Parents of Journalist Austin Tice, Kidnapped in Syria in 2012, Slam Obama Admin's Terrorist Hostage Policy (VIDEO)

Clarissa Ward reported on the missing journalist last September, at CBS This Morning, "Family of kidnapped journalist Austin Tice calls for his release."

Debra Tice, mother of Austin, is heartbreaking at the clip above. After James Foley and Steven Sotloff were murdered, she said "It was such a gut punch, because we never imagined that that would happen to an American..."

And now they no longer doubt that that could happen to their own son --- and they're speaking out against President Obama's disinterest and inaction.

At CBS News, "Gov't handling of kidnapped Americans 'appalling'":

WASHINGTON -- Parents of a missing journalist detained in Syria and the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders are calling on the White House to help bring the journalist home safely and to improve U.S. policy on hostage cases.

Marc and Debra Tice of Houston said Thursday that they are taking part in meetings for a White House policy review on how to handle hostage cases. Their son, Austin Tice, has been missing since 2012 - 906 days by his mother's count.

"After almost two-and-a-half years ... we feel like we need to let everybody know that our son is missing - and will you please help us get him home?" Debra Tice pleaded during a news conference at the National Press Club.

On Feb. 16, the family plans to launch an online campaign with support from USA Today, McClatchy Newspapers and other media companies, placing online ads with the message "Free Austin Tice." The parents are asking supporters to sign a petition to President Barack Obama to do more to bring Tice home.

Austin Tice disappeared in August 2012 while covering the civil war in Syria. Tice is a former Marine who has reported for The Washington Post, McClatchy Newspapers, The Associated Press, CBS and other outlets. He was one of the few journalists reporting from Damascus when he vanished. In 2012, Tice and the staff of McClatchy Newspapers won the prestigious George W. Polk Award for war reporting.

The circumstances surrounding his disappearance are still a mystery. It's not clear what entity is holding him, but it is not believed to be the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or the Syrian government, the family said. The parents said they have been told by "credible sources" that Austin Tice is alive, reasonably well treated and that they need to be patient.

"There's a general confidence that he will come home safely," Marc Tice said. "That's about as much detail as we have."

The family has grown frustrated, though, with the U.S. government's coordination and sharing of information. Each agency has its own agenda, they said.

"It is appalling to us" that no single U.S. government entity is responsible for pursuing the safe return of Americans taken hostage abroad, said Debra Tice. "That has to change."

The family is advocating for a new U.S. policy that would provide a single point of accountability, responsible to the president, to pursue the safe return of hostages. They also are pushing the government to improve information sharing among government agencies and with families and to create protections for the hostages' interests and assets at home, such as online profiles, bank accounts and housing.

"We want to make sure that when Austin comes back, he has a life to come back to," Marc Tice said...

And see McClatchy, "Family of journalist missing in Syria campaigns anew for his return."

'Vacation Cutting' — More Than 500,000 Women and Girls at Risk of Female Genital Mutilation in U.S.

The Islamization of America proceeds apace.

At the Los Angeles Times, "More than 500,000 in U.S. could be at risk of female genital excision":

Nearly 507,000 women and girls in the United States could be at risk of female genital excision, including 57,000 in California, a new study has found.

That is more than twice the number that were thought to be at risk in 2000, the last year for which estimates are available.

Analysts at the Population Reference Bureau, a nonprofit research organization in Washington, attributed the preliminary findings released Friday to an increase in immigration from countries where the practice is common, including Egypt, Ethiopia and Somalia.

It is unclear how many families continue the practice after moving to the U.S., but community activists say there is anecdotal evidence of girls being sent back to their parents’ home countries for “vacation cutting” and of traditional cutters traveling to the U.S. to circumcise girls in this country.

To estimate the number who may have undergone the procedure or be at risk, the research group used data collected by the Census Bureau for the 2013 American Community Survey to determine the number of women and girls whose families originate in countries where female genital excision is practiced. It then applied the prevalence rates in those countries to the numbers in the U.S.

The methodology is similar to that used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a study that found about 168,000 women and girls were at risk of genital excision in the U.S. in 1990, said Mark Mather, the group’s associate vice president for U.S. programs.

Campaigners have been urging the government to update its estimate, and the CDC is expected to release new figures this year.

“What’s happening around the other side of the world has implications for families here in the U.S.,” Mather said. “We’re seeing more and more of this with immigration and economic ties. Issues that most people might not have considered before may be emerging in their small towns and communities.”

