RUTHFULLY YOURS

Now that North Korea is no longer interfering with the release of a Hollywood comedy, Pyongyang’s capers have dropped low in the news — eclipsed by Islamist shootings in Europe, ISIS beheadings and the immolation of a Jordanian pilot, Russian-sponsored carnage in Ukraine and the U.S. administration’s desperate quest for an Iran nuclear deal.

But North Korea has not gone away. The totalitarians of Pyongyang are busy testing more missiles, committing their regime-sustaining human rights atrocities, and issuing more threats to launch nuclear strikes on the U.S. — including, in case you missed it, the threat released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Feb. 4, under the headline “U.S. Imperialists Will Face Final Doom.” [1]

This threat was spelled out in a paragraph devoted to assorted specifics of North Korea’s arsenal, including, along with cyber warfare, North Korea’s claim to have miniaturized nuclear warheads, which would allow for delivery with ballistic missiles. The language is bit convoluted, but that is what they are talking about (boldface is mine):

One of the low points of the 2012 presidential campaign came from a spate of news stories about Mitt Romney’s alleged bullying of a college roommate. The Left would not allow the allegation to die, and Romney was finally forced to issue a public apology for what he rightly termed “high school pranks that may have hurt others,” as though this had any relevance or bearing on his fitness to serve as president of the United States.

At least in Romney’s case, they waited until there was actually a campaign.

It is now February of 2015. No one is officially a candidate for the highest office in the land, but Scott Walker has made no secret that he is seriously considering the run. He has been visiting early caucus and primary states, and has already leased office space in Iowa, preparatory to running in the Iowa caucus. Worse, from the point of view of his opponents, polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, as well as Drudge’s admittedly unscientific online poll, all show him doing quite well against the putative field of Republican hopefuls.

How does Egypt differ from Saudi Arabia and Qatar? Two ways: (1) It was not invited to join President Obama’s ballyhooed “coalition” of Arab Muslim states fighting against ISIS, and (2) it is actually fighting against ISIS.

Obama, of course, has aligned himself with the anti-American, anti-Western and anti-Semitic Muslim Brotherhood, which, like ISIS, wants to impose sharia globally. Thus the State Department continues to host and consult with the Brotherhood about the future of Egypt, even though the Brotherhood has been outlawed as a terrorist organization – the government it dominated having been ousted from power after millions of Egyptians took to the streets to demand its removal.

As I watched the knives opening the throats of innocent men to the afternoon air, I felt my heart sink. These men, these 21 Coptic Christians, are my brethren, fellow Egyptians, and just like me, are reviled by ISIS because of our faith.

My name is Dr. Mark Christian and I am a former Muslim who lives under threat of death for having converted to Christianity. I am the son and nephew of high-ranking members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and I am both sickened and enraged by the barbarism of Islam.

Because of my background, my family and my former position in the Egyptian military, I possess a unique understanding of the threat civilization faces from Islamic supremacists.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/frontpagemag-com/obama-deflecting-for-islam-on-the-glazov-gang/

This week’s Glazov Gang was joined by movie producer Aaron Shuster (“The Bank Job,”) Ann-Marie Murrell, the CEO of PolitiChicks.com and Ari David, host of The Ari David Show Podcast.

The guests discussed Obama: Deflecting for Islam, analyzing why a Radical-in-Chief covers for America’s deadly enemies every time.

The Gang also focused on Obama: Liar, Liar, Obama’s Prayer Breakfast Comeback Moment, Brian Williams’ Imagination and Punishment, and much, much more:

Ever since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 many of our leaders justified sending troops to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan by saying that we must fight them (the terrorists) “over there” or we would have to fight them “over here.”

Now that the president is asking Congress for resources to combat ISIS overseas to defend the United States against the rapidly escalating threat posed by that extremely violent terrorist organization it is vital that a serious effort be mounted to devise an all-encompassing strategy to achieve total victory.

Of course the United States must act and act effectively and decisively in bringing the battle to our enemies on their turf. Going on the offensive overseas is essential. That is the mission of our military.

