes that Deir ez-Zor is currently the main strategic goal for Islamic State, as capturing the largest city in eastern Syria would allow the group to gain “a new major population center from which to run the Caliphate” after losing Mosul and Raqqa.

IHS Markit is considered on the leading providers of information, analysis and solution, boasting over 50,000 customers in highest business and political circles

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wOAPxwYdug

Read More at https://www.infowars.com/us-actions-to-weaken-syrian-govt-will-empower-isis-uk-consultancy/

DOJ Revokes U.S. Citizenship of Confessed al-Qaeda Recruiter

Khaled Abu al-Dahab – al Qaeda recruiter and EIJ terrorist

Source: Justice Department Secures the Denaturalization of a Senior Jihadist Operative Who Was Convicted of Terrorism in Egypt | OPA | Department of Justice

On April 19, Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia entered an order that revoked the naturalized U.S. citizenship of a confessed al-Qaeda operative, restrained and enjoined him from claiming any rights, privileges, or advantages of U.S. citizenship and ordered him to immediately surrender and deliver his Certificate of Naturalization and any other indicia of U.S. citizenship to federal authorities, the Justice Department announced.

Khaled Abu al-Dahab, 57, an Egyptian-born naturalized U.S. citizen and former Silicon Valley car salesman is a confessed member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) terrorist organization. Al-Dahab admitted to attending a training camp near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, where he received military-style training and taught foreign fighters to fly hang gliders in preparation for terrorist attacks. Moreover, al-Dahab told the FBI that, during the period in which he was supposed to establish the good moral character to naturalize under the Immigration and Nationality Act, he operated a communications hub for EIJ operatives out of his Santa Clara, California apartment. He facilitated the transfer of fraudulent passports, documents, money and other items by, between and among EIJ members, and researched communications devices and helicopter piloting at the direction of EIJ leadership. Al-Dahab’s communication hub materially assisted in the perpetration of terrorist attacks in Egypt and Pakistan.

Additionally, al-Dahab admitted to recruiting Islamic Americans into the al-Qaeda terrorist organization during his 12-year residence in California. Al-Dahab told the investigators that Osama bin Laden was eager to recruit American citizens of Middle Eastern descent because their U.S. passports could be used to facilitate international travel by al Qaeda terrorists, and that bin Laden personally congratulated him for this work. Al-Dahab was naturalized as a U.S. citizen on Feb. 7, 1997. Upon departing the United States sometime in 1998, al-Dahab was arrested by Egyptian authorities. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for terrorism related offenses.

On April 8, 2015, the United States filed a civil action seeking the revocation of al-Dahab’s naturalized U.S. citizenship on the grounds that he illegally procured his citizenship on account of his false written statements and testimony during his naturalization proceedings regarding his current and past addresses; employment history; travel outside the United States; marital history; prior false testimony; prior claims of U.S. citizenship; commission of crimes for which he had not been arrested; and membership in or association with EIJ, as well as his affiliation with an organization that advocated terrorism. The United States also alleged al-Dahab should also be denaturalized because he procured his citizenship by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation due his concealment of these matters. The United States obtained the district court’s permission to serve the complaint on al-Dahab in Egypt via Facebook and electronic mail.

“The Department’s Office of Immigration Litigation – District Court Section will continue to pursue denaturalization proceedings against known or suspected terrorists who procured their citizenship by fraud,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Chad A. Readler of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The U.S. government is dedicated to strengthening the security of our nation and preventing the exploitation of our nation’s immigration system by those who would do harm to our country.”

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a naturalized U.S. citizen’s citizenship may be revoked, and his certificate of naturalization canceled, if the naturalization was illegally procured or procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.

More background in this 2001 article: Bin Laden’s Bay Area recruiter / Khalid Abu-al-Dahab signed up American Muslims to be terrorists.

Al-Dahab married three American women and fathered five children. One of the wives converted to Islam. Is she still in the U.S.? Are her children? Was al-Dahab released from Egyptian prison? Where is he?

