The latest Gaza grievance march

Posted on April 4, 2018

Here they go again ➡ Palestinians: A March to Destroy Israel ~

On March 30, an attempt by tens of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to infiltrate the border with Israel launched a six-week campaign of mass protests — called the “March of Return” — organized by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other radical Palestinian groups.

 
Now of course the mainstreams and other assorted leftists regularly frame Israel as the villain in this ongoing conflict. They look at a map of the Gaza Strip and lament the woeful state of the poor, perennial refugees, helplessly trapped on a small piece of land by a ruthless Zionist regime. It’s a narrative that might be plausible – if it had any basis at all in reality.

 
GazaStrip4-2018 

This detailed historical account of the Palestinian Refugee situation provides some key background facts:
 

• Israel didn’t expel any Arabs. They fled on their own, shortly after the UN partition resolution was adopted in 1947.
 
• By the end of January1948, the exodus was so alarming the Palestine Arab Higher Committee asked neighboring Arab countries to refuse visas to these refugees and to seal the borders against them.
 
• Meanwhile, Jewish leaders urged the Arabs to remain in Palestine and become citizens of Israel.
 
• It was the Arab leaders themselves, overconfident in their ability to defeat the Israelis, who encouraged – in some cases ordered – them to leave ~

“This wholesale exodus was due partly to the belief of the Arabs, encouraged by the boastings of an unrealistic Arabic press and the irresponsible utterances of some of the Arab leaders that it could be only a matter of weeks before the Jews were defeated by the armies of the Arab States and the Palestinian Arabs enabled to re¬enter and retake possession of their country.” ~ Secretary of the Arab League Office in London, Edward Atiyah, in his book, The Arabs

 

• In 1949, after the War of Independence, the number of refugees was estimated at 500,000 to 700,000.
 
• Neighboring Arab countries (other than Jordan) refused to allow them in ~

After the 1948 war, Egypt controlled the Gaza Strip and its more than 200,000 inhabitants, but refused to allow the Palestinians into Egypt or permit them to move elsewhere.
 
Although demographic figures indicated ample room for settlement existed in Syria, Damascus refused to consider accepting any refugees, except those who might refuse repatriation. Syria also declined to resettle 85,000 refugees in 1952-54, though it had been offered international funds to pay for the project. Iraq was also expected to accept a large number of refugees, but proved unwilling. Lebanon insisted it had no room for the Palestinians. In 1950, the UN tried to resettle 150,000 refugees from Gaza in Libya, but was rebuffed by Egypt.

 
GazagrievanceQte1

• Considering it’s been 70 years now, it’s likely that the majority of the original “Palestinians” have since passed on. Amazingly their ranks have swelled X 10. Today’s estimate is well over 5,000,000.
 
• In 2005, Israel removed all of its settlers in Gaza and turned over the territory to the Palestinian Authority. The move backfired when Hamas staged a bloody coup to expel the Palestinian Authority in 2007 and transformed Gaza into a terrorist base for destroying Israel.
 
• Over the years, any attempt at compromise on the part of the Israelis has been flat out rejected – because the Palestinian Authority refuses to recognize Israel’s fundamental right to exist.

 
And that’s actually the impetus behind this latest protest. According to organizers, the real purpose behind the “March of Return” is that it marks the beginning of…

“… the liberation of all of Palestine, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River.” In other words, the Palestinians were told that infiltrating the border with Israel would be the first step toward destroying Israel.

 
In addition, two of the Hamas members involved in leading the demonstrations, Ismail Haniyeh and Yehya Sinwar, made it clear that ~

(T)he “March of Return” had another goal: to foil any attempt by the Arabs to make peace or normalize their relations with Israel.

 
GazagrievanceQte2How do rational people negotiate with that?
 

Although the left is pretending that the poor beleaguered “Palestinians” are the victims here, that they’re protesting living conditions, pleading for solutions to the “humanitarian” and “economic” crises in the Gaza Strip, etc., it’s just a ruse – as it always has been.
 

Oh, there’s no denying the living conditions in Gaza are abysmal for most of the occupants. But that is no fault of the West or Israel. For decades now, Palestine’s “refugees” have been the world’s number one charity case – via the UN.
 
By far the costliest scam is the UN’s UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency -for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) program. The original purpose was humanitarian; to provide jobs on public works projects, along with healthcare, education, and relief and social services to refugees. Could those responsible for the program’s creation have possibly imagined it would still be in place seven decades later?
 
Noah Pollack at The Washington Free Beacon explains UNRWA’s devolution ~

This UN bureaucracy was established in 1950 after Israel’s War of Independence, when a coalition of Arab states failed to wipe the new nation off the map. The war the Arabs started but lost created around 650,000 Arab refugees. These refugees were then exploited by the UN and the Arab states, which realized they could be used as pawns in the permanent war on Israel’s legitimacy […]
 
As the number of fake refugees increases, so does UNRWA’s budget, which today is well north of $1 billion a year.

As ususal, we’re the biggest chumps of all ~

Since the beginning the United States has donated close to $6 billion in total, and is (by far) UNRWA’s single biggest donor at around $400 million a year. The United States is contributing to the cruel exploitation of millions of Palestinians, who are raised in dependency, grievance, and victimhood, and taught in UNRWA schools and community centers to believe in the fantasy of Israel’s destruction and their “return” to homes they never had.

