"Death to America!" It's not just for Americans anymore:
"Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse upon the Jews. Victory to Islam. Allahu Akbar," the worshipers recited en masse. Then a terrorist roaming among the mosque's patrons detonated himself...
Don't you hate it when you're raining down death-curses on people hither and yon, and then some guy blows you up? In this case, the pro-Houthi Shia victims were killed by a pro-ISIS Sunni terrorist. Some 140 dead, over 350 injured.
This was in Yemen, one of those Obama success stories he was bragging about only six months ago:
This weekend the last US forces in the country hot-tailed it outta there, leaving half-a-billion bucks' worth of state-of-the-art weaponry in the hands of the blood-soaked loons.
Who do you side with in the ISIS/Iran Sunni/Shia split? Back when Michael E Mann, PhD (Doctor of Phraudology) first decided to sue me, I had a conference call with a bigshot DC lawyer auditioning for my business. Not stinting on the braggadocio, he began the conversation with: "So. Do you wanna win fast? Or do you wanna win slow?"
That's the choice Iran and ISIS are offering the west: Do you wanna lose fast? Or do you wanna lose slow? The mullahs are happy to nuke us; the Islamic State reckon it's more fun to behead us one by one.
~So how's that Iranian nuclear deal coming along? First, John Kerry:
Kerry Cites 'Substantial Progress' In Iran Nuke Talks
Second, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei:
The ayatollah responded: 'Of course yes, death to America...'
Of course.
~Speaking of death to America, it's hard to kill a society this determined to commit suicide. Judith Shulevitz, who was my editor at Slate many years ago, gives New York Times readers a poignant glimpse of fin de civilisation varsity life:
A few weeks ago, Zineb El Rhazoui, a journalist at Charlie Hebdo, spoke at the University of Chicago, protected by the security guards she has traveled with since supporters of the Islamic State issued death threats against her. During the question-and-answer period, a Muslim student stood up to object to the newspaper's apparent disrespect for Muslims and to express her dislike of the phrase "I am Charlie."
Ms. El Rhazoui replied, somewhat irritably, "Being Charlie Hebdo means to die because of a drawing," and not everyone has the guts to do that (although she didn't use the word guts). She lives under constant threat, Ms. El Rhazoui said. The student answered that she felt threatened, too.
A few days later, a guest editorialist in the student newspaper took Ms. El Rhazoui to task. She had failed to ensure "that others felt safe enough to express dissenting opinions." Ms. El Rhazoui's "relative position of power," the writer continued, had granted her a "free pass to make condescending attacks on a member of the university." In a letter to the editor, the president and the vice president of the University of Chicago French Club, which had sponsored the talk, shot back, saying, "El Rhazoui is an immigrant, a woman, Arab, a human-rights activist who has known exile, and a journalist living in very real fear of death. She was invited to speak precisely because her right to do so is, quite literally, under threat."
The Chicago Maroon writer threw in, for good measure, Ferguson, Mo, before concluding that with Ms El Rhazoui's presence on campus he "had never felt more ashamed" to be a University of Chicago student. Once upon a time it would have been considered the most frightful bad taste to accuse a woman under constant death threats whose friends and colleagues have just been gunned down in a mass bloodbath for failing to make sure some narcissistic dweeb in the audience "felt safe enough" to ask a question. If ever there were a moment to "check your privilege", this would surely be it.
But no: to the sixth-year students in the Department of Navel Gazing, the slaughter at Charlie Hebdo isn't big enough to count as a micro-aggression.
~In related news: The guy who put up "white people only" stickers all over Austin, Texas turns out to be "social justice warrior" Adam Reposa - just "raising awareness" of your racism, you racey-race racist you.
~The Xtreme Ultimate-Queen Bitchfest between competing celebrigays Elton John and David Furnish, on the one hand, and Dolce and Gabbana, on the other, is almost as much fun as the Shia-Sunni civil war - although it looks as if Sir Elton may have the edge, waddling with his D&G bag into this year's spring collections and self-detonating all over their customer base. Another former editor of mine, Charles Moore at The Daily Telegraph, ponders what he calls "gay rights sharia":
Dolce's views are regarded as simply impermissible. In all the mainstream media this week, I have not seen a single voice defending him... His main point, however, was no more than what most people all over the world have believed since the dawn of civilisation – that children are best brought up by their biological parents...
Yet now you can barely say this. I am sure I would be barred from working in the public services if I said it at a job interview. I could not become a Labour parliamentary candidate, and probably not even a Conservative one. If I were 28 rather than 58, I doubt if I would dare say it in print if I wanted a successful career in media.
Indeed. From Big Gay to the University of Chicago's "safe spaces" to the Islamic scholars of Qom, there is one correct line of thought, and even the most modest dissent must be ruthlessly quashed.
Death to America? Death to the west? At the rate we're doing it to ourselves, those nuclear mullahs will have to move fast.
~Mark wrote a whole book on this subject: Lights Out: Islam, Free Speech And The Twilight Of The West. Personally autographed copies are exclusively available from the SteynOnline bookstore.