And with the Department’s Office of Immigration Litigation – District Court Section now pursue denaturalization proceedings against the imam in New Jersey who lied about his Hamas ties?

The watchman on the wall sounding the ALARM

Anti-Semitic pro-Sharia advocate Linda Sarsour to give CUNY commencement speech

( Muslims do not assimilate, they infiltrate )

April 21, 2017 3:58 pm By Robert Spencer 41 Comments

On September 22, 2011, Sarsour tweeted: “shariah law is reasonable and once u read into the details it makes a lot of sense. People just know the basics.” Her position didn’t change over time. On May 12, 2015, she tweeted: “If you are still paying interest than Sharia Law hasn’t taken over America. #justsaying.” And on April 10, 2016, Sarsour tweeted about Sharia again: “Sharia Law is misunderstood & has been pushed as some evil Muslim agenda.”

Sarsour tweeted on March 8, 2011: “Brigitte Gabriel = Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She’s asking 4 an a$$ whippin’. I wish I could take their vaginas away – they don’t deserve to be women.” This call for physical violence against someone she hates received no notice among her sycophants on the Left.

Linda Sarsour is an energetic purveyor of the “Islamophobia” myth, and has hysterically claimed that “Muslim kids” are being “executed” in the United States. She was instrumental in prevailing upon de Blasio to end legal and necessary surveillance in Muslim communities in New York. She is also a frequent visitor to the Obama White House, and has claimed that the jihad underwear bomber was a CIA agent — part of what she claims is a U.S. war against Islam. She is a practiced exploiter of the ‘hate’ smear against foes of jihad terror and Islamic supremacism, and has never apologized for using the Islamic honor murder of Shaima Alawadi to spread lies about the prevalence of hate crimes against Muslims in America. She is also an enthusiastic supporter of the “Palestinian” jihad against Israel, and has even claimed that feminists cannot and must not support Israel.

So this vicious hatemonger gets plaudits and a platform at CUNY, while pro-freedom speakers are hounded, vilified, brutalized or canceled outright on today’s Leftist authoritarian university campuses.

“Anti-Israel Sharia advocate to give CUNY commencement speech,” by David Rosenberg, Arutz Sheva, April 21, 2017 (thanks to the Geller Report):

…Linda Sarsour, 37, who helped organize the Women’s March in Washington in January and was arrested protesting outside of Trump Hotel in New York, was tapped by the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy to address this year’s graduating class.

An aide to the school’s dean confirmed in a statement that Sarsour had been chosen to speak at the commencement, The Daily Caller reported.

“I am delighted to confirm that Linda Sarsour will indeed speak at our June 1 commencement at the Apollo Theater,” said Barbara Aaron, chief of staff to the school’s dean, Ayman El-Mohandes.

Aside from her history of far-left activism, Sarsour has drawn criticism in the past for her advocacy of Sharia law in the United States and her attacks on prominent anti-Sharia figures….

“Brigitte Gabriel = Ayaan Hirsi Ali,” Sarsour wrote. “She’s asking 4 an a$$ whippin’. I wish I could take their **** (female sexual organs, ed.) away – they don’t deserve to be women.”Sarsour is also an avowed anti-Zionist, having shared the stage with a terrorist murderer who killed two Jewish students in a supermarket bombing in Israel.

Sarsour praised convicted PFLP terrorist Rasmea Odeh when the two addressed a left-wing conference in Chicago on April 2nd, saying she was “honored and privileged to be here in this space, and honored to be on this stage with Rasmea.”

In 2015, Sarsour hailed Arab stone throwers targeting Israelis, calling them “The definition of courage”.

Thte watchman on the wall sounding the ALARM

Michigan: Another Muslim doctor and his wife arrested for conspiring to perform female genital mutilation

( Muslims do not assimilate, they infiltrate )

April 22, 2017 8:27 am By Robert Spencer 11 Comments

If now, during the Trump administration, American officials have suddenly decided to begin prosecuting those who mutilate girls’ genitals, there will be many more such arrests. Why? Because this repulsive practice is justified in Islamic texts.