 

With that kind of cash rolling in, is it any wonder that the Palestinian Authority has been essentially holding the refugees hostage all this time? After all, they’ve got tunnels to build ~
 
RafahTunnels 

Seriously. Despite the fact that Hamas is designated as a “terrorist entity” by most of the nations that fund UNRWA, they’re the ones distributing the money! And because the UN doesn’t require any accountability from the Palestinians, the program is rife with fraud, waste and abuse. Not to mention diversion of funds for nefarious purposes – like smuggling tunnels. And rockets to blow up Israelis.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 
Gazahates 

This one picture tells you everything you need to know about the latest unrest in the Gaza strip. Where else in the world could a defiant, unarmed woman shriek directly in the face of an armed-to-the-teeth soldier, knowing he wouldn’t lay a finger on her?
 
This woman has been brainwashed for her entire life by the terror organizations that run the show in Gaza. Despite the reality right in front of her, she believes that Israel is the root of all evil.
 
And yet it’s Israel, more than the surrounding Arab nations, that has really done the most to try and aid the people living there (without, understandably, jeopardizing their own safety). They’ve certainly been more accomodating than Egypt, Gaza’s neighbor to the south ~

In 2017, the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip (see map) was open altogether for less than 30 days; by contrast, the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip was open for more than 280 days during the same year.
 
Israel enforces a naval blockade on the Gaza Strip that is meant to prevent Iran, Hezbollah and other terror parties from smuggling weapons into the coastal enclave controlled by Hamas. At the same time, Israel has kept its border crossings with Gaza for the movement of goods and individuals […]
 
Egypt also continues to bar foreigners from entering the Gaza Strip through the Rafah terminal. Even Arabs who want to help the people of the Gaza Strip are forced to enter through the Erez border crossing because the Egyptians do not give them permission to use the Rafah terminal.

 
Furthermore, the woman above would never dare hurl insults into the face of an Egyptian soldier ~

The Palestinians know that messing with the Egyptian army will cost them a heavy price. If Israel used snipers to stop the March 30 protesters from crossing the border, the Egyptian response would undoubtedly have been much tougher. The Egyptians would have used artillery and warplanes against the Palestinian demonstrators. The Palestinians are well aware that the Egyptian army would raze the entire Gaza Strip if the Palestinians breached the border and undermined Egypt’s national security.

 

Israel’s border security is in place to ensure the continued existence of Israel. They face an existential threat not just from the terrorists in Gaza but from several of their anti-Semitic neighbors (notably Iran) who refuse to recognize an Israeli state and have stated their intentions to destroy all the Jews.
 
This Palestinian “March of Return” is a thinly disguised invasion. Israel is well within her rights as a sovereign nation to treat is as such.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Related:
Free the Palestinians: End UNRWA funding ~ In this opinion piece at The Hill, Shoshana Bryen explains how the Palestinian population is imprisoned by the United Nations and its own unrealistic vision of the future ~

UNRWA is a huge impediment to actionable understanding in the Arab world – and particularly among Palestinians – that Israel is a legitimate and permanent part of the Middle East. Making Israel real to people who delude themselves on that point is key to honest negotiations about the future of a Palestinian state.

• News flash: Hamas terrorists aren’t interested in peace
• Hamas-Israel Conflict – a Primer for Slow Learners
• PHOTOS: Most Palestinians killed at Gaza border clash were terrorists
• Israel Says It Will Expand Response if Gaza ‘Terror’ Drags On

How Trump Can Cut Aid to a Horrible U.N. Program ~ In January the president did cut 1/2 of our scheduled contribution to UNRWA; definitely a step in the right direction ~

Last year, U.S. taxpayers provided about 30% of the agency’s annual budget (about $360 million of $1.24 billion).

 
PA slams Nikki Haley as ‘ambassador of hatred’ after she blocks anti-Israel move ~ Last week Nikki Haley, our ambassador to the UN, blocked a ridiculous resolution condemning Israel – for essentially defending their borders. Predictably, all the usual suspects went ballistic.
Thank God, we finally have a voice of sanity at the UN again to thwart the universal condemnation of every action Israel take to protect their country from jihadists.
 
Pallywood: A History ~ The phenomenon whereby the “Palestinians” create and disseminate propaganda to elicit sympathy and support for their cause

Posted in Good vs.Evil, Unvarnished | 4 Comments

Messianic prophecies – all fulfilled in Jesus

Posted on April 2, 2018

Here’s more evidence that the scriptural account of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is true; prophesies fulfilled.
 
The Old Testament contains at least 100 prophesies about a coming messiah, a redeemer whom the Lord promised to send to save His people from their sin. These were mostly recorded many hundreds of years before Jesus Christ was born. And all of them were realized in Him.
 
The following video from THE JOHN 10:10 PROJECT is just one of a series of ten that present the various Messianic prophesies, showing how these predictions came true in Christ ~

 

 

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by
the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of
man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
~ 2 Peter 1:20-21

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“A most mischievous superstition” – The Resurrection

Posted on April 1, 2018

Those who glibly dismiss the Holy Scriptures as fiction, fable, fairy tale, have never seriously evaluated any of the historical evidence that confirms much of the biblical narrative. Nor do they consider that, as Eric Erickson points out in the article below, there is no one single historical occurrence that has had such a dramatic impact on the course of human events than the death – and resurrection – of Jesus Christ.
 
Secular historians from early A.D. corroborate the existence of Jesus. Tacitus, a Roman historian, spoke of a “pernicious (mysterious) superstition,” a disquieting belief held by His followers that He actually rose from the dead ~
 
JC-littleCarpenter

Survey academic historians on the most important events in history and, regardless of their personal beliefs, they inevitably tend to list the execution of a Jewish carpenter some time around 33 AD as one of the most important events. Whether atheist or religious or Muslim or Buddhist, historians recognize that civilization shifted on this weekend roughly 2000 years ago.
 
The death of Jesus of Nazareth reshaped the map, gave us a common set of idiomatic expressions, brought down empires, inspired the rapid evolution of art and gave the world a truly global religion. While Judaism is still anchored in Jerusalem and Islam in Mecca, Christianity is a global phenomenon where, even as it purportedly declines in the West, it continues to spread in China, Africa and South America.
 
