Islamic extremists in Germany are using food, shelter and the religion of home as bait as they fish the wave of Syrian refugees entering Germany for new converts to radical Islam.
“They start by saying, ‘We will help you live your faith,’” Torsten Voss of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency told the Wall Street Journal. “The Islamist area comes later — that is, of course, their goal.”
German officials said that refugees who want to attend mosques in search of familiar surroundings are, increasingly, attending those frequented by Islamic extremists. German officials told the Journal that they already know of at least 100 instances in which Islamic extremists known to the authorities have tried to establish contact with refugees.
“I’m afraid that anti-Americanism, anti-Israel sentiment and anti-Semitism will be on the rise,” said Der Tagesspiegel editor in chief Malte Lehming. “We have very limited educational tools to change that. Syria is one of the most anti-Israel countries, influenced by Iran and helped by Hezbollah.”
More than one million Syrian refugees are expected to enter Germany in the next year. The radicalization of Muslim refugees has taken on a new urgency in Europe after disclosure that at least one of the terrorists participating in the Paris attacks entered Europe in the mass of Syrian refugees. (Read more from “Germany Just Confirmed Everyone’s Worst Fears About Syrian Refugees” HERE)
A group of Islamist militants aligned with the Taliban has been holding an American man hostage for more than a year, according to U.S. officials and others familiar with his case, which has not been reported previously.
The disclosure of another American hostage raises questions about how many Americans are being held abroad—and what the U.S. government is doing to recover them. The Obama administration has been working to streamline its hostage rescue efforts, which critics say have suffered from a lumbering bureaucracy that hasn’t kept family members fully informed about their loved ones. How effective those efforts have been is unclear.
The Daily Beast is not publishing the man’s name or many details about him at the request of his family and administration and law enforcement officials, who are concerned for his safety. The man is said to be held by the Haqqani network, a Taliban-aligned group that operates along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Previously, The Daily Beast had agreed not to write anything at all about the hostage. However, on Monday, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), a leading critic in Congress of the Obama administration’s hostage rescue and recovery policies, wrote a public letter to President Obama in which he noted that “there are still Americans in captivity in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.”
The only other American known to be held in that region is Caitlin Coleman, who was kidnapped along with her husband, Joshua Boyle, a Canadian citizen, while traveling in Afghanistan in 2012. Coleman had a child while in captivity, multiple U.S. officials have said. (Read more from “Secret U.S. Hostage Held by Taliban Allies” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-12-02 00:02:032016-04-11 10:55:33Secret U.S. Hostage Held by Taliban Allies
President Obama is sending an “expeditionary force” of U.S. military special operators to carry out raids against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, a move that expands on their decision to send about 50 special operators to Syria to coordinate air strikes.
“In full coordination with the Government of Iraq, we’re deploying a specialized expeditionary targeting force to assist Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces and put even more pressure on [ISIS],” Defense Secretary Ash Carter told the House Armed Services Committee in announcing the new deployment on Tuesday.
Although the term “expeditionary force” evokes large-scale mobilizations such as those seen in World War II or the Iraq War, Carter outlined a more limited deployment. But his announcement still provoked questions about the legal basis for the move, and caused one Democrat to warn of the specter of nuclear war with Russia.
In arguing for the additional force, Carter invoked the recent rescue of ISIS prisoners in Iraq and the raid in Syria that killed a top commander in charge of the terrorist group’s oil and gas operations. “Imagine . . . on a standing basis, being able when occasions arise . . . to conduct raids like that anywhere in the territory of Syria and Iraq. That is what we’re talking about.”
He couldn’t, however, claim the legal authority to make such a deployment under the terms of the 2001 legislation that authorized the use of military force (AUMF) in Afghanistan and Iraq — the only such congressional authorization on the books. “I can’t speak to [that],” Carter told Representative Bradley Byrne (R., Ala.). (Read more from “Democrat: Obama Could Cause Devastating Nuclear War with Russia” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-12-02 00:01:242016-04-11 10:55:34Democrat: Obama Could Cause Devastating Nuclear War with Russia
On the front lines of the battle against the Islamic State, suspicion of the United States runs deep. Iraqi fighters say they have all seen the videos purportedly showing U.S. helicopters airdropping weapons to the militants, and many claim they have friends and relatives who have witnessed similar instances of collusion.
