Another Case of Police Racism and Brutality -Taser 61 year old Black Woman Unnecessarily

above scene fro protest in Ferguson -police armed for Urban war fare

Yet another case of Police Brutality and racism in the USA as local police once again overreact :

Photo of four suspects arrested including 61 year old Viola Young who was tasered

"Four people were arrested in an incident that led to a Tallahassee Police Department officer tasing 62-year-old Viola Young Tuesday evening. Clockwise from top left: Viola Young, 62, Laguna Young, 41, Quaneshia Rivers, 20, and Quontarrious Jones, 23.(Photo: Leon County Sheriff's Office)"

093014 Incident
Tallahassee Police:

Tallahassee Police taser 62 year old black woman for no apparent reason as she is complying with police and walking away. Previously Tallahassee Police had arrested a black man and two black women for walking in the street on a narrow street which has no sidewalks. Where were they supposed to walk.The police were the ones who appeared to be agitated.




and a second video of the incident:

Caught on video: Tallahassee, Florida cop tases 62-year-old woman 2014

Superfastnews
at Tallahassee Democrat Video shooter tells his side of story
Pouchon Richard, who shot the video, said in an interview that five people including a child were walking down the street when an officer pulled up and asked them to step out of the road. They replied by saying they had no other place to walk.

The officer got out of his car and tried to arrest one of the people in the street, Pouchon said, "And when he did that, it kind of escalated because everyone else was like, 'Why are you arresting him? Why are you arresting him?'"

He said onlookers were in shock because they didn't think anyone had done anything wrong.

"I was enraged, but what can you do?" Richard asked. "That's why I put the video up — to make sure the world sees it and make sure ... somebody can do something about it."

Police use of force probed in Frenchtown tasing (Tallahassee Florida) by Sean Rossman and Jeff Burlew,at TallahasseeDemocrat, Oct. 2, 2014

Officer Terry Mahan has been placed on administrative leave after a Tuesday incident in which he tased a woman in the back while she walked away from him.

(Note:video removed for technical reasons)



Tallahassee NCAAP President Dale Landry and Tallahassee Democrat editor Paul Flemming talk about the tasing incident. Dale Landry, president of the Tallahassee branch of the NAACP, said the video appeared to show officers escalating the situation and losing control. He called for a quick investigation by TPD and said State Attorney Willie Meggs should drop charges against Young.

"We've got to change this culture," Landry said. "It's pervasive in police around the nation. We've seen it. We've got to change this culture where we have folks that are being hurt in this manner openly."

also see:

Police boast about TASERING woman age 61 by posting horrifying footage online Oct 05, 2014 17:33 By Anne-Marie Senior DailyMirror.co.uk

Why would officers want to share this shocking video of an unarmed pensioner getting stunned and hitting the floor for no apparent reason? Tallahassee Police has sparked a public outcry after posting a video showing one of its officers tasering a 61-year-old woman who appears to be no threat. 

Officer Terry Mahan is understood to be on paid leave while an investigation is carried out into the incident. But it didn't stop the department posting eyewitness footage on You Tube, sparking a backlash about the extent of force officers are allowed to use. According to the police department, Mahan and his colleagues were responding to complaints about open-air drug sales in the neighbourhood and detained three people.

But, as the footage shows, Viola Young then approaches a group of police officers to ask about one of those arrested. Mayan can be seen trying to grab her and as she begins to move away, he raises a stun gun and fires into her back. The lady collapses face-down on the pavement, then rolls over onto her back. 

Another police officer then approaches and arrests her, as she is dragged around like a ragdoll. Young was taken to hospital and discharged before being taken off to jail for resisting arrest. The video has sparked outrage on You Tube and has gone viral, attracting more than 2.3 million hits.

and : Controversial video captures life on Dunn Street Sean Rossman, Tallahassee Democrat,Oct. 5, 2014

and see: "The Endless March of Police Brutality—7 Stories From Just This Week Amid the new wave of protests in Ferguson, the sad and tragic cycle continues." by Katie Halper at Alternet.org,Sept. 19, 2014 and:   UN Condemns U.S. Police Brutality, Calls For 'Stand Your Ground' Review

  * Panel issues recommendations after review of U.S. record   * Says killing of Michael Brown "not an isolated event"   * Decries racial bias of police, pervasive discrimination   * ACLU calls for addressing racial inequality in America 

 GENEVA, Aug 29 (Reuters) - The U.N. racism watchdog urged the United States on Friday to halt the excessive use of force by police after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman touched off riots in Ferguson, Missouri.

 Minorities, particularly African Americans, are victims of disparities, the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) said after examining the U.S. record.

 "Racial and ethnic discrimination remains a serious and persistent problem in all areas of life from de facto school segregation, access to health care and housing," Noureddine Amir, CERD committee vice chairman, told a news briefing. Reuters | By Stephanie Nebehay via HuffingtonPost, Posted: 08/30/2014 

also see ACLU American Civil Liberties Union's website section on Police Brutality at : https://www.aclu.org/blog/tag/police-brutality.

