Europe's New Terrorist Normal

At the Wall Street Journal, "Islamist Attacks Are Becoming Routine on the Continent":

Islamist violence visited Denmark twice on the weekend, underscoring Europe’s new terrorist normal. Homegrown or immigrant Muslim terrorists targeting innocents and the Western way of life are becoming a feature of Continental life.

The alleged assailant didn’t choose his victims at random. First he fired dozens of rounds at a cafe in Copenhagen during a debate on free speech, killing one and wounding three. Police believe the same man attacked a synagogue hours later, killing a Jewish civilian guard and maiming two officers. Early Sunday police killed the man they believe committed both attacks. Witnesses heard him cry “Allahu Akbar” during the cafe assault.

Among those attending the debate at the Krudttoenden cafe was Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has received death threats and an al Qaeda bounty since the 2007 publication of a cartoon he drew that mocked Muhammad. A failed suicide bomber attacking downtown Stockholm in 2010 mentioned Mr. Vilks’s name in an email explaining his motives, and later that year the cartoonist’s home was the target of arson. He lives under police protection.

Denmark is also home to Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that set off days of Muslim rage world-wide in 2005 by publishing Muhammad cartoons. Five suspected terrorists were arrested in 2010 and four later convicted for plotting to murder Jyllands-Posten staffers, and an ax-wielding Somali tried but failed to murder one of the newspaper’s cartoonists at his home.

The 8,000-strong Danish Jewish community has also been besieged by anti-Semitism from the country’s Muslim quarters. In 2012 Israel’s Ambassador to Denmark warned visiting Israelis not to wear kippahs and other visible religious symbols.

Elite hostility to Israel amplifies street-level anti-Semitism. The Danish government has disbursed millions of kroner to anti-Israel activists and agitprop campaigns in recent years, according to NGO Monitor, an Israeli civil-society organization. Perhaps Danish officials will now spend less time henpecking Jerusalem about efforts to prevent terrorism and devote more energy to protecting their own citizens from the same forces.

They might look to France, where since the attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket, the government of Prime Minister Manuel Valls has ramped up counterterror powers...

France? Meh. At least Valls is trying. Hollande couldn't give a crap.

Carrier Air Wing 17 Flight Operations Aboard Aircraft Carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70)

A reminder that the U.S. is indeed doing something to degrade Islamic State. But of course current force levels and bombing schedules are not near enough to defeat the jihadists.

'Saturday Night Live' Turns 40

At LAT, "At 40, 'Saturday Night Live' is still in its prime."

Don't miss the photos, especially of the 1970s.

'SI: The Making of Swimsuit 2015' — On Travel Channel Sunday February 15

It's on tonight.

See Sports Illustrated, "Catch 'SI: The Making of Swimsuit 2015' on The Travel Channel TONIGHT!"

And at the Travel Channel, "About the Show":

Each of the 5 specials take viewers on location and behind the scenes where Sports Illustrated cameras capture candid moments of the world's most beautiful women amidst the world’s most beautiful landscapes.

It's on Cox Cable Channel 53 in Irvine. Check it out!

Here's Charlotte McKinney to Take Your Mind Off Global Jihad

Perhaps it's time for a Rule 5 break.

At Egotastic!, "Charlotte McKinney Never Before Seen Lingerie Photos, Oh, Yes."

BONUS: "Maitland Ward Chesty Goodness Wishes Egotastic! Readers a Happy Valentine’s."

Nothing 'Random' About Copenhagen Attacks

From Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary:

Many media accounts are referring to last night’s shootings in Copenhagen as a “copycat” episode in which the perpetrator sought to emulate the atrocities committed by Islamists last month in Paris. But whether or not the Copenhagen shooter was specifically motivated by the ones who committed the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices and the Hyper Cacher market, this crime must be understood as being one more example of the twin trends of Islamist violence and anti-Semitism that have spread across Europe. Even more importantly, it demonstrates the folly of the mindset of the Obama administration that continues to be resolute in its unwillingness to confront the sources of terrorism and the reality of its role in violent Jew-hatred.

The Copenhagen shootings provide important context for the interview of President Obama published last week in Vox. In it, he acknowledged that it was legitimate for people to be concerned about terrorism, but he spoke of it as a secondary concern that gained headlines merely because of the lurid nature of the crimes committed by those involved. Likening his job to that of a “big city mayor” who needs to keep crime rates low, he spoke of terrorism as merely one more problem on his plate and not the most serious one. Obama not only refuses to acknowledge that the spread of ISIS in the Middle East is fueled by a form of religious fundamentalism that has strong support in the Muslim world; he also quite deliberately refused to label what happened in Paris last month an act of anti-Semitism, a stand that was echoed by the press spokespersons for both the White House and the State Department last week.

I wrote last week that, contrary to Obama, there was nothing “random” about an attack on a kosher market in Paris: the assailants were clearly seeking out a place where they could kill Jews and succeeded in that respect. The same is true of the Copenhagen shooter’s decision to attack a synagogue after spraying bullets at a café where a cartoonist who had drawn images of the Prophet Muhammad was speaking. One person was killed at the café and a Jewish voluntary security guard at the synagogue (who was there protecting the celebrants at a bat mitzvah being held at the time).

The Copenhagen attacks are one more reminder that the debate about whether there is such a thing as Islamist terrorism or if attacks on Jews are “random” isn’t about semantics. The refusal to address the religious sources of terrorism—a point on which some Arab leaders have begun to be heard—inevitably renders American efforts to do something about the problem ineffective. Just as importantly, denying the connection between this form of Islam and anti-Semitism seems to be causing the administration to also refuse to acknowledge that Jews in Europe are being targeted because of their identity and not simply due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

If the U.S. were to begin to tell the truth about the Islamist roots of terror and the connection with anti-Semitism, that might be the start of a re-examination of mistaken policies that have, albeit unwittingly, led to the rise of ISIS as well as a determination to retreat from the Middle East...

More.

And see Tom Gross, at the Weekly Standard, "Nothing Random Here":

Yesterday evening’s Copenhagen synagogue shooting is yet another attack on Jews as Jews -- just as we have witnessed such attacks at the Toulouse Jewish primary school, the Brussels Jewish museum, the Paris kosher supermarket, the firebombing of the synagogue in the German city of Wuppertal, and at many other places in recent years, from the Jewish communal centres in Mumbai and Casablanca, to the ancient synagogues in Istanbul and Jerba.

Yet only last week President Obama and his spokespeople were suggesting that it was just some kind of “random” accident that Jews were being killed.

The Obama team has consistently demonstrated a willful lack of understanding about the nature of Islamism, about anti-Semitism, and about the intentions of the Islamic revolutionary government in Iran. They seem more interested in disparaging the prime minister of America’s ally Israel than in preventing the regime in Tehran going nuclear – a regime which has already de facto taken control of large swathes of Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon. Its terrorist actions outside the Middle East spread to, among other places, Thailand, Bulgaria (where Jewish tourists were blown up in 2012) and Argentina, where 85 people were murdered at the AMIA Jewish centre in Buenos Aires. Only last month an Iranian diplomat in Montevideo was expelled from Uruguay for planting a bomb designed to kill Jews. (This foiled attack was barely reported on outside the Uruguayan and Israeli media.)

As Middle East scholar Bassam Tawil wrote last week: “Does Obama really want his legacy to be, ‘The president who was an even bigger fool than Neville Chamberlain’?”

Part of the Obama team’s attitude, it seems to me, is derived from the misreporting of the New York Times, a paper whose claim to be “the paper of record,” they presumably take seriously.