California is the state with the highest at-risk population, followed by New York (48,000) and Minnesota (44,000), the Population Reference Bureau found.

“California historically has been a very important gateway state for immigrants, and I think that’s reflected in the numbers,” Mather said.


That is also true for many of the other states with high at-risk populations. But Mather said he would expect to see more of these families spreading across the U.S. in the coming years.

Turns out those Ethiopian, Egyptian, and Somalian immigrants aren't assimilating as fast as we'd like, or something.

More at the link.

Female genital mutilation is illegal in the U.S., although the Obama administration doesn't enforce the law, especially since Barack Hussein privileges Islamic values above universal human rights.

Voters Criticize Obama's Response to ISIS 'War Crimes'

At iOTW Report.

It's "what response?" at this point.

PREVIOUSLY: "'People Committed Terrible Deeds in the Name of Christ...'"

Islamic State Claims U.S. Hostage, Kayla Mueller, Killed in Airstrike

At the Los Angeles Times, "Jordanian airstrike kills U.S. hostage, purported militant statement says":

A purported statement from Islamic State militants said Friday that a Jordanian airstrike had killed an American aid worker who was being held hostage in the northeast Syrian city of Raqqa, an extremist stronghold.

There was no immediate confirmation of the report from Washington or means of verifying whether the militant claim was true.

In a message posted on social media, Islamic State purportedly declared that midday “crusader” airstrikes on Raqqa resulted in the death of the hostage. The post also gave the woman’s name, email address, phone number and a home address in Arizona.

It had been publicly known for months that a U.S. aid worker identified by the militants as Kayla Jean Mueller was being held.

News media had withheld Mueller's name out of concern for her safety. The 26-year-old woman did not appear in any of the hostage videos that Islamic State released in recent months.

“The crusader criminal air force struck a site outside of Raqqa city today at noon during Friday prayers, and the strikes lasted for one hour,” the purported Islamic State message said. “And we have confirmed the death of the American hostage by the bombs that fell on the site.”

In the purported post, Islamic State blamed the woman’s asserted death on the Jordanian air force, which has reportedly been conducting airstrikes on Islamic State targets in recent days.

“The losing Jordanian Air Force kills an American hostage,” read the headline of the message, sent via a Twitter account associated with Islamic State.

The group also posted a photograph of a bombed-out building compound identified as the site where the woman had been held. The message said nothing about other victims...

 More. (Also at Memorandum.)

Various reports have questioned the authenticity of Islamic State's claim, although Jordan today did indeed conduct airstrikes on ISIS jihadis inside Syria. See USA Today, "Jordan pounds Islamic State targets inside Iraq, Syria."

Kerrie McMahon

At Egotastic!, "Irish Model Kerrie McMahon Shows Off Killer Bikini Body Along the Southern California Beach Line."

Well, it's definitely been beach weather this last few days, heh.

Obama: 'We are summoned to push back against those who would distort our religion for their nihilistic ends...'

From Pamela Geller, at Atlas Shrugs:

Our religion? What religion is that? Islam is not my religion, Mr. President. Is it yours?

Obama’s speech today at the prayer breakfast continues to send shockwaves through this country.

Contrary to his claims that Christians were slaughtering in the name of Christ, we see none of that. Nowhere do you see Christians beheading, setting alight, or crucifying non-Christians while screaming “Christ is greatest!” Obama had the unmitigated gall to bring up the Spanish Inquisition and what was done at the end of that 800-year-old war, as well as the Crusades (which Obama mentioned as well), which was against the Muslim hordes close to 1000 years ago. Had it not been for Charles Martel beating back the Muslim armies, Europe would look like the hellhole that much of the Middle East looks like today.

Obama freely brought up Christianity’s ancient history, but did not mention Islam’s 1400-year bloody history of jihadi war, land appropriations, cultural annihilations and enslavements. He failed to mention the 1,400 jihad against the Jews raging still today against Israel and Jews across the world. And of course he did not discuss the religion’s bloody jihad now. On the contrary, he falsely claimed it was being “hijacked.” Hijacked, how? Jihadists are citing Quran chapter and verse. They are using Muhammad as their “perfect example.” Obama never said Christianity had been hijacked a thousand years ago. But he did make the outrageous claim that Jim Crow and slavery were sanctioned in the name of Christ.

Jesus did not behead, kill, rape or steal from conquered people, calling the theft righteous booty. Jesus did not marry a six-year-old. Mohammed did. And he slaughtered untold numbers, with his mujahadeen raping and pillaging every bloody step of the way.