“Circumcision is obligatory (for every male and female) (by cutting off the piece of skin on the glans of the penis of the male, but circumcision of the female is by cutting out the bazr ‘clitoris’ [this is called khufaadh ‘female circumcision’]).” — ‘Umdat al-Salik e4.3, translated by Mark Durie, The Third Choice, p. 64

Why is it obligatory? Because Muhammad is held to have said so: “Abu al- Malih ibn Usama’s father relates that the Prophet said: ‘Circumcision is a law for men and a preservation of honour for women.’” — Ahmad Ibn Hanbal 5:75

“Narrated Umm Atiyyah al-Ansariyyah: A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to her: ‘Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband.’” — Abu Dawud 41:5251

“Do not cut severely,” but not “Do not cut.”

That’s why it is so common around the world, and why it is certain to become increasingly common in the United States.

“Michigan doctor, wife arrested for allegedly conspiring to perform female genital mutilation,” by Brooke Singman, Fox News, April 21, 2017 (thanks to Robert):

A Michigan doctor and his wife were arrested and charged Friday morning for allegedly conspiring to perform female genital mutilation on minors, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Dr. Fakhruddin Attar and his wife, Farida Attar, were arrested just one week after officials arrested another Michigan-based doctor, Jumama Nagarwala, for performing FGM. Nagarwala is an emergency room doctor in Detroit.

The Attars allegedly arranged and assisted Nagarwala in performing FGM out of a medical clinic that Dr. Attar owns in Livonia, Mich. Attar’s wife works at the clinic as office manager. The three are believed to be the first people charged under a federal law that criminalizes female genital mutilation (FGM).

According to the criminal complaint, some of Attar’s victims, ranging from ages 6 to 8, are believed to have traveled interstate to have the procedure performed.

Female genital mutilation is prevalent in some majority Muslim countries and is sometimes called “cleansing” by its practitioners. It involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, often performed without anesthesia. It is designed to ensure females remain virgins until marriage.

According to a 2013 census by the Population Reference Bureau, approximately 500,000 women and girls in the United States have undergone the procedure or are at risk of the procedure….

The watchman on the wall sounding ,the ALARM

USA Boxing submits, will allow Muslim teen to box in sharia attire

Source: Minnesota Muslim teen wins fight to box wearing a hijab | Star Tribune

Amaiya Zafar no longer will have to choose between her religion or the boxing ring.

The 16-year-old from Oakdale, who is Muslim, recently won a battle that will allow her to wear a hijab and fully cover her arms and legs while boxing. That means she can put on her boxing gloves later this month to fight her first sanctioned match.

A new USA Boxing exemption means Zafar can adhere to her religious beliefs rather than to a mandate that she wear a sleeveless jersey and shorts that can’t go below the knees.

“This is a big step,” her coach, Nathaniel Haile, said Thursday. “She’s put a lot of labor into this. She earned the right to showcase her skills, and I’m happy for her. But it’s just the first step in letting her achieve her dreams.”

Zafar has her sights set on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. To get there, she’d have to persuade the international boxing organization — the AIBA — to allow her to box in her modest attire.

For now, her right to wear the scarf is only with USA Boxing.

Now Zafar will have the opportunity to fight in local matches and many tournaments throughout the country, Haile said.

Zafar is relieved she can finally compete. “I’m ready,” she said Thursday with the confidence of an athlete who has trained for three years.

Over the past couple of years, she thought she was close to jumping into competition. Last fall, she flew to Florida and weighed in for her fight. But before she got her gloves on, officials informed her that she couldn’t wear her hijab, leggings or long sleeves, and she left.

“You get so invested. My weight is in the right place. My head is in the game,” she said. To be turned away — “it’s exhausting,” she said.