And so it goes,
GORD.

America After Ferguson : Young African American Man Gives A Great Response

"Hands Up Don't Shoot"

Racism continues in the USA
50 years after the Civil Rights Marches

Mavis Staples "Eyes On The Prize"

and so it goes,

GORD.

"Khorasan Doesn’t Exist, They Never Did, You’ve Been Lied To"-The Young Turks

Published on 29 Sep 2014 "As the Obama Administration prepared to bomb Syria without congressional or U.N. authorization, it faced two problems. The first was the difficulty of sustaining public support for a new years-long war against ISIS, a group that clearly posed no imminent threat to the “homeland.” A second was the lack of legal justification for launching a new bombing campaign with no viable claim of self-defense or U.N. approval.

The solution to both problems was found in the wholesale concoction of a brand new terror threat that was branded “The Khorasan Group.” After spending weeks depicting ISIS as an unprecedented threat — too radical even for Al Qaeda! — administration officials suddenly began spoon-feeding their favorite media organizations and national security journalists tales of a secret group that was even scarier and more threatening than ISIS, one that posed a direct and immediate threat to the American Homeland. Seemingly out of nowhere, a new terror group was created in media lore."* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

*Read more here from Glenn Greenwald & Murtaza Hussain / First Look: https://firstlook.org/theintercept/20...

**********

Khorasan, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, War Authorization & Oklahoma Beheading - The Young Turks 9/29/2014 News & Politics http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=...

**********

The Largest Online News Show in the World. Hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian. LIVE STREAMING weekdays 6-8pm ET.

and so it goes, 
GORD

Reza Aslan: Media 's Islamophobia & Bill Maher 'not very sophisticated'

Reza Aslan calls out the media for generalization and bigotry when reporting on Muslims.

His point is not all Muslims or Muslim dominated countries are the same . To generalize about a group such as Muslims from a few examples is the very definition of bigotry.
Not all Christians for example are loving and tolerant and peaceful some are bigoted intolerant and militant and violent.
Some Christians are inclusive in their attitudes while others are exclusive and dogmatic. Some Christians advocate laws against homosexuality including the death penalty but not all Christians do. Other Christians in America for instance believe only Christians have the right and duty to be in positions of authority or become elected officials . But they only represent a segment of the Christian population.


 

A Cop Killing And A Beheading: How Fox News Picks And Chooses Its "Terrorism" Targets Blog ››› September 30, 2014 Media Matters

Fox News is increasingly fixating on the gruesome workplace beheading last week in Moore, Oklahoma by a recent Muslim convert, suspect Alton Nolen. Perhaps sensing a way to once again fan its patented flames of Islamophobia while simultaneously blaming President Obama for being indifferent to the threat of terrorism, Fox is treating the murder as a national story with sweeping political implications.

Sounding the jihadist alarms, Fox News and the right-wing media are eager to label the ghastly crime an act of Islamic terror. Law enforcement officials, however, aren't in the same rush, noting that the attack came immediately after Nolen was fired and stating that they've yet to find a link to terrorism. While that story continues to play out, it's worth noting that an actual act of political terror remains in the news. It's just not a priority for Fox.

On the night of September 16, 31-year-old marksman Eric Frein was allegedly laying in wait outside the Blooming Grove police barracks in northeastern Pennsylvania, preparing to assassinate state troopers. Shortly before 11 p.m., Bryon Dickson was shot and killed as he walked towards his patrol car. Moments later, as he approached the barracks to begin his overnight shift, trooper Alex Douglass was shot and seriously wounded by a bullet fired from a .308-caliber rifle.

Described as a "survivalist," Frein disappeared into the Poconos Mountains woods where he's been hiding ever since, eluding law enforcement and its massive manhunt, which includes hundreds of law enforcement officers with assistance from the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
...Sounds like homegrown, anti-government terrorism, right?

"We have a well-trained sniper who hates authority, hates society, hates government, and hates cops enough to plug them from ambush. He's so lethal, so locked and loaded, that communities in the Pocono Mountains feel terrorized," wrote Philadelphia columnist Dick Poleman. "He kept camouflage face paint in his bedroom. He toted the AK-47 on social media. He collected, according to the criminal complaint, "various information concerning foreign embassies.""

But turn on Fox News and you don't hear much about Eric Frein from the channel's high-profile hosts. You don't hear much about the anti-government zealot who murdered a cop, while trying to assassinate two. And you don't hear evening hosts diving into Frein's background trying to figure out what sparked his murderous streak.
There's simply no interest.

