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Ruth King

HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Ohio Man Arrested Attempting to Join ISIS Affiliate in Afghanistan 19-year-old Naser Almadaoji was arrested at the Columbus airport trying to leave the country. By Patrick Poole

By on October 26th, 2018

https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/ohio-man-arrested-attempting-to-join-isis-affiliate-in-afghanistan/

Federal prosecutors say that 19-year-old Naser Almadaoji of Beavercreek, Ohio, was arrested on Wednesday attempting to fly to Kazakhstan via Washington, D.C., and Germany, where he intended to be smuggled into Afghanistan to join the ISIS affiliate there.

Almadaoji’s arrest at the John Glenn International Airport in Columbus, Ohio, was the culmination of an investigation that began in February of this year after he was questioned by immigration officials on his return from a trip to Egypt and Jordan.

He later began communicating online with someone he believed to be an ISIS operative, who was actually an FBI confidential source. He told the confidential source that he wanted to join up with ISIS in Afghanistan because he wanted “weapons experts training, planning, executing, hit and run, capturing high-value targets, ways to break into homes and avoid security guards.”

Almadaoji attended Beavercreek City Schools in southwest Ohio near Dayton until September 2015, at which point he withdrew from school.

According to U.S. Attorney for Southern Ohio Benjamin Glassman, Almadaoji came to the U.S. from Iraq about a decade ago. Glassman also said that at some point Almadaoji made a video of himself pledging allegiance to ISIS “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. CONTINUE AT SITE

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POLITICS Comments turned off

Arkansas Dem Under Fire After Profane and Intimidating Confrontation with Female Opponent By Debra Heine

By on October 26th, 2018

https://pjmedia.com/election/arkansas-dem-under-fire-after-profane-and-intimidating-confrontation-with-female-opponent/

A Republican candidate in Arkansas says her opponent for a state Senate seat, Democrat Greg Leding, physically intimidated her after a debate earlier this week, getting in her face, spewing profanities, and promising her she will be defeated.

At least one Republican Party employee has called the altercation at the Fayetteville forum an “assault,” the Arkansas Times reported, as Leding, the incumbent, put his hand on challenger Dawn Clemence before stomping off.

Leding immediately issued the following statement, according to 40/29 News:

My opponent called out to me from the stage. So she wouldn’t have to lean down to talk, I joined her on the stage. I apologize for patting her shoulder as we parted.

Leding tried again with a statement that was distributed by the Democratic Party:

After the forum, I left the stage. My opponent made some additional comments to me, so I hopped back up on stage, joining her at its edge. I’ve worked very hard to serve all the people who live in the district I represent—work that has consistently included legislation and advocacy for women, teachers, students, firefighters, working families, and more—and that work’s been misrepresented in this campaign. I was frustrated, but it’s not acceptable to act on that. I apologize to Mrs. Clemence.

In these closing weeks of the campaign, I’ll continue to hold public events, keep walking door to door, and keep working hard for all Arkansans.

Not impressed, Clemence responded with the following statement:

When you encroached on my personal space, pointed your finger in my face, and placed your hands on me, you demeaned the office you currently hold and the one in which you seek.

Clemence released a copy of her notes about the altercation that she wrote down when she got home. She said Leding stormed off the stage after the debate and then came back to confront her, pointing his finger and calling her “a f*cking liar.” She wrote that when she said he needed to defend his record, he jumped up on the stage and “blew up in my face.”

He used his body to move her backwards, she wrote. “Very threatening! CONTINUE AT SITE

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Insulting Islam Now Illegal in Europe By Jim Treacher

By on October 26th, 2018

https://pjmedia.com/trending/insulting-islam-now-illegal-in-europe/

On September 25, 2012, two weeks after the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, President Barack Obama stood before the United Nations General Assembly and said the following:

“The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.”

I didn’t like this at the time, because I saw it as a capitulation to Islamic terrorists. Less than a month after his own ambassador was murdered, the president of the United States told the whole world: “Hey, free speech is great and everything, but if you hurt the feelings of these guys, you deserve whatever you get.” He lied about the reasons for the Benghazi attack, blaming it on a stupid YouTube video that had nothing to do with it, and then he doubled down in the most shameless way imaginable. He betrayed American ideals because he couldn’t or wouldn’t admit he was wrong.

And it worked. A few weeks later Obama was reelected, which was the only thing he cared about.

But as it turned out, my concerns were unfounded. Obama didn’t strike a blow against liberty that day. He didn’t embolden tyrants and terrorists. Free speech is just fine, everybody!

