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This was written by the daughter whose father is a friend of my son. (See 1 below.)
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Some friendly terrorists headed to Europe. Maybe if they get to America they will be allowed to safely hide in sanctuary cities and/or states? After all they have rights just like Americans. (See 2 below.)
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Last night I caught an interview between Neil Cavuto, who was steamed, and a Republican member of The House from California, regarding why the Republican Party, Ryan, McConnell and AG Sessions have not begun various hearings and investigations of actual collusion by the Clinton's and actual evidence of laws having been broken by the likes of Lynch, Rice, Wasserman Schultz etc.
Cavuto excoriated the Republicans for allowing a one year investigation of alleged Trump collusion and nothing revealed and totally disregarding a repetition of unmasking, deprivation of civil rights by government agencies, peddling of weapons and a host of other law violations. He was particularly incensed by the failed efforts and inaction of AG Sessions. He derided Republicans for allowing themselves to be walked all over and failing to defend their own president who they have allowed to be hung out to dry because of his bombastic personality.
It is amazing how inept Congress is when it comes to simple oversight and even when they do investigate how incompetent, even the best are at accomplishing anything.( Hopes for Obamacare deal fade in the Senate.)
I am currently reading Meacham's biography of Andrew Jackson and what jumps out is how small his cabinet was. Today, Trump's Cabinet is 5 times larger and yet, less is accomplished by government and at an enormous cost. No wonder voters are fed up with government failure and the inability of Congress to accomplish anything meaningful except more regulations and higher spending.
Jackson was particularly concerned about government debt and today Congress simply passes budgets that assume our burgeoning debt can continue with no deleterious effect. (See 3 below.)
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Opinion
When Progressives Embrace Hate
By BARI WEISS
A mere half-year ago, before collusion and Comey, before Mika’s face and Muslim bans and the Mooch, there was a shining moment where millions of Americans flooded the streets in cities across the country to register their rage that an unapologetic misogynist had just been made leader of the free world.
Donald Trump’s election was a watershed moment. Even those like me, who had previously pulled levers for candidates of both parties, felt that Mr. Trump had not only violated all sense of common decency, but, alarmingly, that he seemed to have no idea that there even existed such an unspoken code of civility and dignity. Now was the time to build a broad coalition to resist the genital-grabber with the nuclear codes.
The Women’s March moved me. O.K., so Madonna and Ashley Judd said some nutty things. But every movement has its excesses, I reasoned. Mr. Trump had campaigned on attacking the weakest and most vulnerable in our society. Now was the time to put aside petty differences and secondary issues to oppose his presidency.
That’s certainly what the leaders of the Democratic Party, who applauded the march, told us. Senator Charles Schumer called the protest “part of the grand American tradition.” The House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, offered her congratulations to the march’s “courageous organizers” and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand gushed about them in Time, where they were among the top 100 most influential people of 2017. “The Women’s March was the most inspiring and transformational moment I’ve ever witnessed in politics,” she wrote. “And it happened because four extraordinary women — Tamika Mallory, Bob Bland, Carmen Perez and Linda Sarsour — had the courage to take on something big, important and urgent, and never gave up.”
The image of this fearsome foursome, echoed in more than a few flattering profiles, was as seductive as a Benetton ad. There was Tamika Mallory, a young black activist who was crowned the “Sojourner Truth of our time” by Jet magazine and “a leader of tomorrow” by Valerie Jarrett. Carmen Perez, a Mexican-American and a veteran political organizer, was named one of Fortune’s Top 50 World Leaders. Linda Sarsour, a hijab-wearing Palestinian-American and the former head of the Arab-American Association of New York, had been recognized as a “champion of change” by the Obama White House. And Bob Bland, the fashion designer behind the “Nasty Women” T-shirts, was the white mother who came up with the idea of the march in the first place.
What wasn’t to like?
