Syrian Member of Homeland Security Subcommittee on Countering Violent Extremism: 9/11 Changed the World for Good
One of the sitting members on the Homeland Security Advisory Council’s (HSAC) Subcommittee on Countering Violent Extremism is a 25-year-old immigrant of Syrian heritage who said that the 9/11 attacks “changed the world for good” and has consistently disparaged America, free speech and white people on social media.
Laila Alawa was one of just 15 people tapped to serve on the newly-formed HSAC Subcommittee on Countering Violent Extremism in 2015 — the same year she became an American citizen. Just last week, the subcommittee submitted a report to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, recommending that the DHS avoid using Muslim terminology like the words “sharia” and “jihad” when discussing terrorism.
Here is the tweet in question:
9/11 changed the world for good, and there's no other way to say it. I just hope we keep having open conversations about our differences.
— Laila Alawa (@lulainlife) September 11, 2014
This is fairly remarkable. If you browse the article, she has some other interesting statements:
hey, um, go fuck yourself. RT @pamelageller: Jihad in Boston: 12 dead, 50 injured …… horrific Boston Marathon bombing
— Laila Alawa (@lulainlife) April 15, 2013
Did she donate to the Clinton Foundation or what?
UPDATE: CNN claims that (consistent with nk in the comments) The Daily Caller misread her tweet as “for good” (meaning for the better) when she meant “for good” (meaning for all eternity). That may well be. Perhaps she ought to have made that point when they contacted her for comment, rather than refusing to respond, as she did. By the way, she had some other tweets that supported The Caller’s view of her as someone unsuited to advise Homeland Security:
@Patterico @gabrielmalor @radleybalko she sounds like the ideal person 2 contribute 2 Homeland security policy, no? pic.twitter.com/JOCQutWaCJ
— David Reaboi (@davereaboi) June 22, 2016
In one of those tweets, Alawa told Pam Geller to go fuck herself for calling the jihad in Boston during the Boston Marathon “jihad in Boston.” I’m not a big Pam Geller fan, but jihad is jihad . . . and if you’re going to tell people to go fuck themselves when they call it what it is, then I reserve the right to look at you with a jaundiced eye. Best of all is CNN’s claim (echoed by master of overstatement Radley Balko) that the Caller RUINED HER LIFE!!! Ruined her life I say! She got some nasty and harassing tweets. Having received many of those in my life, I can say it’s not pleasant. But “ruined her life”?
Vote Trump.
I’m joking, of course. But this kind of thing, plus the upcoming riots at the Republican convention in Cleveland, will go a long way towards bringing Republicans together behind a flimflam artist.
Patterico (fb172b) — 6/14/2016 @ 6:37 pm“Muslims . . . have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism.”
— Hillary Clinton
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/14/2016 @ 6:41 pmPick yer poison or sit idly by and passively watch it all.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/14/2016 @ 6:45 pmCould you correct the link? Currently it goes to an article describing today’s presidential temper tantrum…and I don’t see the article you meant.
kishnevi (050eae) — 6/14/2016 @ 6:52 pmWell, it appears she’s an alumna of Wellesley College (let’s see what other prominent woman is a Wellesley alum?) so there you have it right there in front of you. #Ready4Hillary! Read her Twitter feed to get a sense of a completely vacuous modern college-trained grievance feminist with an exotic religion (spoiler: she thinks Joe Biden is awesome!).
JVW (eabb2a) — 6/14/2016 @ 6:52 pmYes, it would be real interesting to see how she got picked for such a job, like that high appointee in the State Dept that promptly left after people started asking questions.
Saying that 9/11 changed the world for good? The person should be given the choice of being deported or jailed for fraud of some sort. How an one declare allegiance to the US in becoming a citizen while thinking that 9/11 was a good thing?
Yes, I know, they can get away with it the same way someone took an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution of the US, and didn’t.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 6/14/2016 @ 6:53 pmBy Allah, her Twitter feed is painful! Yet this is the sort of dope that Obama and the Dems think has some youthful insight into matters that are obviously way beyond her limited intellectual comprehension. She literally just regurgitates the mindless pablum that she picked up from her cloistered, groupthink college professors, yet she perceives it as timeless wisdom. It’s depressing and sad.
JVW (eabb2a) — 6/14/2016 @ 6:55 pm“For good” can also be used for “irrevocably”. “Are you leaving for good?” As a matter of fact, that is what it is used for. Irrevocably. For the interpretation you guys are putting on it, the more colloquial expression is “for the better”.
But I’m biased. She won me over with her tweet about that twit Pam Geller.
nk (dbc370) — 6/14/2016 @ 7:03 pmYou know this Mateen was specifically chosen through vetting to provide security for the DHS criminal illegal transfer program. They aren’t gonna just let anyone provide security for this under-the-radar stuff.
Now what is it that endeared Mateen so much to the Democrats in control? No, it’s not because the Democrats are secret gay-hating jihadis who wanted a gay massacre. And the fact that Mateen was registered Democrat was only a minor bonus in his favor.
There is a huge obvious factor for why the Democrats in control loved and trusted Mateen. They felt that he was compromised and you have some information about him that will make him not betray you. Same reason Dennis Hastert was Speaker of the House.
jcurtis (f4a47c) — 6/14/2016 @ 7:03 pmMaybe she should ask Joe Biden to go over to Europe and give lectures to all of the young immigrants from the ME about no meaning no and it’s not ok to say Muslim ME boys will be Muslim ME boys.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 6/14/2016 @ 7:04 pmGetting the US focused on jihadis might be said to be a good thing. But I am pretty sure she didn’t mean it that way.
kishnevi (050eae) — 6/14/2016 @ 7:09 pmPainted Jaguar: So, nk,
you are saying that when the linguistics are analyzed, she would have said “for the good” if she really meant what they say she meant,
rather than “for good”,
which merely means “irrevocably”,
if she really said what you say she said.
Is that what you said?
