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DHS ordered me to scrub records of Muslims with terror ties By Philip Haney

Posted By on February 7th, 2016

Amid the chaos of the 2009 holiday travel season, jihadists planned to slaughter 290 innocent travelers on a Christmas Day flight from the Netherlands to Detroit, Michigan. Twenty-three-year old Nigerian Muslim Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab intended to detonate Northwest Airlines Flight 253, but the explosives in his underwear malfunctioned and brave passengers subdued him until he could be arrested. The graphic and traumatic defeat they planned for the United States failed, that time.

Following the attempted attack, President Obama threw the intelligence community under the bus for its failure to “connect the dots.” He said, “this was not a failure to collect intelligence, it was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had.”
Most Americans were unaware of the enormous damage to morale at the Department of Homeland Security, where I worked, his condemnation caused. His words infuriated many of us because we knew his administration had been engaged in a bureaucratic effort to destroy the raw material—the actual intelligence we had collected for years, and erase those dots. The dots constitute the intelligence needed to keep Americans safe, and the Obama administration was ordering they be wiped away.

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North Korea Fires Long-Range Missile Designed to Hit US

Posted By on February 7th, 2016

North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Sunday carrying what it has said is a satellite, South Korea’s defense ministry said, in defiance of United Nations sanctions barring it from using ballistic missile technology.
North Korea had notified U.N. agencies that it planned to launch a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite, triggering opposition from governments that see it as a long-range missile test. It initially gave a Feb. 8-25 time frame for the launch but changed that to Feb. 7-14 on Saturday.

The rocket was launched on a southward trajectory, as planned, passing over Japan’s southern Okinawa islands, Japan’s NHK reported, and appeared to have successfully separated its first stage booster, South Korea’s Yonhap reported.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the launch “absolutely unacceptable.”

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JOAN SWIRSKY: THAT VOICE!

Posted By on February 7th, 2016

I predict that nothing–not the trendiest public-relations firms or the most credentialed drama coaches–will stop the American public from voting against Ms. Hillary because of that voice!

So many issues, so little time, which is why I am studiously avoiding any issues about Hillary other than that voice!

I am definitely not going into the terminal dishonesty thing, you know, when she told the American public, and also the parents of the murdered victims in Benghazi, that the four patriots who lost their lives to a savage Islamic attack was because of an anti-Islam video; that Wall St. and specifically Goldman-Sachs is not donating to her campaign and that, according to Dick Morris, FEC reports say that Hillary has received $21.4 million from the financial and insurance industry—almost 15 percent of the total $157.8 million she raised, and she’s still trolling them for big money.”

How about that she won a smashing victory in Iowa (by six coin tosses that magically landed in her favor)? Dozens of websites have catalogued Hillary’s lies, starting decades ago with her debut on the political scene. Also here and here and don’t miss this one. Not going there.

I’m definitely not going into the incompetence thing, the colossal failure of her secretly-conducted socialized-medicine initiative as First Lady, her stunning lack of accomplishments in the U.S. Senate, or, most damning, the dangerous state of the entire world under her tenure as Secretary of State, which has resulted in a chaotic, devolving Europe, saturated in Islamic-terrorism; a catastrophic Middle East, also inundated with Islamic terrorism; and the mysterious loss of six-billion dollars! Uh uh, not going there.

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GOOD NEW FROM AMAZING ISRAEL: MICHAEL ORDMAN

Posted By on February 7th, 2016

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Breakthrough treatment for HIV. Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have destroyed the HIV virus using peptides containing multiple copies of the virus’ DNA. Combined with existing HIV medications the peptides activate the cell’s self-destruction mechanisms. After two weeks there was no sign of the virus. Human trials will commence in a few months. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4750903,00.html

Gold lights up blocked arteries. Researchers at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University are developing gold nano-rods to help identify and treat blocked arteries. The tiny gold particles are absorbed by macrophages (bacteria-viruses) in the blood to illuminate problem areas. Combining them with good cholesterol can then clear the blockages.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-study-uses-gold-particles-to-search-and-destroy-artery-blockages/