A lot, as it turns out. The leaders of the Women’s March, arguably the most prominent feminists in the country, have some chilling ideas and associations. Far from erecting the big tent so many had hoped for, the movement they lead has embraced decidedly illiberal causes and cultivated a radical tenor that seems determined to alienate all but the most woke.
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Start with Ms. Sarsour, by far the most visible of the quartet of organizers. It turns out that this “homegirl in a hijab,” as one of many articles about her put it, has a history of disturbing views, as advertised by . . . Linda Sarsour.
There are comments on her Twitter feed of the anti-Zionist sort: “Nothing is creepier than Zionism,” she wrote in 2012. And, oddly, given her status as a major feminist organizer, there are more than a few that seem to make common cause with anti-feminists, like this from 2015: “You’ll know when you’re living under Shariah law if suddenly all your loans and credit cards become interest-free. Sound nice, doesn’t it?” She has dismissed the anti-Islamist feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali in the most crude and cruel terms, insisting she is “not a real woman” and confessing that she wishes she could take away Ms. Ali’s vagina — this about a woman who suffered genital mutilation as a girl in Somalia.
Ms. Sarsour and her defenders have dismissed all of this as a smear campaign coordinated by the far right and motivated by Islamophobia. Plus, they’ve argued, many of these tweets were written five years ago! Ancient history.
But just last month, Ms. Sarsour proved that her past is prologue. On July 16, the official Twitter feed of the Women’s March offered warm wishes to Assata Shakur. “Happy birthday to the revolutionary #AssataShakur!” read the tweet, which featured a “#SignOfResistance, in Assata’s honor” — a pink and purple Pop Art-style portrait of Ms. Shakur, better known as Joanne Chesimard, a convicted killer who is on the F.B.I.’s list of most wanted terrorists.
Like many others, CNN’s Jake Tapper noticed the outrageous tweet. “Shakur is a cop-killer fugitive in Cuba,” he tweeted, going on to mention Ms. Sarsour’s troubling past statements. “Any progressives out there condemning this?” he asked.
In the face of this sober criticism, Ms. Sarsour cried bully: “@jaketapper joins the ranks of the alt-right to target me online. Welcome to the party.”
There’s no doubt that Ms. Sarsour is a regular target of far-right groups, but her experience of that onslaught is what makes her smear all the more troubling. Indeed, the idea that Jake Tapper is a member of the alt-right is the kind of delirious, fact-free madness that fuels Donald Trump and his supporters. Troublingly, it is exactly the sentiment echoed by the Women’s March: “Our power — your power — scares the far right. They continue to try to divide us. Today’s attacks on #AssataShakur are the latest example.”
Since when did criticizing a domestic terrorist become a signal issue of the far right? Last I checked, that position was a matter of basic decency and patriotism.
What’s more distressing is that Ms. Sarsour is not the only leader of the women’s movement who harbors such alarming ideas. Largely overlooked have been the similarly outrageous statements of the march’s other organizers.
Ms. Mallory, in addition to applauding Assata Shakur as a feminist emblem, also admires Fidel Castro, who sheltered Ms. Shakur in Cuba. She put up a flurryof posts when Mr. Castro died last year. “R.I.P. Comandante! Your legacy lives on!” she wrote in one. She does not have similar respect for American police officers. “When you throw a brick in a pile of hogs, the one that hollers is the one you hit,” she posted on Nov. 20.
Ms. Perez also expressed her admiration for a Black Panther convicted of trying to kill six police officers: “Love learning from and sharing space with Baba Sekou Odinga.”
But the public figure both women regularly fawn over is Louis Farrakhan.
On May 11, Ms. Mallory posted a photo with her arm around Mr. Farrakhan, the 84-year-old Nation of Islam leader notorious for his anti-Semitic comments, onTwitter and Instagram. “Thank God this man is still alive and doing well,” she wrote. It is one of several videos and photos and quotes that Ms. Mallory has posted of Mr. Farrakhan.