Painted Jaguar (a sock puppet) (f9371b) — 6/14/2016 @ 7:10 pmDid you really mean what you said when you said it,
or are you using your sly humor to disrupt the saying of those sayIng the opposite?
‘the incredible joe biden’ well she’s right from a certain point of view, singularities are not usually that dense.
narciso (732bc0) — 6/14/2016 @ 7:10 pmWhat PJ said…
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 6/14/2016 @ 7:11 pmThe Tsarnaev brothers were radicalized by their Presbyterian Church.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 6/14/2016 @ 7:13 pmI think I’m saying she’s a dummy, appointed by dummies, to a position created by dummies.
But I meant it about Pam Geller. She’s a gold digger who peddles Islamophobia because she does not have the looks to peddle anything else.
nk (dbc370) — 6/14/2016 @ 7:18 pmPainted Jaguar: Glad we got that cleared up, nk.
Now we have to find out what she means about having open conversations about our differences,
Painted Jaguar (a sock puppet) (f9371b) — 6/14/2016 @ 7:23 pmbecause down here by the deep, dark, turbid waters of the Amazon,
killing 3,000 of one’s friends does not invite polite conversation.
about as sharp as this, they are getting pounded,
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-its-time-to-repeal-the-second-amendment-right-bear-arms-20160613?page=2
narciso (732bc0) — 6/14/2016 @ 7:44 pmbut the weapons of today that are easily accessible are vastly different than anything that existed in 1791. When the Second Amendment was written, the Founders didn’t have to weigh the risks of one man killing 49 and injuring 53 all by himself. Now we do, and the risk-benefit analysis of 1791 is flatly irrelevant to the risk-benefit analysis of today.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-its-time-to-repeal-the-second-amendment-right-bear-arms-20160613#ixzz4Bc3CXox2
What about the risk-benefit balance of 1930’s Germany?
what about the data, THE DATA, about the number of crimes cut short by armed citizens?
I think we need to stop arguing and just challenge them to say what law would make a difference.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 6/14/2016 @ 7:54 pmit does seem like there is enemy action everywhere
http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/220432/irs-employing-cair-analyst-who-tipped-al-awlaki-daniel-greenfield
narciso (732bc0) — 6/14/2016 @ 8:09 pmSpeaking of people who thought 9/11 was a good thing
kishnevi (f594bb) — 6/14/2016 @ 8:54 pmhttps://borepatch.blogspot.com/2016/06/from-washington-post.html
Link fixed.
Patterico (fb172b) — 6/14/2016 @ 9:01 pmso much for lone wolves,
https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/2016/06/14/isis-praises-mateen-as-lion-of-caliphate-urges-attacks-at-theaters-hospitals-amusement-parks/
narciso (732bc0) — 6/14/2016 @ 9:11 pmWhen the Ottoman empire was still extant during WWI, and on the ropes, the Ottomans lectured Muslims on the three forms of Jihad in the desperate hope that somebody would ride to the rescue and turn the tide.
Jihad as waged by the entire Ummah, Jihad in small groups, and
jihad by individuals.
Nihil Novi Sub Sole.
Steve57 (e33d44) — 6/14/2016 @ 9:28 pmA guy named Mohammed took hostages at a Walmart in Amarillo, today.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 6/14/2016 @ 9:37 pmThose Presbyterians just won’t give up their anger, will they?
The top three people on the commission are Muslim. And I would guess they are radical Muslims. They had all references to Islam removed from the training for DHS, etc. And we wonder why police are always wondering what the motivation of these killers could possibly be! They are properly brainwashed.
Speaking of which, another Mohammed attack tonight in Amarillo. Thankfully it ended well. Only the terrorist was killed.
Patricia (5fc097) — 6/14/2016 @ 9:51 pmAre you sure?
Could have sworn they were Amish.
Steve57 (e33d44) — 6/14/2016 @ 9:56 pmThe only useful thing that might come out of a Trump Presidency is that he might line up a few hundred members of the Obama administration and shoot them, and then we could be outraged and impeach him for it.
Yeah, I know. But stories like this just frost me. It’s like treason is their watchword.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 6/14/2016 @ 10:33 pmI want sharia law to be used on Paul Ryan and all other house republicans that love them some muzzles.
mg (31009b) — 6/15/2016 @ 3:13 amThese traitorous men needs to die, quick.
That’s right nk, side with #4Hillary! and call everybody who recognizes that bringing moslems into America is a no-win move dirty, stinkin’ islamophobes. America gains nothing from moslems but they get a base of operations in our cities and a launching pad for attacks against our families.
I do not understand why you and other leftists are so desirous to bring in all kinds of mexicans, moslems and africans. We now have huge enclaves of these groups in our major cities the vast amount getting public assistance. Would you please explain what benefit they bring to America? I mean other than voting democrat. And keeping the cops busy.
Pam Gellar is no where near as ugly as Hillary!, Wassername-Shitz and the usual gaggle of leftist democrat hags.
Rev. Hoagie© (734193) — 6/15/2016 @ 5:27 amWhat did I say to get moderated?
Rev. Hoagie© (734193) — 6/15/2016 @ 5:30 amWell I’d tell you but then I’d get moderated too
Dustin (2a8be7) — 6/15/2016 @ 5:33 amThere are some odd things that get captured, Rev.
MD in Philly (cf3c76) — 6/15/2016 @ 5:38 amI don’t think our host is 100% in control of the screening software.
