Patterico's Pontifications

10/23/2014

Thursday Night Music

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 11:31 pm



Never cared for “Friends” but always loved the Rembrandts. A new acoustic version of a pretty good tune.

Ebola in NYC

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 10:39 pm



Doctor goes to Africa, treats some Ebola patients, comes back, rides the subway a little, does a little bowling, takes a taxi home, has Ebola.

Puts countless people at risk.

It’s nice that he helped fight the disease in Africa, truly. But why is it that these people who make such sacrifices, don’t bother to stay isolated for a few days when they travel back?

Hopefully nothing comes from him gallivanting around a crowded city with a contagious and deadly disease. I bet he’s not the only one who refuses to self-isolate. Luckily we have no general policy on this.

A Needed Humor Break

Filed under: General — JVW @ 2:54 pm



[guest post by JVW]

I get the sense that we could all use a little light humor right now, so I am submitting to everyone the truly awesome Twitter parody account, @LosFelizDayCare. For those of you who aren’t up on the posh spots in Southern California, Los Feliz is a neighborhood in Los Angeles located slightly northwest of downtown, and noted for its beautiful old Spanish-style homes, happening nightspots (recall the 1996 movie Swingers), and general trendiness, which in course in these parts strongly depends upon holding all of the requisite progressive values. So some wag set up a Twitter account for a fictional daycare center, and sends out hilarious tweets showcasing what sort of parent and child the center would cater to. As with any great parody, it is close enough to the truth that it is damn near believable: the Twitter page includes the warning “We do not accept immunized children.” Go to the Twitter page for all the glorious tweets, but in the meantime, here is a very small sampling of the comedy gold:

– JVW

Saying It Like It’s A Good Thing: “Obama Has Removed The Threat Of Deportation For Most Illegals”

Filed under: General — Dana @ 6:59 am



[guest post by Dana]

Democrat activist and strategist Simon Rosenberg speaking at Georgetown University Law Center this week:

“I think that the immigration community has, frankly, given the Democrats and the president far less credit than they deserve for how much we’ve – the president has fundamentally altered the system to essentially have removed the threat of deportation over virtually every undocumented immigrant in the country already,” Rosenberg said. “That’s already happened.

Rosenberg believes the president will make his big move (read: amnesty for millions ) after the midterms. No political cynicism there, right? Spelling it out for us:

“The government of the United States no longer wants to deport people from the interior without criminal records,” Rosenberg said. “What that means in practicality is that the threat of deportation over the vast majority of undocumented immigrants in the United States has been lifted.

–Dana

A New Wave Of Islam

Filed under: General — Dana @ 6:52 am



[guest post by Dana]

Via Instapundit comes this interesting report:

According to the Latino American Dawah Organization (LADO), more Hispanics are turning towards Islam and interestingly, more than half of Miami’s 3,000 Hispanic Muslims are female.

In such a concentration of Hispanics, one assumes the population would be firmly rooted in Catholicism, so what might motivate such conversions?

Arriving from Miami four years ago, Torres said she had “lost her identity in the move and found it in the Prophet Muhammad”, according to a report on Voice of America.

Torres explained: “It was very hard for me because we do not have family here, just my husband and my kids. On this day, my baby – Mahdi – he was going to be born. That is why I converted to Islam because I was scared.”

Stephanie Londono, a well educated woman, published a study on the occurrence, referring to the conversion of Latinas to Islam as “‘Recovering Cultural Memory’, ‘Re-interpreting the past’ and ‘Breaking normative Colonial Representation/Stereotypes’.” Per Londono:

Wearing a hijab is, in her words, a ‘civic engagement’ that she feels passionate about.

“When people see you with the hijab, they respect you first. Second, it’s the emotion you feel because you are different. You believe in something. It’s amazing.” Londono said.

“It defines their world on a clear grid of what’s permitted or ‘halal,’ and what’s prohibited which is ‘haram’. So they know exactly where they stand. So the Qur’an becomes this guidebook that tells you exactly what to wear, what to eat, how to wash, how to behave, when to pray.”

It’s interesting there is no mention of love, mercy or grace when she speaks of her religion and adherence to it. Also interesting is her belief that it is the garb that garners respect, not the person. Further, along with respect, she wants to be seen as “different”- unique, distinct – but the way she believes she achieves this is by being fully obedient to an instruction book of severe rules and by living under a law – rules and laws that all other Muslims are required to follow, thus making them all the same.

–Dana

U.S. Released Immigrants Charged with Sex Offenses and Homicide, Misled Congress About It

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:49 am



All in a day’s work:

The records, obtained by USA TODAY, show immigration officials released some undocumented immigrants who had faced far more serious criminal charges, including people charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, drug trafficking and homicide.

. . . .

In hearings last year, Republican lawmakers pressed then-ICE Director John Morton for specifics on the criminal records of the people the agency had freed. At one, Rep. J. Randy Forbes, R-Va., asked Morton directly, “No one on that list has been charged or convicted with murder, rape or sexual abuse of a minor, were they?”

Morton answered, “They were not.”

He told lawmakers that, to his knowledge, none had faced child pornography charges.

White House spokesman Jay Carney similarly described them as “low-risk, non-criminal detainees.”

A spreadsheet ICE officials prepared listing the detainees includes one person in Texas charged with aggravated kidnapping and sexually assaulting a child, as well as others charged with armed assaults or assaulting police officers. Another immigrant released from Miami had been charged with conspiracy to commit homicide. Two detainees from Boston had been charged with aggravated assault using a weapon. One in Denver had a sexual assault charge. The agency released the spreadsheet to USA TODAY under the Freedom of Information Act.

ICE’s records do not indicate whether the detainees were convicted of those crimes or merely charged with them. The agency said it would not release information identifying any of the detainees because doing so would invade their privacy, so it was impossible to examine the details of their cases.

Our government, which monitors our Internet traffic and mines our phone data, is suddenly concerned with “privacy” when it comes to information that might embarrass the government.

They are failing in government’s most fundamental task: protection of the public. Worse, one suspects it’s part of a pro-immigrant policy on the part of the Obama administration. Any way you slice it, the ICE director provided false information to Congress, and there may be murderers and sex offenders walking around in our midst. Somehow, I don’t think the government is motivated by concerns for “privacy.”

It’s good to see USA Today starting to hold the administration’s feet to the fire. Turn up the flame.


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