Thanks to Donald Trump's new immigration policies we are now detaining elderly Australian children's book authors?

Oz children author Mem Fox detained Los Angeles Airport.
We Australians are no longer welcome in Trump's USA @AlboMP https://t.co/iQVPe3D3NU pic.twitter.com/YvCaTSeiPC

— Kerry Seebohm (@KezzerOz) February 25, 2017

 Okay this is beyond disgusting.

And while we are on the topic they also detained Mohammad Ali's son.

Courtesy of USA Today: 

The son of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali was detained for hours by immigration officials earlier this month at a Florida airport, according to a family friend. 

Muhammad Ali Jr., 44, and his mother, Khalilah Camacho-Ali, the second wife of Muhammad Ali, were arriving at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Feb. 7 after returning from speaking at a Black History Month event in Montego Bay, Jamaica. They were pulled aside while going through customs because of their Arabic-sounding names, according to family friend and lawyer Chris Mancini. 

Immigration officials let Camacho-Ali go after she showed them a photo of herself with her ex-husband, but her son did not have such a photo and wasn't as lucky. Mancini said officials held and questioned Ali Jr. for nearly two hours, repeatedly asking him, "Where did you get your name from?" and "Are you Muslim?"

"Where did you get your name?"

That actually leaves me speechless.

This is our country now. 

Muslim sixth grade girl attacked while assailants call her "ISIS."

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

A Muslim girl was attacked at her New York middle school by three schoolmates who referred to the girl as a terrorist organization and tried ripping off her religious garb, INSIDE EDITION has learned. 

The sixth grade girl, whose identity IE is withholding, was playing during recess when three boys allegedly went after her on November 19 at P.S. 89 in the Bronx, a school source who spoke on the condition of anonymity told IE. 

The boys, who are in the same grade as the girl, allegedly put her in a headlock and punched her as they tried to take off her hijab, the source said. 

While beating up the girl, the boys also allegedly called her "ISIS," the source said.

Gee, I can't imagine what kind of things in the news these days might inspire such anti-Islamic hatred. 

Hang on, it'll come to me.

San Bernardino shooting, what we have learned.

This morning's New York Daily News.

The names of the shooters:  

Chief Jarrod Burguan of the San Bernardino Police Department identified the two suspects as Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27. Mr. Farook was born in the United States. Family members say they were married and had a 6-month-old daughter.

Who else was involved?  

Chief Burguan said it was not clear if a third person taken into custody after the shootout with the police was involved. 

"We are reasonably confident that we have two shooters and we have two dead suspects,” he said.

Where did the weapons come from?

Guns used by the couple suspected of the massacre that killed 14 people and wounded 17 at a social services center in San Bernardino, California, were purchased legally in the United States, federal officials said Thursday. 

The Associated Press, citing the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said two of the weapons — two assault rifles and two handguns — were purchased by someone who is now under investigation.

Was the attack premeditated? 

The couple appeared to have planned the attack, but the motive for the deadliest U.S. mass shooting since Sandy Hook has not been determined, investigators said. At least 10 of the 17 injured were listed in critical condition early Thursday, NBC reported.

And of course, was this terrorism?

A couple who died in a hail of bullets after allegedly killing 14 people during a Christmas party at a state-run center for people with developmental disabilities left their six-month-old daughter with her grandmother before the onslaught. 

U.S.-born Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and wife Tashfeen Malik, 27, were killed in a shootout with police more than four hours after the rampage at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, on Wednesday.  

Farook had been at the party before the shooting and left "under some circumstances that were described as angry," San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan told reporters Wednesday night. Farook worked as a health inspector for the county health department for five years. 

However, authorities would not rule out terrorism as a motive. Farook and Malik were wearing tactical gear and armed with assault-style rifles when they were killed, Burguan said, adding "there had to be some degree of planning.

"Between 10 and 30 minutes passed from when Farook left the party and the shooting began, according to Burguan. 

"These people came prepared to do what they did as if they were on a mission," Burguan said. "They were armed with long guns, not with handguns."