Those of us who do believe that Jesus was more than a mere carpenter point to this and find reason to believe had Jesus merely died, he’d just be one of hundreds of men who claimed to be the Jewish messiah during that time period. There were certainly others. Most of them are lost to history. Jesus, however, remains. The gospel writers recorded that Jesus did not just die, but conquered death and rose again. The Apostle Paul documents that Jesus appeared to more than 500 people in the 40-day period between his resurrection and ascension into Heaven.
 
Many prefer to believe Jesus never existed. It is a far easier explanation for them than to deal with the inconvenient truth that the death of a supposed carpenter set off a global religion. Only something profound associated with that death could have pulled that off. Only something profound would see people, less than a generation after His death, willing to lay down their own lives for Him. It does suggest the resurrection is a historic event. It boggles the mind that so many would be willing to die proclaiming Jesus the risen Lord so soon after His death if it had not happened.
 
In truth, we have more contemporaneous accounts of the existence of Jesus than we do of several Roman Emperors, including the Emperor Nero, or even Mohammed. Merely by the standards of examining the truth of history, it is hard to argue Jesus, the man, is a myth. The Roman historian Tacitus, around 116 AD, noted, “Nero fastened the guilt [for burning Rome] and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.”
 
That “mischievous superstition” was the belief that Jesus was still alive. In the Roman Empire, everyone was expected to worship a god. Christians were considered enemies of mankind because they worshipped a living person, not a dead man, which made them atheists.
 
Beyond the historic references, something more had to have happened. Even Jesus’s brother James, who the historic record shows rejected Jesus in life and did not even show up at his crucifixion, became a leader in the early church. Eusebius, one of the earliest church historians, documents that leaders in Jerusalem went to James to have him publicly denounce the religion that had sprung up around his brother. Eusebius notes that James announced he’d been wrong and his brother really was Yahweh incarnate, the living God. The local leaders, enraged, dragged James to the top of the temple wall and hurled him off to his death. That those who knew Jesus best were willing to die in defense of His divinity is staggering. I assure you neither my siblings nor yours would be willing to die in defense of your divinity.
 
There really is no historic dispute that Jesus lived. The question is whether He still lives and is God. For those who doubt, perhaps they should ask Him, sincerely, and find out.

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Saturday Shorts – 3-31-18

Posted on March 31, 2018

sshorts3-28-15

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

 
Baby Boomer Gives Gun Protesters Something to Think About ~ It takes decades of life experience to understand that the world doesn’t work the way you want it to ~

It was my generation that looked for a world of peace and “free” peace. To obtain this goal, we destroyed family structures, sexual morals and marriage. We tried to make love free, and it came at the high price of shattering families and destroying individual lives (including those not yet born).
 
Far from producing love and peace, this shattered world is engendering bitter fruits in a society that is coming apart with great violence […]
 
It finds tragic expression in the lives of lonely individuals who seek revenge upon society by killing other students.

 
And more advice ~ Confessions of a Former Teen Activist ~ A cautionary tale ~

Young people have important things to say, and old people can easily compromise and sell out. Still, we do best when mature leaders lead the way.

 

Singer Who Survived Bataclan Attack Condemns Gun Control March ~ A realistic perspective from someone who’s a lot older and wiser than a 17 year-old high school student ~

Jesse Hughes is a member of Eagles of Death Metal, the band that was playing at the Bataclan concert venue when Muslim extremists shot 89 people to death in November of 2015 […]
 
‘All of you protesting and taking days off from school insult the memory of those who were killed’

 
Hundreds of thousands march to protest legalized abortion in Argentina ~ While thousands of lefties were marching for gun control in the U.S. last weekend…

ARGENTINA, March 27, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) — Hundreds of thousands of Argentinians filled the streets in 200 cities across the predominantly Catholic country on Palm Sunday to march for life and against a bill to legalize abortion now before its national Congress.

 
In California, #EarthHour failed to even register a blip in electricity reduction ~ Oops. Surprisingly, nobody really wants to sit in the dark for an hour.

 
Oldest Language in India Only 4,500 Years Old ~ Something to ponder. Oddly enough, this discovery lines up with the Biblical account of tribal dispersions after the Tower of Babel ~

If modern humans left Africa 185,000 years ago or more, why does the oldest language in India date back less than 3% of that time?

 
ISIS: Surging Again in Syria? ~ As long as the area remains unstable they’re not going away ~

Even the once-optimistic U.N. Special Envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, now believes that ISIS could make a comeback, exploiting the lack of a political settlement in Syria. The longer the stalemate drags on in Syria, the better it is for ISIS — and other terrorist groups, for that matter — to feed off the chaos and to continue posing a danger to regional and global security.

 
Who’s Actually Fostering War With Iran: John Bolton or the New York Times? ~ President Trump’s new national security advisor is a realist – not a warmonger ~

As the Islamic Republic’s expansion in Syria sets the stage for a wider war in the Middle East, many observers in the West advocate policies euphemistically labeled “engagement” that amount to inaction in the face of Iranian aggression, thereby advancing, not stopping, the path to armed conflict. Bolton, conversely, actually may help prevent large-scale war in the Middle East because of his “ultra-hawkishness,” by reestablishing a credible U.S. military deterrent to avert a catastrophic conflict.

 

5 Reasons To Watch ‘The Prince Of Egypt’ With Your Family This Week ~ Besides the fact that it’s better than most anything else on TV 🙂

 
Christian Couple Fined For Refusing Gay Marriage On Their Farm Comes Up With Perfect Solution ~ After being sued by a lesbian couple, Cynthia and Robert Gifford of Liberty Ridge Farm in New York state, now have a disclaimer in all their advertising ~

(T)hey inform anyone who wants to hold a wedding on their property that they will donate a percentage of their profits to organizations that champion traditional marriage in America.

