Challenging Islamic Extremism - Promoting Dialogue
Background photo: Screenshot from the Islamic State's video of the beheading of American journalist James Foley. Overlayed photo: Showing Islamic State child preparing to carry out beheading.
Islamist terrorists can be killed,
but they are intent on leaving behind a generation that will follow in their footsteps.
“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”
Revelation 20:4
Ryan Mauro, National Security Analyst for The Clarion Project —Online supporters of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group are distributing photos showing radicalized children. In one disturbing photo, a toddler beheads a doll that looks like an American child.
The first photo shows a masked toddler in front of an IS flag, holding a doll resembling a stereotypical white, blonde American child. The doll is in an orange jumpsuit, a reference to terrorist prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. Al-Qaeda and IS often dress hostages in the jumpsuit to demonstrate moral equivalence, with the
beheading of American journalist James Foley being the latest example.
The second photo shows the severed head of the doll, sprinkled with blood around the neck, laid, together with the knife, on top of the body on the floor.
IS supporters redistributed the photos widely and directed it to an American audience using English-language hashtags on Twitter.
For example, one hashtag that was used was #throwbackthursday, a weekly tradition where social media users post photos of themselves when they were younger. By using this hashtag, the IS supporters exposed Americans who were happily reminiscing to the horrifying photo.
Teaching Islamic extremism and hatred to toddlers should be considered child abuse. It is an abuse of the indoctrinated child, as well as the other children that he threatens.
The U.S. is
leaning towards carrying out airstrikes in Syria on the Islamic State leadership, but a radicalized child has a life of jihad ahead of him. Islamist terrorists can be killed, but they are intent on leaving behind a generation that will follow in their footsteps.
RYAN MAURO is the National Security Analyst for the Clarion Project, a nonprofit organization that educates the public about the threat of Islamic extremism and provides a platform for voices of moderation and tolerance within the Muslim community.
» Read full bio
There are times that require people to step out of their comfort zone, to step up for justice, tolerance and moderation. We know going in that the repercussions of taking action will draw a rain of accusations and attacks from the forces we are confronting.
We do it anyway. We do it because it must be done.
Founded in 2006, the Clarion Project (formerly Clarion Fund Inc) is an independently funded, non-profit organization dedicated to exposing the dangers of Islamic extremism while providing a platform for the voices of moderation and promoting grassroots activism.
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NEWS BRIEFS: AUGUST 24, 2014
Current Events And Commentaries
Rush Limbaugh: Alternative Media Instrumental
In Debunking ‘Gentle Giant’ Myth About Brown
Lead Story by Greg Campbell, Tea Party News Network (TPNN) —
The mainstream media has largely become a pulpit from which the carefully-crafted leftist narrative can be spewed. For years, Americans have had to be content with whatever liberal narrative the mainstream media offered, but with the rise of the alternative media, these narratives don’t have the sticking power they once had.
The world is changing how they receive news and alternative media sites are at the forefront of this exciting change.
On his Friday radio show, conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh praised the alternative media for their coverage of the Ferguson, Missouri, situation and the shooting death of Michael Brown.
Before the gun smoke had cleared, the mainstream media pounced to portray Michael Brown as, what Limbaugh labeled, a “gentle giant.” As facts emerged that showed that Officer Darren Wilson likely acted in self-defense, the mainstream media conspicuously downplayed the evidence that showed that Brown was far the kind, gentle soul who was gunned down by racist police for no reason.
On his Friday show, Limbaugh discussed the “myth” of Michael Brown and the facts surrounding his death. We were told that Michael Brown was a young kid just minding his own business, thinking of college classes when racist cops gunned him down.
What emerged was a video of a thug stealing cigars and physically assaulting a store owner. What emerged was the officer’s battered face that corroborates the officer’s story. And while the leftist media tried to downplay this evidence, the alternative media was right there to pick up the slack.
Limbaugh stated:
“But now, what’s different from today than even 1992, Rodney King episode, what’s different is that there is an entire, very large media and otherwise apparatus that is aligned and empowered and in action, specifically aimed at denying the myth makers a free road, a free rein to write whatever story they want.
It’s the story of the alternative media. It’s the story of talk radio destroying the monopoly of the Drive-By Media. They no longer get to dictate what is the news. They no longer get to dictate what doesn’t get reported or told. They no longer get to dictate commentary about it. They are challenged on virtually every assertion they make, be it the writing of a myth, be it the ignoring of a certain piece of evidence in the story, be it lying about certain things.”