As you may imagine the mere fact that this couple were Muslim may be all it takes for many to categorize the shooting as terrorism. Considering the actions of this couple, I am not disputing that it was terrorism at this point, however whether it is or isn't should not be determined by their religion, or ethnicity.

Whatever the motivation, or way the shooting is categorized, there is not arguing that it was an incredibly troubling and terrifying event. And the fact that it happened in a place that cares for the developmentally challenged only makes it more so.

There is also no arguing with the fact that this attack was carried out with weaponry that is easily, and legally available in the United States of America.

You know, the land of the free, the home of the brave, the nation of the terrorized?

Muslim attacked because Texas man thought he was receiving instructions from ISIS through his headphones. You know because that's how that works.

Courtesy of KEYE: 

The imam at the Nueces Mosque near UT, Umer Esmail, says they want to make sure students are safe when they come to the mosque. 

"We need to provide security for them, that should be our top priority," Esmail said. 

This is after Esmail says a student was allegedly pushed to the ground on Guadalupe Street the day after the Paris attacks. 

"Because he had headphones on, the guy yelled at him saying are you taking instructions from ISIS," Esmail said. "This is like a wakeup call for us, we need to do something because we have students coming here." 

That alleged assault just a few blocks away from the mosque is one of the reasons Esmail says they're having Austin Police do a security survey on his mosque. He says APD will also be surveying other Austin mosques.

So what now only white Christians can wear headphones in America?  That is some racist shit right there.

And things are only going to get worse for the Islamic community in America with the GOP presidential candidates and Fox News spending virtually 24 hours a day trying to frighten them about terrorism, Syrian refugees, and now apparently headphones.

You wait, we can only be about a week or less away from the first shooting of a Muslim for simply being Muslim.

Obama just can't do anything right.

So apparently Sarah Palin is now weighing in on the Muslim teen's arrest in Texas as well. And it is even dumber than you would imagine.

So yesterday Palin decided to climb on the bandwagon along with Nancy French and Bristol. Assuming of course that Bristol even knows that she is part of this ridiculous conversation.

Here take a flashlight and wander through her Facebook post. But be careful, it is a dark and scary place:

 I Guess Muhammad's Pencil Box is Cooler Than the Palin Kids' 

"It doesn't look like a pencil box to me." I love Bristol's perspective on this. You have to read this: 

(Palin then offers the entire URL for Brancy's post because she does not yet understand how to do links.)

Talk about the dangers of a reactionary-slash-biased media! The first reports on this potential bomb-imitator were so fishy to begin with. 

Friends, consider the kids disciplined and/or kicked out of school for bringing squirt guns to school or taking bites out of a pop tart until it resembled (to some politically correct yahoo) a gun. Or the student out deer hunting with his dad early one morning who forgot he had a box of ammo in his truck when he parked in the school's lot later that day. Kids humiliated and intimidated for innocent actions like those real examples are often marked the rest of their lives and made to feel really rotten. (As much as it pains me to say it I kind of agree with Snowdrift Snooki here. This zero tolerance thing in schools is way out of control.) Whereas Ahmed Muhammad, an evidently obstinate-answering student bringing in a homemade "clock" that obviously could be seen by conscientious teachers as a dangerous wired-up bomb-looking contraption (teachers who are told "if you see something, say something!") gets invited to the White House. (Annd now I am back to finding what she says ignorant.)

By the way, President Obama's practice of jumping in cases prematurely to interject himself as the cool savior, wanting so badly to attach himself to the issue-of-the-day, got old years ago. Remember him accusing police officers doing their job as "acting stupid"; claiming if he had a son, he'd look like Trayvon Martin; claiming he needed to know who was a fault in an industrial accident so he'd "know who's a** to kick"; etc., etc. Those actions are about as presidential as his selfie stick. 

(Hang on I need to wring the jealousy out of this post before continuing.)