After every terrorist attack, the news goes through the usual checklist of excuses. Muslims aren’t responsible. It had nothing to do with Islam. Asking Muslims to condemn or disassociate themselves from the attack is racist and you should be ashamed of yourself for even asking them to do it.

The Chapel Hill shootings reversed the spin. The media switched from warning us that we shouldn’t blame Muslims for Muslim terrorism, to blaming atheists for a parking dispute turned violent. Their evidence was Craig Hicks’ Facebook page quoting prominent atheists attacking, mainly, Christianity.

The Washington Post headlined its story, “Chapel Hill killings shine light on particular tensions between Islam and atheism”. A more accurate headline would be that they shine a light on tensions between atheists and the left. Though atheists aren’t necessarily on the left, the Western left used to view them in a friendly light due to its own hostility to Christianity and Judaism. But recently that began to change.

President Obama’s proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force against ISIS comes at a time when Iran and ISIS are fomenting disorder and destruction throughout the Middle East. Despite the enmity between these two species of jihadism, both pose serious threats to our interests and security and those of our allies in the region. The president’s stubborn refusal to strengthen his dubious negotiations with Iran by approving Congress’s more punishing sanctions, along with his pledge not to use force against the mullahs, is guaranteed to make Iran a nuclear power that will dominate the region. And nothing in the AUMF will achieve his alleged “core objective” to destroy ISIS. Quite the contrary–– it will squander an opportunity to concentrate and eliminate tens of thousands of jihadists.

Iran’s regional power and reach are increasing every day. The collapse of Yemen to Iranian-supported rebels proves prophetic an Iranian member of parliament last November. “Three Arab capitals (Beirut, Damascus, and Baghdad) have already fallen into Iran’s hands and belong to the Iranian Islamic Revolution,” he bragged, and implied Sana would be number 4. As for ISIS, it is setting up franchises in Libya, Afghanistan, Egypt and Algeria, contrary to Obama’s claim that it is “on the defensive” and “is going to lose.” More troublesome, so far some 20,000 foreigners from 90 different countries have journeyed to northern Iraq to fight for the new caliphate, creating the danger that ISIS-controlled territory will become what Taliban-controlled Afghanistan was in the decade before 9/11––a training camp for jihadists planning to attack the West, this time filled with recruits possessing passports from Western countries.

Dr. Singer practices general surgery in Phoenix and is an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute.

The rule raises health-care costs even as it means doctors see fewer patients while providing worse care.

The debate over ObamaCare has obscured another important example of government meddling in medicine. Starting this year, physicians like myself who treat Medicare patients must adopt electronic health records, known as EHRs, which are digital versions of a patient’s paper charts. If doctors do not comply, our reimbursement rates will be cut by 1%, rising to a maximum of 5% by the end of the decade.

I am an unwilling participant in this program. In my experience, EHRs harm patients more than they help.

The program was inspired by the record-keeping models used by integrated health systems, especially those of the nonprofit consortium Kaiser Permanente and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The federal government mandated in the 2009 stimulus bill that all medical providers that accept Medicare adopt the records by 2015. Bureaucrats and politicians argued that EHRs would facilitate “evidence-based medicine,” thereby improving the quality of care for patients.

The White House hosts its Summit on Countering Violent Extremism this week, and Islamic State seems not to understand it wasn’t invited. The event is supposed to showcase President Obama ’s leadership against a threat he refuses to identify by name, but the entire world has been watching Islamist jihadists advertise the specific threat across a brutal weekend.

In Iraq Islamic State paraded in cages through the city of Kirkuk 17 captured Kurdish fighters whom it presumably plans to burn alive as it recently did a caged Jordanian fighter pilot. Kirkuk is on the crossroads of Kurdish and Sunni Iraq, and ISIS didn’t hold any of the crucial oil hub when Mr. Obama unveiled his anti-ISIS strategy in September. The Kurds are on the front lines against Islamic State, but the Obama Administration has been wary of sending them significant arms lest it offend the government in Baghdad that can’t or won’t protect the Kurds.