Those of us who saw this coming back in 2008 and 2009 were excoriated, ridiculed, and marginalized for speaking the truth about Obama’s past. In 2007 I wrote an article for Israel National News entitled, “Op-Ed: Obama, the Muslim Thing, And Why It Matters.” Before Obama’s election, anyone who used his middle name Hussein was labeled a racist-anti-Muslim-Islamophobic-bigot. And yet the first call he made to a foreign “leader” after he was inaugurated was to terror leader Mahmoud Abbas. The first interview he gave was with al Arabiya television. His first world tour was an apology tour to the Muslim world, culminating in a speech from the leading Islamic university in Cairo, Al Azhar. He invited the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group to his speech in Cairo, despite the fact that it had been banned for decades. Then President Mubarak and his cabinet, America’s 30-year ally in that troubled region, could not attend Obama’s speech because of the terror presence.

It’s why I wrote my 2010 book, The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America.

And now eight years later, with the global jihad roiling the world thanks to Obama’s support and sanction, he deigns to tell us what our religion is.

President Dawah. The more jihad rages, the more Obama proselytizes for Islam. Muslim countries like Jordan are taking a much harder line than the USA. It’s outrageous...

More.

PREVIOUSLY: "'People Committed Terrible Deeds in the Name of Christ...'"

The Genocidal Nature of Jew-Hatred at U.C. Davis

At Blazing Cat Fur.

PREVIOUSLY: "Swastikas Painted on U.C. Davis Jewish Fraternity House: Leftist BDS Anti-Semitism Suspected (VIDEO)."

'A 400-foot chunk of electrified rail sliced through an SUV, punctured its fuel tank and pierced the first and part of the second car of a commuter train, investigators said Wednesday...'

The third rail apparently caused the gas tank to explode, consuming the car in fire.

Man, what a tragedy.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Investigators scour N.Y. train wreckage; death toll stands at 6."

Also, "Train engineer pulled emergency brake when he saw SUV on tracks."

'As someone who has spent several months in southern Afghanistan covering the U.S. infantry, walking foot patrols and occasionally coming under fire, I cringed when I saw the story about Williams...'

Yeah, it's pissed off a lot of good people who've paid their dues.

From Dan Lamothe, at the Washington Post, "Why war reporters can’t stand the Brian Williams scandal":

Brian Williams Must Resign -- if Mr. Williams does not resign or get fired, I will not link again to NBC This... http://t.co/qT0XBxXs9K
— Michael Yon (@Michael_Yon) February 5, 2015

Obama Slamming Christians, Protecting Islam

Yep, that's what he's all about.

Made me sick listening to Obama slam Christians, while protecting Islam. There are no limits to his own evils. #tcot pic.twitter.com/fAIROdoHni
— Wolf♔H&U♔Raven (@WolfSpirit2013) February 5, 2015

PREVIOUSLY: "'People Committed Terrible Deeds in the Name of Christ...'"

Sen. Tom Cotton Unloads on Brian McKeon, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy: Guantanamo Bay Prisoners 'Can Rot in Hell'

At the Hill, "Senator says Gitmo detainees can 'rot in hell'."

'People Committed Terrible Deeds in the Name of Christ...'

This is just one more iteration of the president's moral equivalence, and worse, his refusal to name the religion, today, that is committing unspeakable atrocities in the name of faith.

At the Weekly Standard, "Obama: 'People Committed Terrible Deeds in the Name of Christ'."

And Laura Ingraham is interviewed at Gretchen Carlson's show, on Fox News, "Pres Obama: People Committed Terrible Deeds In Name of Christ - ISIS - Laura Ingraham."

We've had almost a month of non-stop, high-profile Islamic jihad, death and terror. And our president is talking about the "terrible deeds" committed in the name of Christ? Who buys this anymore? I mean, who besides the hardcore Islamo-enabling partisan left, like the ghoulish John Amato at Crooks and Liars?

Among likely Republican and Democrat caucus-goers in Iowa, there's little disagreement on the need for more aggressive military action against the threat. See USA Today, "New Iowa Poll finds surge in GOP focus on terrorism":

When polled on a list of specific actions, Republicans and Democrats align on two points: more aggressively pursuing terrorists in this country and abroad to prevent more attacks, and cutting back on surveillance programs that collect data on phone calls of ordinary Americans.

On pursuing terrorists, 91% of Republicans and 70% of Democrats want more aggressive action. The desire to curtail surveillance is nearly equal at 60% of Republicans and 63% of Democrats.