Here's background on Muhammad's innocent "clock" he brought to school, and his suspicious refusal to answer authorities: 

(Palin then links to Breitbart who, as you would expect, blames the incident on Ahmed and on President Obama who they claim is using it to attack Texas and paint conservatives as xenophobic. Helpful hint to Breitbart: The conservatives certainly do not need Obama's help in painting them as racist.)

Yep, believing that's a clock in a school pencil box is like believing Barack Obama is ruling over the most transparent administration in history. Right. That's a clock, and I'm the Queen of England. 

Compare Muhammad's pencil box to the ones laying around the Palin household:

 - Sarah Palin

Palin then shows pictures of what she claims are her kid's pencil boxes though I have no idea why she would still have them lying around the house. (Maybe because they never learned to use pencils?)

And then of course she offers this picture of Ahmed's pencil box to prove how terrorist like it is by comparison.

 Of course as I showed everybody yesterday, there is nothing sinister about the pencil box.

It's just a little more expensive than the cheap crap Palin bought her kids, that's all.

By the way the cops knew Ahmed's clock was not a bomb when they arrested him, but arrested him anyway.

And the school knew it was only a misunderstanding and still suspended him.

So once again, how is this Ahmed's fault? Or the President's?

Donald Trump takes to Twitter to defend himself against criticism for not correcting questioner concerning President Obama's religion and citizenship.

So the current controversy swirling around Donald Trump's hair is his lack of response to the man who stood up during a Q and A session to claim that President Obama is a secret Muslim, who is not an American, and who is allowing Muslims to build terrorist training camps in America.

This has essentially been the top political story on all the cable networks for two days now, and has even been blamed for why Trump canceled an appearance yesterday.

After staying silent, today Trump decided to respond.

On Twitter.

Am I morally obligated to defend the president every time somebody says something bad or controversial about him? I don't think so!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2015

This is the first time in my life that I have caused controversy by NOT saying something.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2015

If someone made a nasty or controversial statement about me to the president, do you really think he would come to my rescue? No chance!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2015

If I would have challenged the man, the media would have accused me of interfering with that man's right of free speech. A no win situation!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2015

Wow! What a child.

It should be noted that this is not a case where a politician was asked a question unrelated to their campaign, and then provided an unsatisfactory answer.

This man was echoing many of the same conspiracy theories that Trump himself was pushing three and four years ago.

This was a chance for Trump to demonstrate the maturity required by a Commander-in-Chief and "the Donald" failed miserably.

And this Twitter response just reinforces the fact that he responds to criticism like a middle school girl who just found out somebody is talking shit behind her back.

Donald Trump's core constituency revealed in Q and A. They're birthers.

Courtesy of Little Green Footballs:  

Audience member: We have a problem in this country — it’s called “Muslims.” We know our current President is one. 

Trump: Right. 

Audience member: You know he’s not even an American. Birth certificate, man! 

Trump: We need this question! 

Audience member: But anyway [laughter], we have training camps growing, where they want to kill us. 

Trump: Mm hmm. 

Audience member: That’s my question. When can we get rid of ‘em? 

Trump: We’re gonna be looking at a lot of different things. And you know, a lot of people are saying that, and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there. We’re gonna be looking at that and plenty of other things. 

Holy crap! It looks like Trump is still convinced that Obama is secretly a Muslim who does not have a valid American birth certificate, and is allowing secret Muslim training camps to be built in this country for the purpose of training terrorists to kill Americans.

Ooookay.


And his supporters are the same knuckle dragging dipshits who applauded his efforts to "prove" Obama had no valid birth certificate back in 2012.

Of course the Trump camp made a rather pathetic attempt at damage control.

Trump camp: "Mr. Trump was referring to the need to protect Christians religious liberties as his previous statement says and nothing more."

— Kailani Koenig (@kailanikm) September 18, 2015

Okay, what?

Second attempt.

Now NEW response: "To be clear, Mr. Trump's response to the question regarding training camps in this country was we will look into it."

— Kailani Koenig (@kailanikm) September 18, 2015

Once again, what?

