Nigerian Explosion: Bombs Hit Churches in Christmas Day Terrorist Attacks

At Telegraph UK, "Coordinated bomb attacks across Nigeria kill at least 40," and "Boko Haram: the group behind the Nigerian attacks."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "Bombs kills 39 at Catholic churches during Christmas Day mass as series of explosions rock Nigeria."

And at New York Times, "Churches Are Hit in a Series of Bombings Across Nigeria." (Via Memeorandum and The Other McCain.)

Bombs Raise Stakes in Syria

At Wall Street Journal, "Assad Regime Blames al Qaeda for Twin Blasts in Damascus, Escalating Conflict" (via Google):

Syria's government blamed al Qaeda for two suicide bomb attacks that rocked Damascus on Friday morning, opening a dangerous phase in the Syrian conflict just one day after an Arab League advance mission arrived in the country under a plan to resolve the spiraling crisis.

"Initial investigations point to al Qaeda," read headlines on Syrian television.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks. But the government's claim set off waves of speculation among activists and observers over what group could be capable of spectacular strikes on state-security offices at the heart of the capital—Syria's first reported suicide bombings in a decade.

Some security experts said al Qaeda or other insurgents could conceivably be responsible. Others joined Syrian activists in blaming the government itself for staging the attacks, a claim impossible to verify. But many pointed out that the government's claim, grounded or not, could provide cover to mount further crackdowns against the nine-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

The two attacks came within minutes of each other. They killed 44 people—mostly civilians, but also security officers—and injured 166, Syrian state media reported.

State television broadcast images of smoke and bloodied debris at the scene, to sounds of sirens. Men were shown dragging a charred torso into an ambulance. The road was piled with bodies wrapped in sheets and blankets.

And see Legal Insurrection, "Will car bombings save Assad?"

Zilla Brings Down the Hammer on Romney!

A crushing review of Mitt Romney's positions on Islam: "DhiMITTude."

Strong Support for Israel is Litmus Test for Conservatives

See David Bernstein, at Volokh, "Israel as a Litmus Test for Conservatives."

It's an interesting discussion of how support for Israel is becoming generally more widespread on the right side of the political spectrum. Bernstein also addresses Ron Paul's Israel problem. See: "Ron Paul Tells Newsmax: I Support Israel." And Jonathan Tobin, "No Need for the RJC to Invite Paul to Forum":

People like Ron Paul have taken the valuable libertarian creed of opposition to intrusive government and support for individual freedom and twisted it into a belief system that doesn’t view U.S. security abroad or the life of a besieged democratic Jewish state as something Americans should care about. Far from respecting Israel’s sovereignty, Paul is willing to watch with complacence as its very existence is called into question without the U.S. feeling obligated to lift a finger. His “respect” for Israel is little different from the sentiments voiced by an earlier generation of isolationists — the “America First” group — whose admiration of Nazi Germany and indifference to the fate of the Jews restrained the country’s initial response to both Hitler and the Holocaust.

And that is why I wrote two posts hammering Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway. We went around on Twitter for a while and he was unable to defend his opposition to Israel. Faced with the fact that "Palestinians" repeatedly call for Israel's destruction, Mataconis was relegated to calling me names like "nutjob" and "Pamela Geller loon."

See: "Newt Gingrich Attacked By Weasels," and "Newt's Backtracking on Palestinians as 'Invented People'?"

Newt Gingrich on Palestinians at GOP Debate in Iowa: 'These People Are Terrorists'

Here's the video:

Somebody oughta have the courage to tell the truth: These people are terrorists. They teach terrorism in their schools...

Previously: "Newt Gingrich Attacked By Weasels," and "Newt's Backtracking on Palestinians as 'Invented People'?"

Professor Paul Derengowski Resigns from Tarrant County College After Muslim Students Launch 'Terroristic Act of Jihad'

Wow, this is one heck of a story.

At Fox News Dallas-Fort Worth, "Professor Calls Student Complaints “Terroristic Act of Jihad”."

And see The Blaze, "TX PROF. RESIGNS, THEN ASKS FOR JOB BACK, AFTER MUSLIM STUDENTS COMPLAIN HE CALLED ISLAM A ‘CULT’."

And see the professor's essay here: "Tell them the truth." And Derengowski emailed Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch, "Muslim students threaten, force resignation of prof who quoted from Islamic texts":

My name is Paul Derengowski, and I was hired by Tarrant County College in 2008 to teach Great World Religions, Bible History I & II, and Introduction to Philosophy.