In two weeks since the shooting, the Fox programs monitored by Nexis have mentioned Frein's name in just six reports, and most of those were simply news updates that consisted of one or two sentences. Only one segment, which aired on On The Record With Greta Van Susteren, featured an extended conversation about the killing and the subsequent manhunt. In none of the six Fox reports however, were Frein's vocal anti-government leanings mentioned, nor was there any suggestion Frein was a domestic terrorist.
Hosts Neil Cavuto, Bill O'Reilly, Megyn Kelly and Sean Hannity have all ignored the shocking cop-killer story. In general, Fox has provided almost no commentary, no context, and certainly no collective blame for the execution.

By contrast, in the days since the Oklahoma killing, Fox programs monitored by Nexis have flooded the zone with coverage of the beheading, totaling hours and hours of coverage. Most of Fox's reports offered extended, overheated commentary, and most of them dwelled on the fact the killing may have been an act of terror.

In two weeks since the shooting, the Fox programs monitored by Nexis have mentioned Frein's name in just six reports, and most of those were simply news updates that consisted of one or two sentences. Only one segment, which aired on

On The Record With Greta Van Susteren, featured an extended conversation about the killing and the subsequent manhunt. In none of the six Fox reports however, were Frein's vocal anti-government leanings mentioned, nor was there any suggestion Frein was a domestic terrorist.

Hosts Neil Cavuto, Bill O'Reilly, Megyn Kelly and Sean Hannity have all ignored the shocking cop-killer story. In general, Fox has provided almost no commentary, no context, and certainly no collective blame for the execution.

By contrast, in the days since the Oklahoma killing, Fox programs monitored by Nexis have flooded the zone with coverage of the beheading, totaling hours and hours of coverage. Most of Fox's reports offered extended, overheated commentary, and most of them dwelled on the fact the killing may have been an act of terror. Hosts Neil Cavuto, Bill O'Reilly, Megyn Kelly and Sean Hannity have all ignored the shocking cop-killer story. In general, Fox has provided almost no commentary, no context, and certainly no collective blame for the execution.

By contrast, in the days since the Oklahoma killing, Fox programs monitored by Nexis have flooded the zone with coverage of the beheading, totaling hours and hours of coverage. Most of Fox's reports offered extended, overheated commentary, and most of them dwelled on the fact the killing may have been an act of terror.

Eric Frein cop killer
in shooting of Pennsylvania state trooper Washington Post, Sept. 16, 2014



Survivalism: The stark ideology that may have led to killing of a Pennsylvania state trooper By Justin Moyer September 17 Washington Post

The man alleged to have shot two Pennsylvania police officers on Sept. 12 stalked them on a cool night under a gibbous moon. He hid in woods at the edge of game lands in rural Blooming Grove, Pa. And, at around 10:50 p.m., he fired, killing one man and seriously wounding another.
Eric Matthew Frein, 31, of Canadensis, Pa., has been charged with this inexplicable crime. But state police said he has a philosophy: survivalism.
What is it?

In short: a stark worldview that fuses, in varying degrees, millennialism, Second Amendment and hard-money advocacy, environmentalism and racism. It’s an ideology with many godparents, including Henry David Thoreau, Ludwig von Mises and Charlton Heston. And its proponents think the world as we know it will end soon — and we must be prepared.
Hence their nickname: “preppers.”

and concludes:

It’s not yet clear what brand of survivalism Frein, an alleged killer, subscribed to. But he seems less an economist than a psychopath.
“He has made statements about wanting to kill law enforcement officers and also to commit mass acts of murder,” Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan said on Tuesday. “What his reasons are, we don’t know. But he has very strong feelings about law enforcement and seems to be very angry with a lot of things that go on in our society.”
Pennsylvania police labeled Frein, a trained marksman, “extremely dangerous.”

According to his father, he “doesn’t miss.”

SEARCH FOR ERIC FREIN POLICE FIND PIPE BOMBS IN WOODS WENY News
Published on 30 Sep 2014



The search is going into it's third week. WENY's Asha McKenzie reports.



Video shows alleged cop killer in war reenactment
Published on 23 Sep 2014

Video shows alleged cop killer in war reenactment

A new Vietnam War reenactment documentary video that includes Eric Frein, the man suspected of fatally shooting two Pennsylvania state troopers, has been obtained by NBC News as police continue their manhunt. NBC’s Ron Allen reports.






So which one of these characters poses more of a danger to police and civilians the one at large who is armed or the one unarmed and in custody.

and so it goes,
GORD.

Crusaders, Islamophobia, Values Voter Summit, Pam Geller & Butterball Turkeys?

With the current hysteria over ISIS and Obama's on going war against ISIS Islamophobia fills the airwaves of TV and the Internet etc. Even the usual anti-war liberals and progressives are jumping on the war bandwagon to bomb and kill all members of the ISIS terrorist group ignoring the effect this will have on non-combatants who are caught in the cross fire or the fact that another bombing campaign in the region may merely lead to more chaos and the rise of other anti-Western organizations. To many people in the Middle East region believe America is just concerned with protecting its own interests ie hegemony, oil and other resources ;strategic domination and /or a continuation of the Western nations thousand year long Holy Crusade against Islam begun by the Catholic Pope Urban II (1088-1099)in 1095.

