Scaramouche

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

The Name of the Smallest Group In the World?

Sorry, but having a member of this alleged group "bless" the GOP convention doesn't exactly inspire a feeling of confidence re Trump's resolve to "defeat" ISIS and Islamism.

Do As I Say, Dammit, Not As I Do

Today's American Thinker 'toon:

About That Speech...

According to a piece in the American Thinker, Melania Trump herself may have tweaked her speech without the approval of higher-ups in her husband's campaign (and, also according to this piece, the candidate is none too pleased about it). Rosslyn Smith, who wrote the article, says that because "the text was lifted (from) the speech of an African American Democrat rather than from a speech of the spouse of a Republican nominee...it needlessly infuriated and energized some Democrats."

I agree. But it wasn't only "some Democrats" who had a problem with it. As I commented on the AT site:

What makes the--let's be charitable and call it--"borrowing" so hard to take is the woman from whom it was borrowed. Had Mel T. reprised the words of, say, Nancy Reagan or Barbara Bush it would not have been as shocking, or as mock-worthy.

Update: I'm no Colbert fan, but this is pretty funny:

Update: "The question of the day should be not about Melania Trump’s journalistic ethics, but about Hillary's total lack of conscience." Maybe so, but can we at least be honest and admit that Melania's gaffe didn't exactly do her husband or his current party any good?

Update: Melania's speechwriter says she's the one responsible for copycatting Michelle.

Update: This--white priviledge alert!--is a bunch of hogwash.

Tarek Fatah Sets a Gaggle of "Useful Idiots" Straight Re the Meaning of Sharia

Post-Nice massacre, and post-Newt Gingrich's statement that all Muslims who believe in the primacy of sharia should be deported, a bunch of media smarties--infidels all--did their damndest to downplay the draconian/totalitarian nature of Islamic law. Tarek Fatah mocks their ignorance here:

I can only imagine jihadis and Islamists howling in laughter at the gullibility of Islamism’s liberal apologists in the West.

For the inexhaustible supply of Western liberals, who Lenin described as “Useful Idiots”, allow me to share a sample of just two sharia laws, from among the tens of thousands that have sustained ruthless, unelected caliphates for centuries.

“If the husband’s body is covered with pus and blood, and if the wife licks and drinks it, her obligations to her husband will still not be fulfilled.”

“Wives enter into their husband’s slavery after marriage.”

Even if one should consider those two examples an internal matter for Muslims, here are two more illustrations of Shariah law as expounded by the founder of 20th century Islamism, the Indian-born Syed Mawdudi, in his book Call to Jihad.

“Islamic ‘Jihad’ does not recognize their (non-Muslims’) right to administer State affairs according to a system, which in the view of Islam, is evil.”

“If the Muslim Party commands adequate resources it will eliminate un-Islamic governments and establish the power of Islamic governments in their stead.”

Gingrich's idea may be outrageous and unworkable (unworkable, for starters, because "war is deceit," as Islam's founder said, and under threat of deportation people are bound to be less than forthcoming about their allegiance to the law), but Fatah is correct in noting that "shariah is worse."

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Toronto's Keen on "Diversity" (As Long as Everyone's On the Same Lefty Page)

Re the reason why lefty thinking prevails here, Philip Cross writes:

What explains the ubiquity of left-wing ideology in Toronto? Start with an intolerance of dissenting ideas. William F. Buckley Jr. quipped that “a liberal is someone who claims to be open to all points of view — and then is surprised and offended to find there are other points of view.” The public is kept informed by the Toronto-centric CBC and its steady parade of counter-cultural, left-wing, radical-chic celebrities and academics. Toronto-centricity is hardly new; Donald Creighton, the University of Toronto’s famous historian, once noted the city’s “short horizon” that precluded it from seeing developments in Quebec or Western Canada.

The irony is that Toronto’s monolithic, suffocating liberal consensus negates a key raison d’être of any city, which is to host an invigorating culture of differing views. Closed-mindedness belongs in small towns. Yet Toronto, like the public sector it admires so much, embraces all types of diversity except ideological. The resulting conformism and groupthink reduces the vitalism and pluralism that generates innovative ideas, new companies and ultimately economic growth. John Howkins in his influential 2001 book, The Creative Economy, concluded that “Creativity thrives on differences.” Steven Pinker of Harvard notes that “It is only by bruiting ideas and seeing which ones withstand attempts to refute them that we acquire knowledge.”

Thing is, the left doesn't want to acquire knowledge as much as it wants to control it.

Degrassi Propagandizes on Behalf of the "Islamophobia" Agenda

The following TV show recommendation is included in the BEST BETS feature of the Toronto Star's Entertainment & Life Section:

As Degrassi: Next Class opens its second season, look for some of its stories to tackle Islamophobia, particularly as experienced by Goldi Nahir (Soma Bhatia), a politically charged teenage feminist, among the Degrassi students. (Family at 9:45)

The blurb shows a photo of the Degrassi "feminist". FYI, the character looks like this:

That's right--she's a "feminist" (and a victim) in a hijab.

Something tells me we shouldn't expect Degrassi--which will also be dealing with Black Lives Matter--to have an "honour killing" storyline.

Who Wrote Melania Trump's Speech?

As a former speechwriter, I can tell you with certainty that she didn't write it herself. I can also say that, whoever wrote it, there's no excuse for lifting an entire section from a speech given by Michelle Obama, even if it supposedly only amounted to "58 words" (the word count given by Newt Gingrich on Fox News this morning). "58 words" of someone else's speech is 58 words too many.

So I ask again, who wrote Melania's speech? And was larding it with a passage from a Michelle speech a function of the speechwriter's laziness and/or incompetence, or a blatant act of sabotage?

The person who wrote the thing deserves to be fired. Period.

Hamas's Happy Campers

They're sort of like Hitlerjugend, but with a lively jihad/victimhood vibe:

Approximately 30,000 Palestinian children and teenagers have signed up to attend Hamas' 25 summer camps in the Gaza Strip.

The camps run by the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, include military training with live fire, combat tactics, and religious indoctrination.

In an announcement marking the opening of summer camp the al-Qassam brigades declared: "The responsibility to liberate Palestine and return all the stolen rights of the people is common to all sects and groups in society, and is to be fulfilled by inculcating the culture of the struggle into every house in Palestine, as we do in the 'pioneers of liberation' summer camps."

They emphasized that the importance of inculcating these militaristic values stems from the necessity of preparing them for future challenges of "actions for restoring the rights of Palestinians."

The Hamas' youth group also encourages young Palestinian girls to attend the camps.

Hamas promises that the girls will gain knowledge and strengthen their fear of Allah by taking part in religious preaching (called "Dawa" in Islam), all accompanied by field trips, arts and crafts, lectures, and more...