 
Dick Morris: Is This Finally the End of Mueller? ~ The Russian collusion investigation has become a farce; Mueller has acted way beyond the original intent and the scope of his authority. Manafort’s attorneys have now filed a motion to dismiss, pointing out the Jeff Sessions’ recusal only applied to matters relating to the campaign ~

Investigating anything else — like Manafort’s business dealings in Ukraine or Trump’s prior business activities or those of brother-in-law Jared Kushner — is all outside the scope of Session’s recusal and, therefore, of Rosenstein’s authority (to appoint Mueller in the first place).

 
Murder of Jewish woman in Paris flat being treated as anti-Semitic ~ A horrific crime by two Muslim men, one of whom supposedly knew the 85 year-old for twenty years! #ReligionofPeace ~

A French-Israeli MP Meyer Habib said he was convinced Mrs Knoll had become the victim of the ‘hatred and barbarism of an Islamist’, who ‘stabbed her eleven times in her family flat’.

 
Starbucks forced to put cancer warning on products ~ When a progressive company reaps the big government intrusion they sow ~

Starbucks must slap a cancer warning on its products in California, a judge ruled Wednesday — just the latest in a long line of products now forced to bear the foreboding label in the Golden State.

But, Should you be worried about cancer in your coffee? ~ No.

You cannot drink enough coffee to give you cancer.

 
‘Father, Forgive Them’: 3 Powerful Easter Reflections to Help You Pray for the Persecutors ~ Taking Jesus’ words to heart; “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

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The Legend of the Dogwood

Posted on March 30, 2018

And when they came to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him,
and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
Then Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know not what they do.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 
Was the cross Jesus was crucified on made of dogwood? We don’t know for sure, but this narrative is a comforting one ~
dogwood 

At the time of the crucifixion, the dogwood had reached the size of the mighty oak tree. So strong and firm was the wood that it was chosen as the timber for Jesus’ cross.
 
To be used for such a cruel purpose greatly distressed the dogwood. While nailed upon it, Jesus sensed this, and in his compassion said. “Because of your pity for my suffering, never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used for a cross. Henceforth, it shall be slender, bent, and twisted, and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross–two long and two short petals.
 
“In the center of the outer edge of each petal will be the print of nails. In the center of the flower, stained with blood, will be a crown of thorns so that all who see it will remember.”

 
From “Sower’s Seeds Aplenty: Fourth Planting” via Apple Seeds

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The World’s War on Christendom – Latest Dispatch from the Front

Posted on March 29, 2018

noChristiansJohn15 

Because most of the Christian persecution in the world today occurs in the Middle East at the hands of Muslims, we don’t always realize that Christians experience hostilities from various other groups as well. In India, Christians are harassed by Muslims in Muslim-majority areas. But in poorer regions they may be persecuted by members of the Naxalite movement (Maoist rebels). And most recently, Hindu radicals have joined in the oppression.
 

As Open Doors explains about this latest phenomenon ~

These radicals are intent on cleansing the nation of both Islam and Christianity and employ violence to this end. Usually, converts to Christianity experience the worst persecution and are constantly under pressure to return to Hinduism.
 
Campaigns known as Ghar Wapsi (or “homecoming”) are used to get Christians to denounce their newfound faith. These converts are often physically assaulted and sometimes killed for refusing to deny Christ. The government continues to look away when religious minorities are attacked, indicating that violence may continue to increase in the coming years.

 
According to Morning Star News, Hindu extremists have been emboldened since May 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power. His National Democratic Alliance government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, exhibits a hostile attitude to non-Hindus.

In an increasingly common phenomenon, Hindu nationalists trying to drive a wedge between tribal peoples [generally animists, who worship objects in nature and other gods] and Christians, (persuade) villagers that those who had left their beliefs, sacrifices and other rituals had betrayed their ancestors, gods, and the country of India. The Hindu nationalists then obtain tribal support for political candidates and policies and introduce Hindu beliefs and practices into animist religious systems.

 

Morning Star tracks worldwide instances of persecution against Christians. Here are several of their recent headlines from India ~
 
• Hindu Extremists Turn Tribal, Animist Villagers against Christians in India
• Ferocity of Hindu Extremist Attacks Stuns Christians in Tamil Nadu, India
• Pastor’s Family Assaulted in Southern India
• Bible Burning in Southern India Shows Depth of Hostility Toward Christians

 

“We Christians are sending the message of peace and love into the world, but what we receive is hate and violence. It is terrible. We Tamilians (a Dravidian ethnic group who trace their ancestry to the Indian state of Tamil Nadu) have a heart big enough to accommodate all groups, whether it be Christians, Muslims or Hindus. We must all live in unity and peace. That should be our primary goal.”
~ Nehemiah Christie, director of legislations and regulations for the Synod of Pentecostal Churches

 
Open Doors recently produced this video about a young Indian woman ~ In her 28 years, Kusum has suffered more for her faith than most Christians have in their lifetime ~
 

 

As we in the west prepare to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection in peace, unconcerned about our personal safety as we attend worship services, let’s remember our brothers and sisters around the world who are suffering for their faith and who aren’t able to enjoy that same freedom. Please pray for Kusum and the thousands of other Indian Christians facing hostility, ostracism, attacks and worse from Hindu extremists.
 
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Related:
Hindu-on-Christian Persecution ~

Over the last three years, the anti-Christian persecution in India has continued to increase. Open Doors’ World Watch List ranked India as the planet’s 25th worst persecutor of Christians in 2015. Yet in 2017 it was found to be the 15th biggest persecutor and, this year, it climbed to 11th place.