At the present time, over a dozen hours after other media (such as The Guardian) reported prominently on the specifically anti-Semitic nature of yesterday’s attack in Copenhagen and on the fact there was a Bat Mitzvah going on in the synagogue while it was being attacked (with over 80 people including many children inside), the lengthy report on the New York Times website on the Copenhagen shootings doesn’t mention the word “anti-Semitism” once. Instead New York Times correspondent Steven Erlanger writes in his piece “anti-Muslim sentiment is rising in Europe.”

Nor does the New York Times mention the bat mitzvah. There are not so many Jews in Denmark and not many bat mitzvahs -- it seems the terrorist had done his research carefully. Yet the New York Times website home page says, at the time of writing, that the shooting was “near a synagogue”. It wasn’t near a synagogue. It was at a synagogue. The synagogue was the target. Which is why a Jew guarding the synagogue was shot dead. With the New York Times’ reporting one starts to understand how Obama and his spokespeople could say the kosher attack in Paris was “random” even though the perpetrator – interviewed live on French radio during the attack – proudly boasted that he had come all the way across Paris in order to kill Jews gathering before the sabbath.

(None of this is new, of course. Even during the Holocaust, the New York Times did all it could to avoid mentioning that those being deported to Auschwitz and other camps were being deported because they were Jews.)

One can only imagine how many children might have died had the gunman managed to enter the bat mitzvah celebration yesterday...

Boko Haram Jihadists Attack Chad for First Time (VIDEO)

Meanwhile, in Central Africa.

At Pamela's, "Jihad in Chad: Boko Haram attacks Chad, kills several, burns village."

Egypt's Abdel Fattah al-Sisi Calls for 'Urgent' Talks After Islamic State Beheads 17 Copts

Well, Jordan wasn't dithering after Islamic State torched Moaz al-Kasasbeh.

And now here comes Egypt with freakin' righteous indignation. The terror threat is hitting too close to home in Arab states across the Middle East.

At Al-Arabia, "Sisi calls for urgent security talks after ISIS beheading video."

Sisi bans Egyptians from going to #Libya. pic.twitter.com/vy0ZyNof8G

— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) February 15, 2015

#Sisi: I'm sending foreign minister to New York "#Libya situation is s threat to global security" pic.twitter.com/UsDfZn13JC

— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) February 15, 2015

Sisi: The time is not for "selectivity and double standards" when it comes with dealing with terrorism. pic.twitter.com/PnQubDY80L

— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) February 15, 2015

Netanyahu Urges Europe's Jews to Move to Israel

Watch, at Euronews.

PREVIOUSLY: "Copenhagen Attacks Reignite Debate About Safety of Jews in Europe."

Omar el-Hussein Released from Prison Just Two Weeks Ago — #CopenhagenAttacks

Shoot, forget the rehab.

Just go through the incarceration motions for a week or two, them blam! Back out on the streets!

At Telegraph UK, "Copenhagen suspect 'was released from prison two weeks ago'":

Copenhagen terror attack suspect named as 22-year-old Omar el-Hussein, who 'had violent past'.

Terror returned to Europe at the weekend when a suspected Islamist extremist gunned down two people in separate attacks on a Copenhagen café and a synagogue before being killed by police in a predawn shoot-out on Sunday.

The dead suspect, named on Sunday night as Omar el-Hussein, had reportedly been released from prison two weeks ago after serving a two-year sentence for grievous bodily harm.

In a rampage with parallels to the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris five weeks earlier, the 22-year-old Danish-born assailant fired around 40 shots at a free speech debate in an arts café on Saturday afternoon, killing a 55-year-old documentary filmmaker, Finn Norgaard.

After fleeing in a stolen car, the gunman went on to target a girl's bat mitzvah party at Copenhagen's main synagogue at one o'clock on Sunday morning, shooting dead Dan Uzan, 37, an economist at the Danish treasury, who was acting as a volunteer security guard.

The gunman was then later killed after a shoot-out with police at a train station in central Copenhagen. Up to four other people were being held by police on Sunday night following raids across the country.

As with the Charlie Hebdo attackers, the head of the Danish security and intelligence service, Jens Madsen, said on Sunday that the gunman had been identified as a potential threat.

"He was on the radar but he was not known to have travelled to conflict areas like Iraq or Syria," Mr Madsen said. "We cannot yet say anything concrete about the motive ... but we are considering that he might have been inspired by the events in Paris," he told a news conference.

Police traced the killer from CCTV footage from the arts café attack, which showed him abandoning his getaway car, a stolen Volkswagen Polo, and taking a taxi. They questioned the driver, and went to the address in the mainly immigrant area of Norrebro where he had dropped off the suspect.

The gunman had left again by the time police arrived at his home, near the railway station, and went on to attack the synagogue. When he returned around 5am, police tried to apprehend him but shot him dead after he opened fire on them.

In an indication that the gunman may have had accomplices, four people were arrested when a dozen armed police raided an internet café in central Copenhagen. Among the four were a Pakistani and an Arab, according to Danish media reports.

Witnesses at both attacks said further killings were only averted by the swift intervention of the police, who have been on high alert in the Danish capital since the Paris shootings...

Still more.

Copenhagen Attacks Reignite Debate About Safety of Jews in Europe

I don't see why Copenhagen should "reignite" the debate on the safety of the Jews in Europe. It's been barely a month since the Paris attacks.

I mean God, have we forgotten already? Is the West that cynical?

Safety of Jews? What safety?

At the Wall Street Journal, "Netanyahu Invites Jews to Seek Refuge in Israel; Others Call for Increased Effort to Fight Terrorists":

Denmark’s Jewish community was in shock Sunday after a gunman attacked a Copenhagen synagogue, in a weekend of violence that echoed the deadly events in Paris last month and rekindled a debate over the dangers of being a Jew in Europe.

Police said they shot and killed the gunman, who killed a guard and wounded two policemen at the synagogue a day after attacking a seminar on free speech that featured a Swedish cartoonist who has lampooned Islam. One man, a participant in the conference, was killed and three policemen were wounded in the first assault.

At the synagogue, the gunman killed 37-year-old Dan Uzan, who was guarding the door of a bat mitzvah ceremony in a parish hall. None of the reported 80 guests were injured.

A stream of Danes converged on the synagogue to pay their respects to the victims, laying flowers along a stone-and-iron fence.

“Jews have been murdered again on European soil only because they were Jews,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday after the Copenhagen attacks. I would like to tell all European Jews and all Jews wherever they are: ‘Israel is the home of every Jew.’”

Mr. Netanyahu, who had made a similar declaration after the Paris attacks, in which four Jews were killed at a kosher store, said his government would launch a $46 million plan to prepare for “mass immigration” from Europe to Israel.

Several Jewish leaders said the call by the Israeli Prime Minister was ill-timed. “Terror is not a reason to move to Israel,” Jair Melchior, Denmark’s chief rabbi, told the Associated Press, adding he was “disappointed” by Mr. Netanyahu’s comment.

Some said authorities need to do more to protect Jewish communities. European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor called on European authorities to form a pan-European task force with legal authority and financial resources dedicated to taking the battle to the radical Islamist enclaves, hunting terrorists down before they act.

“The threats against Jews and the inability of governments to defend them are forcing Jews out of Europe,” Mr. Kantor said. “Intelligence-gathering, surveillance and protection must be amassed and shared by all nations and terrorists need to be hunted down before they act. Now is the time for all EU member states to act swiftly and effectively.”

About 8,000 Jews live in Denmark, a nation of 5.7 million, according the European Jewish Congress...

More.

Islamic State Video Shows 17 Kurdish Fighters in Caged Procession 'to be burned alive...'

At London's Daily Mail, "Paraded in cages 'to be burned alive' like Jordanian pilot: ISIS releases video claiming to show 17 Kurdish fighters in humiliating procession through Iraqi city."