A high-definition image of your eye. Scientists at Israel’s Technion Institute have developed innovative imaging technology to capture fine, high-quality optical images of the retina of the eye (including blood vessels and neurons) non-invasively. It could transform eye research. http://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Health-and-Science/Health-Scan-Looking-sharply-into-the-eyes-443311

MDA’s “Life Guardians” go live. Magen David Adom has launched its new “Life Guardians” program. It relies on Israelis nationwide to respond to an emergency in their area until Emergency Medical Support units arrive. MDA states that anyone with first aid training can become a part of the program.
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/381179/mdas-nationwide-volunteer-life-guardians-program-goes-live.html

Predicting cancer & obesity using artificial light. Haifa University’s Nataliya Rybnikova has been granted NIS 500,000 ($126,000) to help her research into satellite images of artificial light at night and its link to high levels of cancer and obesity. Night shifts may endanger health, and LEDs can damage melatonin production.
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/science/.premium-1.700425
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkOpeKYzrHU

How well do you sleep? Israel’s EarlySense has “got into bed” with US-based iFit to develop the first “sleepable”- an Internet of Things connected sleep sensor that will be integrated with iFit mattresses and mattress covers. By monitoring sleep quality, users can improve sleep and overall wellness.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-sleepables-to-boost-performance-of-ifits-fitness-tech/
http://www.earlysense.com/news-and-events/news/jan-6-2016/

More donors and transplants. 2015 saw a 60% increase in organ donations agreed by Israeli families of the deceased. It led to a 28% increase in the number of Israeli organ transplants – to 433 in 2015. In addition, 668 corneas were donated and 42 burns patients received donated skin. There was a 5% increase (to 850,000) in registered donor cards http://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Health-and-Science/Highest-ever-rate-of-family-agreement-to-donate-organs-in-2015-443214

Free screening devices for Kenya. Israel’s MobileODT has donated 20 of its Enhanced Visual Assessment (EVA) cervical cancer screening devices to healthcare providers in Kenya. On World Cancer Day (4th Feb), nurses trained by the NGO Rotary International aim to screen over 700 Kenyan women using the devices.
http://www.israel21c.org/mobile-cancer-screening-device-could-save-womens-lives/

Overseas paramedics recognized. The Israeli Knesset has approved an amendment to a law on health professions. Professional paramedics, who were certified in a country where their job does not require an academic degree, can convert their qualifications in Israel without having to go back to school. http://www.jewishpress.com/news/new-knesset-law-recognizes-paramedical-degrees-obtained-abroad/2016/02/03/

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In the Safe Spaces on Campus, No Jews Allowed by Anthony Berteaux **** Must read!

Posted By on February 6th, 2016

“The ramifications of ignoring the normalization of anti-Semitism cannot be understated: The most recent FBI hate crime report found that 58.2 percent of hate crimes motivated by religious bias were targeted at Jews. Jews make up 2.2 percent of the American population, so the FBI’s statistics make it clear that Jews are the most disproportionately attacked religious group in America. It should be troubling to everyone that an SJP member at Temple University physically assaulted a pro-Israel Jewish student two years ago, calling him “kike” and “Zionist baby killer.” But it should be far more troubling that the SJP chapter at Temple (like all SJP chapters) promotes itself as a progressive organization, claiming solidarity with movements such as Black Lives Matter.”

College students have risen up to fight racism on campuses across the country. But it is often those very same students who subject Jewish students to anti-Semitism.

When Arielle Mokhtarzadeh and Ben Rosenberg arrived at University of California, Berkeley on November 6 to attend the annual Students of Color Conference, they had no way of knowing that they would be leaving as victims of anti-Semitism.

The University of California Student Association’s “oldest and largest conference,” the Students of Color Conference (SOCC) has maintained a reputation for 27 years as being a “safe space” where students of color, as well as white progressive allies, can address and discuss issues of structural and cultural inequality on college campuses. Students who attend are encouraged to be cognizant of their language while exploring topics that directly affect students from marginalized communities: the school-to-prison pipeline, sexual violence, decreased funding to ethnic and LGBT studies departments, racially insensitive speech, and perhaps most importantly, a “disquieting trend” of hate crimes on university campuses statewide.