Posted in Good vs.Evil, Unvarnished | 1 Comment

A prayer for Holy (Maundy) Thursday

Posted on March 29, 2018

O Holy Spirit, on this dearest and best of nights, the night our Lord gave us His Holy Communion, guard our hearts from unbelief! Preserve us from all wavering and all doubt, in order that we each may firmly believe the Word and promise Jesus spoke to all Christians at His final meal before His crucifixion; “This is My body, and this is My blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Amen

 
LastSupper

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Iran’s worldwide terror network

Posted on March 28, 2018

IransTerrorNetwork 
While the Iranian regime ruthlessly suppresses dissent in their own country, they were no doubt cheering on the #MarchForOurLives crowd this past Saturday as the protestors called for the repeal of the Second Amendment. Actually – considering his negative views on the right to bear arms – the American anti-gunners’ should think about making Khamenei their new poster boy; Iranian Supreme Leader Demands Americans Disarm ~

(Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei, who has instructed his government to spend billions of dollars on military hardware and ballistic missiles, lashed out at the United States over the weekend, calling on America to ban all guns in light of a series of domestic shootings.

 

But not only does Iran deny basic human rights to their own people – and advocate the same tyrannical behavior for other nations – they continue to hold the world’s top spot as a sponsor of terrorism. As this 2015 article from David Daoud (at The Tower) explains, the Islamic Republic of Iran Spreads Its Evil Empire through Terrorist Militias ~

Tehran’s hegemony has spread far beyond Baghdad, Beirut, Damascus, and Sana’a. But this latest incarnation of Imperial Iran is unique in that it is virtually invisible. Iranian flags do not fly above the centers of government in these capitals, and the foot soldiers of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps – Quds Force (IRGC-QF) do not march in their streets.
 
Tehran has contracted this clandestine conquest out to an ever-expanding list of loyal proxies. They mutate and fracture into new entities, adopt new names, and operate in different roles and locations.

 
In the Middle East, Iran’s sub-state terrorist groups include the Houthis in Yemen; Hezbollah in Lebanon; and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But they’ve also been expanding into Central and South America: Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Cuba, and some other island countries in the Caribbean – for decades.

 
A recent piece at Gatestone Institute discusses the regime’s subversive presence in Argentina, and the latest development in the investigation of a terrorist bombing the took place more than 20 years ago.
 
It’s now pretty well established fact in the intelligence community that ~

(T)he July 18, 1994 terrorist bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, (was) carried out by Hezbollah under the guidance of Iran. This terrorist act was executed when a van packed with 600 lbs. of explosives detonated outside the Jewish center there, the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA). When the building collapsed, 85 people were killed and at least 300 more wounded.

 
1994ArgentineAMIAbombing 

Declassified Argentine intelligence reports also clearly show that Hezbollah had carried out a previous bombing, in 1992, of the Israeli Embassy — an attack in which 29 were killed and around 200 wounded.

 
Now it’s emerging that former Argentinian president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, probably played a role in obscuring Iran’s alleged responsibility for the ’94 attack. Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who claimed to have evidence of her complicity, was suspiciously murdered three years ago ~

Initially, Nisman’s death seemed to doom any chance that those who had committed this act of terror would ever be prosecuted. Argentinian protestors, however, questioned initial reports that he had committed suicide and demanded that his death be investigated.
 
Nisman, who had publicly accused Kirchner of treason, was murdered by unknown assailants one day before he was officially to present his allegations against her.

 
Speculation as to Kirchner’s motivation for obscuring Iran’s involvement in the AMIA bombing is that there was some mutually beneficial bartering going on…

… whereby in exchange for Argentine grain, Argentina would receive Iranian oil — if Argentina decided to bury the investigation.

 
Earlier this month she was officially charged ~

Argentina’s former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will go to trial on charges that she participated in the cover-up of Iranian officials involved in the 1994 terror attack in a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires […]
 
In a 26-page ruling by Judge Claudio Bonadio that was released on Monday, the former president and eleven former government officials were ordered to stand trial and were accused of the cover-up and abuse of power […]
 
Bonadio’s ruling indicated that Kirchner, along with her colleagues, engaged in “secret and official negotiations” with senior Iranian officials that resulted in the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with Tehran in 2013. This secret pact would have allowed senior Iranian officials involved in the attack to be investigated in their own country, rather than in Argentina.

 

Hopefully, this trial will finally, officially reveal the truth about Iran’s responsibility for those deaths in 1994. And bring about a resolute focus on their nefarious activities in this hemisphere ~

 

This “Argentina Model” is a case study on how Iran may be using its diplomatic missions, foreign and domestic intelligence agencies, front organizations and Hezbollah-infested Lebanese diaspora in Latin America to establish not only terrorist networks and conduct terrorist operations, but also formidable business, economic and commercial relationships. Those activities could also be nurturing criminal financing networks and anti-American and anti-Israeli political coalitions.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, if only our former president would be brought to justice for assisting the terrorist state of Iran as well!

Obama-era cash traced to Iran-backed terrorists
 
The U.S. government has traced some of the $1.7 billion released to Iran by the Obama administration to Iranian-backed terrorists in the two years since the cash was transferred.
 