Video Purports to Show Copenhagen Jihad Suspect Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein Lying Dead in Street

Via Live Leak, "Footage of Copenhagen gunman lying dead in the streets."

PREVIOUSLY: "Copenhagen Jihad Suspect Identified as 22-Year-Old Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein."

Denmark's 'Soft Touch' on Terrorism: Danish Jihadis Returning from Syria Offered Rehabilitation for 'Trauma'

At London's Daily Mail, "PICTURED: Danish lone wolf 'jihadi' who was gunned down by police in dramatic standoff after Copenhagen terror shootings which killed film director and Jewish security guard":

Rather than face terrorism charges, Danish jihadis who return to the European country from Syria are offered rehabilitation.

Unlike in Britain, where a handful of terrorism suspects have been detained after flying into the UK from Turkey, the Danish government enrols citizens in a rehabilitation programme.

More Danes travelled to Syria last year per head of population than any other European country except from Belgium.

Thirty per cent hailed from Aarhus, the country's second largest city, where the rehabilitation programme was orchestrated.

Everyone who returns from war-torn countries is screened and offered treatment for shrapnel wounds as well as psychiatric care for trauma.

The families of those already in Syria are also given access to Skype.

It was intended for those who travelled to the Middle East with the intention of helping civilians oppressed by the Assad regime.
Some of those enrolled in the programme said they would have turned against the government if treated as a criminal.

Critics however fear the system, allegedly designed in anticipation of the breakdown of ISIS, will be abused.

Hmm...

Yeah, that might happen. Rehab sounds a lot better than life in prison, you know...

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



More at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies," and Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

Also at Lonely Con, "Saturday Funnies," and Theo Spark's, "Cartoon Round Up..."

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Tongue Tied."

Copenhagen Jihad Suspect Identified as 22-Year-Old Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein

Local television reports have identified the suspect. Still awaiting police confirmation.

At Telegraph UK, "Danish television has named the suspect as Omar Abdel Hamid el-Hussein. This has not been confirmed by the police."

And at the Guardian UK, "Local media have named the suspect in the shootings as 22-year-old Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein. Police have not confirmed the reports. Danish national broadcasters TV 2 and DR named the man, with the latter - along with newspaper Ekstra Bladet - reporting that he had recently been released from prison."

Also at the Times of Israel, "Suspected Copenhagen attacker named as Omar El-Hussein."

Fox News Poll: 73 Percent Say Obama Doesn’t Have Clear Strategy to Defeat Islamic State

Here's the report, at Fox.

And from Bill O'Reilly's talking points memo, "Are you safe?"

Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt: 'This is not a war between Islam and the West...'

Okay.

Riiiiight. Keep telling yourself that.

At Jihad Watch. "“We feel certain now that it was a politically motivated attack, and thereby it was a terrorist attack,” said Thorning-Schmidt...":

But actually, it was a religiously motivated attack. Islam is the only belief-system that mandates violence against those who commit the crime of drawing cartoons of Muhammad and those who commit the crime of being Jews. Thorning-Schmidt’s denial of manifest reality only aids and abets the advancing jihad.

Below, Thorning-Schmidt lays flowers at the Copenhagen synagogue, saying Denmark "will do everything" to protect the Jewish community. Yeah. Riiiiight.

Copenhagen Shooter Identified as 22-Year-Old Born and Raised in Denmark

Check for updates at Telegraph UK.

Police have not released the name of the perp.

More at the Guardian UK, "Copenhagen shootings: suspect was 'known to authorities' – live updates."

Netanyahu Address Divides Democrats, Because They Hate Israel

Netanyahu should be uniting the Democrats, but then, they're the party of progressive anti-Semitism, so this is no surprise.

At LAT, "Netanyahu's U.S. speech drives a wedge between Democrats, Israel":

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned address to Congress next month is driving an uncomfortable and rarely seen wedge between congressional Democrats and Israel — and that may have been exactly what House Speaker John A. Boehner and other Republicans intended.

For many Democrats, and especially the more than two dozen Jewish members of Congress, Boehner's decision to invite Netanyahu to speak about Iran's nuclear program — despite objections from the White House — is forcing them to choose between their president and their long-standing support for Israel.

On Thursday, Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) became the third Jewish Democrat to say he would not attend the planned joint session speech, a surprising expression of protest in contrast to the usual outpouring of support and standing ovations U.S. lawmakers lavish on Israel's leader.

"There's a tension," said Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), who has not decided whether to attend. "The prime minister's coming puts us who are supportive of Israel in a difficult position, especially as Jews who do support Israel, because I think it's totally inappropriate to come at this time."

At least 20 other members of Congress have also vowed to skip the speech. Some see Netanyahu's visit as an affront to the president, while others view it as the latest in a continuing effort by Republicans to upset the ties between Democrats and Jewish American voters and donors.

Boehner insisted the invitation was intended only to give a key ally a forum for discussing the Iran nuclear talks, in which Israel has a significant stake.

But privately, Republican aides haven't hidden their delight at how the issue is vexing Democrats, without conceding that was the intent.

Democrats suspect politics were part of the reason Boehner broke the usual protocol by not coordinating the invitation of a foreign leader with the White House.

"I don't know what's in the speaker's mind," said Democratic Rep. Lois Frankel, who represents a district in south Florida with a sizable Jewish population and plans to attend the speech. "He could be thinking about Iran, he could be thinking about politics.… I am just very disturbed — and I would say upset — that Israel is to be used as a political football."

Though Israel has long coveted the bipartisan support it enjoys in Congress, Netanyahu's Likud Party and U.S. Republicans have moved closer together in recent years, joined by shared conservative ideologies and hawkish foreign policies. Evangelicals, who are often more pro-Israel than many Jewish Americans, have also pushed the GOP toward greater support of the Netanyahu government.

So have wealthy donors like casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who contributed more than $100 million to Republicans in the 2012 campaign and is expected to be a major player in the 2016 presidential race. Adelson, who is Jewish and is married to an Israeli, is also one of Netanyahu's biggest political patrons; he owns a free, pro-government daily newspaper in Israel that has become one of the country's most-read.

But in the U.S., 70% of American Jews identify with the Democratic Party, while just 22% with the GOP, according to a 2013 study by Pew Research Center. President Obama won 69% of the Jewish American vote in 2012, according to exit polling reported by NBC News, though support dropped from 78% in his 2008 election.

"You're seeing an emerging split between a part of the community that is politically in line with the prime minister and in line with the Republican Party, and a part of the community that is more supportive of a progressive political agenda here and the Labor Party there," said Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, a liberal pro-Israel group. Boehner's invitation "has successfully exposed that that difference can no longer be papered over."

Obama publicly declined this week to offer advice to fellow Democrats when asked whether they should attend Netanyahu's address, though he has said he wouldn't meet with the prime minister when he comes next month, citing the proximity to Israel's March 17 election.

Vice President Joe Biden, who would usually attend the speech as the president of the Senate, is proceeding with plans to travel abroad then.

Amid the initial controversy over the invitation, top Israeli officials worked the halls of the U.S. Capitol last week to gauge the level of concern, particularly among Democrats...

The Dems. The party of hate.

Islamodenialists

Via iOTW Report, "The left likes to call people 'deniers'."

Judge Jeanine Blasts Unserious Obama

Time to get serious, you indifferent hack.

Denmark Police Kill Suspect at Noerrebro Train Station, Near Copenhagen Synagogue (VIDEO)

At the Guardian UK, "Copenhagen shootings: police kill man after deadly attacks at cafe and synagogue – rolling report."



And at Euronews, "Copenhagen: Man killed in police shoot-out after two deadly attacks."

Second Shooting Reported at Copenhagen Synagogue

At Twitchy, "Second shooting reported in Copenhagen, this time near synagogue; Three shot, including two police officers."