When the mainstream media venerated Trayvon Martin as the happy-go-lucky, smiling, 13 year-old boy in pictures, it was the alternative media that reminded America that George Zimmerman had his head slammed against the pavement. And now, it is the alternative media reminding America that Brown was far from being the “gentle giant” depicted, but was, in fact, the lead suspect in a store robbery and physical assault.
“There are watchdogs everywhere making sure that they don’t have a free road anymore, a free, open road to write any incident the way they want it written. And this isn’t the first time. Trayvon Martin’s incident is another. They’re taking it on the chin, but yet they keep trying. Every incident like this they keep trying to manufacture it in such a way that it looks no different than what happened in the 1960s because in that way, nothing’s changed. We have made no progress. We’re still a racist nation. We still have white cops who will shoot a black kid on sight for no reason whatsoever. Nothing’s improved in America on that score.”
It was Matt Drudge who famously covered the Monica Lewinsky scandal when the mainstream media, accustomed to burying stories that hurt liberals, passed on covering the scandal. That was the beginning of the end for the myth-makers in the mainstream media.
“Well, now, there are people willing to stand up, go to great lengths to call ‘em out on this, so they simply don’t have a free road. And they’re not used to this kind of opposition, even though it’s not new now. They’ve never learned how to fight it. I’ll tell you something else. Leftists really don’t know what to do when the media turns on ‘em, even for the smallest things, even for the briefest of moments. Because leftists have been treated so slavishly and with such sycophancy by members of the Drive-By Media that they just aren’t prepared to do battle.”
Limbaugh has a long history of telling it like it is and it’s great that he’s willing to shine a light on the important function the alternative media now serves in this 24-hour news cycle: telling the stories the mainstream media won’t.
CNN No Longer Confident That The ‘MYTH’ In Ferguson Will Hold Up
» David Shapiro: A Second Declaration of Independence
By Bradford Thomas, Truth Revolt —
In a piece for Breitbart.com, columnist David Shapiro offered a response to the current “hostile” president and his tyrannical regime in a “Second Declaration of Independence,” which lays out (in dead-on 18th-century style) Obama’s offenses, reestablishes the once self-evident truths of a free society, and calls out the “culpable media apparatus” for its denial of Americans’ “right to be legitimately heard.” Here’s the intro:
“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to assume that their president, hostile to the principles that formed the nation and determined to act with malice toward its inhabitants by suppressing their rights and enabling its enemies to prosper in their attempts to destroy it, must be confronted, a rational response for the nation is to encumber itself no more with such a president and reject his authority and the acolytes who carry out his wishes.”
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, but their gifts are varied, and it is through the voluntary efforts of the fortunate among them to care for the less fortunate, not the province of a government to intrude on the natural imbalances that arise from the human condition, that the sanctity of ethically earned property is not to be compromised by a government eager to impose its will to address such imbalances, that when a president or member of the government flagrantly ignores the restraints of the Constitution of the United States they be punished with expulsion from the government; that when despotism in the form of such behavior arises it is the duty of the people to throw off such government and elect representatives who honor the foundational principles that underlie the nation’s existence.”
Shapiro then moves into the president’s “history of repeated injuries and usurpations,” including refusing to assent to the laws of the country, endangering the nation abroad, invading “the sacred privacy of individuals,” and undermining the separation of powers...
» This Lib Introduced A Bill That Could Strip You Of Your Right To Self-Defense (Not Just Your Guns)
By L. Todd Wood, Western Journalism — Well isn't that special?
There is another serious problem in the works when it comes to citizens protecting themselves. A Democrat (of course) congressman has introduced a bill in Congress in order to prevent American citizens from obtaining body armor. Yes, you heard it right; our government is continuing its march towards becoming a police state. What’s next, an APC showing up at your door in...
» Reports: British Ex-Rapper Beheaded Foley
By Todd Beamon, NewsMax —
A 23-year-old British former rapper was identified on Saturday by British security officials as the man suspected of beheading American journalist James Foley, according to news reports. Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, who is said to be known by Islamic State members as "Jihadi John" because of his British accent, was identified by unnamed British intelligence sources as the masked...
» California Requires Insurance Companies, Faith-Based Employers To Cover Abortions
By Heather Clark, Christian News Network —
The California Department of Managed Health Care has issued a letter requiring insurance companies in the state to cover abortions, forcing all faith-based employers to likewise offer abortion coverage regardless of their religious beliefs. “Abortion is a basic health care service,” director Michelle Rouillard wrote on Friday to seven insurance companies that refused to...