Ordinary people also have seen the videos, heard the stories and reached the same conclusion — one that might seem absurd to Americans but is widely believed among Iraqis — that the United States is supporting the Islamic State for a variety of pernicious reasons that have to do with asserting U.S. control over Iraq, the wider Middle East and, perhaps, its oil.
“It is not in doubt,” said Mustafa Saadi, who says his friend saw U.S. helicopters delivering bottled water to Islamic State positions. He is a commander in one of the Shiite militias that last month helped push the militants out of the oil refinery near Baiji in northern Iraq alongside the Iraqi army.
The Islamic State is “almost finished,” he said. “They are weak. If only America would stop supporting them, we could defeat them in days.”
U.S. military officials say the charges are too far-fetched to merit a response. “It’s beyond ridiculous,” said Col. Steve Warren, the military’s Baghdad-based spokesman. “There’s clearly no one in the West who buys it, but unfortunately, this is something that a segment of the Iraqi population believes.” (Read more from “Iraqis Think the U.S. Is in Cahoots with the Islamic State, and It Is Hurting the War” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-12-02 00:00:442016-04-11 10:55:34Iraqis Think the U.S. Is in Cahoots with the Islamic State, and It Is Hurting the War
The U.S. State Department says it is “troubled” by Russia’s decision to ban two of liberal billionaire George Soros’ pro-democracy charities and label the organizations a threat to national security.
“Today’s designation of the Open Society Foundations and the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation as so-called ‘undesirable’ organizations will only further restrict the work of civil society in Russia for the benefit of the Russian people,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Monday. “This action is yet another example of the Russian Government’s growing crackdown on independent voices and a deliberate step to further isolate the Russian people from the world.”
A spokesperson from Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office said the activities of the fund are threats to state security and the Russian constitution, Radio Free Europe reports.
The Open Society Foundations said in a statement on its website that it was “dismayed” by the decision . . .
Prosecutors started investigating the charity fund in July after Russian senators flagged a list of 12 groups that required a closer look over their supposed anti-Russian activities, RT reports. (Read more from “State Department ‘Troubled’ by Moscow’s Move Against Soros Groups” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-12-01 23:59:432016-04-11 10:55:34State Department ‘Troubled’ by Moscow’s Move Against Soros Groups
An Ohio Walmart’s decision to bar a former active-duty Marine from collecting donations for a children’s charity inside the store has prompted outrage online.
John Harkness says he’s collected donations for Toys for Tots, a program from the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve that gives toys to underprivileged youth for Christmas, at that location for almost 15 years, CBS reports.
But this year, a new store manager is enforcing a long-standing company policy, in place since around 2000, that does not allow charities to solicit donations inside. “They made us stay outside,” Harkness said.
Several upset customers have now complained about the policy on Walmart’s official Facebook page. An image featuring a photo of Harkness standing outside along with the words “He can bleed and die, but he can’t stand inside” has circulated online. (Read more from “Here’s What Walmart Despicably Told a Marine When He Tried to Collect Toy Donations Inside Store” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2015-12-01 23:56:012016-04-11 10:55:34Here’s What Walmart Despicably Told a Marine When He Tried to Collect Toy Donations Inside Store
As expected, no sooner had blood been spilled at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado than accusations of “Christian terrorism” began to fly across the internet, despite the fact that: 1) no motive had been announced; 2) there was no hint of a connection between the murderer and any pro-life organization; and 3) pro-life leaders immediately denounced the killings as soon as the news was released.
In the words of Jason Benham, posting on Twitter, “True pro-lifers care about all life, including employees and clients of #PlannedParenthood. Praying for those in #ColoradoSpringsShooting.”