Of course this whole thing is being compared to John McCain's 2008 town hall response to a woman who claimed that Obama was an "Arab."

Yet here we are in 2015 and Donald Trump is at the top of the polls.

That tells you something both interesting and very frightening about today's Republican party.

You have heard of being arrested for "Driving while black?" Yeah well in Texas you can get arrested for "Learning while Muslim."

Courtesy of CNN: 

When Ahmed Mohamed went to his high school in Irving, Texas, Monday, he was so excited. A teenager with dreams of becoming an engineer, he wanted to show his teacher the digital clock he'd made from a pencil case. 

The 14-year-old's day ended not with praise, but punishment, after the school called police and he was arrested. A photo shows Ahmed, wearing a NASA t-shirt, looking confused and upset as he's being led out of school in handcuffs. 

"They arrested me and they told me that I committed the crime of a hoax bomb, a fake bomb," the freshman later explained to WFAA after authorities released him. 

Irving Police spokesman Officer James McLellan told the station, "We attempted to question the juvenile about what it was and he would simply only tell us that it was a clock." 

The teenager did that because, well, it was a clock, he said. 

On Wednesday, police announced that the teen will not be charged.

"Will not be charged." Well that's mighty white of them.

One guy on Twitter pointed out just how incredibly unfair this was.

#IStandWithAhmed When a white kid builds nuclear fusion reactor it's cool but when a Muslim builds a clock it's not pic.twitter.com/TFwfg1lUf4

— wiss.➶ (@BUCKVBVRNES) September 16, 2015

Ahh Texas. Will you ever NOT be a hot bed of racism and Islamophobia?

Well at least the kid has the President on his side.

Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great.

— President Obama (@POTUS) September 16, 2015

Of course in Texas that will only make him seem more suspicious.

This seems like a good place for this.

When is an unopened can of soda not just an unopened can of soda? When it's in the hands of a Muslim woman on an airplane.

Image courtesy of Addicting Info.

Here is more courtesy of Raw Story: 

Ahmad said she felt humiliated and cried, adding that other passengers only shook their heads “in dismay.” 

According to Ahmad, the flight attendant later apologized. 

“The flight attendant also acknowledged that the man who yelled at me was wrong for doing so and apologized that her behavior led to that,” she said. “She acknowledged it was unethical and said he never should have said anything.” 

The pilot also apologized to Ahmad when they landed, escorting her to the service desk so she could file a formal complaint.

Well that is certainly a case of too little and too late. 

I am still trying to puzzle out how an unopened can of soda, supplied by the flight attendant, could possibly be used to bring down an airplane.

Yeah actually they do.

I sometimes get accused of focusing too much on Christianity.

But trust me I am an equal opportunity critic of ALL religions.

Do religions cause violent behavior. No. Do they provide a convenient excuse for violence? Oh hell yeah!

Courtesy of Salon:  

With the possible exception of Buddhism, the world’s most powerful religions give wildly contradictory messages about violence. The Christian Bible is full of exhortations to kindness, compassion, humility, mercy and justice. It is also full of exhortations to stoning, burning, slavery, torture, and slaughter. If the Bible were law, most people you know would qualify for the death penalty. The same can be said of the Quran. The same can be said of the Torah. Believers who claim that Islam or Christianity or Judaism is a religion of peace are speaking a half-truth—and a naive falsehood. 

The human inclination toward peacemaking or violence exists on a continuum. Happy, healthy people who are inherently inclined toward peacemaking focus on sacred texts and spiritual practices that encourage peace. Those who are bitter, angry, fearful or prone to self-righteousness are attracted to texts that sanction violence and teachers who encourage the same. People along the middle of this continuum can be drawn in either direction by charismatic religious leaders who selectively focus on one or the other. 