» Hollywood Heavyweights Blame Hamas For Gaza Bloodshed
By Israel Today Staff —
A bevy of Hollywood’s leading figures over the weekend attested to the utter failure of the attempted cultural boycott of Israel when they signed a statement blaming Hamas for the current violence in and around the Gaza Strip.
Championed by the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Minnie Driver, Kelsey Grammer, Seth Rogen, and Sarah Silverman, the letter read:
“Hamas cannot be allowed to rain rockets on Israeli cities, nor can it be allowed to hold its own people hostage. Hospitals are for healing, not for hiding weapons. Schools are for learning, not for launching missiles. Children are our hope, not our human shields.”
It also blasted Palestinian groups that maintain “ideologies of hatred and genocide which are reflected in Hamas’ charter, Article 7 of which reads, ‘There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!’”
The Hamas charter is
actually quoting the Koran in that particular clause...
» Northern Israel Under Rocket Fire from Syria, Lebanon
By Lea Speyer, Breaking Israel News —
“No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment…” Isaiah 54:17
Rockets fired from Syria slammed into the Golan Heights early Sunday morning following rocket fire from Lebanon the night before. “At least five rockets fired from Syria hit different locations across the Golan Heights,” the IDF confirmed in a statement. The strikes, which occurred around 1:30 am Sunday morning, caused no casualties an army spokeswoman told AFP...
» GAO: Yes, Obama’s Taliban/Bergdahl Exchange Was Illegal
By Guy Benson, Townhall —
This isn't necessarily "news," per se, but it's confirmation from a respected nonpartisan source. The 'Taliban Five' for Bergdahl trade, sans mandatory Congressional notification, was not legal. But the Obama White House executed it anyway, over the objections of the intelligence community:
President Obama's decision to exchange captive Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five Guantanamo Bay detainees violated federal law, according to a legal opinion the Government Accountability Office sent to Congress Thursday. That's because the administration failed to notify Congress at least 30 days before the transfer, as required under a law passed in February. The Pentagon notified Congress of the deal on May 31, the same day the transfer was made. And because Congress did not authorize spending for the exchange, it also violated the Antideficiency Act, a law intended to protect Congress's power of the purse. The Department of Defense spent $988,400 on the transfer, the Pentagon told the GAO. An intentional violation of the Antideficiency Act is a crime punishable by up to two years in prison, but those criminal penalties are rarely enforced.
Homeland Security Is Monitoring Suspected Members Of ISIS In America - Brigitte Gabrielle
Terrorism expert Brigitte Gabriel seemed to confirm what many suspected and feared on Judge Jeanine's show on Saturday night. She said that Homeland Security are monitoring suspected members of ISIS already in America, and they're afraid that others might be coming in through our porous border.
A Whole New Meaning To ‘Blind Justice’
» Cartoonist: Steve Breen is the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for the
San Diego Union-Tribune. His provocative political cartoons that have captured the attention of some of the nation’s premier publications.
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. ~ 2 Timothy 2:15
The translation is most noted for its poetic feel - prose that seems to flow with a certain rhythmic quality. The book is often cited as the most published book in world history with a significant influence on literature and culture in the last few centuries. It is estimated that more than 1 billion copies of the King James Version have been published.
John Vernon McGee was born in Hillsboro, Texas, in 1904. Dr. McGee remarked, "When I was born and the doctor gave me the customary whack, my mother said that I let out a yell that could be heard on all four borders of Texas!" His Creator well knew that he would need a powerful voice to deliver a powerful message.
If the commander of ISIS, known by his supporters as Caliph Ibrahim, instructs returning foreign jihadists to carry out attacks within the U.S. then those returning fighters would be obliged to obey, declared a British extremist cleric today. Anjem Choudary, founder of the outlawed Al Muhajiroun British pro-terrorist organization, made the statements...
RescueChristians.com Executive Director Keith Davis is thinking big when he talks about his plan, which already is getting under way, to rescue tens of thousands of Christians who fled to Iraq’s Kurdish territory when an ISIS army of jihadists took over vast regions of the troubled nation. He’s talking about renting jets, leasing ships...
An evangelical Christian worship singer who has been urging churches to change their doctrine on homosexual behavior since announcing she is a lesbian is at the forefront of a coming tidal wave of “infiltration” of the church by promoters of the “gay” agenda, contends evangelical attorney, evangelist and activist Scott Lively. Lively, president...