On November 8, 2011, I gave the second of a two-part lecture on Islam, as I've been doing Spring, Fall, and sometimes twice in the Summer, dealing with Islamic history and doctrine, and more particularly Muhammad's move to Medina. A question had been raised by two Muslim students in the previous the lecture concerning the sources I used to discuss the raid at Nakhlah. At the start of the second lecture I provided my sources (The Life of Muhammad by Haykal and the Qur'an), which included reading Sura 2:216-217. That is when all hell broke loose.

Both Muslim students, for an hour, berated me, my sources, and my credentials. When other students in the class attempted to ask questions or make comments, then the Muslim students would interrupt them as well. Finally, toward the end of the class period, a student made a comment on how "scary" the person of Muhammad seemed to be. That's when the male Muslim blurted out "you ought to be scared," and then bolted for the door in a fit of outrage. I subsequently filed a campus police report on him out of concern for the safety of students and myself. The female followed suit as well, claiming later in a libelous email she passed around unbeknownst to me—that is, until one of the students forwarded the diatribe to me later—that she was not going to sit there and listen to me slander her religion, even though all I did was quote from Islamic sources.

It was the libelous email that really started the wheels in motion leading up to my resignation. The female Muslim student not only stealthily sent around the email to all the rest of the students in the class to (1) defame me behind my back, but also to (2) try and gather support for her reckless behavior.

Continue reading.

No doubt Walter James "Occupy" Casper III would be down with that "female Muslim student." The dude called for an investigation of Pamela Geller and berates conservative counter-jihad bloggers as racist. For pro-terror progressives like Racist Repsac3, the professor had it coming and he obviously deserved to be out on his ass, pounding the pavement for a job. See: "W. James Casper's Demonic Band of Progressive Totalitarians."

Newt's Backtracking on Palestinians as 'Invented People'?

Newt Gingrich is absolutely correct. The "Palestians" are Arabs who lived on territory of the former Ottoman Empire, an area technically known as the Southern Levant. And the word "Palestinian" is derived from the "Philistines," the people who occupied the area during the Roman Empire.

And now this? At New York Times, "Damage Control From Gingrich on Palestinians."

You know, Gingrich isn't my man, but the backlash is completely typical of the Israel annihilation industry. See Wall Street Journal, "Gingrich’s Palestinian Comments Draw Flak":

According to the AP, Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi said that Mr. Gingrich had “lost touch with reality” and that his comments were “a cheap way to win (the) pro-Israel vote.”

A pair of Mr. Romney’s surrogates said Mr. Gingrich’s comments were evidence that the former House speaker is a loose cannon who struggles to stay on message.

“I’m not sure that statement gets us any closer to accomplishing an agenda,” former Ambassador Mary Kramer, a Romney supporter, said Friday on a conference call with reporters. “That’s one of the things that makes me a little nervous about Speaker Gingrich.”

Mr. Romney has adopted a choreographed approach to campaigning. “Gov. Romney is much more disciplined in his approach and much more thoughtful about the things he says,” said Renee Schulte, an Iowa State Representative and one of the Romney campaign’s Iowa co-chairs. “This comment is just another example of the difference between the two.”

The Romney people are extremely annoying. And I'm with Pamela on this whole affair:

Finally, the biggest lie of the late twentieth century has been called just that, a lie. And while I have many issues with New Gingrich (Bachmann or Santorum would be infinitely better), Gingrich must be heralded for speaking the truth about Yaser Arafat's enduring annihilationist narrative, the "Palestinian".

And of course, I'm not with Doug Mataconis, who's a leading paleocon member of the Israel annihilation industry: "Newt Gingrich Calls Palestinians an “Invented People”."

There is no "two-state solution" to the Middle East "crisis," because the so-called "Palestinians" don't want one. See Melanie Phillips:

For peace to be achieved, the belligerent has to stop making war. The Arabs have made war on the Jews in their ancient homeland since Israel became a state and indeed for three decades before that. For a solution to be arrived at, it’s necessary correctly to state the problem. The problem is not the absence of a state of Palestine. The problem is that the Arabs want to get rid of Israel.

You got that, Doug?

More at Memeorandum.