But on April 29, the 5-foot-1, 116-pound teen expects to face off with a girl from Iowa in a Circle of Discipline at the Spring Fling Amateur Boxing match at the Richard R. Green Central Park School in Minneapolis.

Her mother, Sarah O’Keefe, is more excited than nervous, pointing to her daughter’s training and skills. “[Amaiya] has wanted this for so long,” O’Keefe said.

No matter the outcome of the fight, Zafar already has won fans, inspiring other girls to box, including two Muslim teens, her coach said.

Zafar’s fight to change the rules wasn’t just about her, Haile said. “She fought for other Muslim youths.”

In reality she’s only fighting to further empower Muslim men who subjugate their wives and daughters and where the real choice is between receiving a beating or not at home. Or sometimes in public (see University of Missouri Arabic asst violently drags teen girl out of school, slaps her for not wearing hijab).

After all, “The Qur’an Does Not Mandate Hijab” writes Ibrahim B. Syed, Ph. D. President Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc.

“… as long as the dresses are not revealing or too tight, cultural variations can add tremendous diversity in the fulfillment of this guideline.  Hijab, a terminology that is NOT to be found in the Qur’an or Hadith in the context of dress code.”  Ibrahim Syed refers to Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl’s studies of the Qur’an and Islamic law.  Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl is an accomplished Islamic jurist and scholar, and a Professor of Law at the UCLA’s School of Law.  He previously taught Islamic law at the University of Texas, Yale Law School and Princeton University.   A high-ranking Shaykh, Dr. Abou El Fadl also received formal training in Islamic jurisprudence in Egypt and Kuwait.  Ibrahim Syed writes “Abou El Fadl argues that in contemporary Muslim societies people tend to become authoritative by imposing a single viewpoint to the total exclusion of others. Shariah (Islamic law) is then invoked to quash debate by people who are themselves not adequately qualified to do so.”

Maybe O’Keefe and her daughter, and USA Boxing, should do more research:

The majority of American Muslim women do NOT wear hijabs.    Rasmieyh Abdelnabi, 27, grew up attending an Islamic school in Bridgeview, Ill., a tiny Arab enclave on Chicago’s southwest side. It’s a place where most Muslim women wear the hijab.  Abdelnabi explains why she stopped wearing the hijab.  She says that Islam teaches modesty — but wearing the hijab is taking it a step too far.  “I’ve done my research, and I don’t feel its foundation is from Islam,” she says. “I think it comes from Arab culture.”  Read more at NPR.org

The watchman on the wall sounding the ALARM

America’s ‘Known Wolf’ Jihadist Problem: Why Haven’t We Learned From Our Mistakes?

April 22, 2017/by Ben Weingarten

One of the more disturbing and dangerous trends in American national security is the proliferation of “known wolves” — jihadists who are able to commit terrorist attacks against our homeland in spite of the fact that they are on law enforcement’s radar.

This issue is becoming so commonplace that literally in the midst of drafting this piece, news broke of one such potential figure. Kori Ali Muhammad murdered three innocents in Fresno, California during a rampage in which he reportedly screamed “Allahu akbar.” In spite of authorities characterizing his attack as a hate crime rather than terrorism, Muhammad certainly appears to have been a “known wolf”, with local news sources reporting not only a criminal background but a history of “making terrorist threats.”

More chilling were the revelations detailed in a recent episode of 60 Minutes concerning the would-be terrorists known to the FBI who attempted to shoot up the 2015 “Draw Muhammad” cartoon event held in Garland, Texas. The show’s investigators found that an undercover FBI agent working with the pair of jihadists had urged one of them to “Tear up Texas,” and was in an automobile directly behind them in the moments leading up to their failed attack. Maddeningly, the agent apparently did not attempt to intervene and prevent the potential massacre.

But perhaps the most infamous known wolf of all is Anwar al-Awlaki. Awlaki was an American citizen who would become one of the leading jihadist clerics and al-Qaeda recruiters in the world before being assassinated via drone in Yemen in 2011.