Someone will fish you out.
we’re in the best possible hands
http://downstreampolitics.com/2016/06/15/orlando-killers-father-held-meetings-white-house/
narciso (732bc0) — 6/15/2016 @ 5:59 amdont you doubt me,
http://www.mediaite.com/online/what-the-heck-reporters-allowed-to-casually-tour-orlando-killers-apartment/
narciso (732bc0) — 6/15/2016 @ 6:01 amRev Hoagie, if you were emailing someone at the White House and used the phrase “Radical Islam,” you would likely be put into moderation. And probably win yourself an IRS audit, too. (LOL)
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 6/15/2016 @ 6:04 amKev, Pam Geller is aaiight in the looks department. Your low regard of her is shared by your nemesis.
urbanleftbehind (04b15f) — 6/15/2016 @ 6:33 amMohammed’sObama’s RadioJihadis always restless they got scorecards to fill
Someone’s always trying to tell them
which people they must kill
So their anger and resentment flow
But don’t it make you want to ship ’em all back home
All night long
Obama’s Radio
He heard muezzins singing sweet and soulful
Colonel Haiku (fc9aef) — 6/15/2016 @ 6:54 amFrom the towers long ago
You know, the Prez’s got his problems too
He will surely take them out on you
In walked the village idiot and his face was all aglow
He’s been up all night listening to Obama’s Radio
There are dozens and dozens of words that trigger a comment going into a filter so that they can be looked at before they are posted. Our host does have control of which words are there, and they are there for a reason.
One of the reasons is that spammers are constantly leaving comments with links to their websites. If not for the filter, these comments would appear in every post and their appearance would cause the spammer to leave even more comments. It could easily result in dozens or hundreds of extraneous advertising, p*orn, lengthy, or just plain annoying comments in every thread. It would make all the comment threads unreadable.
One way to stop these comments is by identifying the spammers’ IP address and banning it, but that is not enough by itself because spammers are constantly changing their IP addresses. Banning certain words works better to immediately divert spam comments into a filter where they are never seen. Most of the time, the words Patterico chooses are not going to be used by commenters here. He focuses on words that often show up in comments trying to lure people to p*orn, gambling, and other websites. But sometimes the trigger words are names or words used in other contexts and that can sometimes result in a “normal” comment going into moderation.
In all the years I was a moderator, I can tell you that this doesn’t happen often and it’s definitely worth the occasional accidental moderation. The words that trigger moderation mean there are thousands of worthless spam comments that regular readers never have to see.
DRJ (15874d) — 6/15/2016 @ 7:13 amWhen Iwas a moderator, I would spend as much time reading the filter to search for accidently filtered comments as I spent reading actual comments. The numbers were about equal. If the filter had not been there, the spammers would have posted many times more comments.
I know that because whenever a spam comment somehow made it past the filter, the comments would double or triple. The spammers must watch to see if they show up or have some way to tell. It was really very interesting.
DRJ (15874d) — 6/15/2016 @ 7:23 amSorry, that wasn’t clear. I shouldhave said: When I was moderating, there were as many spam comments as regular comments. In comparison, there weren’t many comments that accidently went into the filter.
DRJ (15874d) — 6/15/2016 @ 7:26 am“THE CALL IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE CLUB: Omar Mateen called local TV news producer Matthew Gentili from The Pulse.
“I’m the shooter. It’s me,” the man said. “I am the shooter.”
The caller then said he had carried out the Pulse attack for the Islamic State and began speaking quickly in Arabic.
“At the time, I didn’t know what he was saying,” Gentili told News 13 reporter Scott Fais. “He was speaking so fast. But it was … he was speaking fluently. Whatever language he was speaking, he knew it. And he was speaking it very quickly. And that is when I said to him, ‘Sir. Please. Speak in English, please.’”
“I did it for ISIS,” the caller said, according to Gentili, “I did it for the Islamic State.”
It doesn’t get much clearer than that.”
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/236330/
Colonel Haiku (fc9aef) — 6/15/2016 @ 7:29 amThanks, DRJ, for the info.
narciso,
MD in Philly (cf3c76) — 6/15/2016 @ 7:31 amthat link from downstream politics is incredible.
I am about the last one to think Obama is a closet Muslim, I think he is an anti American Alinskyite, but there is not much different he would do if he was.
I hope whoever ends up president is above blackmail so they can investigate people and put them on trial for treason,
and I hope there are enough honest enough people in govt the night of the election to keep all of the info from being destroyed.
More likely, someone who sponsored her did. I mean, she’s only 25 years old. And that person or persons didn’t directly nominate her, but nominated somebody else to recommend people. And since she was named by the Obama Adminstration, and not by Hillary Clinton, it’s probably something else besides the Clinton Foundation, but it is almost certainly some form of networking. Look at the families of her partners and/or at her investors.
Sammy Finkelman (7ea384) — 6/15/2016 @ 7:33 am“It’s hardly a big secret that President Obama from the moment he arrived at the White House put the kibosh on any discussion of radical Islam as a security problem, even in classified channels. In 2009, the administration banned politically loaded words like “jihad” even in classified Intelligence Community assessments discussing terrorism – a message that was received loud and clear in the counterterrorism community. Missing the next 9/11 could be survived, career-wise, while accusations of Islamophobia would not be with Barack Obama in the White House.
During Mr. Obama’s first term, there was a thorough purge of personnel in the Intelligence Community and the Defense Department who were unwilling to follow the new party line. People were mysteriously reassigned, contracts were suddenly cancelled, meetings were delayed never to be rescheduled. The message was obvious to counterterrorism professionals. As someone who has tried for years to walk a fine line on jihadism—we must be able to discuss political Islam and terrorism without stigmatizing all Muslims—I witnessed this happen, and it was tragically clear what the long-term consequences of this institutionalized unreality would be.
Now the much-feared mass-casualty jihadist attack on American soil, by a native-born American Muslim no less, has happened. President Obama, who is deeply invested in the unreality he has foisted on our security services, cannot be expected to reassess his errors in the last months of his second term.
He’s never been much for reassessing his views. He knows it all already.”
Colonel Haiku (fc9aef) — 6/15/2016 @ 7:34 amjcurtis (f4a47c) — 6/14/2016 @ 7:03 pm
That’s one of many numerous things, the company he worked for did.
His actual job was providing security for a golf course in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
Yes. Even for the actual job he had. He had a Florida security officer license, a firearms license, and passed two background checks, one in 2007 and one in 2013 (the latter probably prompted by his claims to his co-workers to have ties to two terrorist groups.)