It was this disquieting, yet growing, trend of hate speech and crimes directed towards Jewish students within the UC system that spurred Mokhtarzadeh and Rosenberg, both Jewish sophomores at UCLA, to attend the conference. Their freshman year was punctuated by incidents of anti-Semitism that were both personal and met with national controversy. They were shocked during their first quarter in school, when students entered the Bruin Cafe to see the phrase “Hitler did nothing wrong” etched into a table. Months later, Mokhtarzadeh’s friend, Rachel Beyda, was temporarily denied a student government leadership position based solely on her Jewish identity, an event that made news nationwide. Throughout the year, they saw the school’s pro-Palestinian group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), issue criticism of Israel that overstepped into anti-Semitic rhetoric and hate. The campus was supposed to be their new home, their new safe space—so why didn’t they feel that way?

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The U.S and Colombia Will Lead the Americas Forward in the 21st Century By Marco Rubio

Posted By on February 6th, 2016

Over the past 15 years, Plan Colombia and other U.S. assistance have helped transform Colombia from a country ravaged by drug cartels and terrorist insurgents to the more prosperous and secure society it is today. It has helped turn Colombians once terrorized by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) into a strong people that have weakened this narco-terrorist organization, and brought it to the negotiating table on its knees. It has helped turn a country with a corrupt and unreliable judiciary into a place with growing confidence that justice will be served for those who violate laws.

Although these realities today may seem like they were inevitable all along, we should never take them for granted nor should we allow these hard-fought gains to be eroded. We should also never forget the Colombian and American military and civilian lives that have been lost along the way.

However, it is too early to declare complete victory. President Juan Manuel Santos, who visited Washington this week, is currently engaged in peace talks with the FARC, a three-year process that is supposed to culminate in an agreement by March 23. At that point, the Colombian people have been promised the final say through a national referendum, which should clearly state all of the terms of the agreement so that Colombians know exactly what has been agreed to by both President Santos and the FARC.

Many Colombians doubt the FARC’s intentions to abide by the terms of any peace agreement, and I share many of their concerns because of the group’s history of criminality, duplicity, broken ceasefires, and terrorism that has rightly earned it a designation by the U.S. government as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

For example, even at this late stage in the negotiations, it’s unclear whether FARC guerrilla leaders will be allowed to participate in the political process while serving a prison sentence, if they will disarm and surrender their weapons, if they will cease all drug trafficking, and what kind of accountability there will be for human-rights violations. There has also been concerning talk about returning to Colombia FARC officials who are currently in U.S. prisons for their crimes and for the U.S. to stop seeking to bring to justice FARC members who have violated U.S. laws; given President Obama’s penchant for flawed prisoner-exchange deals, I have little confidence in his ability to do the right thing in this case either.

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Dartmouth Greek Houses to Be Fined for Displaying Dartmouth Indian Head By Katherine Timpf —

Posted By on February 6th, 2016

Dartmouth’s Greek Leadership Council (GLC) is going to start fining Greek houses for publicly displaying the Dartmouth Indian head because it’s cultural appropriation.

“This is [a rule] I would hope the entire community would want to be accountable for, especially because it helps foster inclusivity among houses and among people who are in these houses,” Gender Inclusive Greek Council (yes . . . that’s a thing) president Veri di Suervo told the Dartmouth.

The Dartmouth clarifies that, on the grounds of “free speech,” the students would still be allowed to display the symbol in their own rooms and/or wear shirts displaying it, as long as those shirts didn’t “encourage students to rush that house.”

The money collected from any fines would go, as the Dartmouth puts it, “to an organization or event agreed upon by the GBA and offended party or individual.”

The vote for the ban passed on Monday night. According to the Dartmouth, GLC had already had rules forbidding cultural appropriation, but apparently felt that an additional rule banning that specific symbol was necessary.