Ms. Perez is also a big fan. In the fall, she posted a photo in which she holds hands with Mr. Farrakhan, writing, “There are many times when I sit with elders or inspirational individuals where I think, ‘I just wish I could package this and share this moment with others.’ ” She’s also promoted video of Mr. Farrakhan “dropping knowledge” and another in which he says he is “speaking truth to power.”
What is Mr. Farrakhan’s truth? Readers born after 1980 will probably have little idea, since he has largely remained out of the headlines since the Million Man March he organized in 1995. But his views, which this editorial page has called “twisted,” remain as appalling as ever.
“And don’t you forget, when it’s God who puts you in the ovens, it’s forever!” he warned Jews in a speech at a Nation of Islam gathering in Madison Square Garden in 1985. Five years later, he remained unreformed: “The Jews, a small handful, control the movement of this great nation, like a radar controls the movement of a great ship in the waters.” Or this metaphor, directed at Jews: “You have wrapped your tentacles around the U.S. government, and you are deceiving and sending this nation to hell.” He called Hitler “a very great man” on national television. Judaism, he insists, is a “gutter religion.”
In one of the several widely available YouTube videos he’s made about the Jews, he told black Americans that “the control of the Synagogue of Satan over our people must be exposed.” He adds: “These satanic ones have not only controlled hip-hop but they control, according to their own words, the very messages that are brought to the public.” He goes on to offer a truly remarkable analysis of the hip-hop industry in which “intelligent” rappers are rejected by the “satanic minds” who insist that they “want filth” and encourage “vulgarity” and “savagery.” This is the first 10 minutes of an hour.
Mr. Farrakhan is also an unapologetic racist. He insists that whites are a “race of devils” and that “white people deserve to die.”
Feminists will find little to cheer in his 1950s views of gender: “Your professional lives can’t satisfy your soul like a good, loving man.” Recently he told Jay-Z that he should make Beyoncé put on some clothes. He also opposes gay marriage.
If that wasn’t enough of a rap sheet, Mr. Farrakhan also loves Scientology and believes 9/11 was a false flag operation.
***
I can already hear the pushback. What’s a few impolitic tweets and photos compared to the horror show of this administration? Save your outrage for the transgender ban in the military, for the lies that spew forth daily from the press briefing room, for the cuts to Planned Parenthood, the shady business with Russia, and, and, and.
But the nightmare of the Trump administration is the proof text for why all of this matters. We just saw what happens to legitimate political parties when they fall prey to movements that are, at base, anti-American. That is true of the populist, racist alt-right that helped deliver Mr. Trump the White House and are now hollowing out the Republican Party. And it can be true of the progressive “resistance” — regardless of how chic, Instagrammable and celebrity-laden the movement may seem. Recall that only a few months ago, Keith Ellison, a man with a long history of defending and working with anti-Semites, was almost made leader of the Democratic National Committee.
Will progressives have more spine than conservatives in policing hate in their ranks? Or will they ignore it in their fury over the Trump administration?
I am sure that Linda Sarsour, and perhaps the other leaders of the Women’s March, will block me for writing this. Maybe I’ll be accused of siding with the alt-right or tarred as Islamophobic. But what I stand against is embracing terrorists, disdaining independent feminist voices, hating on democracies and celebrating dictatorships. If that puts me beyond the pale of the progressive feminist movement in America right now, so be it.
Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) is a staff editor in The New York Times opinion section.
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New Details on 173-Man Islamic State Terror Team Headed Towards Europe
(ISIS video screenshot)
A report released two weeks ago by Interpol publicized identifying information of 173 Islamic State operatives suspected to be headed towards -- or already in -- Europe. The report warns that it's easier for non-European operatives to slip into the continent than for European citizens of the terror group.