The First Crusade

Pope Urban II (1088-1099) was responsible for assisting Emperor Alexus I (1081-1118) of Constantinople in launching the first crusade. He made one of the most influential speeches in the Middle Ages, calling on Christian princes in Europe to go on a crusade to rescue the Holy Land from the Turks. In the speech given at the Council of Clermont in France, on November 27, 1095, he combined the ideas of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with that of waging a holy war against infidels.1

Dr. E.L. Skip Knox gives a summary of the pope's speech, which has been recorded differently in various sources:
Pope Urban II- 11922 Bytes
"The noble race of Franks must come to the aid their fellow Christians in the East. The infidel Turks are advancing into the heart of Eastern Christendom; Christians are being oppressed and attacked; churches and holy places are being defiled. Jerusalem is groaning under the Saracen yoke. The Holy Sepulchre is in Moslem hands and has been turned into a mosque. Pilgrims are harassed and even prevented from access to the Holy Land.

"The West must march to the defense of the East. All should go, rich and poor alike. The Franks must stop their internal wars and squabbles. Let them go instead against the infidel and fight a righteous war.

"God himself will lead them, for they will be doing His work. There will be absolution and remission of sins for all who die in the service of Christ. Here they are poor and miserable sinners; there they will be rich and happy. Let none hesitate; they must march next summer. God wills it!

(Bold italics mine Gord.)

Yes these Christians were told that dying in the cause of Christianity and killing Muslims (or any heretics, non-believers and Jews) was something Holy and praiseworthy and may lead to Martyrdom. And there was to be no distinction between combatants and non-combatants-"Kill them all and let God sort them out" This seems to be America's motto since 9/11. Once it is decided to start a war between Good and Evil it is difficult to change course since the rationale becomes God & Country " Wills It "
So Christianity also has its violent history which has been justified by Holy Scripture that is God's Word and religious leaders such as Popes who are by decree infallible.

So how extreme are those who have a hate on for Islam and Muslims and so are referred to as being Islamophobic . Well Pam Geller a well known Islamophobe tops the list even getting hysterical about the fact that Butterball Turkeys are Halal that is killed according to Islamic law similar to how in Judaism animals are killed and are then considered Kosher.

Islamophobe: Pamela Geller [FUNNY]April 3, 2013

Being  Islamophobic she hates all things connected to Islam as we see she is even pissed off about Halal food. . She is also a birther who  believes Obama is not an American citizen and so is not legally entitled to be president. She is the main driving force behind  the fight against what she called "the Ground Zero Mosque". Muslims in New York wanted to erect a community center and Mosque but some were concerned it would be too close to the 9/11 Ground Zero site in New York. She also spends time fear mongering about illegal immigrants in her view invading America

 Rachel Maddow - Pam Geller Who
 Chris Hayes August 17,2010






 CNN News interview Pamela Geller on AFDI Jihad-Awareness Campaign
 Sept. 26, 2014.





 Fox News: US Constitution Not For Muslims May 1, 2013
 Jon Stewart Boston Marathon bomber




Fox News' Anti-Islam Propaganda Techniques (Mustafa Khattab)Fox News' Anti-Islam Propaganda Techniques (Mustafa Khattab)




Islam is not Religion of Peace, "London Terror'' !
Laura Ingraham with Bill O'Reilly on Fox News
May 24, 2013.




 Islamophobia
RWW News: Gary Bauer: Obama Cares More About Defending Islam Than Saving Christians
Published on 26 Sep 2014

Right Wing Watch reports on the extreme rhetoric and activities of key right-wing figures and organizations by showing their views in their own words. In this video, Gary Bauer accuses Obama of caring more about "defending the reputation of Islam" than "saving the lives of Christians."

 RWW News: Dees: Islamic Sanctuaries Throughout US Right Wing Watch
Sept. 26, 2014.

RWW News: Bachmann Says America Is Engaged In 'Spiritual Warfare' Against Islam Sept. 2014, Values Voter Summit

Brigitte Gabriel: Hundreds Of Millions Of Muslims Are Aspiring Suicide Bombers
SUBMITTED BY Brian Tashman on Saturday, 9/27/2014

How fitting that a conference ostensibly about guarding religious liberty included several speakers who used their time to level attacks against Muslim-Americans, including Brigitte Gabriel of the anti-Muslim group Act! for America.
Gabriel, whose organization focuses on fighting Muslim campus affinity groups and passing dubiously-constitutional laws barring sharia law, claimed in her speech this morning that around 180-300 million Muslims are “radical Islamists who are willing to strap bombs on their bodies and walk into this room and blow us all up to smithereens.”