And at Telegraph UK, "Twin attacks in Copenhagen leave one dead, six injured":

Gunman opened fire on a synagogue, hours after one man was killed and three police officers wounded during an attack on free speech event in city.

More at NYT, "Fatal Shootings at Cafe and Near Synagogue in Copenhagen."

And watch, at CNN, "Police: Second shooting reported in center of Copenhagen."

PREVIOUSLY: "At Least One Dead in Attack on 'Freedom of Speech' Event at Krudttønden Cafe in Copenhagen, Denmark (VIDEO)."

Obama Arrives in Palm Springs, Golfs at Sunnylands — Blissfully Indifferent as World Burns

Hard at work.

At the Palm Springs Desert Sun, "Obama arrives in Palm Springs, golfs at Sunnylands."

From the airport, Pres Obama heads to the golf course at the Sunnylands Annenberg Estate. He's played there 5 times on previous visits.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) February 14, 2015

Barack Obama: Mainstreaming Jew-Hatred in America

From Caroline Glick, "Mainstreaming Jew hatred in America":

U.S. President Barack Obama is mainstreaming anti-Semitism in America.

This week, apropos of seemingly nothing, in an interview with Mathew Yglesias from the Vox.com website, Obama was asked about terrorism. In his answer the president said the terrorism threat is overrated. And that was far from the most disturbing statement he made.

Moving from the general to the specific, Obama referred to the jihadists who committed last month’s massacres in Paris as “a bunch of violent vicious zealots,” who “randomly shot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris.”

In other words, Ahmedy Coulibaly, the terrorist at Hyper Cacher, the kosher supermarket he targeted, was just some zealot. The Jews he murdered while they were shopping for Shabbat were just “a bunch of folks in a deli,” presumably shot down while ordering their turkey and cheese sandwiches.

No matter that Coulibaly called a French TV station from the kosher supermarket and said he was an al-Qaida terrorist and that he chose the kosher supermarket because he wanted to kill Jews.

As far as the leader of the free world is concerned, his massacre of four Jews at the market can teach us nothing about anything other than that some random people are mean and some random people are unlucky.

And anyway, Obama explained, we’re only talking about this random act of senseless violence because as he said, “If it bleeds, it leads.” The media, desperate for an audience, inflates the significance of these acts of random violence, for ratings.

Obama’s statement about the massacre of Jews in Paris is notable first and foremost for what it reveals about his comfort level with anti-Semitism.

By de-judaizing the victims, who were targets only because they were Jews, Obama denied the uniqueness of the threat jihadist Islam and its adherents pose to Jews. By pretending that Jews are not specifically targeted for murder simply because they are Jews, he dismissed the legitimate concerns Jews harbor for their safety, whether in Diaspora communities or in Israel.

If nothing distinguished Coulibaly’s massacre at Hyper Cacher from a mugging or an armed robbery gone bad, then Jews have no right to receive unique consideration – whether for their community’s security in London or Paris, or San Francisco – or for Israel’s security.

As subsequent statements from administration spokespeople made clear, Obama’s statement was not a gaffe. When questioned about his remarks, both White House spokesman Josh Earnest and State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki doubled down on Obama’s denial of the anti-Semitic nature of the massacre at Hyper Cacher. Earnest said that the Jews who were murdered were people who just “randomly happened to be” at the supermarket.

Psaki said that the victims didn’t share a common background or nationality, pretending away the bothersome fact that they were all Jews.

Just as bad as their denials of the anti-Jewish nature of the attack on Hyper Cacher, were Psaki’s and Earnest’s belated revisions of their remarks. After coming under a storm of criticism from American Jews and from the conservative media, both Psaki and Earnest turned to their Twitter accounts to walk back their remarks and admit that indeed, the massacre at Hyper Cacher was an anti-Semitic assault.

Their walk back was no better than their initial denial of the anti-Jewish nature of the Islamist attack, because it amplified the very anti-Semitism they previously promoted.

As many Obama supporters no doubt interpreted their behavior, first Obama and his flaks stood strong in their conviction that Jews are not specifically targeted. Then after they were excoriated for their statements by Jews and conservatives, they changed their tune.

The subtext is clear. The same Jews who are targeted no more than anyone else, are so powerful and all controlling that they forced the poor Obama administration to bow to their will and parrot their false and self-serving narrative of victimization.

The administration’s denial of the unique threat Jews face from jihadists is not limited to its anti-Semitic characterizations of the attack at Hyper Cacher.

It runs as well through Obama’s treatment of Israel and its actions to defend itself against its jihadist enemies from Hamas to Hezbollah to Iran...

The left's Jew-hater-in-Chief.

Keep reading.

VIDEO: Archive Footage Shows 'Muhammad' Artist Lars Vilks Saying 'I'm a Constant Target'

Well, indeed he is.

Via Telegraph UK:



PREVIOUSLY: "At Least One Dead in Attack on 'Freedom of Speech' Event at Krudttønden Cafe in Copenhagen, Denmark (VIDEO)."

Also, "VIDEO: Aftermath of Terrorist Attack at 'Free Speech' Event, Krudttønden Cafe in Copenhagen, Denmark," and "Inna Shevchenko, FEMEN Activist, Live Tweets Terrorist Attack at Krudttønden Cafe in Copenhagen, Denmark."

Inna Shevchenko, FEMEN Activist, Live Tweets Terrorist Attack at Krudttønden Cafe in Copenhagen, Denmark

Supreme irony.

Here's Ms. Shevchenko at FEMEN's blog, "Inna Shevchenko e le Femen in topless al Festival di Berlino (foto)."

And on Twitter:

In some hours will speak about freedom of speech at a panel debates with Lars Vilks in Copenhagen
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

shots during our panel in Copengagen
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

i ran away with some people though the back door, didn't see anything, heard 20 shots at the entrance to the building of our panel
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

with me at the room there was Lars Vilks, french ambassador and dozens people from the audience
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

i didn't see anything, i heard around 20 shots while speaking and then people started to run
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

i am not sure what was that, i don't know what we heard but everybody was running
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

another escaper joined me: we got info policemen were shot and some civilians i dont confirm it
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

the event we were at was protected by police. They were at the entrance of the building. as it is reported now, some of them were shot
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

in the room with me there were few dozens of people, french ambassador Francois Zimeray, Lars Vilks
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

police is everywhere around
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

We are in police station now
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

I was at the point of ny speech when i was saying that often it is an illusion that we have freedom of speech in Europe.then we heard shots
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

1/2"We dont have to talk about freeedom of speech, we have to practice it" was the point of my today's speech
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

2/2 it was interrupted by someone who was practicing his ideology
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

We are all in police station describing today's attack in #Copenhagen pic.twitter.com/HCyem0Bhb0
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

PREVIOUSLY: "At Least One Dead in Attack on 'Freedom of Speech' Event at Krudttønden Cafe in Copenhagen, Denmark (VIDEO)," and "VIDEO: Aftermath of Terrorist Attack at 'Free Speech' Event, Krudttønden Cafe in Copenhagen, Denmark."

VIDEO: Aftermath of Terrorist Attack at 'Free Speech' Event, Krudttønden Cafe in Copenhagen, Denmark

Via Telegraph UK:



PREVIOUSLY: "At Least One Dead in Attack on 'Freedom of Speech' Event at Krudttønden Cafe in Copenhagen, Denmark (VIDEO)."

At Least One Dead in Attack on 'Freedom of Speech' Event at Krudttønden Cafe in Copenhagen, Denmark (VIDEO)

Well, so much for "freedom of speech."

At Legal Insurrection, "#CopenhagenShooting: Deadly Attack on Meeting Hosted by Muhammad Cartoonist."

And at Telegraph UK, "Copenhagen shooting during debate on Islam: live":

One dead in shooting at a Copenhagen cultural centre, where a meeting about freedom of speech was being held - organised by a Swedish artist who had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad.

