Tuesday, February 17, 2015
From: Gary L. Bauer
A Bloody Weekend
While most of us were celebrating Valentine’s Day and honoring great figures of Western Civilization such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln for Presidents Day, the jihadists were honoring the bellicose traditions of radical Islam.
Saturday Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein opened fire on a cafe in Copenhagen, Denmark, killing a Danish filmmaker and wounding three police officers. The cafe was hosting a free speech event with Swedish artist Lars Vilks. Like the editors of Charlie Hebdo, Vilks has been targeted for death by radical Islamists for drawing cartoons of Muhammad.
After fleeing the scene, Hussein attacked a synagogue, which was hosting a bat mitzvah. One Jewish security guard was killed and two police officers were wounded. Hussein was killed in a shootout with police Sunday morning.
Later that day, the Tripoli Province of the Islamic State in Libya released a video showing the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians. The video, which focused on “international themes” and Christians, also contained an ominous warning.
One of the ISIS executioners, speaking in English, said, “We will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission.” Filmed on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, Time notes that it “ends with the Mediterranean waves dyed red from the blood of the murdered men.”
In response to this atrocity, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi ordered immediate airstrikes against ISIS targets in Libya. Egypt, once one of the more stable Arab nations, is now fighting a two-front war against ISIS — striking the militants to the west in Libya and fighting them for control of the Sinai Peninsula to the east.
Obama’s Leadership
A new CNN poll finds that 57% of Americans disapprove of Barack Obama’s handling of the ISIS threat. That’s not at all surprising.
Let’s start with the basics — this administration cannot even identify the enemy. From the president down, every official refuses to call these terrorists “radical Islamists.” The jihadists don’t have a problem calling themselves Islamists. They call themselves the Islamic State. And they know exactly what they are doing — they are killing “infidels,” Christians, Jews and insufficiently religious Muslims.
But Obama can’t admit that either. Remember Obama’s Vox interview? That’s where he said that the Paris attacks involved zealots who “randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris.” It wasn’t random. It was a Jewish deli.
When Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein finished attacking the Copenhagen cafe, he attacked a synagogue. Today’s Muslim warriors are doing what they have done for centuries — they are killing Christians and Jews because that is what they believe their faith commands them to do.
Even while condemning the beheadings in Libya, the Obama Administration could not bring itself to acknowledge that the victims were Christians. To acknowledge the faith of the victims would upend the left’s politically correct narrative that this conflict has nothing to do with religion or radical Islam.
As Reverend Franklin Graham commented, “Can you imagine the outcry if 21 Muslims had been beheaded by Christians?”
Speaking on Fox News yesterday, retired Army Lt. Colonel Ralph Peters said:
“The only religion this president is willing to come out and publicly defend is Islam. And I’m not suggesting he’s a Muslim, but he clearly romanticizes Islam and he treats it as though Islam is above all criticism. . . . We do not have an Islamophobia problem in the United States, we have an Islamophilia problem which places Islam above all criticism.
The Hard Life In America
Former NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” yesterday promoting his latest book. Before the book came up, Joe Scarborough asked, “How difficult was it [for you to be Muslim in America] then and how difficult is it today?” The short answer should be, it is a lot better to be a Muslim in America than it is to be Muslim in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, etc.
Christians are facing genocide in the Middle East. Jews are being targeted throughout Europe, usually by radical Muslims. Is the most burning question facing us, “How are Muslims doing in America?”
Muslim immigrants in America are here by choice. They came because they were often fleeing Muslim nations where they were facing death or persecution by other Muslims.
Amnesty Injunction
A federal judge yesterday issued a temporary injunction against Obama’s executive amnesty — just two days before the federal government was going to being processing millions of applications.
Judge Andrew S. Hanen ruled that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), acting under guidance from the White House, did not have “‘discretion by law’ to give 4.3 million removable aliens . . . ‘legal presence.'” Judge Hanen continued:
“In fact, the law mandates that these illegally-present individuals be removed. The DHS has adopted a new rule that substantially changes both the status and employability of millions. These changes go beyond mere enforcement or even non-enforcement of this nation’s immigration scheme.”
Just to be clear, the case is far from over. Judge Hanen’s decision is only the first step in the process — an injunction halting Obama’s amnesty while the case proceeds to trial. The Obama Administration is vowing to appeal the injunction.
Reacting to the judge’s ruling, House Speaker John Boehner said today:
“The president said 22 times he did not have the authority to take the very action on immigration he eventually did, so it is no surprise that at least one court has agreed. Hopefully, Senate Democrats who claim to oppose this executive overreach will now let the Senate begin debate on a bill to fund the Homeland Security Department.”
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