And so it goes,
GORD.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Terrorist "The Khorasan Group" In Syria Concocted By U.S. Gov't & Media Was Fooled

Media Hysteria and War Fever Concocted by U.S. Intelligence Agencies -Just another PR Job.

In order to promote plan to bombing campaign in Syria Obama and U.S. Intelligence invented an imaginary terrorist organization which they initially referred to as "The Khorasan Group". So will Obama's true believers make excuses for his actions as George W. Bush's true believers made excuses for his illegal and unethical self-serving actions. When it comes to foreign policy Obama uses the same playbook as President Bush and the Neoconservatives. Obama downplays the deaths of innocent civilians claiming anyone killed by American bombs and missiles are all by definition deserving of death. So when a drone attack kills dozens of children are those children deserving of death because their parents are America's enemies or because those children might grow up to be terrorists therefore the killings are a pre-emptive attack. The IDF of Israel uses the same logic since to them all Palestinians, all Muslims, all Arabs are the potential enemy and are are not as deserving of life as an Israeli.

How the U.S. Concocted a Terror Threat to Justify Syria Strikes, and the Corporate Media Went Along
According to writer Murtaza Hussain, anonymous officials say there was not any plan in the works to attack the United States. at DemocracyNow! via Alternet.org, Sept. 29,2014

As the U.S. expands military operations in Syria, we look at the Khorasan group, the shadowy militant organization the Obama administration has invoked to help justify the strikes. One month ago, no one had heard of Khorasan, but now U.S. officials say it poses an imminent threat to the United States. As the strikes on Syria began, U.S. officials said Khorasan was "nearing the execution phase" of an attack on the United States or Europe, most likely an attempt to blow up a commercial plane in flight. We are joined by Murtaza Hussain of The Intercept, whose new article with Glenn Greenwald is "The Khorasan Group: Anatomy of a Fake Terror Threat to Justify Bombing Syria."

AMY GOODMAN: The United States is continuing to expand its military operations in Iraq and Syria. Late last week, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel deployed a division headquarters unit to Iraq for the first time since the U.S. withdrawal in 2011. The 200 soldiers from the Army’s 1st Infantry Division headquarters will joins 1,200 U.S. troops already inside Iraq. Overnight, U.S.-led warplanes hit grain silos and other targets in northern and eastern Syria. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the attacks killed a number of civilians working at the silos.

While the United States has been bombing areas in Syria controlled by the Islamic State, it has also struck targets connected to a separate militant group that U.S. officials are calling the Khorasan group. If you never heard of the group before this month, you’re not alone. The Associated Press first reported on this new entity on September 13th. In the article, unnamed U.S. officials warned of a shadowy, terrorist group that posed a more imminent threat than the Islamic State. The AP described the group as, quote, "a cadre of veteran al-Qaida fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan who traveled to Syria to link up with the al-Qaida affiliate there, the Nusra Front." It went on to say the group poses a, quote, "direct and imminent threat to the United States, working with Yemeni bomb-makers to target U.S. aviation." Soon, major TV networks began echoing these claims about the Khorasan group.

...AMY GOODMAN: To talk more about the Khorasan group, we’re going to go to Toronto, Canada, where we’ll be joined by Murtaza Hussain, a reporter with The Intercept. He wrote a piece with Glenn Greenwald called "The Khorasan Group: Anatomy of a Fake Terror Threat to Justify Bombing Syria."

...MURTAZA HUSSAIN: So, the Khorasan group is a group which first came up in the media around September 13th, roughly a week or so before the U.S. bombing campaign of Syria began. Heretofore, no one had heard of this group. It was not known in intelligence circles or among people who follow Syria. And suddenly we saw in the media that this was being described as the major terrorist threat emanating from that country and a direct threat to the U.S. homeland, unlike ISIS. So, this ended up being one of the main justifications for the war on Syria or the military airstrikes which are conducted on Syria, and it became the major media narrative justifying that action.

Andrea Mitchell: 'Why Aren't We Just Bombing The Hell Out Of ISIS?'
By John Amato September 29, 2014 via Crooks&Liars.com

Glenn Greenwald has a good post up about the propaganda of "The Khorasan Group" that's been going on in the beltway media to help convince America that we need to bomb the sh*t out of Syria. it's the same old song we've heard with different politicians in office.

This morning Andrea Mitchell did her bit to fan the flames of war after a report from Richard Engle near the Turkish border, by asking a Rear Admiral John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman why we aren't just bombing the hell out of Syria everywhere.

and see: THE FAKE TERROR THREAT USED TO JUSTIFY BOMBING SYRIA
BY GLENN GREENWALD AND MURTAZA HUSSAIN at The//Intercept, Sept. 28, 2014

As the Obama Administration prepared to bomb Syria without congressional or U.N. authorization, it faced two problems. The first was the difficulty of sustaining public support for a new years-long war against ISIS, a group that clearly posed no imminent threat to the “homeland.” A second was the lack of legal justification for launching a new bombing campaign with no viable claim of self-defense or U.N. approval.