I guess they didn't talk to the horrible, horrible ghouls at Crooks and Liars.

Hayat Boumeddiene Calls for New Terrorist Attacks on France?

Well, she was whisked away through a terrorist network out of France, so why not?

At Telegraph UK, "Hayat Boumeddiene 'appears in Islamic State film'":

Hayat Boumeddiene, widow of Paris killer Amedy Coulibaly and dubbed France's most wanted woman, appears in Isil film calling for more attacks against native country, report says.

A young woman seen in an Islamic State propaganda video may be Hayat Boumeddiene, widow of one of the gunmen behind the Paris killings, it has been reported.

The video, titled Blow Up France 2, was released on Tuesday by French-speaking Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) fighters and features a militant calling for new attacks in France.

A woman clad in camouflage clothing and holding a weapon is seen standing next to the speaker.

"French authorities are investigating the possibility this woman could be Hayat Boumeddiene," a security source told CNN. French authorities have not confirmed her identity.

Boumedienne's husband, Amedy Coulibaly, was killed by police on January 9 after he had killed four Jewish hostages in a kosher supermarket and a policewoman.

More.

Brian Williams Lied About Helicopter Being Shot Down in Iraq

I first saw this story yesterday at Legal Insurrection, "Did NBC News Anchor Brian Williams lie about Iraq incident?"

He did indeed.

And the story has become the outage of the day at Memeorandum. Plus an update at LI, "Dan Rather was Brian Williams before Brian Williams became Dan Rather."

I stopped watching both ABC World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News at least a decade ago. Most of ABC's news operation is composed of leftists and former Bill Clinton administration lackeys. I'm holding out hope for the network's new anchor David Muir. My wife likes ABC, so sometimes I'll watch it. I haven't watched Brian Williams since forever. At one time I thought he was going to be a savior of the dying breed, an old-style newsman to rescue a floundering format in the age of cable and the Internet. But not so, it turns out. He's leftist and opines on the air, and gets called out by new media. I can't stand that. And he's openly blustery and pompous. Peter Jennings he's not be a million miles.

In any case, Erik Wemple nails it with this headline and story, "The Brian Williams scandal is an NBC News-wide scandal." (At Memeorandum.)

And Alisyn Camerota reports at CNN, "Williams apologizes for 'bungled attempt' to thank vet."

BONUS: At AoSHQ, "OMG!"

Vindicating Chris Kyle

At the Wall Street Journal, "Islamic State proves the late sniper was right about the ‘savage’ enemy":

‘Savage, despicable evil. That’s what we were fighting in Iraq.” Those were among the words the late Chris Kyle, of “American Sniper” fame, used to describe the enemy he and fellow veterans of the Iraq war faced. After seeing images this week of Islamic State jihadists murdering a caged Jordanian pilot by burning him alive, can there be any real doubt that Kyle was right?

Of course not.

But keep reading.

Jordan's King Abdullah to Personally Suit-Up Against Islamic State?

He's a fighter pilot and he's taking al-Kasasbeh's murder personally.

From Mary Katharine Ham, at Hot Air, "Too good to check: Angry Jordanian king may personally suit up against ISIS":

If he’s trained as a pilot, this feels less like silly Putinesque staged bravado and more like a Jordanian John Wick after vengeance. Or, maybe that’s just how I’d like to imagine it because it’s nice to imagine a leader of a country so righteously enraged by the brutal killing of his citizens and so skilled in the kicking of ass that he decides to engage in it personally. Even if it’s not the most practical of foreign policies to have each president enter the Octagon with these barbarians, I long for a modicum of the clarity that animates the impulse.

Via Memeorandum.

Charles Krauthammer: Obama's 'Completely Uninterested' in Rolling Back Islamic State

As I was saying about Obama's "bloodless" foreign policy. He gets more excited when illegal DREAMers are visiting the White House.

Emily Ratajkowski in New Teaser Advertisement for Italian Lingerie Brand Yamamay (VIDEO)

Lovely.

Hanna Davis on Cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue 2015

At SI, "2015 SI Swimsuit cover model Hannah Davis surprised with reveal."

And at London's Daily Mail, "How low can they go! Hannah Davis is named Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition's cover girl of the year in one of the magazine's most revealing shots yet."

Mike Morell: 100,000 Troops Needed to Stop Islamic State

From the former CIA deputy director, at yesterday's CBS This Morning.

There might not be much public support for a huge deployment, but it's not like President Obama has even tried to rally public support against the horror of Islamic State. His legacy is ending wars not actually fighting them.