Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:

The Ghost of Halloween ~ What ancient pagans knew that moderns risk forgetting: they took the reality of life, death, and evil seriously. We don’t.

 
We are watching the death of open frontiers in Europe ~ The UK Telegraph thinks the continent will suddenly become nationalist, xenophobic; the endless wave of migrants – for which we have utterly failed to prepare – will unleash extremist politics throughout the Continent.
I disagree with their conclusions. It’s much too late for that. Civil unrest will merely set the stage for the implementation of a European police state, solidifying the growing breach between the ruling elite class and the teeming masses. Any nationalistic uprisings will be extinguished in the name of law and order.

 
Abortion, LGBT, Prostitution: Amnesty International Loses Its Way ~ Caving in to modern mores, regardless of the impact on those they claim to be helping ~

Founded by Christians, the famous INGO has betrayed its original vocation […]
 
In wanting to move with the times, Amnesty International, like so many other organizations and political parties, turns a blind eye to the plight of the most vulnerable and the poorest people, starting with the unborn. History will probably judge this modern-day attitude as severely as it has judged the past blindness to the fate of entire populations doomed to slavery or extermination by societies that had long been Christianized.

 
Another Obama mystery: He wore a wedding ring as a single man ~ I’ve never been one to buy the Obama-is-a Muslim theory; he’s too immersed in leftist ideology. But the long time presence of this ring is awfully curious…

 
Boehner Cuts Deal With White House; National Debt to Reach $20 Trillion ~ On his way out the door, the resigning house speaker reminds us serfs where his ultimate loyalties lie ~

By the time the dust settles, the deal will cause the country’s national debt to reach $20 trillion within the next 18 months, if not sooner.
 
Doing an end run around usual House procedures, Boehner went over the heads of numerous committee chairmen to deal directly with the White House. In essence, the deal emasculates the “sequester” cuts built into law in 2011, gives President Obama a blank check to fund his government through the end of his second term, expands military spending, and keeps the Social Security disability program solvent for another six years.

National fraternity group tells members not to wear ‘funny, ironic, trendy’ Halloween costumes ~ Curb your freedom of expression ~

The greatest accomplishment of a censor is teaching targets to censor themselves.
 
Social justice warriors and university administrators are making headway in this quest, recently convincing the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) that creativity and risk-taking are more hassle than they’re worth.

 
Ted Cruz’s father: LGBT activists will try to legalize pedophilia ~ And this is news because? Because the Washington Post wants to paint Rafael Cruz as an out-of-touch alarmist, even though he’s absolutely correct.
 
The world is playing rope a dope with Obama At US Defense Watch, a recently-launched website, a former US Army Intelligence officer who provides candid analysis of international progressive follies. Love the allegory in this one ~

The globe is one big weight room for Vladimir Putin. While Putin hits the weight pile, Obama does Pilates […]
 
Obama is on the ropes, but he’s no Rocky, believe me. He doesn’t believe America is the land of opportunity. He doesn’t drink raw eggs at 4AM. He doesn’t wear an old Champion gray running suit with Chuck Taylors. He doesn’t punch meat carcasses. He doesn’t have Burgess Meredith as his manager. And, he can’t go toe to toe with Apollo Creed or Putin or Jung-un or ISIS or anyone. Frankly, he’s not much of a fighter.
 
But, the bad guys are. And, that’s why we’re in a world of hurt.

 
19 ways to a longer (and healthy) life ~ Genetics, outlook, temperament and lifestyle. Change what you can; accept what you can’t

 
Air Force officer besieged over Operation Christmas Child ~ Accoding to Mikey the-angry-atheist Weinstein no one in the military should be allowed to have anything to do with Christian charity ~

“We should be commending members of the Air Force, not condemning them for wanting to serve orphans,” (Alliance for Religious Liberty Executive Director Ron Crews) declared in a statement on Tuesday. “The e-mail announcing a volunteer opportunity in no way violates any Air Force policy or regulations, especially since the program involved is a federally approved charity.”

Mikey Weinstein is one evil bast**d.

 
Clock and Bull Story ~ The truth about “Clock Boy” including his strangely suspicious family ~

His older sister, Eyman, was once suspended from her school for threatening to blow it up. His uncle runs a trucking company called Twin Towers Transportation. And his father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, is a publicity hungry activist who calls himself a sheik, wears flowing white robes, and is a 9/11 Truther. The elder Mohamed routinely returns to Sudan to run as a presidential candidate, and he once debated Pastor Terry Jones of Koran-burning fame.

 
Beware of the pumpkins! Department of Energy blames Jack O’Lanterns for climate change ~ Good grief is nothing off-limits with these deceitful climatists? Experts say it’s an overreaction. Ya think?!

 
Trick or Treat or the TRUTH ~ a Halloween message from the Ignorant Fisherman