The solution to both problems was found in the wholesale concoction of a brand new terror threat that was branded “The Khorasan Group.” After spending weeks depicting ISIS as an unprecedented threat — too radical even for Al Qaeda! — administration officials suddenly began spoon-feeding their favorite media organizations and national security journalists tales of a secret group that was even scarier and more threatening than ISIS, one that posed a direct and immediate threat to the American Homeland. Seemingly out of nowhere, a new terror group was created in media lore.

The unveiling of this new group was performed in a September 13 article by the Associated Press, who cited unnamed U.S. officials to warn of this new shadowy, worse-than-ISIS terror group:

While the Islamic State group [ISIS] is getting the most attention now, another band of extremists in Syria — a mix of hardened jihadis from Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and Europe — poses a more direct and imminent threat to the United States, working with Yemeni bomb-makers to target U.S. aviation, American officials say.

At the center is a cell known as the Khorasan group, a cadre of veteran al-Qaida fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan who traveled to Syria to link up with the al-Qaida affiliate there, the Nusra Front.

But the Khorasan militants did not go to Syria principally to fight the government of President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials say. Instead, they were sent by al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to recruit Europeans and Americans whose passports allow them to board a U.S.-bound airliner with less scrutiny from security officials.

and Murtaza Hussain in a recent article deals with the question of whether IS is really representative of all Muslims and of Islam. According to some 120 Islamic scholars in an open letter to IS argue IS is not Islamic but rather a brutal organization using the religion of Islam as their cover that is to give them and their actions some legitimacy or justification which it does not in fact have.

WHY THE ISLAMIC STATE IS NOT REALLY ISLAMIC
BY MURTAZA HUSSAIN at The//Intercept, Sept. 26, 2014

Some 120 Muslim religious scholars this week published an open letter refuting the Islamic State’s claim to be a religious political movement, joining a series of high-profile condemnations of the extremist group by Islamic religious and political leaders.

The letter, signed by current and former grand muftis of Egypt, the former grand mufti of Bosnia, and the Nigerian Sultan of Sokoto, along with many other prominent Muslim leaders from around the world, offered a thorough, 24-point condemnation of the Islamic State’s behavior. But it still left the question of how a group that calls itself the “Islamic State” and uses religious scripture to justify its actions can possibly be described as not Islamic.

The answer is complex, but boils down to the fact that while the Islamic State is superficially and opportunistically Islamic, it owes at least as much to secular revolutionary ideologies as to its claimed religion, and borrows heavily from Western systems of organization and pop culture as well.

and Murtaza Hussain concludes the article arguing that given ...

ISIS’s Unlikely Antecedents

The behavior of radical groups such as ISIS therefore tends to have more in common with Mao’s Red Guards or the Khmer Rouge than it does with the Muslim empires of antiquity which they claim to be heirs to. In synthesizing aspects of both Western and Islamic civilization, the group has crafted a radical ideology which is distinctly modern despite its glorification of a pre-modern past. Recognizing this is the first step to negating the clash of civilizations narrative upon which they thrive.

In the eyes of most Muslims the Islamic State is as “Islamic” as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is “Democratic”. The Open Letter to Baghdadi is simply another example of the degree to which this violent, utopian project has been rejected by a broad consensus of Muslims around the world. From a Western perspective, it’s important to not play into ISIS’s hands by giving them the type of religious or political legitimacy they crave but otherwise do not possess.

At the end of the day Islam is what its adherents say it is, and if by and large they deem the “Islamic State” to be outside of the Islamic tradition it would be foolish and counterproductive to argue otherwise. In order to effectively fight this group, it’s important to amplify the voices of the vast majority of Muslims who are condemning them, instead of listening to those on both sides who insist that this is at heart a conflict between Islam and the West.

-------------------------------------------------

Partisan Fox News Ted Cruz, Tony Perkins, Defend Their Extremism at Values Voter Summit Bash Everybody Else

So let's begin with the opening speech at the 2014 Values Voter Summit given by organizer and president of Family Research Council Tony Perkins .He says they must take America back from the liberals, progressives and secularists who are destroying America



Tony Perkins interview on Fox News



"RWW News : Huckabee Says Christians Must Vote Against Those Who Do Not Listen To 'God's Heart'" at ValuesVoter Summit 2014



And at this year's Summit Mark Levin proclaims the Religious Right et al are not radical but rather represent the political center and the real patriotic true blue Americans .

"RWW News: Mark Levin Tells The Religious Right They're The Real Centrists"



and as for Ted Cruz:

5 craziest things Ted Cruz just said at the Values Voters Summit

From unhinged attacks on birth control -- to calling on Congress to repeal something it didn't pass video c/o Salon.com, Sept. 26, 2014
(First the video)

“These are dangerous, extreme, radical times,” Ted Cruz told the crowd today at the Family Research Council’s Values Voters Summit. And in his demagogic stemwinder, Cruz proceeded to prove his own point, if not quite in the way he intended.