However, he explained to the FBI that he said that only out of anger because his co-workers were annoying him or something. He was put on the Terrorism watch list and the no fly list, but taken off both of them later, when nothing new was discovered. The FBI reasoned, in part, that Hezbollah and Al Qaeda were bitter enemies, so his claims to be connected to both of them couldn’t possibly be true.
He was investigated further when someone he knew became the first American suicide bomber in Syria, but the FBI concluded that he didn’t know him very well.
I suppose also they might have said, although hey probably didn’t reason so deeply, that where he had blown himself up had been a genuine military target – Syrian soldiers – and so might not indicate a willingness to engage in terrorism. Another moderating factor maybe, was that it wasn’t for ISIS, but for Original al Qaeda ® ™.
Sammy Finkelman (7ea384) — 6/15/2016 @ 8:00 am@Colonel Haiku. it could also have been Persian or Dari.
Omar Mateen had been talking about committing mass murder since he was in elementary school.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/classmate-mateen-suspended-threatening-shooting-rampage-article-1.2672719
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/orlando-terrorist-omar-mateen-threatened-shoot-school-article-1.2673782
http://cbs12.com/news/local/former-teacher-of-omar-mateen-feared-he-would-cause-harm
Sammy Finkelman (7ea384) — 6/15/2016 @ 8:02 amWho’s the other one?
Sammy Finkelman (7ea384) — 6/15/2016 @ 8:07 amThe enemy is not radical extremists, radical ialamists, islamic radicals, moslem terrorists, radical terrorists or any other permutation of these terms. The enemy is Islam. Period. Until the President and the rest of you squishes are willing to say that and understand that they will continue to kill our families.
Some moslems will be terrorists, some politicians and some shop keepers but all of them will stand with the jihadists. It’s in their religion.
Don’t believe me? Show me the moslems marching in solidarity with the victims at Pulse! You know, all those “peaceful” moslems who don’t want to hurt anybody. Where are they?
Rev. Hoagie© (734193) — 6/15/2016 @ 8:39 amChristians have many different beliefs. Jews do, too. But it sounds like you don’t think Muslims can have different beliefs. Maybe Muslims are all in agreement and they are all dangerous,or maybe some are afraid to speak out.
DRJ (15874d) — 6/15/2016 @ 9:06 amRev. Hoagie© (734193) — 6/15/2016 @ 8:39 am
That’s exactly where I think you’re wrong. And that is probably what Vladimir Putin would like people to think.
Sammy Finkelman (7ea384) — 6/15/2016 @ 9:08 amRev. Hoagie© (734193) — 6/15/2016 @ 8:39 am
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/06/12/florida-imam-orlando-terror-mass-shootings-happening-all-time/
There used to be something else: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lbE4kBz5i8
Of course, this is merely trying to avoid blame, but there may be something a little bit stronger later at some ceremony they held in Orlando.
Terrorism in places otgehr than in Israel you do get – if not condemnation, repudiation.
Sammy Finkelman (7ea384) — 6/15/2016 @ 9:13 am… That is, the Muslims politicians and shopkeepers that these jihadists haven’t executed.
JP (bd5dd9) — 6/15/2016 @ 9:42 amSince Mateen is dead, the other one must be the one she’s so afraid of retaliating against her she won’t even publicly identify herself let alone that individual.
Steve57 (e33d44) — 6/15/2016 @ 11:13 amkind of O/T but there was what can truly be describes as a fatal tragedy in Orlando.
My first reaction, after of course thinking what a horrific ordeal it must have been for the family who saw what happened (not to mention for the little boy, as being grabbed and drowned by ,
Steve57 (e33d44) — 6/15/2016 @ 11:25 amwell you could see how the junior mateen’s case, could get special attention, as it was with shahzad, who was the son of a general, and other high profile pleaders,
narciso (732bc0) — 6/15/2016 @ 11:28 am53. PSL is the “rich” cousin city to hood town Fort Pierce. A former college roomate who went to visit a grandparent and Mets spring training learned the distinction the hard way. One wonders if its a garden variety thug as much as another muslim classmate.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 6/15/2016 @ 11:47 amChristians don’t have “many different beliefs”. They have many different organizations, rituals, calendars, traditions, hierarchies and holidays but only one belief: that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Son of God. And only one major Holy book: the Holy Bible. I don’t know about Jews but I do know whatever the Jews believe and whatever we Christians believe we don’t go around killing people in the 21st century because they don’t worship like we do. There is no “maybe” about it. moslems have to be in agreement with their faith and holy book or they’re not moslems just as Christians who don’t believe in Christ aren’t Christians. No maybes.
I find it hard to believe they’re afraid to speak out as you suggest. They manage to speak out if a person draws a cartoon of Mohammad but suddenly go mute when someone murders a kid, rapes a 12 year old boy, or shoots a gay? Apparently their “fear” is quite selective.
Rev. Hoagie© (734193) — 6/15/2016 @ 12:14 pmI was going to being killed by a saurian is a horrible way to die. It’s not particularly quick, the few people who’ve survived after those jaws clamp shut, generally because the reptile manages to rip off whatever limb it has in jaws, say the pain is excruciating (assuming your aren’t in shock), so you spend the last moments of your life in agony and terror as you look right into your killer’s eye.
But my next reaction was, why are there alligators in the “Seven Seas Lagoon” at all? It’s an artificial lake. It’s connected, as are all of Disney’s artificial lakes, to natural waterways be a series of canals. Which of course are the sources of water to keep those artificial lakes filled. But they’re also the source of the alligators. It seems to me that there has to be better, safer way to get water into those lakes. Such as a pipeline with some sort of barrier system to keep the gators out. Florida Power and light operates the Turkey Point Power Station which uses a closed cooling system. Essentially its about 160 miles of artificial canals that function as a giant radiator (and looks exactly like one on commercial satellite imagery). They pump cool water out of one end of te system, cool the reactors, then pump the warm water back into the canals at another end. And by doing so they accidentally created great habitat for the much rarer American Crocodile, which is not able to stand chilly weather like the Alligator. They’re attracted to the heated discharge water. Since it’s a nesting area, and since females prefer secluded spots for their nests to keep the hatchlings safe from the other crocs congregating at the discharge pipes which would eat them, it seems to me keeping the crocs out of the intake pipes would also be a concern. Particularly the young ones as mom will stop guarding them long before they’re anywhere big enough to compete with the larger crocs without being eaten. Which means staying away from the prime territory. Those pumps are very powerful; there must be some mechanism to prevent them from being sucked into the intake pipes. Not to mention there are other species of aquatic wildlife that need to be protected from the nuclear power plant, and a nuclear power plant to protect from the carcasses of the larger wildlife.