Claire Corkery, The National (UAE):

An Austrian woman who was convicted for insulting the Prophet Mohammed did not have her right to freedom of speech violated, a European court has ruled.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that courts in Austria, where the woman was found guilty, had balanced the “right to freedom of expression with the right of others to have their religious feelings protected, and served the legitimate aim of preserving religious peace in Austria”.

The woman, who has been named only as ES, held seminars in 2009 for Austria’s far right Freedom Party in which she made defamatory remarks relating to the Prophet Mohammed’s marriage to Aisha, which is usually misrepresented as being to an underage girl.

In other words: In 2018 Europe, you can’t say that Mohammed was a pedophile or the law will come after you. Punishing you for insulting a man who’s been dead for 1,400 years isn’t a violation of your human rights, because you’ve offended a protected class. You’ve pissed off the wrong people, and now you’ll pay. CONTINUE AT SITE

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ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

The Eternal Return of a Malevolent Charade By Roger Kimball

By on October 26th, 2018

https://amgreatness.com/2018/10/26/the-eternal

The eternal return—Friedrich Nietzsche thought the idea was horrifying. Life as an endless merry-go-round in which the same things keep recurring, forever. That prospect, Nietzsche thought, was the hardest, weightiest, most depressing idea mankind could ever confront. It was part of Nietzsche’s blustering nihilism that he should first conjure the most unpleasant idea he could think of and then announce that true heroism lay in embracing it.

The rest of us may be less enthusiastic about the prospect of ceaseless repetition. After all, we’ve all had a foretaste of what it entails in the remarkable career of socialism. Like the fabled hydra, socialism is an evil that suffers decapitation after decapitation only to spring back to life, its blood—or, rather, the blood of its victims—somehow sprouting ever new heads of credulousness.

The Soviet Union was “really existing communism,” under whose aegis millions were impoverished, tortured, and murdered (but, according to the New York Times, the sex was great). Western intellectuals, gullible creatures that they are, adulated that steaming tyranny. Eventually morons like Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II brought to an end that horrible “experiment in living.”

Chairman Mao probably has the distinction of having murdered more people than any other single human being. His efforts to bring compulsory fraternity to China has yet to be definitively repealed; indeed, China seems to be slipping backwards towards a new embrace of centralized tyranny.

Where else have we seen socialism on the march? In Cuba, of course, an island paradise that the Castro brothers transformed into a murderous police state. Then there was Pol Pot’s Cambodia. Like the Earl of Strafford, Pol Pot’s motto was “Thorough.” Wearing eyeglasses was for him evidence of counter revolutionary sentiment since it signaled an interest in such despicable bourgeois pursuits as reading. The result were those mountains of skulls for which his reign was infamous. We all know about North Korea: possibly the worst place on earth under the Kims, though it must be said that Venezuela, once the richest country in South America, under Hugo Chavez and Nicolás Maduro is well on its way to socialist apotheosis, i.e., total collapse.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Chelsea Clinton is Saving the Planet With Shorter Showers, Private Jets Daniel Greenfield

By on October 26th, 2018

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/271751/chelsea-clinton-saving-planet-shorter-showers-daniel-greenfield

Don’t you care about the planet?

While you wallow lasciviously in your shower for a whole 5 minutes or 600 seconds, the noble heroes of the Left are sacrificing their shower time to save the planet.

Here’s a heartbreaking interview with Chelsea Clinton, possible presidential candidate in 2024.

Q. What changes have you made in the past five years in your family life to be environmentally conscious?

A. I’ve always recycled and used smart light bulbs and tried to take short showers. The things that seem small are the things that if we all did would make a profound impact.

And the really small things, like taking smaller private jets.

Chelsea Clinton opted to travel to a “clean energy” roundtable in this week in a private jet to campaign on behalf of her mother Hillary Clinton.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Matthew Vadum: Non-Functioning Bombs and Double Standards Endorsers of Antifa terror are suddenly outraged about non-exploding packages.

By on October 26th, 2018

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/271753/non-functioning-bombs-and-double-standards-matthew-vadum

Political terrorism is almost exclusively the province of the Left in America, so naturally, conservatives find the timing of the delivery of non-functioning, vaguely scary-looking replicas of letter bombs this week to opponents of President Trump suspicious to say the least.

Remember that the Democratic National Committee has officially endorsed the violent Black Lives Matter movement and that more than a few Democrats support the Antifa terrorist movement. Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 running-mate, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), whose son Woody is an Antifa terrorist, said recently that Democrats need to “fight in the streets” against Republicans.