Each person’s individual violence risk is shaped by a host of factors: genetics, early learning, health, culture, social networks, life circumstances, and acute triggers. To blame any act of violence on religion alone is as silly as blaming an act of violence on guns or alcohol. But to deny that religion plays a role is as silly as denying that alcohol and guns play a role. It is to pretend that religions are inert, that our deepest values and beliefs about reality and morality have no impact on our behavior. From a psychological standpoint, religions often put a god’s name on impulses that have subconscious, pre-verbal roots. They elicit peak experiences like mystic euphoria, dominance, submission, love and joy. They claim credit for the moral emotions (e.g. shame, guilt, disgust and empathy) that incline us toward fair play and altruism, and they direct these emotions toward specific persons or activities. In a similar way, religions elicit and channel protective reactions like anger and fear, the emotions most likely to underlie violence.

.....

Despite the fact that violence is repeatedly endorsed in sacred texts, most Christians, Muslims and Jews never commit acts of violence in the service of their religion. Similarly, millions of people consume alcohol without insulting, hitting, kicking, stabbing or shooting anyone. Most of us are peaceful drinkers and peaceful believers. Yet, statistically we know that without alcohol assaults would be less common. So too, we all know that when suicide bombings happen, or blasphemers and apostates are condemned to die, or a rape victim is stoned to death, Islam is likely to be involved. And when we hear that an obstetrics doctor has been shot or a gay teen beaten and left for dead, or a U.S. president has announced a “crusade”, we know that Christianity was likely a part of the mix.

I have essentially been saying this very thing for years.

We keep hearing that we get our morality from God, but the facts are that the sacred texts which purport to speak for these gods are as morally ambiguous as the human beings who wrote them. (Strange how that works out.)

Unfortunately because we are indoctrinated to believe that the lessons of these manuscripts are divinely inspired many of us never question them or subject them to the same critical thinking that we use when we select which neighborhood to live in or which car to drive.

And of course it also lowers the defenses of believers, allowing them to be manipulated by those claiming a direct line to the god that they worship.

In my opinion doing away with these religions would force humans to take responsibility for their own morality,  that may seem a little messy to some but ultimately it would force people to examine their choices and learn from their missteps rather than follow a blueprint written thousands of years ago by primitive sand dwellers

For the first time ever a Muslim conducted a prayer service at the National Cathedral and it went off without a hitch. Just kidding, some crazy Christian lady totally lost her shit over it.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

The woman who disrupted the first ever Muslim prayer service conducted at the National Cathedral claims she was sent to protest the ceremony by God after reading about it on the Drudge Report. 

In an interview with World Net Daily, Christine Weick, 50, said she read about the event on Drudge and became enraged, saying, “My blood began to boil as I read the comments of how this is to be such a wonderful event and how religious tolerance can, for the first time, be shown in our nation’s capital.” 

Friday’s prayer service was just beginning when Weick stood up and began walking towards the front of the cathedral shouting. 

“Jesus Christ died on that cross. He is the reason we are to worship only Him. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior,” she said. “We have built …allowed you your mosques in this country. Why don’t you worship in your mosques and leave our churches alone? We are a country founded on Christian principles.”

In other words, "My god is better than your god."

According to Weick she expected to get arrested but everybody treated her with respect, which is more than you can say for how she treated the folks attending this service.

Weick went on to explain that God not only gave her a sign that what she was doing was right, but that he helped her get through security, and briefly made her invisible.

Which is an indication right there of how completely sane she is.

However not everybody sees things that way. Her family for instance: 

After being ejected, Weick said she got into her SUV and began the 400-mile trip back to Tennessee where she says she lives in her car after being disowned by her family because she took a stand against same-sex marriage and other “moral issues.” According to Weick, her husband divorced her last year “over a spiritual conflict.”

Clearly the woman is mentally unbalanced, and much like that stenographer who interrupted a Congressional vote, she has used religion as a vehicle for her psychosis.

My question is does religious faith encourage breaks from reality, or does it cause them?

Child bride in Nigeria uses rat poison to kill her husband and three of his friends.

10 year old Yemeni girl celebrating the granting of her divorce from her adult husband.

