RUTHFULLY YOURS

Whilst the American-led coalition continues its largely ineffectual air strikes in Iraq and Syria, Islamic State has spread its barbaric tentacles into Libya with alarming rapidity.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for:

1. Attacking Tripoli’s downtown luxury hotel in January – the Corinthian – which left 11 dead

2. The brutal mass beheading of 21 Egyptian Christian Copts

3. A multi-pronged suicide attack that killed at least 45 people in the town al Qubbah in Libya’s east.

4. Seizing the university in Sirte – deposed dictator Muammar Gadaffi’s hometown.

Egypt’s President – Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi – has called for intervention by the United Nations:

A man seen in multiple ISIS propaganda videos speaking with a British accent and beheading Western hostages had his identity revealed in the Washington Post this morning, and yet again the suspect is another case of what I have termed “known wolf” syndrome since he was already known to authorities before engaging in acts of terrorism.

The Washington Post reports:

The world knows him as “Jihadi John,” the masked man with a British accent who has beheaded several hostages held by the Islamic State and who taunts audiences in videos circulated widely online.

But his real name, according to friends and others familiar with his case, is Mohammed Emwazi, a Briton from a well-to-do family who grew up in West London and graduated from college with a degree in computer programming. He is believed to have traveled to Syria around 2012 and to have later joined the Islamic State, the group whose barbarity he has come to symbolize.

But the article goes on to reveal that Emwazi had been detained by authorities not once, but twice:

Embattled presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is taking some rhetorical sniper fire for her charitable foundation, which received large contributions from several nations while she was secretary of State.

The Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and others have hinted at impropriety on two levels…

1) A potential presidential candidate becomes beholden to certain foreign nations.
2) A Secretary of State whose private foundation grows in prestige from foreign donations, while those same nations lobby the State Department for special treatment on human rights.

Both questions merit vigorous exploration, but for two of the Clinton Foundation’s “donor nations” there’s a third, perhaps more troubling, specter: taxpayer money laundering.

Defying leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus who are boycotting Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on March 3, claiming that the invitation from Speaker of the House John Boehner bypassed and showed disrespect to their leader, President Obama, some black ministers, along with Star Parker, the founder and president of The Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE), a public policy think tank, plan to welcome Netanyahu to Congress.

Parker blasted the CBC on CURE‘s website, asserting: “While the Congressional Black Caucus claims it has ‘consistently been the voice for people of color,’ it seems this brazenly political move couldn’t be further from the voice of black Christians in America.”

FREEDOM of speech. What is it worth? Without it we can lose everything including our lives. Imagine what life would be like if radical Islam eliminates free speech. You will not be able to express your opinion.

According to Wikipeda the Pakistan Penal Code (295 and 298) prohibits blasphemy against any recognized religion. This includes defaming the Muslims’ prophet Muhammad. The penalty ranges from a fine to death.

Danish Palestinian poet, Vahya Hassan, said, “Muslims love to take advantage of free speech. As soon as there is someone saying something critical against Islam, they want to restrict it.”

The Charlie Hebdo magazine published a series of satirical cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. Most, if not all, Muslims consider a picture or cartoon of Muhammad forbidden. An Islamic response to the cartoons was a sentence (fatwa) issued on the lives of the cartoonists and the magazine. Years later, Islamic gunmen executed the fatwa killing twelve Hedbo cartoonists and its publisher.

Three young Muslim men who reside in Brooklyn (two native of Uzbekistan, one Kazakhstan) were arrested yesterday in connection with a plot to join the Islamic State (a.k.a. ISIL or ISIS) and carry out violent jihadist attacks either in ISIS-controlled territory overseas or in the United States. In the course of the investigation, as detailed in the complaint filed in federal court in Brooklyn, the FBI used a confidential informant, who pretended to be an ISIS sympathizer, in order to gather evidence. So, as night follows day, the cable news commentary is filled with talk of “entrapment.”

The gist is that the three men were ne’er-do-wells who may have aspired to jihadi combat and martyrdom but who lacked the skills and the means; the FBI, the story goes, managed to infiltrate a slick informant into their circle, and he skillfully steered them into a bunch of crazy talk about killing infidels – which he recorded, enabling the government to file charges and appear to be doing something meaningful about terrorism when, in fact, there was no serious threat. The entrapment commentary is frivolous. Those spouting it either do not know the federal law of entrapment or have not read the allegations in the complaint (which is here).