Awlaki’s name has surfaced in connection with a FOIA lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch of great importance and relevance as a new administration grapples with how to defend America from the jihadists within.

Judicial Watch filed suit against the FBI in order to force the agency to produce records relating to its investigation of Awlaki, given his confirmed connection to several 9/11 hijackers.

Fox News recently released images captured by the FBI stemming from this investigation that show Awlaki being surveilled on the same day in February of 2002 as he spoke at a conference at the Pentagon on “Islam and Middle Eastern Politics and Culture.”

The fact that Awlaki — who was interviewed by the FBI at least four times in the weeks following the 9/11 attacks due to his known ties to three of the hijackers — was invited to speak at a Department of Defense luncheon intended to serve as a forum for Muslim outreach alone is unsettling.

But the story gets worse:

The FBI documents confirm the imam was under bureau surveillance as part of the “IT UBL/Al-Qaeda” investigation, but the information was not shared with the Defense Department’s Office of General Counsel, which sponsored the 2002 Pentagon lunch.

The high-level FBI surveillance – including specialized teams, as well as video and photos – also calls into question the bureau’s explanation regarding a decision eight months later, in October 2002, by FBI agent Wade Ammerman. While Awlaki was held by Customs officers at JFK airport because of an outstanding warrant for the cleric’s arrest from the Joint Terrorism Task Force in San Diego, Ammerman told Customs to release him. The FBI has maintained Ammerman’s actions were routine.

Meanwhile, the FBI has been reluctant to divulge details of the Awlaki investigation.

As the Fox News report notes:

The FBI first released blurry ‘Xerox’ copies in 2013 of the photos with poor resolution. Chris Farrell, director of Judicial Watch investigations, said they sued the bureau for more because Awlaki had confirmed contact with the 9/11 hijackers in San Diego and Virginia.

“The FBI continues to obstruct and delay the production of records concerning their investigation of the dead terrorist spiritual leader of the 9/11 hijackers –Anwar Awlaki,” Farrell said…

Farrell said the FBI released screen grabs but refused to release the surveillance videos. “Almost 16 years later [after 9/11 attacks], how are the interests of the American public served by the FBI’s legal gamesmanship and excessive redactions?” he said.

This is a valid question that Congress ought to take up in earnest.

The American people also deserve to know the answers to several other pertinent questions:

How is it that an individual could be investigated for terrorist links at the same time he was invited to speak to U.S. government defense officials in an outreach capacity?

Can the FBI report of any other analogous instances in which this has occurred?

What steps has the FBI taken to ensure that figures like Awlaki under FBI investigation are not actively consulting with U.S. government authorities, whether formally or informally?

In outreach efforts under the government’s countering violent extremism paradigm, is the FBI contacted to ensure that partners have been vetted for terrorist ties and are not the subject of current or past investigation, a la Awlaki?

Does the FBI believe it committed any additional errors in connection with its handling of its investigation of Awlaki? If so, what are they, and what measures has the FBI taken to ensure they will never be made in the future?

In formal remarks delivered by DHS Secretary John Kelly on April 18 on threats facing America, Sec. Kelly devoted substantial space to the issue of “Homegrown Terrorism,” which includes known wolves like Awlaki.

If we do not have an open and honest accounting of past failures on this count, we cannot hope to correct them in the future.

Given the great damage inflicted by the countering violent extremism project —- whereby the U.S. government outsourced its counterjihadist policies to the very Muslim Brotherhood-aligned groups responsible for purging the materials and figures best-equipped to orient our policies towards the Islamic supremacist threat (some groups of which may directly constitute the threat themselves) — time is of the essence if we are to change course and keep the homeland safe. (For more from the author of “America’s ‘Known Wolf’ Jihadist Problem: Why Haven’t We Learned From Our Mistakes?” please click HERE) https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2017/04/americas-known-wolf-jihadist-problem-why-havent-we-learned-from-our-mistakes

The watchman on the wall sounding the ALARM