Intended recipients of the packages include former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Trump critic and actor Robert DeNiro, and leftist billionaire George Soros, CBS News reports.

Some of those targeted are the worst purveyors of violent rhetoric targeting Republicans.

Hillary Clinton embraced violence against Republicans when she said Oct. 9, “You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about. That’s why I believe if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and/or the Senate that’s when civility can start again.”

So did Maxine Waters when she said June 23, “And if you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore anywhere”

Eric Holder said Oct. 10 that Democrats need to get physical with Republicans. “Michelle [Obama] always says ‘When they go low, we go high.’ No. No. When they go low, we kick them,” he said to a cheering crowd at a political rally.

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FOREIGN POLICY, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

How to Win a Cold War With Beijing Unlike with the Soviets, the key is controlling the seas—so bolster the Navy and work with allies. By Seth Cropsey

By on October 26th, 2018

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-win-a-cold-war-with-beijing-1540507833

Vice President Mike Pence announced a turning point in Washington’s relations with Beijing. In a speech Oct. 4 at the Hudson Institute, he acknowledged that four decades of attempts by the U.S. to make China a “stakeholder” in global norms and institutions had failed. The White House now promises to shift relations accordingly.

Mr. Pence didn’t offer specifics, but there’s no shortage of steps the administration could take to assert U.S. interests against China’s hegemonic goals. It should recommit to defending American allies in East Asia and improving U.S. forces’ ability to deter Chinese expansion.

Deterrent measures fall into two categories: actions the U.S. can take unilaterally, and steps that must be taken together with regional allies. East Asian countries increasingly are joining the U.S. in believing that a triumphant China will “treat us like dogs,” as one Asian diplomat remarked to me recently.

For starters, the U.S. Navy needs to expand its fleet. The Trump administration has committed to increasing the number of active ships to 355 from about 280 today. But this expansion must be carried out by 2030, rather than along the 30-year timeline the White House proposed. An accelerated naval buildup would give China proof of U.S. intent to resist its regional ambitions, speaking to President Xi Jinping in a language that needs no translation.

The U.S. could begin by commissioning an additional carrier strike group to be forward deployed in the Indo-Pacific region. The one U.S. aircraft carrier now based in Japan cannot cover the vast Indo-Pacific single-handed, nor can it provide the striking force the U.S. would need in a war. An additional carrier strike group would also allow the U.S. to increase patrols of the South China Sea, including the Taiwan Strait’s international waters. Involving U.S. allies in these patrols would advance like-minded nations’ interest in protecting freedom of navigation.

U.S. forces must also be prepared to respond in kind to Chinese provocation. China’s challenge of a U.S. destroyer near the Spratly Islands last month was an example of passive aggression. China recently has conducted cyberattacks against corporations, including defense contractors. The U.S. government also is a frequent target; China launched a cyberattack on the Naval War College as early as 2006. The White House published a new National Cyber Strategy last month, declaring that the U.S. will retaliate against all confirmed cyberattacks. This is sound deterrence. The administration will discourage China’s provocations by meting out commensurate punishments.

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Foreign Policy as Moral Preening Why we must take the world as it is, not as we dream it to be. Bruce Thornton

By on October 26th, 2018

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/271711/foreign-policy-moral-preening-bruce-thornton

The murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi regime insider and columnist, in Istanbul continues to dominate the news cycle as the president and Congress consider their response. Despite the dog-bites-man nature of the story–– autocrats and tyrants across the globe regularly eliminate political enemies without such intense outrage from the West–– our media and politicians have conducted an orgy of moral preening, thunderous denunciations, and various proposed punishments of Saudi heir to the throne Mohammed bin Salman.

Once again, the cheap idealism and hypocrisy of the self-righteous West illustrates the dangers that come from a foreign policy based on illusion rather than on the tragic reality of human nature and action.

Much of this outrage results from the fact that Khashoggi worked as a columnist for the Washington Post and possessed a green card. Ignoring the distinction between journalists who supposedly report facts, and an editorial page columnist who gives opinions, both progressive and conservative media have turned Khashoggi into a martyr of the Fourth Estate, an intrepid seeker of facts and watchdog of the public weal.

Only a few commentators have reported on the real nature of Khashoggi’s “analyses.” Khashoggi was an Islamist press agent for Osama bin Laden and the Muslim Brotherhood, the mother-ship of modern jihadism, and a critic of the Saudi regime not for its human rights offenses, but for bin Salman’s war against the Iranian supported jihadists in Yemen, his hostility to the Muslim Brotherhood, his break with Qatar for supporting Hamas and Hezbollah, and his desire for closer ties with the U.S. Khashoggi was a “dissident” alright, but one who opposed the reformist policies of the regime that align with the interests of the U.S., and who wooed gullible Westerners with sweet-talk of Islamists “reform.”