Or, as stated by Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, “While the investigation into the shooting at the Planned Parenthood center continues, regardless of what the motive is determined to be, we strongly condemn this violence. . . . Only through peaceful means –not violence— can we truly become a nation that once again values all human life, born and unborn.”
In contrast, Bette Midler was quick to point a finger, also using Twitter: “Thanks to overheated screeds spewing from the mouths of the GOP, and in Congress, innocent people have died in CO, including a policeman.” And, “We share the concerns of many Americans that extremists are creating a poisonous environment that feeds domestic terrorism in this country.”
Others began to ask me on Facebook when I was going to denounce “Christian terrorism,” just as I regularly denounce Islamic terrorism, with one man asking me about “apparent Christian terrorist Robert Lewis Dear.” (Dear was the shooter, who ultimately surrendered to police.)
A blogger on the Patheos website went as far as stating that, “Christian terrorism is a bigger threat to U.S. freedom than Islamic extremism.”
He concluded his article with these startling (and, plainly, ridiculous) words: “Today’s attack is an act of religious terrorism, there should be no other words to describe it. Just as many demand we label terrorism carried out in the name of Islam as Islamic terrorism, we must do the same to Christianity and realize the Christian religion is just as dangerous and prone to incite violence as its younger brother, Islam.”
How do we respond to irresponsible and irrational rhetoric like this?
The respected Newsweek journalist Kurt Eichenwald even tweeted, “The time has come to hold @daviddaleiden accountable for violence spawned by his lying ‘baby body parts’ video. Indict him 4 manslaughter.”
Like many other leaders, as soon as I heard the news about the horrific shooting, I tweeted out, “In light of today’s news about a shooter at a Planned Parenthood, we state again that this is NOT the way of Jesus or the way of pro-life.”
Then, as I began to see the mounting charges of “Christian terrorism” or “Christian extremism,” I tweeted, “In light of some crazy rhetoric here re: pro-lifers wanting to kill abortion doctors, if that was the case, 1,000’s would be killed by now.”
The fact is that the pro-life movement is an overwhelmingly peaceful movement, despite our profound and deep objection to abortion on demand and despite the deplorable practices of Planned Parenthood. As blogger Matt Walsh noted, “Interesting fact: Planned Parenthood kills 100 times more people in a day than alleged ‘anti abortion extremists’ have killed in 40 years.”
As for those “anti-abortion extremists,” their actions have been condemned by all major pro-life groups as well as by all major Christian leaders involved in the pro-life movement, since, by murdering another human being, they violate the very spirit of being “pro-life.”
More importantly, there is not a single word in the teaching of Jesus or the New Testament that supports murdering an abortion doctor (or worker), nor is there anything in ancient Christian tradition or example that would support this.
That’s why it was no surprise to learn that the alleged shooter in last week’s tragic attack was completely unknown to the pro-life movement and that, according to one report, after a divorce in 2000, “he appears to have posted apocalyptic rants online and sought sadomasochistic sex and pot-smoking companions.” This is hardly Christian!
That’s why Christian leaders in Belgium are scratching their heads upon hearing the report that, “A menacing letter from the group called ‘Christian state’ has been sent to the major Belgian mosque Attadamoune. It threatens all Muslims will be killed, and their businesses destroyed.”
They too have no idea who this alleged “Christian” group could be – if the letter is even genuinely from such a group – since there is no connection between Christian teaching, in any recognized denomination or tradition, and threats like this.
And in stark contrast with radical Islamic groups, pro-life leaders in the Church and government have called for the defunding of our ideological opponents at Planned Parenthood whereas radical Islamists call for the beheading of their ideological opponents.
So, I have a challenge for everyone who wants to brand the tragic Planned Parenthood shooting an act of Christian terrorism: Find one verse in the New Testament, in context, or one example from the early Church, or one statement from a recognized pro-life organization that supports these murderous acts.