Expect updates...

10:12am PST: At London's Daily Mail, "BREAKING NEWS: One dead after 200 bullets are fired into Copenhagen cafe in failed Charlie Hebdo-style attack on Swedish artist who drew the Prophet Mohammed."

And at Atlas Shrugs, "1 dead after shooting at event with Muhammad cartoonist."

10:17am PST: At Blazing Cat Fur, "Shooting at Copenhagen blasphemy debate featuring Mohammed Cartoonist Lars Vilks: 3 police injured."

And from Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "Breaking: Shots fired at free-speech event in Copenhagen; Update: One dead."

10:26am PST: At Twitchy, "‘Charlie Hebdo-style attack’ in Denmark leaves one dead, three injured."

10:48am PST: At Russia Today (FWIW), "Copenhagen Shooting: Deadly attack at free speech meeting with cartoonist who depicted Muhammed (VIDEO)."

11:06am PST: Now a Memeorandum thread, "Copenhagen shooting during debate on Islam: live."

Kelly Brook in Los Angeles

Turns out she's trying the Atkins Diet to shed a few pounds.

Busty as ever, that's for sure.

At the Mirror UK, "Kelly Brook shows off cleavage in busty beach workout as she embraces California life."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "Kelly Brook almost spills out of low-cut work out vest as she flashes her cleavage in multi-coloured sports bra on the beach," and "Dip it low! Kelly Brook continues with her weight-loss mission as she shares video of her working out in low cut top on the beach."

BONUS: "Flower power! Kelly Brook rocks a floral headband as she poses for a series of busty bikini selfies with her Los Angeles 'roomie'."

Distorting Christian History to Defend Islam

From Michael Ortiz, at the Wall Street Journal, "Secularism didn’t save the West from religious excesses, and it won’t save us from jihadists":

In an attempt to find a peaceful alternative for those in the Islamic world who advocate violence for political and religious goals, Christians in the West shouldn’t distort the history of Christianity, or stand idly by while others do so. Letting this version of events shape perceptions of Christian history invariably means a portrait of religion as a force of darkness, while science and technology will always be beacons of sanity and light.

The narrative portraying religious conviction as antithetical to reasoned comity among people and nations is easy enough to fall into. At the national prayer breakfast last week, for instance, President Obama compared the excesses of the Crusades and the Inquisition to the terrorism of today’s radical Islam. The president went on to condemn (rightly) those who advance their religious convictions with violence.

But what he and many others miss is the conviction that Western core values come from a faith in which God enters into human history precisely to save the world from the erring reason that fails, among other things, to recognize that terrorism is an affront to God and humanity.

The all-too-common narrative goes like this: Centuries ago, Catholics and Protestants gladly burned heretics up and down Europe by the thousands until, thank God—or All Powerful Goodness, as Ben Franklin would put it—the rise of Enlightenment thinkers banished the barbarity that is somehow native to religious fervor. Only with the liberalizing mandates of Vatican II (1962-65), we’re told, did Catholicism—usually the main boogeyman in this version of history—come to grips with the idea of democracy and religious freedom, and finally extinguish the last embers of the Inquisition.

This narrative is false according to the historical record and to the origins and abiding ethos of Christianity, Catholic and Protestant. Historians call this the la leyenda negra—the “Black Legend”—because it blackens the name of Catholicism in particular and religion in general. According to this legend, the Inquisition is on a continuum with the Holocaust and the terrors of Stalinism.

Yet objective historians realize that in the most infamous example, in Spain, several popes condemned the Inquisition’s excesses. Moreover, the 6,832 members of the clergy executed by the Spanish Republican Red Terror in 1936 is more than twice the number of those executed in 345 years of the Inquisition in Spain.

Far from being an enemy of reason and peace, Christianity’s overwhelming message through the centuries has been one of tolerance, a message that underpins many of the values that people of all faiths, and of no faith, can live by. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI ’s work as a theologian has done great service in trying to correct the erroneous view that faith and civil tolerance must always be opposed.

He looks forthrightly at the negative aspects of the rise of democracies in the West, while not forgetting their positive legacies. As then- Pope Benedict pointed out in a 2005 address to the Roman Curia—the church’s governing body—popes of the 19th century condemned democracy because so many of its exponents were claiming “to embrace with their knowledge the whole of reality to its limit, stubbornly proposing to make” God completely “superfluous.” He thus reminds us that a Western culture beset by nihilism cannot provide a way out of the nihilism of the jihadist...

Still more.

Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss

Well, they deny they're lesbians. Just platonic BFF, I guess.

At Vogue, "On the Road with Best Friends Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss."

And there's a video, "Taylor Swift vs. Karlie Kloss—Who's the Best, Best Friend?"

Fear and Loathing of the Penis

From Robert Stacy McCain.

He's really become expert at this.

Update on Brianna Wu

Following-up from last October, "Brianna Wu Goes Into Hiding — #GamerGate."

See Milo Yiannopoulos, at Breitbart, "The Wacky World of Wu: The Tortured History of GamerGate's Self-Styled Feminist Martyr."

Well, this definitely clears a number of things up. Turns out, for example, Brianna Wu used to be John Flynt.

More:

In October, Brianna Wu failed to attend a scheduled recording of an internet radio show hosted by the present correspondent in which she was to answer charges that she was responsible for whipping up a media frenzy about GamerGate supporters, accusing them of crimes to which she cannot possibly have linked them to the satisfaction of any law enforcement agency.

Wu later claimed to be “on the run” and “in fear of her life” while continuing to conduct media interviews from her home. She has since positioned herself as what some call a “professional victim,” soliciting pity and crowdfunded donations on the back of ever-more outlandish and implausible claims of real-world persecution on social media. But there has not been a single arrest or prosecution on the basis of any complaint she has made, either to the police or to the FBI, about the harassment she says she has received.

Rialto Police Officer's Son Mauled by K-9 Belgian Malinois, Has Leg Amputated

The neighbor busted down the gate and tried to break the dog's death grip.

At LAT, "Son of Rialto officer has leg amputated at ankle after attack by police dog."

Chicago Law School Professor Eric Posner: 'Students today are more like children than adults and need protection...'

This is bizarre.

See, "Universities Are Right — and Within Their Rights — to Crack Down on Speech and Behavior."

Read it at the link.

Also, from Noah Rothman, "No, professor, you shouldn’t treat the oversize toddlers in your classroom like ‘children’," and the College Fix, "SPEECH CODES ARE GREAT BECAUSE STUDENTS ARE BRAIN-IMPAIRED IDIOTS, LAW PROF SAYS."

Islamic State Lays Siege to Key Base at al-Baghdadi, Iraq

See Noah Rothman, at Hot Air, "That ISIS attack on an Iraqi military base was a lot worse than the Pentagon let on":

It sounded like a close call when the story broke. Little did we know how close it truly was.

On Thursday, the Pentagon disconfirmed reports that a successful ISIS assault on the al-Baghdadi district of Anbar Province culminated in an assault on the al-Asad Airbase. That 25-square mile facility houses 320 U.S. Marines and other American military personnel who are tasked with advising the Iraqi Security Forces in their fight against ISIS.

According to a Navy spokesperson, early reports that indicated the base had been surrounded and under assault were inaccurate. Only “ineffective indirect fire” near that base had been reported, the Navy insisted. Despite the fact that this facility has come under mortar and rocket attacks in the past, this particular assault was not a threat to American servicemen and women.

A CBS News report published on Friday morning indicated, however, that this attack was more threatening and coordinated than the Pentagon initially conceded. No fewer than eight militants and at least three suicide bombers penetrated al-Asad before they were dispatched by ISF troops. According to CBS News, however, American soldiers were deep enough inside the base at the time of the attack that they were in no immediate danger.