I seriously doubt you can do much to gator proof the canal system as the gators could simply swim up to the barrier then get out of the canal and walk around it.
I am not normally inclined to think lawsuit but I think one would be entirely justified in this case. The Disney people know that there are gators in that lake. They also know that their guests are making a dangerous situation worse by feeding the gators. That’s one of the reasons those gators want to be in that lake despite the fact that they’re normally put off by that much human activity and tend to avoid such areas. Here it’s the opposite; they’re attracted by the activity because they’ve learned to associate people with food. And it never takes long for it to dawn on any large wild predator to make the leap from associating people with food to people are food.
But like the mayor of Amity Island the powers that be turned a blind eye to what was obviously a dangerous situation. People, particular government officials and those in businesses that depend on tourism, do tend to downplay the danger of alligator attacks. But they are not as rare as they claim. Exhibit A: look at how hard of a time they’re having trying to find the poor kids body. When Alligators (and Crocodiles; the same dynamic is at play in Africa) attack they tend to hide the evidence underwater then destroy the evidence as they feed on it.
Unlike the mayor of Amity Island, the people at Disney created this disaster waiting to happen. There really isn’t much you can do to stop a shark from swimming near a beach as long as the beach is along the side of an ocean. But the people actually brought the alligators to their resort by building gator habitat on their front doorstep. Literally for the dining convenience of the gators. They don’t even know how many gators are in their lake, so it looks like the recovery team will have to cut open quite a few of them to find the culprit (and just because they find a gator with parts of the child’s body does not mean they found the gator that killed the boy, just a gator that ate parts of a boy after maybe stealing the killer’s meal). Yet Disney doesn’t even have a warning sign letting guests know there are any gators at all in there. They have a “no swimming” sign but they don’t clue the guests in about why swimming in that lake is a bad idea.
It may not had occurred to this Nebraska family that there are any gators to be found anywhere in the “magic kingdom” outside of an aquarium.
So I see a very large and well deserved lawsuit coming out of this. I mean, no warning signs? And Disney should have been able to do more to keep gators out of that lake.
But they can’t implement those measures until we send Ms. Laila Alawa down there for a vacation. And tell her that she absolutely must bring her swimsuit.
Steve57 (e33d44) — 6/15/2016 @ 1:00 pmwe’ve been getting some nasty tourists to the central florida area,
narciso (732bc0) — 6/15/2016 @ 1:05 pm57. The normal kind, you must stipulate, and dont forget to send her a bottle of Nair.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 6/15/2016 @ 1:17 pmYes, much in the same way that some of the more extreme anti-smoking propaganda is almost enough to make me want to take up smoking, just to poke them in the eye. But of course that is why the phrase “cutting off your nose to spite your face” exists.
Milhouse (87c499) — 6/15/2016 @ 1:30 pmSteve57,
A couple weeks ago, the little boy was obviously not supervised closely enough at the zoo in Ohio before falling into the gorilla exhibit, and now some brilliant Nebraskans vacationing in Florida think it’s cute to have their 2 yr old out at 10PM, a little too close to the gators.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 6/15/2016 @ 2:05 pmWhen I was 2 yrs old, I think I was in bed by 6 or 7 PM.
Oh yes they do. A typical east Texan southern baptist and Jeremiah Wright wouldn’t have much in common at all.
You had to qualify that because you realize where you’re wrong. Christianity has made its share of mistakes, but has improved over the centuries.
And that’s what has to happen.
I hear that refrain a lot. You really don’t know of any Muslims who protest violence?
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/07/25/worlds_muslim_leaders_condemn_attacks_on_iraqi_christians/1103410
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Aug-13/267022-al-azhar-condemns-isis-as-corrupt-and-a-danger-to-islam.ashx#axzz3B1ymBb5P
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/08/11/U-S-weighs-options-to-evacuate-trapped-Yazidis-.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/22/us-iraq-security-turkey-religion-idUSKBN0FR16120140722
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/isis-concern-british-muslim-leaders-condemn-extremist-group-9599273.html
Stop being part of the problem by marginalizing or outright denying the existence of the guys who could turn this around.
You sound like someone who refuses to change your mind in the face of proof you are wrong. I guess we’ll see if I’m right about you. There are some extremely evil Muslims out there, but most Muslims are normal people, and in some Muslim countries the fear of offending the theocracy or religious extremists is tremendous. Denying that factor exists is amazingly naive and ignorant. Do you not know what the Taliban was like?
It’s been 15 years since 9/11 and you’d think folks would be a little more informed about what the hell is going on and who the enemy is.
Dustin (2a8be7) — 6/15/2016 @ 2:39 pmMuslims, particularly in the west, do have many different ideas about their religion. For instance back in 2010 ABC news’ 20/20 did a special about Muslims. It was one of those specials our LHMFM loves to do about Muslims and Islam. That Islam is practically the most peaceful, tolerant religion ever invented. That violence is strictly forbidden and Muhammad was sort of an Arab version of Mohatma Gandhi who would never hurt a fly. And that real Muslims, the peaceful ones, are our first line of defense against those hateful extremist fake Muslims perverting the religion of peace and tolerance.