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The Liberal Fantasy of Cultural Appropriation Some academic leftists believe every culture has the exclusive right to its products. By Josh Gelernter

Posted By on February 6th, 2016

Among the many silly ideas of young leftists who want to appear good without the hassle of doing good, “cultural appropriation” stands alone. Since it’s spreading among American undergrads at a bubonic pace, it deserves a closer look.

According to Fordham law professor Susan Scafidi, cultural appropriation is “taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions or artifacts from someone else’s culture without permission. This can include unauthorized use of another culture’s dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols, etc.”

Right here on NRO, Katherine Timpf has chronicled a smattering of recent appropriation crises: Westerners eating sushi, studying yoga, wearing toe rings. Professor Scafidi explains that appropriation is worst when “the object of appropriation is particularly sensitive” and religious in nature. Like yoga, which began as religious meditation, or toe rings, which — according to the online magazine Everyday Feminism — began as matrimonial accoutrements in the Orient.

Something else that has been appropriated from its religious origins: diatonic music — that is, virtually all modern music. The major and minor scales began as “church modes,” developed in the early churches of Europe. Church modes evolved from the Temple music of Jerusalem — along with harmony, whose first historical appearance appears to have been the antiphonal hymns sung by the two choirs of Levites who stood and sang opposite each other in the Jewish Temple.

Young non-Christian, non-Jewish leftists must renounce music.

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Hillary’s E-mail Recklessness Compromised Our National Security By Andrew C. McCarthy

Posted By on February 6th, 2016

‘Secrecy” sounds so sinister. And when we’re talking about government, that is as it should be. In a self-governing society, transparency is our default setting. Secrecy is the government’s way of concealing corruption, incompetence, and profligacy. There must be a presumption against it.

A presumption, however, is not a prohibition. Presumptions are rebutted by necessity. Speaking about the necessity of good intelligence to military operations and homeland defense, General George Washington observed that “upon secrecy, success depends in most enterprises . . . and for want of it, they are generally defeated.” The necessity of secrecy and the catastrophe that can follow when secrecy is breached — these are core concerns of national security.

They are also what the Hillary Clinton e-mail saga is all about.

We could go on at length about Clinton’s arrogance in setting up a homebrew communications network, an outrageous violation of the transparency standards that were her responsibility as secretary of state to enforce. It was a familiar exercise in Clintonian self-dealing: Anticipating running for president in 2016, she realized she was enmeshed in the Clinton Foundation’s global scheme to sell influence for money, so she devised a way to avoid a paper trail. Accountability, after all, is for peons: the yoke of recordkeeping requirements, Freedom of Information Act productions, congressional inquiries, and the government’s disclosure duties in judicial proceedings was not for her Highness. Instead, it would be: No Records, No Problems — a convenient arrangement for a lifetime “public servant” of no discernible accomplishment whom disaster has a habit of stalking. The homebrew server was for Hillary’s State Department what an on-site drycleaner might have been for Bill’s White House.

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Political Correctness Is Dying, Even in France By Michel Gurfinkiel

Posted By on February 6th, 2016

French socialist Christiane Taubira — the minister of justice, also known as the “keeper of the Seals” — formally resigned last week over what she called “a major political disagreement” with French socialist President François Hollande on anti-terror policies.

At stake was a constitutional amendment known as the Protection of the Nation Constitutional Act (Loi constitutionnelle de Protection de la Nation) that would strip persons who join ISIS or other jihadist networks, or who commit “grave crimes against the life of the Nation,” of their French citizenship.

The measure is largely symbolic. Still, it is immensely popular: according to an OpinionWay/Le Figaro poll, it is supported by 85% of the French as a whole, 80% of the socialist voters, and even 64% of the hard-left voters.

But Taubira, who was supposed to endorse and defend it as the minister of justice, claimed that it unfairly differentiated between the ethnic French and other groups of French citizens. Indeed, a first version targeted only binationals and had to be corrected. Taubira resigned nevertheless. Hollande and the socialist prime minister Manuel Valls may have preferred she stay.

Taubira, 63, can be described in some ways as the French Barack Obama.