More.

VIDEO: Alabama Policeman Fired, Arrested After Slamming Indian Grandfather to Ground

At the Birmingham News, via Memeorandum, "Alabama police fire, arrest the officer who badly injured Indian grandfather during sidewalk stop."

Watch: "Video shows Alabama police throwing grandfather from India to the ground."

David Carr, New York Times Columnist, Dies at 58

It's pretty bizarre, but he died just hours after appearing with Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras in a panel discussion, including Edward Snowden by live feed, on the documentary "Citizenfour."

I liked Carr's columns, and routinely blogged his stuff. Some of my commenters objected --- mainly because they object to anything from the far-left Old Gray Lady. But I'm like Althouse when it comes to leftist media bias: you go to political war with the mainstream journalism that you have.

In any case, at the New York Times, "David Carr, Times Critic and Champion of Media, Dies at 58," and "David Carr, a Journalist at the Center of the Sweet Spot."

Also at Memeorandum.

Canada's Sun News Shuts Down

Kind of abruptly, at that.

At BCF, "Sun News Network Is No More."

Also, see Kathy Shaidle, at Pajamas, "Canada’s Sun News Goes Off the Air."

Runaway School Bus in Minnesota

Wild.

It's the End of Sex as We Know It

From Mark Hemingway, at the Federalist.

I great piece.

American Express-Costco Divorce Shakes Up Credit-Card Industry

This is interesting, at WSJ, "Costco Cards Account for One Out of Every 10 AmEx Cards in Circulation":

American Express Co. and Costco Wholesale Corp. are ending their 16-year relationship, a surprise move that pummeled AmEx’s stock price and will trigger a major upheaval in the card industry.

The unusual partnership, in which Costco exclusively accepted AmEx cards, had driven a significant chunk of business to the New York card company. In addition, AmEx and Costco issued a credit card together that could also be used at other merchants. When the arrangement ends next year, millions of customers will be forced to use a different credit card when shopping at the wholesale store.

The failure to agree on new terms was a fresh blow to AmEx, which was already falling short of some sales targets. American Express Chief Executive Ken Chenault said the move, affecting roughly one in 10 AmEx cards in circulation, would eat into the company’s results in the next two years.

On Thursday, AmEx’s shares dropped $5.53, or 6.4%, to $80.48, its largest one-day percentage decline since August 2011.

The move sets up a race among credit-card firms to team up with the fast-expanding wholesale club, which sells everything from car tires to smoked salmon...

More.

Putin's Latest Victory

At WSJ, "The Minsk accord ratifies a Russian satrapy in Ukraine":

The last time the Kremlin signed an agreement to end the war in Ukraine—as recently as September—it promised to withdraw “military equipment as well as fighters and mercenaries” from the war zone, ban offensive operations and abide by an immediate cease-fire. In exchange the Ukrainian government granted unprecedented political autonomy to its rebellious eastern regions.

Moscow and its proxy militias in Ukraine have been violating the so-called Minsk Protocol ever since. Russian troops and equipment have poured across the Ukrainian border to support the separatists. Together they have seized an additional 200 square miles of territory, rained deadly rocket fire on the port city of Mariupol and encircled thousands of Ukrainian troops defending a strategic railway link in the village of Debaltseve.

So what better time for Vladimir Putin to agree to another cease-fire that consolidates his military gains, extracts additional political concessions from Kiev, puts off further Western sanctions, and gives President Obama another diplomatic alibi not to supply Ukraine’s demoralized and ill-equipped military with desperately needed defensive weapons?

That’s our read of the deal reached in Minsk on Thursday between Mr. Putin and Petro Poroshenko, with Germany and France acting as handmaids to the Ukrainian president’s forced capitulation. In theory the agreement requires the departure of “mercenaries” from eastern Ukraine, the creation of a buffer zone between the two sides, and a pullback of heavy weapons from the front lines. It also calls for a cease-fire to begin Sunday morning, local time.

But these are all but identical to the commitments Moscow has already broken, and nobody should be surprised if separatists and their Russian patrons use the next 48 hours to press their advantage in Debaltseve. Worse is that the agreement forces Kiev to fork over additional gifts to the breakaway regions, including an independent police force and the resumption of pension and salary payments for state employees. Ukraine must settle for a promissory note from Mr. Putin that he will allow Ukraine to regain control of the border with Russia.

All of this gives the Kremlin the benefits of establishing a de facto satrap without having to foot the costs of sustaining it or assume political responsibility. It turns eastern Ukraine into another of Russia’s “frozen conflicts,” akin to those it has with Moldova over Transnistria or Georgia over Abkhazia, with an option of taking the conflict out of the freezer at will. Merely the threat of doing so will give Mr. Putin a whip hand over Kiev should it continue to seek closer ties to the European Union and NATO.

Then again, nobody should be surprised if this cease-fire collapses as quickly as the last one did. The eagerness with which France and Germany proved willing to renegotiate a cease-fire that Mr. Putin had already broken only shows that future violations will carry no real price. So he will continue to alternate between brute force and fake diplomacy, as his political needs require...

More.

Voters Want Ground Troops in Obama's War on Islamic State

From Andrew Malcolm, at IBD, "Voters' verdict: Obama's ISIS action plan is not good enough":

On Wednesday, President Obama sent a draft authorization for use of military power against ISIS. But already Americans say such a half-hearted assault on terrorists is not good enough.

As a political symbol (and to spread the blame when something goes wrong), Obama has asked Congress for authority to do what he's already been doing since September -- bomb ISIS as part of an international coalition and train and arm Kurds, Iraqis and Syrians.

This is authority the Nobel Peace Prize winner did not seek before attacking Libya in 2011, a successful war that also succeeded in turning that country into a lawless land of terrorist groups and marauding militias that killed four Americans in Benghazi.

But in a brief Wednesday afternoon statement on his authorization request (Scroll down for full C-SPAN video of that statement), Obama ended up saying as much about what he does not want to do.

"The resolution we’ve submitted today does not call for the deployment of U.S. ground combat forces to Iraq or Syria," Obama maintained. "It is not the authorization of another ground war, like Afghanistan or Iraq."

However, a new Rasmussen Reports poll also out Wednesday reveals for the first time that a majority of Americans are now sufficiently concerned about ISIS' barbarism and terrorist threat that it supports the use of ground combat troops again in Iraq as part of an international effort.

The poll of 800 likely voters found that 52% want to do more than Obama, 28% do not and 20% don't know.

The numbers show steady growth in support of ground troop deployment since September when 48% liked that idea and 36% were opposed. A key element in that support is involvement of other countries, especially Muslim ones.

A December Rasmussen survey found fully 79% agreeing with military experts (and disagreeing with Obama) that air assaults alone would be insufficient to defeat ISIS and U.S. ground troops would be necessary at some point.

Voters disagree by party, but not as sharply as you might expect--with 67% of Republicans favoring a ground troop commitment while a near majority of Democrats (45%) agree.

Coming just weeks after Obama boasted of withdrawing all American combat troops from Afghanistan and just four years after pulling all U.S. forces from Iraq, the Democrat is loathe to commit them again. Remember last summer when he openly confessed he had no ISIS strategy?

But some 2,500 are already back in Iraq. Obama stressed their mission is training. But they're armed and combat would seem inevitable. Canadian snipers recently engaged and dispatched an ISIS mortar crew firing on coalition forces...

Obama's the endless nightmare in the Oval Office. Americans are just counting down until they can be rid of this national embarassment.

Keep reading.

And see U.S. News, "Public Doubts Obama's ISIS Strategy."

'Radical Brownies' Spread Message of Social Justice in Oakland

I blogged about these poor children in January, "'Social Justice' Preschoolers March in 'Black Lives Matter' Protest in Oakland."