That “report” was memorable for it’s laugh-out-loud errors, and how all the Muslim “experts” they talked to just completely lied to them about what the Quran and Muhammad actually teach about Islam. I don’t even know how these Muslim academics and clerics could keep a straight face. One of their “experts” actually told Diane Sawyer that in Islam men and women are exactly equal, with all the same rights and responsibilities. And Dianne Sawyer believed her! How little is it possible to know about Islam to not know that men can have up to four wives, but women can not have multiple husbands, or that in Islam a woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man’s, or that men are allowed to beat their wives but women have no such right to beat their husbands, etc., etc..ad infinitum.
One of the funnier moments was when the 20/20 crew was telling us that the true, peaceful, tolerant Muslims are our first line of defense against those intolerant violent false Muslims hijacking their friendly, playful, tolerant religion. They showed a few of these supposed peaceful, tolerant, friendly Muslims as them was Zadik Abdul Malik. A Muslim hate preacher after Anwar al Awlaki’s heart. He supported the home-grown extremist group Revolution Muslim, which was really just a website founded in 2007 to encourage violent jihad, and by 2013 all three of the founding members were in prison for making terrorist threats against the heads of as many Jewish organizations they could find, printing their names and addresses, reprinting bomb making instructions from AQ’s online magazine Inspire, and similar such materiasl. Abdul Malik also praised and defended Nidal Hassan’s Fort Hood murder spree, Osama bin Laden, other terrorists and terrorist organizations, and calls for the destruction of Israel. Like al Awlaki he has never to the best of my knowledge participated in any terrorist acts; he just encourages others to participate in such acts.
ABC was not only so clueless that they didn’t know who he was, they presented him as an example of a Muslim who will defend all us non-Muslims from the terrorists. A preacher who encourages Muslims to commit terrorism,
In the course of serving up this huge steaming pile of disinformation, one of the Muslim academics tried to make the case that Islam tolerates a wide range of religious beliefs. For instance she observed that many Americans don’t even go to the mosque “and,” she said, “that’s ok.”
A lot of American Muslims don’t go to the Mosque regularly, some don’t ever go. And many of them believe it really is ok not to go. But they’re wrong. They just don’t know much about their religion. Many have no idea what’s in the Quran. It is very rare to meet a Muslim who is familiar with the Sunnah of Muhammad, so they don’t know what their prophet taught about what’s in the Quran or how to fulfill the religious obligations of being a Muslim. Which means they don’t know the first thing about being a Muslim except what they’ve picked up from family and their prayer leaders. Who very well may not have had any direct knowledge about their religion, either, and consequently were not reliable conduits of information.
The vast majority of American Muslims consider themselves to be Sunni Muslims. The English name of the sect is derived from one of the Arabic names Sunnis use to refer to themselves, Ahlus Sunnah. Which means they are adherents of the Sunnah or the example set by Muhammad and his teachings. Yet the rank and file American Sunni has no idea what Muhammad taught. These supposed “experts” know very much better, but they were simply practicing taqqiyah on the ignorant 20/20 crew. While of course denying that taqqiyah is still a valid Islamic teaching. Per the teachings of Muhammad and the examples set by the four rightly guided caliphs who did know what Muhammad taught and put those lessons into practice it is most definitely not ok to skip attendance at the mosque. In fact, skipping prayer at the mosque is one way of apostatizing and is a capital offense.
Sahih al Bukhari vol 10 (Book of Call to Prayers) chapter 34 – The superiority of the ‘Isha’ prayer in congregation
A
Steve57 (e33d44) — 6/15/2016 @ 3:08 pmSteve57 (e33d44) — 6/15/2016 @ 11:13 am
No, I think she’s afaid of slandering somebody, or getting sued, or CBS is.
Sammy Finkelman (7ea384) — 6/15/2016 @ 3:17 pmOh great. Well, that last comment was going long.
Point being that while American Muslims believe it’s ok to skip going to the mosque for congregational prayers, it is actually compulsory for men to attend them (women are not required to leave the house; in fact, they’re not supposed to leave the house without a male escort although most Muslim countries do not enforce that rule). And Muhammad taught that anyone who lives close enough to the mosque to hear the call to prayer (unamplified, spoken in a normal voice) is required to respond to it and attend the mosque. Muhammad called Muslims who do not respond to the call to prayer hypocrites (in some Islamic countries the government enforced attendance at Friday prayer, and some may still do so). They know what their religious obligatin their hypocrisy becomes apostasy
Muhammad wanted to burn such people alive. Abu Bakr and Ali, two of Muhammad’s companions and two of the four rightly guided caliphs, did burn apostates alive.
Sahih al Bukhari vol. 88 (Book of Apostates) chapter 3 – Killing those who refuse to fulfil the duties enjoined by Allah, and considering them as apostates
The people Abu Bakr was talking about killing spanned a wide spectrum in terms of their apostasy. Some did indeed renounce Islam entirely since they only adopted it so Muhammad wouldn’t kill them, as they thought it was safe to leave Islam once Muhammad was dead. Others simply refused to pay the Zakat, the compulsory tax, to Abu Bakr because they did not recognize his authority.
But this was just as much apostasy as leaving Islam entirely. Muhammad, and Allah himself, taught that Muslims must obey Muhammad’s commands as they had to obey Allah’s. And Muhammad commanded Muslims to obey the caliphs
Steve57 (e33d44) — 6/15/2016 @ 3:49 pmD*mmit!
I’ll try to wrap this up as my laptop is really irritating me ever since it developed free will and a mind of its own.
Muslims are not permitted to have a wide range of beliefs. They have to adhere exactly to Muhammad’s example and teachings (the Shia have their own version of the Sunnah, and require strict obedience to that as well as the Quran). It didn’t matter to Abu Bakr if Muslims deviated from Muhammad’s Sunnah by a fraction of an inch or by a country mile. It was all apostasy, and they were all to either repent or he’d kill them.
There is a reason al Baghdadi chose Abu Bakr as his nomme de jihad. He is not killing Muslims. He is the following the first rightly guided caliph’s example and killing apostates and hypocrites exactly as Allah and his prophet have commanded. There isn’t much room for disagreement in Islam. None of the extant schools of Sharia differ very much if at all on the central tenets of Islam. They all agree that apostates must be killed, and apostasy consists of not only renouncing Islam but failing to perform a compulsory deed. And just about everything in Islam is compulsory. The schools of Sharia only differ at the periphery, about how much warning one must give a hypocrite or apostate before killing them and how many times they can repent before they are permanently branded an irredeemable hypocrite or apostate.