Today, a new report from Belgian media outlet HLN provides additional details on these ISIS operatives, and on one known Belgian operative in particular:
(translated)
Belgian Islamic State terrorist on his way to EuropeOn the list of 173 IS terrorists who would be on their way to Europe to commit suicide bombings there is also a Belgian. He is a 24-year-old with Moroccan roots who is called "Abu Omar Al-Belgiki." The Belgian with dual nationality remained until recently in Mosul, the Iraqi bulwark where IS has recently been expelled. He never appeared in public before.
Most on the list are Iraqis, but that does not make the threat any less dangerous. It is feared that IS is again trying to get terrorists through the refugee stream into Europe -- and people without any history on our continent have better chances of success entering than European IS operatives.His nickname appears to be a tribute to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Molenbeek commander of the Paris terror attack who used the same alias. Where the Belgian is currently is not known. But of the other Europeans for whom Interpol expressly warns in a document we have obtained, one could certainly escape the siege of Mosul and now try to get from Syria to the West through neighboring countries.
Particularly worrying is the high number of minors on the terrorist list. They are even easier to slip through the mesh of the grid, while they have sometimes been trained for suicide attacks for a few years. "In the Interpol document, there are certainly three names of teenagers who received such training and have already left the IS area," says a reliable source in Mosul. "They are currently in Turkey, if they have not already traveled further to Europe."Minors
That Abu Omar Al-Belgiki is using the same alias as the ISIS emir who coordinated the November 2015 suicide attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and injured 368 is an ominous sign. Abdelhamid Abaaoud had been a senior member of ISIS operating in eastern Syria, but he was able to travel with refugees through Greece to return to Europe and plan the Paris attacks.
Abaaoud had previously been featured in ISIS's Dabiq magazine:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++A profile of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks killed in a police raid on.wsj.com/1Nelkgs
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New York Congressman Demands Investigation Into Iranian Funding of US Universities Through Alavi Foundation
by Ben Cohen
A New York congressman is urging US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to investigate the funneling of millions of dollars by an Iranian regime-controlled foundation to Ivy League universities, including Harvard, Columbia and Princeton.
“Did this foundation attempt to subvert American academic institutions?” Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY), who represents the Staten Island borough, asked concerning the donations from the New York City-based Alavi Foundation, which critics say have funded anti-Israel and pro-Iran academics.
“We need to investigate this, and universities have to do a better job of vetting their donors,” Donovan said on Tuesday.
The Alavi Foundation has disbursed more than $50 million in grants since its foundation in 1973. It says that its goals are to promote Persian culture and interfaith dialogue and insists that it operates independently of the Iranian government.
But at the end of June, a Manhattan jury determined that the foundation was controlled by the Tehran regime following the culmination of a nine-year legal battle in which federal prosecutors successfully charged that Alavi’s management of its prestigious office building on New York’s Fifth Avenue violated US sanctions against Iran. As a result of the court’s decision, the $500 million property was seized by the American government, which now plans to sell it and distribute a large portion of the proceeds to victims of Iranian-sponsored terror outrages.
The Alavi Foundation’s publicly available figures for its donations to universities — which account for the period up to 2014 only — show that some of America’s most renowned universities were recipients of six-figure sums, with Harvard awarded over $600,000. The foundation has also given more than $500,000 to Catholic schools, including the Catholic University of America and Sacred Heart University. Meanwhile, conservative journalist Jordan Schachtel reported earlier this month on a sharp increase in 2016 in the number of universities partnering with the Alavi Foundation, including Bard College, the University of Virginia and Brandeis University.
Among the many documents produced at the trial over the foundation’s New York building was a 1991 letter written by one of its directors affirming that he would step down in accordance with a directive from Iran’s supreme leader.
“Under the worst and most sensitive of political conditions between America and Iran, we have succeeded in fully protecting and expanding the foundation’s interests, which in truth belongs to the people of Iran,” the director wrote. “We were also able to successfully carry out cultural and Islamic activities in the country of the Great Satan.”
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