Abu Sayef, ISIS-Backer In the Philippines, Decapitates Captive German Sailor

He had already been kidnapped and held hostage in Somalia--and ordeal he managed to survive. This time, however, he wasn't as lucky. (Why anyone would want to sail a boat in such treacherous waters is a complete mystery to me.)

Another False Parallel: Trump's Moves to Secure U.S. Borders and Curb "Radical Islamic Terrorism" Equated to Fate of MS St. Louis

Did U.S. Anti-Immigrant Hysteria Doom the Passengers on the ‘St. Louis’? It's complicated

Actually, it's really quite simple. It was the Jew-hate, stupid. And it is not at all akin to what's happening today.

Also--Trump is not Hitler. (Also not Hitler: George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.)

Alan's "Out"

Alan Dershowitz Following Defeat of DNC Chair Hopeful Keith Ellison: I Will Remain in Democratic Party, But Will Fight for It to Move Away From Anti-Israel, Far-Left Trends

Best o' luck trying to push the immovable, Alan!

Talk About Keeping the Bar Awfully Low

Chicago is supposedly "much worse" than Malmo, Sweden.

Dershy's Dilemma

Now that Keith Ellison has been appointed to the number two spot in the Democratic Party, will Dershowitz follow through on his promise to leave? Or will Ellison's defeat in his race for chief give Dershy a convenient "out" that will allow him to stay?

Dershy's Belated Epiphany (Re the Dems' Zionhass)

Alan Dershowitz says that if Keith Ellison is elected head of the DNC, he'll be renouncing his membership in the Democratic Party. Here's why:

Ellison has a long history of sordid association with anti-Semitism. He worked closely with and supported one of a handful of the most notorious and public anti-Semites in our country:  The Reverend Louis Farrakhan. And he worked with Farrakhan at the very time this anti-Semite was publicly describing Judaism as a “gutter religion” and insisting that the Jews were a primary force in the African slave trade. Ellison has publicly stated that he was unaware of Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism. That is not a credible statement. Everyone was aware of Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism. Farrakhan did not try to hide it. Indeed he proclaimed it on every occasion. Ellison is either lying or he willfully blinded himself to what was obvious to everyone else. Neither of these qualities makes him suitable to be the next Chairman of the DNC. 

Moreover, Ellison himself has made anti-Semitic statements. A prominent lawyer, with significant credibility, told me that while he was a law student, Ellison approached her and said he could not respect her, because she was a Jew and because she was a woman who should not be at a law school. This woman immediately disclosed that anti-Semitic and anti-feminist statement to her husband and friends, and I believe she is telling the truth. 

Ellison’s anti-Semitism is confirmed by his support for another anti-Semite, Stokely Carmichael. When there were protests about Carmichael’s speaking at the University of Minnesota, Ellison responded that “Political Zionism is off-limits no matter what dubious circumstances Israel was founded under; no matter what the Zionists do to the Palestinians; and no matter what wicked regimes Israel allies itself with — like South Africa. This position is untenable.”  At a fundraiser for his reelection in 2010, hosted by Esam Omeish who had told Palestinians that “Jihad way is the way to liberate your land,” he complained that Jews had too much influence in American politics. 

With regard to Israel, Ellison was one of only a small number of Congress people who recently voted against funding the Iron Dome, a missile system used by Israel to protect its civilians against rocket attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah. His voting record with regard to the nation state of the Jewish people is among the very worst in Congress.
Ellison is now on an apology tour, but his apologies and renunciations of his past association with anti-Semitism have been tactical and timed to his political aspirations.  

He first claimed to realize that Farrakhan was an anti-Semite when he ran for office seeking Jewish support. His claim to be a supporter of Israel was timed to coincide with his run for the chairmanship of DNC. I do not trust him. I do not believe him. And neither should any centrist liberal supporters of Israel and opponents of anti-Semitism.

That's just swell, Alan. But given that you twice voted for Barack H. Obama, a hard leftist ideologue who despised the Jewish state and did his utmost to undermine it (not the least by empowering Iran, whose deranged theocrats are bent on Israel's destruction via nuclear means), I see your potential defection as a case of far too little, absurdly too late.

Update: Keith Ellison has lost (to Tom Perez, who has the distinction, if that's what you want to call it, of having the shiniest pate in American politics.

Guess that means ol' Deshy's staying put.

Did the CBC, Unhinged By the Fact of Trump's Presidency, Just Commit an Act of "Hate Speech"?

The answer, hilariously, is "yes":

On January 20, 2017, producers for the CBC program Marketplace printed t-shirts containing racist logos and mottos, including "white power" and "white pride world wide [sic]," and hired a middle-aged white man to stand on a Toronto street to peddle the t-shirts and yell racist slogans. 

The episode is titled "The Trump Effect" and was broadcast throughout Canada, including Alberta. It remains as a monument to our public broadcaster's colossal ignorance on the CBC YouTube channel...

That's the real "Trump effect." He makes the Left even more unhinged than ever (and that's saying something).

How, Um, "Creative"

Swastika made of feces found at Rhode Island art school

A Cautionary Tale Re Free Speech (or the Distinct Lack Thereof) In France

Tablet has the très convoluted tale of Georges Benssousan. He's a French Jewish historian who is associated with Shoah memorial, and who is now being prosecuted for "racism." His alleged "crime": he spoke these words on the radio:

Today, we are in the presence of another people inside of the French nation, and this results in the fact that a certain number of democratic values that structured our society are now regressing. There won’t be any integration as long as we will not get rid of this atavistic anti-Semitism, which is concealed as a secret. Just let me quote an Algerian sociologist, Smaïn Laacher, who with great courage said as much in the documentary. “It is a shame,” he said, “to maintain this taboo that in Arab families in France—and everybody knows this but nobody wants to say it—anti-Semitism, it is suckled along with mother’s milk.

It was that "mother's milk" line--which was actually uttered by an Algerian, and which Benoussan was merely quoting--that sealed the Shoah memorializer's fate--and ensured his state prosecution. (It reminds me of the time Mark Steyn got in trouble for citing the words of a Norwegian imam.)

A few things to observe from this. First, France is screwed, and so are its Jews. Second, don't think it can't happen here, because every indication is that it can.

Finally, Jews cannot and should not count on Holocaust remembrance to inoculate the world against Jew-hate for the sake of "Never Again!"

Today, an "Anti-Islamophobia" Motion. Tomorrow, Sharia Councils?

Some years ago, the Ontario Liberal government of the day floated the idea of empowering sharia councils, bodies that would be allowed by the government to adjudicate certain legal matters (mostly personal and family ones) for Ontario Muslims.

Due to a concerted outcry from Ontarians--many of them women from Muslim lands who had come here to escape the sort of "justice" meted out in their countries of origin (rulings predicated on their second class status as enshrined in Islamic law)--the idea was torpedoed post haste.

In light of inroads now being made "anti-Islamophobia" forces, however, now might be an excellent, optimum time for pro-sharia forces to lobby for the reintroduction of sharia councils.

For the sake of turning back the apparently surging tide of "Islamophobia," of course. 😏

Good Intentions and a "Progressive" Ethos Go Wildly Awry

What's happening in Sweden