According to knowledgeable sources, Iran has used the funds to pay its main proxy, the Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah, along with the Quds Force, Iran’s main foreign intelligence and covert action arm and element of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
 
The U.S. money supplied to Iran as part of an arms settlement dating back to the 1970s also has been traced to Iran’s backing of Houthi rebels seeking to take power in Yemen. Iran has been supporting the Yemen rebels as part of a bid to encircle and eventually take control of Saudi Arabia.[…]
 
The American money sent by the Obama administration was first flown to Switzerland aboard an unmarked chartered aircraft, and then converted into euros, Swiss francs and other currencies. An Iranian transport aircraft flew the cash to Iran in January and February 2016 in three shipments. The first aircraft arrived in Tehran on Jan. 16, 2016, with $400 million piled on wooden pallets. Two other aircraft shipments of cash were sent on Jan. 22, 2016, and Feb. 5, 2016, totaling $1.3 billion.
 
In all, Iran received $1.7 billion in U.S. cash that has been used to fund its covert terrorist support operations.

 
This is the real Obama legacy. Not exactly the actions of a Nobel prize winner.

 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Related:
Meet the Proxies: How Iran Spreads Its Empire through Terrorist Militias ~ Amazing to think that we knew all this about Iran – this article was written in 2015 – just months before Obama’s disastrous deal with Iran was allowed to go through.
Is It Time For Trump to Abandon the Iran Deal? ~ Past time! And hopefully, with Bolton there now it’ll finally happen.
Venezuela, Iran, USA and Narco-Terrorism ~ October, 2016 ~

There are an estimated six million Muslims living in Latin American cities, who provide a fertile terrorist recruiting environment.
 
Iran has opened up more than 80 cultural centers in Latin America in order to export its toxic brand of political influence and serve its interest […]
 
Amidst the unspeakable economic distress facing residents of Venezuela today, security experts have identified yet another major cause for concern emanating from this once prosperous, oil-rich nation: Iran is moving in, partnering with Venezuela’s prosperous drug traders and creating a foothold there, as well as in other “friendly” Latin American countries. Iran is laundering money in Latin America and presumably secretly plotting to accomplish a strategic long-term goal to penetrate the Western hemisphere.

Posted in Fruits of Their Labors, Good vs.Evil, Unvarnished | 1 Comment

Donald makes an excellent trade: Bolton for McMaster

Posted on March 26, 2018

Well, it took about six months too long – but at least Trump finally dumped H.R. McMaster as his national security advisor. Apparently, the final straw was the leak of Trump’s congratulatory call to Putin on his “reelection” last week.
 
Bolton&McMaster

Good riddance. As I said last August, McMaster’s loyalties appeared to be globalist – not American. He wasn’t too interested in killing the disastrous JCPOA deal with Iran and he fired not only pro-Israel personnel but those who took a hard line against the Muslim Brotherhood and their cronies.
 
To top things off, he OK’d the continuation of Susan Rice’s security clearance. [An action that in retrospect is even more egregious, the more we learn the extent to which the Obama administration interfered with the 2016 election and continued to undermine the Trump presidency (the unmasking, the dossier, the wire-tapping, etc.).]
 

So yes, it’s good news that McMaster’s gone. But it’s even better news that he’s being replaced by former U.N Ambassador John Bolton.
 

Frank Gaffney (Center for Security Policy) is definitely pleased with the switch ~

The replacement of H.R. McMaster as National Security Advisor with Amb. John Bolton is not merely a changing of the guard. It is a sea-change, one that holds promise of allowing Mr. Trump to accomplish his national security and foreign policy objectives, rather than endlessly contend with them being sabotaged by his own insubordinate subordinates.
 
This transformation is powerfully reinforced by a similar swap-out at the State Department. The disloyal Rex Tillerson is out and a skilled, principled team-player named Mike Pompeo has been nominated to replace him.
 
For over a year, McMaster and Tillerson have been among those who have fancied themselves the “adults” in the administration, determined to stop the President from doing what they oppose. Now the President will have actual adults who actually want to help him succeed. Hallelujah.

 
Experienced, extremely knowledgeable about international affairs, principled, straightforward, and a realist; Bolton can be trusted to put America’s interests first. As Claudia Rosett at PJMedia says ~

Bolton has worked for decades — in and out of government — on matters of national security. His method is to size up the world as it really is, tell the truth and look for genuine solutions. That does not make him popular in some of the more rarefied New York-Washington policy circles, but it does bode well for serving the president, the country and the real needs of national security.

 

I’m still not thrilled with Trump’s signing off on that Omnibus spending nightmare last week. But with his appointment of John Bolton he’s gone a long way towards redeeming himself.

 
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Related:
H.R. McMaster would’ve made a great NSA – for Hillary
Fleitz: Bolton will accomplish Trump’s agenda and stop the leaks ~ Video: Lou Dobbs talks to Fred Fleitz, chief of staff to Bolton when he was U.N. ambassador
John Bolton Is The National Security Advisor Trump Has Been Waiting For ~ “He not only shares the president’s views on many foreign policy issues, he has decades of experience in government, politics, and American leadership.”
John Bolton: ‘A Reagan Realist’ and a Brilliant Choice

Posted in Unvarnished | 3 Comments

#MarchforOurLives – the enthusiasm is matched only by the ignorance

Posted on March 25, 2018

They should probably be forgiven their foolishness due to the exuberance of youth – but when in the history of mankind have mobs of people ever marched demanding to be disarmed?
And do we need any clearer evidence that the public school system has failed to educate these children in the basics of America’s founding and our constitutional principles? Who, with any sense of historical perspective, takes to the streets begging for totalitarianism? Yet there they were ~
 
gungrabbersmarch 

Before the next “march” they should all watch this short video from Fleccas Talks. In just a few minutes, it’s amazingly effective at making progressive anti-gunners rethink their position – once they realize that the facts don’t exactly justify their feelings ~

 

Video via PJMedia

Notice how at the end it actually starts to sink in that it’s not the guns – it’s the people…?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 
So what can we say about these anti-Second Amendment protestors? They’re young. They’re naive and idealistic. And unfortunately, they’re ignorant. If you know any of these misguided kids please give them a history lesson or two. And share the facts about gun control ↓

 
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Related:

10 Common Arguments For Gun Control, Debunked
Leftists blame the gun again
Controlling Gun Violence ~ What’s law enforcement’s opinion?
How’s gun control working out in England?
7 Facts On Gun Crime That Show Gun Control Doesn’t Work
20 Questions For Mass Schooling Survivors Before Hyping Gun Control ~ An excellent thought-provoking article by Stella Morabito at The Federalist

Progressives ejected God from public schools – so now we have crazed kids with guns instead
March For Our Lives Crowd Count Well Below Expected And Initial Reports

The Incoherent ‘March for Our Lives’ ~ What do they want?