And now see CBS News Bay Area.

Also at Independent Journal Review, "Instead of Selling Cookies, California’s ‘Radical Brownies’ Spread ‘Black Lives Matter’ Messages."

Krauthammer: Obama Selfie Video is 'Distasteful'

The president's a national disgrace.

Netanyahu Speech to Congress Could Threaten U.S.-Israel Relations

Oh, the drama.

At LAT, "Israelis wonder whether Netanyahu is risking too much in Obama tussle":

Has Bibi gone too far this time? That's the question a lot of Israelis are asking.

Even in a country where chutzpah is not necessarily viewed as a political liability, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's escalating tussle with the Obama administration is beginning to overshadow other election issues — and heightening fear of long-term damage to Israel's most vital friendship.

In the face of a rare public rebuke from President Obama amid the furor over the Israeli leader's planned address to a joint session of Congress next month, Netanyahu — universally known by his nickname, Bibi — yet again brushed aside criticism and declared that he would use the speech to warn against the dangers of a nuclear deal with Iran.

A bit of nose-thumbing at Washington is a long Israeli tradition. But what began weeks ago as a seeming breach of protocol — House Speaker John A. Boehner inviting Netanyahu to address lawmakers without first clearing it with the White House, and the prime minister pressing ahead despite Obama's evident displeasure — has grown into what some veteran diplomatic observers are describing as a full-blown threat to the staunch support that Washington has long offered Israel in the international arena.

"This is the sort of thing that leaves scars," former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Itamar Rabinovich said Monday, speaking on Israeli radio. "I fear that this sets the prime minister and the U.S. administration on a collision course."

With Israel's election campaign in full swing, and the prospective speaking date falling only two weeks before the March 17 vote, Netanyahu's election opponents have cried campaign foul since plans for the speech were unveiled.

In the latest salvo, Zehava Galon of the left-leaning Meretz party asked the main electoral body to block live broadcasts of the speech by Israeli media. Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog, Netanyahu's main opponent, called the planned address a "strategic" mistake.

The Netanyahu camp has denied any political motive for the speech. Netanyahu struck a conciliatory note Tuesday evening, with his office announcing that he had offered condolences over the death of U.S. hostage Kayla Mueller, who had been held captive by Islamic State militants. In the same statement, the prime minister appeared to be trying to lower the temperature on the speech controversy.

"This is not a personal disagreement between President Obama and me," the prime minister was quoted as saying. "I deeply appreciate all that he has done for Israel in many fields. Equally, I know that the president appreciates my responsibility, my foremost responsibility, to protect and defend the security of Israel. I am going to the United States not because I seek a confrontation with the president, but because I must fulfill my obligation to speak up on a matter that affects the very survival of my country." ...

More.

Cut-and-Run Obama Shuts Down Yemen Embassy

From Michelle Malkin, "“Success story” update! Cut-and-run Obama shuts down Yemen embassy."

Also at the Washington Post, "A major setback in the fight against al-Qaeda: CIA scales back in Yemen."

When Obama says the "tide of war is receding" he means the U.S. is ceding the battlefield to the enemy.

Obama Wants Political Cover for His Planned Strategy of Military Defeat

At WSJ, "The War Irresolution: Obama wants Congress to endorse his hesitant anti-ISIS strategy":

Napoleon famously said that in warfare if you vow to take Vienna—take Vienna. President Obama ’s version of that aphorism might be—on the way to Vienna stop to summer in Salzburg, only use air power, and if the fighting isn’t over in a couple of years call the whole thing off.

How else to interpret the amazing draft of a resolution that Mr. Obama sent to Congress Wednesday requesting an authorization to use military force against Islamic State? The language would so restrict the President’s war-fighting discretion that it deserves to be called the President Gulliver resolution. Tie me down, Congress, please. Instead of inviting broad political support for defeating ISIS, the language would codify the President’s war-fighting ambivalence.

The draft is especially notable for its disconnect between military ends and means. The preamble contains a long and accurate parade of horribles about the “grave threat” posed by Islamic State. These include “horrific acts of violence” against women and girls, the murder “of innocent United States citizens,” and its intention “to conduct terrorist attacks internationally, including against the United States, its citizens, and interests.” Really bad guys.

But then the resolution proceeds to inform these killers about the limits of what the U.S. will do to defeat them. Mr. Obama wants Congress to put into statutory language that it “does not authorize the use of the United States Armed Forces in enduring offensive ground combat operations”; and that “the use of military force shall terminate” in three years “unless reauthorized.”

The time limit alone is reason to oppose the resolution, as we’ve seen in Afghanistan. Mr. Obama’s deadline on U.S. operations there has given the Taliban confidence to wait us out. A time limit also tells our coalition allies that the U.S. commitment against ISIS could end no matter the state of war at the time. Mr. Obama has said himself that degrading and destroying ISIS may take years, yet his draft would force the next President to seek a new authorization in 2018.

As for ground troops, Mr. Obama is asking Congress to endorse a military strategy that his own generals have said may be deficient. In a letter to Congress elaborating on the draft authorization, Mr. Obama says his draft “would provide the flexibility to conduct ground operations” in “limited circumstances, such as rescue operations” or “the use of special operations forces to take military action against ISIL leadership.” He says the resolution would only bar “long-term, large-scale ground combat operations” as in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But then get ready to parse the meaning of “enduring” and “offensive” ground operations. Is enduring more or less than a year? Or a month? We’d guess that Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders takes the under.

“Offensive” is even more subject to interpretation. Does that mean ground troops are acceptable as long as they shoot in self-defense? Or that they can do everything but take territory? Winning a war is hard enough without such legal complications.

Mr. Obama’s draft language fairly describes his current war strategy. But a flawed military strategy that is ambiguous is better than a flawed strategy written into law. Mr. Obama’s strategy can be changed by the next President—unless it is codified by a flawed authorization.

Mr. Obama’s language could also get worse as it moves through Congress. Many Democrats and GOP libertarians want even more specific limits on ground troops, a shorter time limit, and a geographic limit on where the U.S. can fight.

Yet the flaws in this half-hearted war strategy are already clear. ISIS continues to hold nearly all of the territory it did when Mr. Obama announced his plans in September. One exception is the town of Kobane in Syria, where Kurdish troops drove out the jihadists with U.S. bombing help. But Kobane now resembles Dresden after World War II—a bombed out, empty shell.

Many ISIS commanders have been killed, and they have been forced to move more furtively. But they were still able to stage an attack on the Kurdish oil city of Kirkuk in the last month. And they are conducting widespread assassinations against Sunni tribal leaders who resist them and ought to be allies of the U.S.-led coalition.

ISIS is also using its staying power against U.S. bombing to burnish its credentials as the jihadist vanguard. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that U.S. intelligence officials now say foreign fighters are joining Islamic State “in unprecedented numbers,” including 3,400 from Western nations out of 20,000 from around the world...

Still more.

Behind NBC's Decision to Suspend Brian Williams

At the New York Times, "Frantic Efforts at NBC to Curb Rising Damage Caused by Brian Williams":

Hours before Brian Williams took the anchor’s chair for the nightly newscast on Feb. 4, a sense of dread began to spread through the Rockefeller Plaza offices of NBC News.

The military newspaper Stars and Stripes had just published an article in which Mr. Williams acknowledged that he had exaggerated an account of a helicopter journey in Iraq. Worse, Mr. Williams had written a weak apology, reading it first to the newspaper, then posting it on Facebook. None of his superiors knew about it.

Alarmed, the news operation immediately began scrambling to contain the damage, according to people with knowledge of the events of the last week. A team was quickly assembled to draft a statement that Mr. Williams could read during his “NBC Nightly News” show that evening to address the issue. But the Facebook post boxed them in. The explanations had to match.