Here’s a look at five of the most outlandish ideas the senator proposed in his speech. Fight Hillary by having her debate some nuns!
Referring to a lawsuit filed against the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate by a group of nuns called the Little Sisters of the Poor, Cruz said Hillary Clinton should face off with the nuns in a debate over religious liberty.
“We ought to invite Hillary Clinton to spend a day debating the Little Sisters of the Poor,” Cruz suggested.
“As for me, I’ll stand with the nuns,” Cruz added. (But presumably not these nuns.)
Birth control = “abortion-inducting drugs”!
Just before proposing that Hillary debate the group, Cruz said, “Right now, the federal government is suing the Little Sisters of the Poor to try to force Catholic nuns to pay for abortion-inducing drugs.”

Actually, the Little Sisters of the Poor sued the government – and not because they were being made to pay for birth control, but because they didn’t accept the Obama administration’s compromise whereby religious organizations could opt out of the contraception mandate by signing a form – ensuring that the organizations wouldn’t pay for birth control themselves, although insurance providers would.

Most striking was Cruz’s repeated description of contraception as “abortion inducing.” Medical experts have debunked that persistent right-wing claim.

Abolish the IRS!
Drawing a standing ovation from the crowd, Cruz laid out a key plank of his game plan to Take Our Country Back™: “We abolish the IRS!”

But about those dangerous, extreme, radical libruls.
Congress should repeal things they haven’t passed!

Running down his laundry list of promises of what conservatives could do if they took control of the Senate, Cruz vowed, “We stand for life, we stand for marriage, we stand for Israel,” Cruz said of which message wins best.

And this: “We repeal Common Core!” Congress never passed the education standards, which have been implemented at the state level.

“We repeal every word of Obamacare!”
Because the 55th time is the charm.

also see at Salon.com article discussing the issue of Fox News as a network which pushes right wing /Republican/Christian Right propaganda:

“Straight-up propaganda”: Fox News, charlatans, conspiracy theorists and the religious fanatics endangering democracy ;All demagoguery all the time: Fox News and American politics' epidemic of craziness sept. 28, 2014, Salon.com by Joseph Heath

Excerpted from "Enlightenment 2.0: Restoring Sanity to Our Politics, Our Economy and Our Lives"

An epidemic of craziness seems to have swept over the American political landscape. This is of course a problem not just for Americans, but for people all around the world. It remains the case that most people think of the United States as the world’s leading democracy.
Although they may not choose to imitate many of the specific features of American democratic institutions, the prestige of democracy around the world is very much tied up with the performance of the American system. When this political system proves demonstrably incapable of keeping charlatans, conspiracy theorists, and religious fanatics out of political power, this is a huge blow to the prestige of democratic systems as a whole.

Republicans Rallying Behind 'Religious Liberty' AP| By By STEVE PEOPLES and KEN THOMAS Posted: 09/26/2014 via HuffingtonPost

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fighting to improve their brand, leading Republicans rallied behind religious liberty at a Friday gathering of evangelical conservatives, rebuking an unpopular President Barack Obama while skirting divisive social issues.

Speakers did not ignore abortion and gay marriage altogether on the opening day of the annual Values Voter Summit, but a slate of prospective presidential candidates focused on the persecution of Christians and their values at home and abroad — a message GOP officials hope will help unify a divided party and appeal to new voters ahead of November's midterm elections and the 2016 presidential contest.

"Oh, the vacuum of American leadership we see in the world," Texas Sen. Ted Cruz declared Friday in a Washington hotel ballroom packed with religious conservatives. "We need a president who will speak out for people of faith, prisoners of conscience."

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul echoed the theme in a speech describing America as a nation in "spiritual crisis."
"Not a penny should go to any nation that persecutes or kills Christians," said Paul, who like Cruz is openly considering a 2016 presidential bid.

The speaking program included such potential 2016 candidates as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Several possible Republican candidates — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush among them — did not attend.

The group has positions on social issues across the spectrum — from the libertarian-leaning Paul, who favors less emphasis on abortion and gay marriage, to Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist pastor whose conservative social values define his brand.

The event host, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, said "a fundamental shift" is underway toward religious freedom among Republicans of all stripes.

"Without religious freedom, we lose the ability to even address those other issues," Perkins said of social issues.

Despite any rhetorical shift, he warned that evangelical voters will not forget priorities such as abortion and traditional marriage on Election Day: "It is not time to rethink our principles or shrink back from the conflict."

and :

"Texas Lt. Gov.: National Guard Troops Still Needed At Border" 09/26/2014, HuffingtonPost, Elise Foley

" Poster Boy for Anti-Gay Campaign Against Military Religious Freedom Really Could Be Court-Martialed for This" Chris Rodda | Posted 01.23.2014,Huffington Post

"The Dangers of Sen. Rand Paul's Argument Against Terrorism" by Noah Fitzgerel, 01.23.2014,Huffington Post

"Tony Perkins, Family Research Council President, On Claim Of Link Between Homosexuality And Pedophilia" Sept. 29, 2014 by Michelangelo Signorile, HuffingtonPost

and so it goes,

GORD.