Believing that any kind of gun control would have saved a single life at Parkland or any other school shooting is ludicrous. This particular brand of American violence is not manufactured from the barrel of a gun but made in the troubled and diseased minds of individual youths. And to take a tragedy and make political hay out of it — while using traumatized children to sell a political viewpoint?

Posted in Arrested Development, Unvarnished | 1 Comment

Saturday Shorts – 3-24-18

Posted on March 24, 2018

sshorts6-17-17

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

 
CDC: Youth Suicide Skyrockets 70% Over Last Decade. Here’s Why ~ In a nutshell: nihilism ~

There seems to be a crisis of meaning taking place in America. And that crisis of meaning is heavily linked to a decline in religious observance […]
 
(P)eople need meaning and purpose in life. Our focus on materialism from both the political right and left — on income inequality and intersectional victimhood from the left, and on tribal affinity and economic deregulation from the right — ignores the key problem: Americans, particularly young Americans, increasingly don’t feel that their lives have purpose. This isn’t a problem that can be cured by redistributing Xboxes. This is a problem of the soul.

 
Muslims riot, assault people with weapons to shut down free speech at London’s Speakers’ Corner ~ The UK’s dhimmification will soon be complete ~

The May government is bowing to the new masters of Britain, who support Sharia blasphemy restrictions, and handing them the leadership of the country. Theresa May will go down in British history, if there are any free Britons in future generations, as the most venal, banal and self-serving of traitors, but a traitor and betrayer of her nation nonetheless.

 
Ex-Nobel Secretary Admits Obama’s Prize Was A Mistake ~ Just as we suspected ~

Geir Lundestad has admitted that Obama did not deserve the prize but rather they thought the award would strengthen Obama. It is a maddening admission that the committee bypassed a list of worthy candidates with proven contributions to humanity to give a boost to someone that the Committee simply liked.

 
Venezuelan children are starving to death at an increasing rate ~ More on the ongoing tragedy of socialism; equal misery for all (but the elite of course) ~

Fr. Sifontes, a priest of the Diocese of Maturin in eastern Venezuela visits homes and hospitals constantly, sees many children begging on the streets and families looking for food in the garbage. “They’re starving,” he said. “They’re like dogs on the street looking for food.” […]
 
“There are six to eight children dying a week,” Fr. Sifontes said in an interview Thursday. “In my state of Monagas, in the first two and a half months of 2018 we have seen 34 children die of malnutrition. A family needs the equivalent of 22 salaries just to get a basic basket of food, to cover the basic nutrition for a month for children in their family. Sometimes that help doesn’t even get to the children because the aid must pass through various hands, and the food disappears.”
Similar things are happening to medicine, he and others reported.

 
Violence Paralyzes Minnesota School District; Administrators do little as school descends into war zone ~ No #MarchForLives here… Weird. When are these delusional lefties going to get it? It’s not the guns, it’s not the fists, it’s the social deterioration ~

On top of an already failing administration, Southwest High School staff are struggling to maintain peace between students. Last Friday, March 2, multiple fights broke out during the school’s second lunch period. Despite attempts to sweep the issue under the rug and downplay the violence, persistent students and parents forced the administration to address the situation.

 
John Oliver Targets Pence Daughter’s Children’s Book. Then His Followers Spam The Book’s Amazon Page With Hateful Garbage ~ Why are leftists so malicious? ~

This is the nature of the hard-Left: they hate conservatives so much that they’re willing to smear completely apolitical children’s literature in order to target those conservatives. Charlotte is a delightful young woman with no discernable political background other than her association with her dad; the book is utterly apolitical. So naturally it must be made a target of LGBT mockery. You know, to save the country from Trump.

 
Program embedding conservative profs at CU Boulder doubles in size after early successes ~ Well, it’s a start (you never know…) ~

A University of Colorado Boulder program that brings a token conservative scholar to campus each year is expanding, with organizers citing its popularity with both right- and left-leaning students and well-respected scholars as big reasons for its growth.

 
Disney’s ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ Erases Book’s Bible Quotes, Cuts Jesus, Christian Figures From History ~ In the atheistic land of make-believe, anything that points to God’s truth must be expunged ~

The battle between good and evil (light and darkness) forms a central theme in “A Wrinkle in Time,” and both book and film mention many historical figures who fought the darkness on behalf of the light. Disney seemed zealous to excise any hint of Christianity from the film, going so far as to cut even historic artists mentioned by Madeleine L’Engle, the book’s author […]
 
Every figure even partially associated with Europe and Christianity — even great artists like da Vinci, Michelangelo, Beethoven, Rembrandt, and Bach — were cut.

 
The Growing Iranian Cyber Security Threat; The most underestimated weapon in Iran’s arsenal ~

In addition to its rogue nuclear activities (which have not ceased despite the signing of the JCPOA), its advanced ICBM program, its use of proxies to spread misery throughout the Mideast, its narco-terror and money laundering schemes, the West now has to contend with growing Iranian cyber security menace […]
 
While Iran’s cyber hacking operatives have not reached the level of sophistication and capability of their Russian and Chinese partners in crime, they are very active in this new area of virtual warfare and are learning quickly.