Fifth Circuit Upholds Convictions of Hamas Front Group Holy Land Foundation

At the Investigative Project on Terrorism, "Fifth Circuit Appeals Court Upholds HLF Convictions." And at Commentary, "Court Decision Reaffirms Convictions of Muslim Brotherhood’s U.S. Branch":

The Dallas Morning News reports the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has upheld the 2009 convictions of five persons who helped the Holy Land Foundation raise money in this country for the Hamas terrorist group. Andrew McCarthy gives a good summary of the decision at National Review. But, as he demonstrates, the significance of this case goes beyond the question of how Islamists sought to use American Muslims as a cash cow for Hamas. The details of the case, reiterated by the unanimous opinion of the three-member panel of federal judges, provide a history not just of American jihadists but their connections with the Muslim Brotherhood; yes, the same group that just won the Egyptian parliamentary elections.

Continue reading.

Afghanistan Suicide Bombings Kill Dozens in Kabul

This reminds me of Iraq in 2006.

At Telegraph UK, "Fears Afghanistan is on verge of new sectarian war as 59 people killed in twin bomb attacks."

And at Wall Street Journal, "Attacks Point to New Afghan Conflict: Bombings of Shiite Worshippers in Two Cities Kill More Than 60 and Introduce Sectarian Strife Absent for a Decade."

Tuesday's massacre of Shiites brought to Afghanistan the sort of attack that has been perpetrated at Shiite mosques and religious processions in Iraq by al Qaeda and in Pakistan by the Pakistani Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

The Kabul bombing was especially shocking, even in a country experiencing an ever-growing number of gruesome attacks.

The Anti-Israel President

From the Horowitz Freedom Center:

Iranian Students Storm British Embassy in Tehran

The Lede followed the story all day, with lots of video, "Storming of British Embassy in Tehran Broadcast Live on State Television." Also at New York Times, "Protesters Storm British Embassy in Tehran."

And Telegraph UK reports on the obvious and troubling comparison to the United States, "Iran: British embassy attack brings to mind US siege":

Iranians stormed two British Embassy compounds in Tehran, bringing to mind the seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran by Iranian students on Nov 4 1979.

Here are details of that siege.

* Students helped spearhead the overthrow of the US-backed Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in the 1979 Islamic revolution. The Shah, who was already gravely ill, sought refuge overseas.

* Exiled cleric Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran in triumph to seal victory for a revolution whose mantra was "Death to America".

* Student activists in co-ordination with radical clerics stormed the U.S. embassy, taking 90 hostages. Fifty-two were held captive for 444 days with the students demanding the extradition of the deposed Shah from the United States.

* The siege prompted then U.S. President Jimmy Carter to freeze Iranian assets and sever all diplomatic ties with Tehran.

* On April 25, 1980, a US commando mission to rescue the hostages was abandoned in the desert with the loss of eight American lives when a helicopter collided with a tanker aircraft, politically damaging President Carter.

More at the link.

Also, "British relations with Iran sink to lowest in decades as Tehran embassies are stormed."

Regime Change Syria

From Max Boot, at Weekly Standard, "Assad Must Go":

The West could just sit back and watch this slow-motion catastrophe unfold. But doing so runs the risk of deepening fissures, in particular between Alawites (a Shiite offshoot) and the majority Sunnis, that could take decades to heal. We also run the risk that regional players will become more deeply embroiled in backing competing sides in what is fast becoming a Syrian civil war. If parts of Syria slip outside anyone’s control (as occurred in Iraq from 2003 to 2007), they could become havens for Sunni extremists such as al Qaeda.

On the other hand, if Assad goes, it will be a historic opportunity for a strategic realignment that takes Syria out of the Iranian camp and denies Hezbollah its main source of supply. It is almost certain that any Sunni regime that succeeds Assad will not be as close to Tehran as he has been. And, if we help bring about Assad’s downfall, we will have leverage with his successors that we would otherwise lack.

In some ways the current moment recalls the Balkans of the early 1990s—another situation where the West (and in particular the United States) tried to ignore a human-rights catastrophe but eventually intervened. That intervention stopped the killing and produced a delicate but durable peace accord. Might outside intervention be equally successful in Syria? It very well could be, which is why, despite the understandable reluctance in Washington to mount another Libya-style operation, it is time to start thinking seriously about what can be done to hasten Assad’s downfall. Obama has done a good job so far of isolating and sanctioning Syria, but more action is necessary.

Is Stephen Walt Responsible for Inspiring Terror Suspect Jose Pimentel?

He's not, but he should be held to the same standards by which he attacks his ideological enemies.