The media’s elevation of Khashoggi, of course, also serves their anti-Trump agenda, ever on the watch for anything that can be turned against the president. Having created the caricature of Trump as an “autocrat” in the making who has a soft spot for fellow autocrats, the media have elevated the killing of Khashoggi, and the ongoing investigation of its circumstances, into 24/7 flogging the president and parsing his every word for signs of indulgence of bin Salman’s actions, or asserting dark conspiracies about “hit lists” coming from the White House.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Europe’s Crisis of Survival by Giulio Meotti

By on October 26th, 2018

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13186/europe-crisis-survival

In facing this existential challenge, a downward spiral in which Europeans seem to be slowly dying out by failing to reproduce, it seems that Europe has also lost all confidence in its hard-won Enlightenment values, such as personal freedoms, reason and science replacing superstition, and the separation of church and state. These are critical if Europe truly wishes to survive.

In Western Germany, 42% of children under the age of six now come from a migrant background, according to Germany’s Federal Statistical Office, as reported by Die Welt.

“[I]f you look through history, where the Church slept, got diverted away from the Gospel, Islam took the advantage and came in. This is what we are seeing in Europe, that the Church is sleeping, and Islam is creeping in… Europe is being Islamized, and it will affect Africa.” — Catholic Bishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Cameroon.

“The possibility that Europe will become a museum or a cultural amusement park for the nouveau riche of globalization is not completely out of the question.” This thought of Europe as a vast cultural theme park was presented by the late historian Walter Laqueur, who, for his far-sighted prognosis about Europe’s crisis, has been called “the indispensable pessimist.” Laqueur was one of the first to understand that the current deadlock in which the continent finds itself goes far beyond economics. The point is that the days of European strength are over. Because of low birth rates, Europe is dramatically shrinking. If current trends continue, Laqueur said, a hundred years from now Europe’s population “will be only a fraction of what it is today, and in two hundred, some countries may have disappeared.”

Sadly, the “death of Europe” is drawing nearer, is becoming more visible and is more frequently discussed by popular writers.

“At a time when literature is increasingly marginalized in public life, Michel Houellebecq offers a striking reminder that novelists can provide insights about society that pundits and experts miss,” the New York Times wrote about arguably the most important French author. Houellebecq “speaks” through his best-selling novels, such as Submission, as well as his public lectures. The last conference that Houellebecq attended in Brussels — on the occasion of the Oswald Spengler Prize, commemorating the author of The Decline of the West — was dedicated to that topic. “To sum up,” Houellebecq said, “the Western world as a whole is committing suicide.”

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POLITICS Comments turned off

ELECTIONS ARE COMING: CONNECTICUT GOVERNOR RACE: NED LAMONT (D) VS. BOB STEFANOWSKI (R)

By on October 25th, 2018

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-connecticut-rescue-plan-1540509346
A Connecticut Rescue Plan The state’s economy has shrunk 9.3% since 2007. Time for a change?

For Connecticut taxpayers, the eight years of Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy may feel like Groundhog Day. High taxes have repressed economic growth, swelling budget deficits that Democrats have “solved” by raising taxes again and again. This year voters face a choice of whether they want to relive this misery for four more years or take a risk on a growth remedy.

Once upon a time Connecticut had no income tax and attracted high earners from all over the Northeast. From 1976 to 1991, Connecticut led the country in GDP growth. But its fairy tale economy began to end in 1991 with its enactment of a flat 4.5% income tax. That soon became a “progressive” tax, and rates have since climbed while taxpayers have fled.

After the financial crisis, former GOP Gov. Jodi Rell raised the top rate on individuals earning more than $500,000 to 6.5% from 5%. Mr. Malloy pushed the top rate to 6.7% in 2011 and 6.99% in 2015, notwithstanding his re-election promise not to raise taxes. He also imposed a 10% surtax on corporate income over $100 million. Connecticut’s 8.25% top corporate rate exceeds that of all of its neighbors.

The result has been a lost decade of growth. Connecticut’s GDP has shrunk an incredible 9.3% since 2007 and declined by 0.5% on average annually during Mr. Malloy’s governorship. Revenue growth for the government has been sluggish as businesses and high-earners have decamped to lower-tax states. Over the last five years $8.8 billion in income has left the state, mostly to Florida.

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