Just this week, the Justice Dept. indicted nine Iranians for a large-scale hacking campaign on U.S. colleges and businesses on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. ~ Iran Hacking Operation Swiped 15B Pages of Academic Data, Infiltrated Government Agencies
 

Tariffs Were Killing New Zealand’s Economy. Free Trade Turned It Around ~ After implementing revolutionary economic reforms thirty years ago, New Zealand now ranks third in The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom ~

New Zealand’s adoption of less restrictive trade policies has corresponded to its climb up the trade-freedom scale in the Index of Economic Freedom, and with a huge boost in per capita gross domestic product.

 
California High School Teacher On Leave After Questioning School Shooting Walkout ~ Another victim of the public school Thought Police ~

Benzel says she never discouraged her students from participating in the national school walk out, but she did question whether it’s appropriate for a school to support a protest against gun violence if they’re not willing to support all protests […]
 
“If you’re going to allow students to walk up and get out of class without penalty then you have to allow any group of students that wants to protest,” she said.

 

‘It’s the Gospel That Saves People’: One Man’s Journey From Addict to Pastor ~ A wonderful story of salvation – and the redemptive power of the Holy Spirit ~

It was the fourth stint in rehab that finally brought (Eric Presgrove) to his knees. After almost two decades of trying to quit drinking, he cried out to God with a desperation he hadn’t had before. “Lord, if you are who you say you are, you’re going to have to help me stop drinking,” he recalled. “I told the Lord, ‘I’ll do whatever you tell me to do and I’ll put you first.’ I’d never done that before.”[…]
 
“I just believe that if we preach the truth and we believe that the things that happened in the Bible still happen today we will see that happen today,” he added. “And I don’t think we have to sugarcoat the gospel. And I don’t think we have to make a show out of it because it’s the gospel that saves people.”

Pastor Presgrove’s Crosswalk Church is located at 4600 Wheeler Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76117.

Posted in Everything Else | Leave a comment

Hey Hollywood – How about cleaning up your own crap first?

Posted on March 24, 2018

Hollywood celebrities have been piously lecturing the rest of the country on gun control for years. Many are enthusiastically supporting today’s ridiculous “March for Our Lives” (a thinly-veiled attempt to repeal the Second Amendment). And of course we should take them all very seriously – because their cherished leftist worldview has managed to create a progressive utopia in their own home state.
 
ramirez-CalifUtopia 
In a recent Washington Times article, Tammy Bruce described the current reality-free zones in California ~

As the social structure in major cities continues to break down, the state focuses on banning plastic straws, whether to release from prison a mass murderer from the Manson family, while cheering at becoming as sanctuary state.
 
Just this week, the Los Angeles Times issued an editorial titled, “Los Angeles homeless crisis is a national disgrace.” Actually, it’s not — it’s a California disgrace. The editorial exemplifies the refusal of liberals to not just admit their responsibility to social destruction, but an inability to even relate to reality.

 
Of the nation’s more than half million homeless, 25% now reside in the Golden State. In just the last five years Los Angeles’ homeless population skyrocketed 46 percent!
 
Well they do have awesome weather. But California’s biggest problem is liberalism run amok ~

(I)diotic and incompetent liberal leadership destroys business and jobs; regulations, waste, fraud and abuse leave human beings on the street – because the theory of socialism is all that matters […]
 
Todd Spitzer of the Orange County (California) Board of Supervisors “blames the problem on two issues: legislation signed by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown over the past several years that has eroded the penalties for drug use, possession and petty crimes to where police often don’t bother making arrests; and the change in a law so that treatment is no longer forced for drug abuse or mental health issues.”

 
With policies like that is it any wonder that San Francisco Is A Literal S***hole? Disgusting ~

While the debate might rage on as to what constitutes a “shithole” of a country, one thing is not up for debate: the American city of San Francisco is a shithole.
 
We know this thanks to an interactive map created in 2014 called Human Wasteland.
 
The map charts all of the locations for human excrement “incidents” reported to the San Francisco police during a given month. The interactive map shows precise locations of the incidents by marking them with poop emojis.

 

It’s gotten so gross the city had to spend $30 Million Cleaning Feces, Needles ~

The Investigate Unit spent three days assessing conditions on the streets of downtown San Francisco and discovered trash on each of the 153 blocks surveyed. While some streets were littered with items as small as a candy wrapper, the vast majority of trash found included large heaps of garbage, food, and discarded junk. The investigation also found 100 drug needles and more than 300 piles of feces throughout downtown.

 
Pretty sure no one is leaving their heart in San Francisco anymore. (Just their waste 🙁 )
 

Bruce concluded her article with this ~

Having used needles and human waste on your sidewalks isn’t just a disgusting inconvenience, it’s a deadly biological hazard and an indicator of the breakdown of civil society. So the next time a Democrat tells you they know best, laugh and let them know your family deserves better than poo maps, hazmat homeless camps, and little girls having to avoid drug needles on the sidewalk.

 
homelessinCA
 

And before they start scolding the rest of us whether at an anti-gun march, or from their privileged perch on the west coast, may I suggest that the Hollywood elite first start cleaning up the mess they’ve made in California.

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Related:
Celebrity cash, kudos boost ‘March for Our Lives’ gun control campaign
Washington Post: Gun Violence Declining, Except in Gun-Free Zones. Like California: San Bernardino shooting: ‘The biggest problem was that it was a gun-free zone’
More California Cities Seek to Defy ‘Sanctuary State’ as Revolt Spreads

Posted in Fruits of Their Labors, Unvarnished | 2 Comments