See Omri Ceren, at Commentary:

ABC News disclosed last night that arrested New York City terror suspect Jose Pimentel “spent much of his time on the Internet… and maintained a radical website called TrueIslam1.” TrueIslam1 has a number of sections, most of them handed over to Islam and jihad. There are two only sections that deal straightforwardly with politics: one labeled “Politics” and one labeled “The U.S.A.”

Both sections have different articles and both of course still contain plenty of Islamic theology – ergo the concept of political Islam – but they have one thing in common. They both have links to free downloads of Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer’s book The Israel Lobby. Other than those links there doesn’t appear to be any overlapping content between the two sections. Apparently, Pimentel thought Walt and Mearsheimer’s feverish opus was something that needed to be read and distributed...

Continue reading.

And here's this at Atlas Shrugs:

Walt’s paranoid worldview and its concomitant conspiratorial images are the stuff of ancient anti-Jewish bigotry. They seem to resonate deeply with online and offline jihadists, who give them priority of place next to tracts calling for genocidal warfare. And unlike Geller and Spencer, Walt has an entire media industry helping him make anti-Semitism respectable. On that last point, see Lee Smith’s Tablet Magazine expose from last year.

Progressive Heads Explode Over Islamic Butterball Turkeys!

I saw this on Twitter earlier, from the Israel-hating pro-terror progressive blog Mondoweiss, "Pamela Geller’s Islamophobia hits new low with Thanksgiving Day smear of dietary laws."

Right. "Islamophobia." It's not Islamophobia when they're really trying to kill you. Come to think of it, it's not like authorities are overreacting, or anything.

And Pamela has a huge roundup on the exploding progressive hatred, "CLEAN UP, MEAT AISLE: TALKING HEADS EXPLODING OVER HALAL BUTTERBALLS."

Hamas Gains Momentum in Palestinian Rivalry

Wonderful news!

At New York Times, "New Winds in Mideast Favor Hamas":

GAZA — For years, the imposing black gate that sealed the border between Egypt and Gaza symbolized the pain and isolation that decades of conflict have wrought on this tiny coastal strip, especially under Hamas in recent years.

But recently, the gate has come to represent a new turn for the increasingly confident Hamas leadership. The twin arches of the border crossing have swung open twice in recent weeks for V.I.P. arrivals, first to receive hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails as one captive Israeli soldier moved in the other direction, and a second time for Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood to visit Gaza for the first time in decades.

Both instances lifted the fortunes of the Islamists at a critical time ahead of negotiations scheduled to be held in Cairo this week with their main rival, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, who leads the Fatah party.

Hamas’s leader, Khalid Meshal, arrives at those talks with a sense of regional winds at his back. Dictators have fallen, replaced by protest movements and governments that include the Islamist movements those dictators suppressed. Hamas has lost no opportunity to highlight this development as it basks in the growing regional importance of its parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, the oldest and most powerful Islamist movement in the world.

“This is a hot Arab winter that has not until now ripened into spring,” a Hamas official, Dr. Mahmoud Zahar, proclaimed in Gaza last month as he claimed the Arab revolutions for Islamic revivalism. The campaigns to oust corrupted leaders have reached a “critical stage,” he said, before concluding, “With God’s help, next year we will see the flowering of Islam.”

That should read, "With God's help, next year we'll see the flowering of terrorism."

But continue reading.

Occupy America: Leftists and Islamists United

At Answering Muslims.

Asshats:

'Occupy the Occupiers'

Pure evil.

And Caroline Glick responds, "Jewish American Community in Danger."

This is a community that has for generations seamlessly merged its definition of Judaism with leftist politics. And now that this generation of leftists has cast its lot with the anti-Semites, the young American Jews coming of age have embraced anti-Semitism to show their moral purity.

It may have once gone without saying, but apparently it is no longer obvious that this embrace of Jew hatred by young American Jews is a death embrace for the community.

Stopping Iran

Caroline Glick, via Atlas Shrugs:

Man Arrested in New York Bomb Plot

At USA Today, "Terror suspect had started making bombs, New York police say." And at New York Times, "Man Arrested and Charged in Bomb Plot."

Also at Yid With Lid, "Muslim Convert Arrested by NYPD in Terror Plot." And Atlas Shrugs, "All-American Muslim: NYPD Arrest Muslim Terror Suspect 'plotting to bomb police patrol cars, postal facilities and US soldiers'."

Progressive Islamofascism and Campus Indoctrination

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Michael Coren & David Horowitz on the Left & Islamofascism":

RELATED: From Stephen Schwartz, at the Weekly Standard, "What Is 'Islamofascism'?"