Courtesy of ABC News:  

A child bride forced into marriage in Nigeria killed a groom and three of his friends with a poisoned meal, police said Thursday. 

Fourteen-year-old Wasila Umaru was married last week to 35-year-old Umaru Sani, according to assistant superintendent Musa Magaji Majia. 

Over the weekend, the groom invited a dozen friends to celebrate at his Ungwar Yansoro village, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the northern city of Kano. 

The teenager told police she bought rat poison at a village market and used it to prepare a dish of rice. 

"The suspect confessed to committing the crime and said she did it because she was forced to marry a man she did not love," Majia told The Associated Press. 

The groom and a friend died the same day, and two other victims died later in the hospital. 

Umaru is cooperating with police and likely will be charged with culpable homicide, according to Majia. 

Child marriage is common in Nigeria and especially in the mainly Muslim and impoverished north, where the numbers increase in times of drought because a bride price is paid and it means one less mouth to feed. Fifty percent of Nigerian girls living in rural areas are married before they turn 18, according to the U.N. children's agency. That's a lot of child brides in a country of some 170 million people of whom half are under 18.

Before I start let me point out that the young girl in the picture above is NOT the girl in this story, however she is yet another child, this one from Yemeni, who was forced into a loveless marriage as very young girl.

Fortunatley for her she was granted a divorce, the girl in this story was not given that option.

This is a particular problem in areas with large Islamic populations, partly due to the fact that their prophet, Mohammad, took his own child bride, who was only six years old at the time. (Though to be fair he showed great restraint in not taking her virginity until she as 9 years old.)

Of course this is a despicable practice that the world should condemn, and influential nations should refuse to deal with countries where it is still practiced.

It might have made sense in ancient times for girls to marry young, since life expectancies were short, and infant mortality was high, but we live in a different time today.

Today it should be viewed as an aberration and religion should not be used to justify its continued practice.

In my opinion that fourteen year old girl was a victim, and should be released as having responded to an extreme situation in the only manner left open to her. I would not even suggest jail time, as she has clearly already served her sentence.

Something to keep in mind.

To be fair there are quite a number of Jewish people and Muslims who believe the Christian version as well.

But remember if 5 billion people believe in something stupid, it does not make it any less stupid.

Must see! 11 year old Yemeni girl eloquently speaks out against marrying off children to older men as she flees from her family.

I often get dinged for not going after other beliefs as vehemently as I do Christian ones. But that is not because I find them any more acceptable, in fact most of the time I find them even more toxic, especially within the Islamic community.

However because they tend to impact us less here in the US I do not make them the focus of my rants nearly as often.

However make no mistake, I find the idea of honor killings, oppression of women, and the marrying off children to be the indefensible acts of a primitive culture that has no place in the 21st century.

This child is terrified for her very life, and the fact that her own family has put her in this situation is sickening.

However I must point out that less than two hundred years ago this very same horrific tradition was widely practiced right here in the United States. Christianity is no less complicit in this type of abuse than is the Islam. The difference is that in America we moved beyond our superstitious view of women and sexuality, and now tend to respect both genders equally.

Except in Texas of course. 

Want to piss off a Teabagger? Sure you do!

Then read them this list compiled by the good folks over at Forward Progressives:  

Nowhere in our Constitution does it say we’re a Christian nation. 

In fact, no where in our Constitution does the word “Christian” appear even once. 

Freedom of religion also means freedom from religion—it also doesn’t specify any particular religion. 

The 2nd Amendment actually refers to a “well regulated militia.” While it says the right for Americans to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, the phrase “well regulated” obviously infers that this right doesn’t come without regulations. 

Our Constitution doesn’t mention anything about our nation having to be based on pure Capitalism. 

A corporation is an entity, not a person, and our Constitution wasn’t created to protect the rights to entities—they have none. 

Education is more important than national defense. What’s the point of a strong national defense if there’s nothing worth defending? 

There are far more poor and middle class Americans than rich. If you continue building a society based on taking from the many to benefit the few, then we’re not going to have a nation much longer. 