Many western Muslims either don’t know what their obligations are or they don’t take them seriously. As with anyone else in the west, their religion is only one of the influences in their lives. And like many people in the west who claim nominal membership in other religions their religion may not be a very important influence in their life.
So most Muslims in the west lack at least one of the three factors that are critical to becoming an extremist and potential terrorist.
They have the first factor, which is to simply be a Muslim. That isn’t enough; a Muslim must also possess knowledge of what Islam teaches, and they must be willing to obey the tenets of their religion. A non-Muslim isn’t going to kill for Allah even if he knows what Islam teaches and may be a pious adherent to some other religion. A Muslim isn’t going to kill for Allah if he isn’t aware that violent jihad is actually a religious obligation. He’s also not going to kill for Allah even if he does know that Islam teaches violent jihad as long as he’s not very serious about his religion. Many western Muslims fall into the “don’t know and don’t care” category and lack both knowledge and commitment to the faith.
But when all three factors come together you have a potential Muslim terrorist.
Steve57 (e33d44) — 6/15/2016 @ 4:20 pmThere are some around the world who have questioned or rejected Islam as they are forced to confront what “orthodox Islam” teaches. Some of them actually become Christian when they get serious about their questions.
Of course becoming Christian is a serious thing for someone from a Muslim background with Muslim family and friends.
Hence the discussion we have had before about the ideology of Islam vs. the beliefs and behavior of individual “Muslims”.
But that doesn’t help much with overall policy decisions as there is no “jihadist scanner”.
MD in Philly (06960c) — 6/15/2016 @ 5:03 pmtrue, but involvement with isna as musri has been, the ft pierce mosque that papa siddique ran which followed mawdudi, the leading pashtun salafi, which was tied to the sharia board of america, all of this phil haney flagged and then they shut down the investigation,
narciso (732bc0) — 6/15/2016 @ 5:07 pmSteve57, there’s one other type: “I’ll stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction…” Barack Hussein Obama, April 2009.
He is a moslem who knows some of what islam teaches so he is a “don’t know don’t care” category moslem right up till the day the shootin’ starts, then he’s suddenly the Ayatollah Khomeini. And then it’s too late.
If we allowed Germans to infiltrate America with little Nazi’s hidden among them like we are allowing the moslems to infiltrate we’d be speaking German today. You don’t bring the enemy into the camp. Ask the Trojans how well that works.
Rev. Hoagie© (734193) — 6/15/2016 @ 5:18 pmIt’s a discussion that will be ongoing for perpetuity because those people who are constantly making excuses for Islam would never actually dream of going to the Muslim sources and reading for themselves what their texts actually say. Such as the 20/20 crew I mentioned earlier. They simply went to some prominent Muslims and essentially asked them to tell all the non-Muslims what they’re supposed to think about Islam. And of course all they got out of them was a big pile of taqiyyah. The Muslims tried to convince the “reporters,” and consequently the audience, that there is nothing in Islam that would give them the slightest cause for concern. So go back to sleep or they’ll call you an Islamophobe, a racist, and a bigot.
Among those things is that it isn’t only permitted to lie to non-Muslims to protect Islam and the Ummah, it’s a duty.
Surah 3:28 Ali ‘Imran (Family of Imran)
The Arabic word for allies can be, and is by other authors of English transliterations of the Quran, rendered as friends. Muslims are not supposed to even have non-Muslim friends. They are permitted to outwardly pretend to be friendly to non-Muslims; that’s what the word “precaution” or “safeguard” clearly means in the Arabic. It’s tuqatan, “as a safeguard” which is the verbal noun form of taqiyyatan, which is simply a variant of the word taqiyya. Lying, deception, etc. And although these Muslim clerics and academics the 20/20 crew interviewed tried to insist that it’s just some obscure rule that’s no longer valid, according to Muhammad’s companions as recorded in the hadith collections taqiyyah is valid for Muslims until judgement day if they are living as a minority among unbelievers, hence are outnumbered and in no position to wage jihad in any form. “[Y]ou may show patronage to them through words, but not in your hearts: this was before the hegemony of Islam and [the dispensation] applies to any individual residing in a land with no say in it. But Muslims are not permitted to have sincere friendships with non-Muslims. Whoever does have sincere friendships with the “disbelievers” has “nothing with Allah.” Which is one of the ways the Quran uses to say such people are not Muslims but apostates. They have abandoned Islam an Allah and preferring instead to join with the Christians and Jews who are “friends of each other” and enemies of Islam.
But here we get to the gulf between the beliefs and practices of individual Muslims and what Islam actually teaches. This is especially true for westernizd Muslims. Muslim clerics and Sharia law experts who are mainstream and the LHMFM would insist are moderates have put together lists of all the ways Muslims can apostatize. They’re pretty amazing lists. Essentially if Muslims assimilate into western societies they’ve apostatized in multiple ways. They just don’t know it. If you have Muslim friends, they are almost certainly not deceiving you. If they’re Sunnis could even occasionally fill in as an Imam at their mosque, and that doesn’t mean they know much about Islam. In Sunni Islam an Imam is just a prayer leader. The vast majority of Muslims in the world do not speak or read Arabic. Many of these non-Arabic speakers have memorized the prayers, which Allah only accepts in Arabic, and they have no idea what those prayers mean. They and the rest of the congregation depend on the more knowledgeable clerics, their sheikhs, to tell them what they are saying. As I’ve said so many times over the years everybody is probably sick of it, it’s extremely rare for Muslims to go to their sources and read accurate transliterations in their native language what those prayers mean or anything else about their religion. Self-study is actively discouraged in Islam for an obvious reason that you’ve touched on, Doc. Many Muslims when they actually question their religion or at least try to learn what “orthodox Islam” actually teaches become disillusioned and leave Islam.