Mr. Williams went on the air hours later and delivered the statement, including an apology.

That was the start of a week of rapidly cascading events that besieged both Mr. Williams and the network. Interviews with people with knowledge of the process, as well as former employees who spoke to people at NBC, portray a news division operating in crisis mode as it investigated its own celebrity anchor and assessed whether he could salvage his position.

Control of the situation quickly passed to Stephen B. Burke, chief executive of NBCUniversal. Thursday afternoon, Mr. Burke called the first of a series of secret meetings, this one at the conference room in the executive suites on the 51st floor. Those present included Patricia Fili-Krushel, chairwoman of NBCUniversal News Group, and Deborah Turness, the president of NBC News. Mr. Williams did not attend.

Mr. Burke acted decisively, according to one person, telling his colleagues to gather the facts so that they could make an expeditious but fair decision. He decided to hold meetings at 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. each day until the issue was resolved.

Mr. Burke sought advice from Mr. Williams’s predecessor, Tom Brokaw, who canceled a vacation in the Virgin Islands to offer his feedback. The two shared uncertainties about the best approach, with Mr. Brokaw expressing concerns about how the episode would affect NBC News employees, according to one person with knowledge of the discussions. Mr. Burke also consulted David L. Cohen, an executive vice president at NBCUniversal’s parent company, Comcast, who was busy on an issue with much higher financial stakes — Comcast’s attempt to gain regulatory approval for a $45 billion merger with Time Warner Cable.

During the next week, NBC News buckled down as both Mr. Williams and the network came under scrutiny, people with knowledge of the events said. An internal investigation and high-level meetings continued through the weekend, including one Saturday morning at Mr. Williams’s Manhattan apartment, at which it was decided that Mr. Williams would have to temporarily step aside. It culminated Tuesday morning, when Mr. Burke told Mr. Williams that he was being suspended without pay for six months.

“This has been a painful period for all concerned,” Mr. Burke said in a statement on Tuesday...

The dude's toast.

Keep reading.

Triple Slaying Arouses Fear of Far-Left Hate Crimes Against Muslims

Fear of murderous far-left anti-Muslim rampages after an atheist progressive murdered three Muslims in North Carlolina.

At the Los Angeles Times, "North Carolina triple slaying arouses fear of hate crimes against Muslims."

Well, according to the Times, it was all about not enough parking spots, or something.

But see Patrick Poole, at Pajamas, "Killer of 3 NC Muslim Students Was Hardcore Anti-Religion Atheist Progressive."

And on Twitter:

The Chapel Hill murderer was an atheist. People are DESPERATE to blame his atheism. But the police now say his motive was parking dispute.

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) February 11, 2015

People are going to see what they want to see. It's never about religion or ideology unless the perp is a conservative. You never hear the end of it in that case.

The Case Against the Case Against the Crusades

From Ross Douthat, at the New York Times:

The Crusades as an epoch-spanning phenomenon aren’t in and of themselves a great stain on Christian history: They’re a phenomenon in Christian history that includes many stains and sins and great crimes, but also involves many admirable figures and heroic moments, many great tragedies, and many individuals and incidents that simply resist any kind of manichaean reading. Contemporary Christians should reject and disavow the great crimes that some Crusaders committed as they should reject and disavow the un-Christian hatreds that motivated them. But we are under no obligation to reject and disavow the entire multi-century struggle with an armed and equally-militant foe as merely the manifestation of some irrational religious “phobia,” let alone accede to analogies that cast an entire civilization’s worth of kings and theologians and soldiers as the moral equivalent of Osama Bin Laden.

Keep reading.

Hat Tip: Instapundit, "Obama is a historical illiterate."

Ukraine Fighting Continues Ahead of Key Meeting

At WSJ, "Leaders Are Due to Meet for High-Stakes Summit to Negotiate a Cease-Fire."

More Foreign Fighters Traveling to Syria to Join Civil War

At WSJ, "Counterterrorism Officials Worry Fighters Could Carry out Attacks When They Return Home":

WASHINGTON—The number of foreign fighters traveling to Syria to join in the country’s civil war is increasing despite months of bombardment by the U.S. and its allies, stoking worries among counterterrorism officials they could carry out attacks when they return home.

Officials from the National Counterterrorism Center, Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation plan to tell the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday that more than 150 U.S. citizens or permanent residents have traveled or attempted to travel to Syria to join extremist groups. Previously, officials had said about 100 Americans had fallen into that category. They are part of a larger group of 3,400 Westerners who have traveled or attempted to travel to Syria, the officials plan to say.

Meanwhile, more than 20,000 foreign fighters from over 90 countries have traveled to Syria, according to prepared testimony by Nicholas Rasmussen, the Counterterrorism Center’s director. That is up from previous U.S. estimates of about 19,000 foreign fighters.

The rate of fighters traveling to Syria is unprecedented, exceeding the rate of such travel to conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen or Somalia, Mr. Rasmussen plans to tell the committee.

Have you no decency, Huffington Post? No decency at all?

From Ashe Schow, at the Washington Examiner, "The Ernst-Truthers of the Huffington Post" (via Instapundit).

Well, the left is all about misogynist hatred, so this is no surprise.

Lilly Aldridge for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit

Photos at SI's swimsuit page.

Taya Kyle Expected to Testify at Trial of Husband's Alleged Murderer

At CBS This Morning:



Also at Dallas Morning News, "Chris Kyle's widow Taya will be among first witnesses in 'American Sniper' trial."

So, John McAdams Hasn't Updated the Marquette Warrior Since Last Wednesday...

... Because the university is revoking his tenure and canning his ass --- for a blog post!

The Marquette Warrior is apparently in legal limbo.

See Conor Friedersdorf, at the Atlantic, "Stripping a Professor of Tenure Over a Blog Post."

Make sure you follow the links, especially to Cheryl Abbate, who left Marquette's philosophy graduate program after McAdams' alleged "misogynist" attacks. See the loooong post, "Gender Based Violence, Responsibility, and John McAdams." She really goes after iOTW Report, claiming that the blog should be shut down because the "rape culture" comments. Yeah, how's that working out for ya?

Look, I'm sympathetic to the women on the receiving end of all these so-called misogynist attacks --- the GameGate dust-up hasn't been one of my hottest topics, mainly because I can't see how folks like Anita Sarkeesian deserve the abuse. But then, there's a lot of inside baseball in the gamer culture, so I leave the coverage to those better up on the issues --- Milo Yiannopoulos, for example. Or see Robert Stacy McCain, "The #GamerGate Hate Hoax."

Meanwhile, the FIRE has come to Professor McAdams' defense, "The Travesty of Due Process at Marquette."

BONUS: From Megan McArdle, at Bloomberg, "Free Speech and Ivory Towers."

Caroline Wozniacki for Sports Illustrated

At London's Daily Mail, "Caroline Wozniacki gets the deuces flowing by revealing her stunning picture in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2015 edition," and "In her teeny tiny tennis whites! Caroline Wozniacki displays her athletic figure in an array of bikinis for Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue."

Brian Williams Suspended from #NBC for Six Months Without Pay

He's washed up.

As Ace of Spades HQ says, "WarCock!"

And, "So Brian Williams Has Been Suspended, Without Pay, for Six Months."

More at the New York Times, "Brian Williams Suspended From NBC for 6 Months Without Pay."

(And at Memorandum.)

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I'll be on campus teaching all day.

Shop Amazon until later.

Obama: Murdered Paris Jews Were Just Random Victims (VIDEO)

From Pamela Geller, at Atlas Shrugs, "VIDEO Obama: Murdered Paris Jews Were Just Random Victims."

O's moral equivalence gets tiring, and fast.