Rich people didn’t become rich by giving away their money, Trickle Down Economics is the biggest con our country has ever seen. 

Decades ago we all paid a much higher tax percentage, and our economic policies protected the people more than businesses. During these times our nation saw historic growth and unheard of economic prosperity. None of that was done by basing our policies on giving more to the rich. 

Perhaps most news seems liberally biased because your news sources refuse to report facts. 

Being Muslim doesn’t mean someone isn’t American. Islam is a religion, not a nationality. 

George W. Bush actually did double our national debt, President Obama has not. 

Bush also inherited a balanced budget. It was his tax cuts and unfunded wars which sent us back into budget deficits. 

Social Security and Medicare is socialism—and millions of Republican voters benefit from, and receive, these benefits. 

Health insurance is you paying for another person’s health care—in fact all insurance is you paying for someone else. 

We had record oil prices under Bush, not Obama. 

The “Great Recession” started in 2008, while Obama took office January 20, 2009—you know, after the recession started. 

If Obama is the cause of our economic problems, why do Republicans avoid, at all costs, being associated with George W. Bush?

Okay now THAT was satisfying.

Though I think reading it aloud to one of your conservative family members might result in an actual physical altercation or perhaps they will simply put their fingers in their ears and go "La, la, la, I can't HEAR you!" until your lips stop moving.

It's funny how facts have a liberal bias, don't you think?

Sarah Palin angry that American soldiers cannot deliver the message of Jesus Christ one bullet at a time.

"Does this kick?"

Apparently Palin is pissy because the Army is asking that soldiers file off a New Testament message etched onto the scopes of their rifles by a military vendor:

The U.S. Army is directing troops to remove a Bible inscription that a vendor etched into the serial numbers of weapon scopes, Fox News has learned. 

Soldiers at Fort Wainwright in Alaska told Fox News they received a directive to turn in their scopes so the Bible references could be removed.

The scopes were made by Trijicon and referenced New Testament passages in John 8:12 and Second Corinthians 4:6. The verses appeared at the end of the scope serial numbers – “JN8:12” and “2COR4:6.” 

“The biblical verse (JN8:12) must be removed utilizing a Dremel type tool and then painted black,” read instructions on how to remedy the matter. After the letters and numbers were scrapped off, soldiers were directed to use apply black paint to ensure the verses were totally covered. 

Well this is blatant censorship in Palin-world and she took to Facebook to raise a sink with the handful of losers still reading her ghostwritten Facebook rants. (I know what you're about to say, but I only read it so that you don't have to.)

Who's giving the order? Who has the guts to take responsibility for this nonsense?

Yes WHO has the guts to take responsibility for this nonsense? 

After all what could be the harm in having a weapon that is mostly aimed at Islamic people etched with a reference to this Bible passage?

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

I mean what could be so wrong with sighting through a scope, etched with words that condemn nonbelievers to eternal darkness, before firing bullets at those nonbelievers to snuff out their lives forever?

You know besides EVERYTHING?

Is this woman ever on the right side of ANY issue?

Pakistani Taliban:"Wherever we find Americans we will kill them, but we don't have any connection with the Boston Explosions." Update!

"Dear Boston: Sorry for your losses. Your losses are ours, too." - Muslim Peacemaker Teams in Najaf, Iraq

Courtesy of CNN: 

The Pakistani Taliban denied any involvement in a double bombing at the Boston Marathon that killed at least three people, spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan said Wednesday. 

"Wherever we find Americans we will kill them, but we don't have any connection with the Boston Explosions," Ihsan said. 

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the Times Square bombing in 2010.

Thus far it seems that nobody has taken responsibility for the attacks, which is unusual for Islamic terrorist groups.

Also the injured Saudi that was originally identified as a "suspect" by certain irresponsible media outlets, and gave rise to the idea that this attack was the work of Muslim extremists, has turned out to be nothing of the sort.