Fox News Promotes Extremists at the Annual Values Voters Summit America's Election HQ Special Report

Typical of the propaganda of the Fox News network they believe that the extremists including Christian Fascists at the annual Values Voters Summit in Washington represent what they Fox News that is believe to be Real Americans.

The speakers at the Summit express their opinions which are essentially Islamophobic, homophobic , they are anti-pluralism, anti-multiculture, anti-tolerance and anti-compassion they believe in gender inequality.

Many of them believe only Christian Americans that is their brand of Christians have the right to take positions of authority in the United States. Fox News agrees with them that America was founded as a Christian nation by the will of God. Just watch Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and others ranting about various issues such as immigration, foreign policy and their faux conspiracies such the secular "war on Christmas" and that white Christian Americans are being oppressed in the United States etc.



The Young Turks 'Comic Con Of Bigotry And Hate’ Echoes Insanity Fest Of Years Past


Published on 26 Sep 2014

"Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, two Tea Party senators in the hunt for the White House, find themselves in a nearly identical position these days. Both sons of celebrated conservative leaders, they regularly speak at the same events, criticize the same Democratic President with a similar message of back-to-basics constitutionalism, and poll nationally at about 10% among Republicans in the way-too-early 2016 polls.

But on Friday, as conservative Christians gathered in Washington for the Values Voter Summit, their differences were far more apparent than their similarities. Paul stood behind the podium in blue jeans, quoting the Founding Fathers and modern authors off a teleprompter, ever the iconoclastic intellect. Cruz roamed the stage in a boxy suit, preaching a passage from Psalms again and again in a call for spiritual rebirth.

Both cast the political crisis now facing the country as a crises of the spirit, but from there they began to diverge.”* Ben Mankiewicz, Jimmy Dore (The Jimmy Dore Show), John Iadarola (TYT University) and Brian Unger break it down.



For instance check out video from The Young Turks and the hysteria over Islam , ISIS and border security:

Muslim Prayer Rugs Summoned As Terror Cudgels At Values Voters Summit

Published on 28 Sep 2014
"In a speech in Washington, D.C., on Friday, outgoing Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst doubled down on claims that Muslim prayer rugs had been found on the Texas-Mexico border.

"Prayer rugs have recently been found on the Texas side of the border in the brush," Dewhurst said at the Values Voter Summit, according to a report on Friday by Talking Points Memo, a liberal news site.

Dewhurst, who has served in his position since 2002 but lost his bid for re-election to state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, in the GOP primary, made similar assertions last week during The Texas Tribune Festival.”* Ben Mankiewicz, Jimmy Dore (The Jimmy Dore Show), John Iadarola (TYT University) and Brian Unger break it down.

at Gord's Notebook previous posts on Values Voters Summit 2010,2011,2012:

Values Voters Summit "Our Constitution Was Made for Moral & Religious People, None Other" Sept. 20, 2010

Values Voters Summit Guns ,God & Country & Theocracy, Sept. 19, 2010

Lady Gaga Don't Ask Don't Tell -& Obama & Corporate Financing Campaign Ads & Values Voters Summit Religious Right, Sept. 18, 2010

Religious Right Putting Pressure on GOP and The Tea Party Movement To Take On Social/Moral Issues To Restart The Culture Wars, Sept. 23,2010

Religious Right Promoting Christian Sharia To Save America,Oct.13,2010

Sunday Sermon at Values Voters Summit & Wall Street First Commandment : "Greed Is Good " & NYPD Are Cannon Fodder For The 1%, Oct. 09, 2011

Right Wing Republican Party Doubles Down on Its Extremist Rhetoric and Policies & Makers of Anti-Islam Film Lied To Actors And Crew About it's Purpose UPDATE: 11:06 PM, Sept. 19, 2012

Hate-Filled Anti-Islam Film Meant To Provoke Violence And Paul Ryan To Speak At Annual Religious Right Hate-Fest AKA "Values Voters Summit" Sept. 13, 2012

#OWS Update Conspiracy Theories Flourish At Values Voters Summit, Sept. 17, 2012

Fifty Shades of Bigotry and Intolerance at Extreme Right-wing Values Voters Summit, Sept. 16, 2012

GOP Ryan/Romney Endorse Values Voters Summit Represents The Rightwing Secular and Religious Extremists, Sept. 15, 2012

Values Voters Summit A Witches Brew or Cauldron of Fifty Shades of Hate & Paranoia Religious and Libertarian Extremists, Sept. 14, 2012


GORD.