Many do become Christians, as you’ve observed. But most converts in the Islamic world hide that fact from everyone except other under-cover secret Christians. I know one former Muslim, an ex-Shia of Iraqi descent who converted to Christianity because a girl he went to H.S. with gave him a Bible. He wasn’t serious about converting; as a matter of fact he was one of those very typical unserious “don’t know and don’t care” westernized Muslims. But he had kind of a crush on the girl, who I think gave him the Bible just to discourage him and get him to back off. But to impress her he read the Bible, and it caused him to start questioning Islam. He had been told that Muhammad was a prophet of Allah just as Jesus and Moses were. But he noticed that Islam was nothing like what he was reading in the Bible. So he started reading his own sources to see if they could answer his questions. They didn’t resolve anytjhing for him so he went to the Imam at his local mosque (Imams in Shia Islam actually being educated as clerics).
He’d ask the Imam his questions, go back and read his Bible and his Quran some more, come back to reask the questions as he wasn’t satisfied with the answers and because he had new questions. I’ll never forget what he said the Imam told him the third time he went back. The Imam told him he was asking very dangerous questions, he needed to stop asking, and as a matter of fact if he had been back in the old country he would have already been killed as an apostate. Allah and his prophet taught that Muslims must unquestionably accept what’s in the Quran. Simply by asking questions Muslims are infecting the Ummah with “unbelief.” That’s a big no-no. Good Muslims simply accept the fact that they cant possibly understand the parts of the Quran that cause them to have questions, accept the fact only Allah knows the truth, and fall on blind faith.
Surah 3:7 Ali ‘Imran (Family of Imran)
It’s called fitnah in Arabic, which is really a vague, ambiguous, undefined term in the Quran (just as neither the Quran or Muhammad ever specify which parts of the Quran are precise and “the foundation of the Book” and which parts are unspecific and Muslims just need to never ask for an explanation) although it gives several examples of what can fall into the category of fitnah. But it’s not an exhaustive list. One thing it is clear about is that fitnah is a worse crime than murder.
Surah 2:191 Al-Baqarah (The Cow)
The H.S. kid was so ill-informed about Islam he didn’t realize how dangerous it was to raise his questions with the Imam. He had no idea what fitnah was, what can be considered fitnah, or what constitutes apostasy, and what the prescribed punishments are. The Imam could have simply informed on him to his family who very well could have killed him as an apostate.
Sunan ibn Majah, vol 20, The Chapters on Legal Punishments
A Hasan hadith isn’t the highest grade, as it has some minor defect that prevents it from being ranked Sahih or genuine. But a Hasan hadith is still reliable enough to be used in Islamic jurisprudence. I pointed out earlier that there is no single place in the Islamic holy texts where the entire case justifying honor killings is laid out in its entirety. Bits and pieces of the evidence justifying honor killings are scattered about throughout their sources; some assembly required. I also need to note this is a Sunni hadith but the Shia have their own version of the same command in their Khuttub al Arba, their four book collection of the teachings of Muhammad. All three Shia schools of Sharia agree that there is blood-for-blood retribution when a parent or grandparent kills their own child or grandchild, that the penalty for apostasy is death, and devout Muslims must carry out that punishment in the case of relatives lest they demonstrate they’re too weak-willed and prove contrary to Allah’s commands they love their own relatives more than Allah. Which would bring even more shame on the family.
The kid had no idea what kind of danger he might have put himself in as he went to his Imam to ask the very questions that Muslims are not supposed to ask. When his Imam told him that he would have been killed for questioning the authority of the Quran and Muhammad if he asked them in Iraq, and the Imam left no doubt that he approved of the idea the kid should have been killed, that just soured him even more and only sped up his conversion to Christianity.
What the average westernize Muslim believe Islam teaches and what Islam actually teaches are almost always two entirely different things. Thank God. By being bad Muslims they end up generally being good people; they certainly lead far better lives than their prophet. Whose example they’re supposed to follow but whose example they are completely ignorant of.
Steve57 (e33d44) — 6/15/2016 @ 9:26 pm* All three Shia schools of Sharia agree that there is no blood-for-blood retribution when a parent or grandparent kills their own child or grandchild
Steve57 (e33d44) — 6/15/2016 @ 9:34 pmNot to worry, this pig wil be purged when Obammy is out of office. Hopefully, we will get rid of all of his Muslim buddies whe he is gone.
Whirlwinder (df2d21) — 6/16/2016 @ 1:58 pmUPDATE: CNN claims that (consistent with nk in the comments) The Daily Caller misread her tweet as “for good” (meaning for the better) when she meant “for good” (meaning for all eternity). That may well be. Perhaps she ought to have made that point when they contacted her for comment, rather than refusing to respond, as she did. By the way, she had some other tweets that supported The Caller’s view of her as someone unsuited to advise Homeland Security:
In one of those tweets, Alawa told Pam Geller to go fuck herself for calling the jihad in Boston during the Boston Marathon “jihad in Boston.” I’m not a big Pam Geller fan, but jihad is jihad . . . and if you’re going to tell people to go fuck themselves when they call it what it is, then I reserve the right to look at you with a jaundiced eye. Best of all is CNN’s claim (echoed by master of overstatement Radley Balko) that the Caller RUINED HER LIFE!!! Ruined her life I say! She got some nasty and harassing tweets. Having received many of those in my life, I can say it’s not pleasant. But “ruined her life”?
Patterico (86c8ed) — 6/21/2016 @ 7:01 pmtweets are the third most substantial thing you can experience
happyfeet (831175) — 6/21/2016 @ 7:04 pmShe may have meant “for the better”. I did not insist. Pearl Harbor changed the world for the better for people under German and Japanese occupation. It all depends on your point of view. English is not her first language. And the Department of Homeland Security is the doofusiest thing the Shrub did and it should not come as a surprise that it contains doofuses.
nk (dbc370) — 6/21/2016 @ 8:15 pm