This courtesy of the Washington Post: 

U.S. law enforcement officials said Tuesday that a Saudi national injured in the Boston Marathon bombing is regarded as a witness, not a suspect. 

The Saudi, who is recuperating at a Boston hospital, is in his 20s and is in the United States on a Saudi scholarship to study at a university in the Boston area. 

The federal officials’ explanation echoed comments by a Saudi official at the country’s embassy in Washington. The embassy official said that a Saudi national has been questioned as a witness but is not regarded as a suspect. The Saudi official cited information provided to the embassy by U.S. law enforcement officials.

I am not going to say that any of this indicates that there is no possibility that the attacks were not the work of Islamic terrorists, but but as time goes on it seems less and less likely.

I have noticed a rather interesting dichotomy  between the Left and Right media right now.

On the Left many pundits have seemed to focus more on the possibility that this was the work of domestic terrorists, possibly White Supremacists or anti-tax sovereign citizen groups.

However on the Right they seem to be working overtime to suggest that this HAD to have been the work of some Islamic group hell bent on the destruction of America. And some have even gone so far as to blame President Obama as well.

Like I said, I really do not have enough information to form a strong opinion, however I think that when we DO find the perpetrators one side is going to go on the attack, and the other is going to become very defensive.

And I find that very interesting. And not a little troubling.

Update: This is happening now:

A suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings was taken into custody Wednesday in a breakthrough that came less than 48 hours after the deadly attack, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation said Wednesday. 

The official spoke shortly after several media outlets reported that a suspect had been identified from surveillance video taken at a Lord & Taylor store between the sites of the two bomb blasts, which killed three people and wounded more than 170. 

The official was not authorized to divulge details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The suspect was expected at a Boston courthouse, the official said.

A news briefing was scheduled later Wednesday.

So we should know sometime today.

Batten down the hatches kids, this is going to get ugly.

Update 2: Oops now some new outlets are walking back reports of an arrest.

CNN now walking back reports of arrest. NBC may have been first and only outlet reporting correctly that there has been no arrest.
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) April 17, 2013

Hoo boy!

Update 3: The FBI just sent this out:

Contrary to widespread reporting, no arrest has been made in connection with the Boston Marathon attack. Over the past day and a half, there have been a number of press reports based on information from unofficial sources that has been inaccurate. Since these stories often have unintended consequences, we ask the media, particularly at this early stage of the investigation, to exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting.

I don't think they are very happy.

Perhaps the best parody of how the Fundamentalists believe a debate with a liberal evolutionist would go that I have ever read. I dare you to read through this without laughing out loud.

I could not make it even through the first two sentences before my eyes teared up with laughter.

In case you have trouble reading it, this is what it says:

A liberal Muslim homosexual ACLU professor and abortion doctor was teaching a class on Karl Marx. 

"Before class begins you must get on your knees and worship Marx and accept that he is the most highly evolved being the world has ever know, even greater than Jesus Christ."

At this moment, a brave, patriotic, pro-life Navy SEAL champion who had served 1500 tours of duty and understood the necessity of war and fully supported all military decisions made by the United States stood up and held up a rock.

"How old is this rock?"

The arrogant professor smiled quite Jewishly and replied "4.6 billion years, you stupid Christian."

"Wrong. It's been 5,000 years since God created it. If it was 4.6 billion years old and evolution, as you say, is real...then it should be an animal now."

The professor was visibly shaken and dropped his copy of Origin of Species. He stormed out of the room crying those liberal crocodile tears. 

The students applauded and all registered as Republicans that day and accepted  Jesus Christ as their lord and savior. An eagle named "Small Government" flew into the room and perched atop the American flag and shed a tear on the chalk board. The Pledge of Allegiance was read several times and God himself showed up and enacted a flat tax rate across the country.

The professor lost his tenure and and was fired the next day. He died of the gay plague AIDS and was tossed into the lake of fire for all eternity.

You know the truly humorous thing about this is that I bet there are NUMEROUS Right Wingers who could read almost the entire thing before realizing that it is not supposed to be taken seriously.