Radical Muslims can find plenty of support for their violent actions in the Quran, the life of Muhammad, early Islamic history, later Islamic history, and from the lips and pens of respected contemporary leaders, which is why I refer to it as radical Islam.
Radical Christianity, in stark contrast, stands for the giving of life and the preservation of life, not the taking of life. And while the term “Islamic terrorism” is hardly an oxymoron, the term “Christian terrorism” is absolutely oxymoronic and fundamentally self-contradictory. (For more from the author of “The Planned Parenthood Shooting and Anti-Christian Hysteria” please click HERE)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has used a secretive authority to compel Internet and telecommunications firms to hand over customer data including an individual’s complete web browsing history and records of all online purchases, a court filing released Monday shows.
The documents are believed to be the first time the government has provided details of its so-called national security letters, which are used by the FBI to conduct electronic surveillance without the need for court approval.
The filing made public Monday was the result of an 11-year-old legal battle waged by Nicholas Merrill, founder of Calyx Internet Access, a hosted service provider, who refused to comply with a national security letter (NSL) he received in 2004.
Merrill told Reuters the release was significant “because the public deserves to know how the government is gathering information without warrants on Americans who are not even suspected of a crime.”
National security letters have been available as a law enforcement tool since the 1970s, but their frequency and breadth expanded dramatically under the USA Patriot Act, which was passed shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. They are almost always accompanied by an open-ended gag order barring companies from disclosing the contents of the demand for customer data. (Read more from “U.S. Government Reveals Breadth of Requests for Internet Records” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-12-01 23:54:422016-04-11 10:55:34U.S. Government Reveals Breadth of Requests for Internet Records
New Orleans Saints’ tight end Benjamin Watson used his Facebook account Tuesday to call attention to his views on the Black Lives Matter movement. A view that is critical of abortion, fathers who abandon their children and politicians who “enable generational dependency.”
Watson, the author of “Under Our Skin: Getting Real About Race – And Getting Free From The Fears and Frustrations That Divide Us,” is using social media to link people to a blog post where he discusses his thoughts on the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Some contention is with the very phrase itself. This is problematic, though, because ‘black lives matter’ in context is clearly comparative to them not mattering. It obviously does not exist in a vacuum thus a response of ‘all lives matter’ is disingenuous at best and outright insulting at worst,” Watson’s blog post from late August reads. “It SHOULD go without saying that ‘all lives matter,’ including black lives, unborn lives, elderly lives, affluent and poor lives, Christian and atheist lives. But, today, in light of our present societal struggles and racial tension the question is worth addressing. As Americans, do black lives matter to us?”
Later in the post, the outspoken Christian athlete focuses on some of the ways he feels Black lives don’t and do matter in this country. Here are some selected excerpts: . . .
“Black lives don’t matter when some politicians enable generational dependency, stifling individual responsibility while others completely deny the importance of programs that are needed to help the marginalized. A crutch is the vital friend of the injured, it’s ultimate purpose to one day be laid aside as it’s former dependent walks on their own. If it oversteps its purpose the user will no longer feel the need to walk. Erroneously, they may not even think they can ever do so. Consequently, a stagnant, hopeless life seems to matter less.” (Read more from “NFL Star: Black Lives Don’t Matter When Politicians Enable Generational Dependency” HERE)
More Americans had their backgrounds checked purchasing guns on Black Friday than any day in the on record, according to data released by the FBI this week.
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System processed 185,345 requests on Nov. 27, one of the largest retail sales days in the country.
“This was an approximate 5% increase over the 175,754 received on Black Friday 2014,” wrote Stephen Fischer, the FBI’s chief of multimedia productions. “The previous high for receipts were the 177,170 received on 12/21/2012.”
Previous spikes for background checks, conducted before a gun buyer can obtain a firearm, occurred after prominent mass shootings, like in December 2012 in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Other Black Friday shopping days in 2014, 2013 and 2012 occupied the FBI’s “top 10” list of the most background checks processed in a 24-hour period. (Read more from “Black Friday Breaks Record with 185K Gun Background Checks” HERE)