America has traditionally been a place of refuge for the downtrodden of the world. That was the message in Emma Lazarus’ famous poem, fastened to the base of the Statue of Liberty, and serves as the basis for our beliefs as Americans.

Of all of the countries on the face of the earth, the United States has come to be seen as the country that most embodies compassion. As the grandson of a woman who was slaughtered in Poland during the Holocaust I certainly understand the nearly instinctive urge most Americans have to provide a safe haven for people from around the world who are at risk.

However, we live in historically difficult and perilous times. Because the United States is a superpower, those who would attack us understand that they cannot mount a full frontal assault on our nation. Our enemies and their proxies, terrorist organizations, know that they must engage in asymmetrical warfare which is, in fact, how terrorism is defined.

The Manhattan Republican Party…..http://www.nycrepublican.org/

Legislators from every state want to meet New Yorkers. The new Chairwoman is Adele Malpass and in the short time she has taken over Senator Joni Ernst (Iowa), Rep. Lee Zeldin (NY), Rep. Ann Wagner (Missouri), Potential candidate Carly Fiorina, have spoken to members. Rep. Chris Bingham (NY) is one of the speakers now scheduled and there are many more on the horizon. The Manhattan Republican Party lets the members see and hear legislators who can and will change America. Stay tuned!!!

The Manhattan Republican Party is the official Republican organization in Manhattan formerly known as the New York Republican County Committee (NYRCC). The Manhattan GOP is a volunteer organization that is made up of dedicated individuals who share a common belief in limited government, public safety, and personal liberty, opportunity, and responsibility.

Take a stand against democratic policies in Manhattan and work with us to make a difference. We can bring some accountability and a balance of power back to the greatest city in the world! We need you to get involved to keep New York moving forward.

A friend and brave colleague awaits trial in an Azerbaijani prison, the charges against her so patently ridiculous they would be laughable if a courageous reporter did not face the prospect of an extended stint behind bars. Her real crime? Daring to shine a light on the business dealings of her country’s President and its First Family
Below is a letter from imprisoned Azeri journalist Khadija Ismayilova (left). Apparently written on February 6, it was smuggled from her Azerbaijan prison and published last week in the Washington Post. Ms. Ismayilova is a reporter and commentator for the Azerbaijani service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Frank Csongas, one of her former colleagues at RFERL (where I also worked for much of the last decade), e-mailed it to me in case I hadn’t seen it.

According to the Post, Ms. Ismayilova was a put in pre-trial detention for two months after being accused of inciting a colleague’s suicide. Additional charges have since been brought against her. It seems pretty clear that these charges are a punishment for her reports on the financial dealings of the Azeri President and his family. Without more ado, though, let’s read the letter:

Please forgive my long silence. I was put in solitary confinement after my last letter was passed through these prison bars and published. My cell was searched and all my notes, including lists of things I was requesting from home, were taken. I have not received these back. I guess there are many devoted readers of mine at the penitentiary. They are taking turns reading my notes. That is why it is taking them such a long time to return what they have taken from me.

Having read so many recent stories of schoolchildren around the world being radicalized by Islamic extremists, here is a collection of contrasting education-related activities and news articles I’ve collected over the past few weeks concerning the Jewish State.

I will begin in the Israeli school system itself. Whereas 100 countries marked Feb 11 as Safer Internet Day, Israel’s Ministry of Education, on Feb 8, launched Annual National Week for Online Safety Education in Israel. Throughout the entire state educational system, students engaged in classroom and online activities designed to increase awareness for Internet safety, reduce potential risks, and deal with any harmful online incidents.

100,000 Israeli kids attend a Sci-Tech school – that’s 10 percent of all Israeli high school students (including Muslims, Christians and Druze). The Sci-Tech network builds curricula based on the demand for professionals in various Israeli industries, and it currently has 18 industrial vocational schools. This Bloomberg report shows how Israeli-Arabs (especially women) continue to flourish educationally, at Technion Institute of Technology – one of Israel’s top class higher education establishments.