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I did something last week that I rarely do: I went out after dark. I don’t like to do this. This area is too creepy crawly during the day, much less at night. But supplies were low, and I wasn’t sure when I’d get another chance to go food shopping. And I thought to myself, “Maybe you’re exaggerating all of this: the crime, the filth, the general insanity. Maybe it’s not as bad as you think.” So, like a small child testing the waters, I thought I’d stick my toe in the after-hours scene. It was about 7:30 pm when...

Wisconsin concealed carry permits topped 240,000 in 2014, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice.  From the jsonline.com: Nearly 34,000 were issued permits, raising the total number in Wisconsin to 242,488, according to an annual report from the Department of Justice. The permits have been a success by most observers standards, following the pattern in other states.  The first permits were issued late in 2011.  Only one person with a permit has been convicted of a homicide since that time.   Wisconsin has an adult population (21 or over) of about 4.3 million.   Thus, people with permits are about...

11 of Canada’s highest-profile jihad terrorists tied to Muslim Students Association FEBRUARY 6, 2015 10:20 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER 12 COMMENTS Surprised? Really? Discover The Networks reports that “the Muslim Students Association of the United States and Canada, or MSA (also known as MSA National), was established mainly by members of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in January 1963 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Nyack College theologian Larry A. Poston writes that ‘many of the founding members of this agency [MSA] were members of, or had connections to,’ the Muslim Brotherhood or Jamaat-i-Islami….MSA speakers routinely spew anti-Semitic libels and justify...

The New Orleans Advocate reports: "NBC News anchor Brian Williams, who apologized on the air Wednesday night for lying about an experience covering the Iraq War, is now facing scrutiny over his gripping accounts of Hurricane Katrina, the disaster that burnished his nightly news bona fides almost a decade ago. Williams’ account of seeing a body float by in the French Quarter — which remained largely dry — and even a claim of catching dysentery from drinking Katrina floodwaters have raised eyebrows among bloggers and elsewhere since he took it on the chin this week over a claim that he...

Behold the perils of invoking moral equivalency-even, or perhaps especially, when some of the events in question are separated by 800 years.......It's difficult-almost impossible-to believe the president and his staff didn't anticipate the reaction his words would generate. The question, then, is why he picked this particular fight.The president could just be poking the right-wing bear, says the Christian Science Monitor's Peter Grier. More likely,he continues, he's trying to counter the view-held by Limbaugh and others-that the US is at war with Islam as a whole..........But perhaps there's more than just the religious component at play here. As Juliet Eilperin...

After six years in office, President Obama says his basketball skills went from "nothing but net" to nothing. "I’ll be honest with you: my game is a little broke, I've been a little busy," he told a crowd of students and faculty at Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis on Friday, where he touted his new plan to give students who meet certain academic standards two free years of community college. "The risk-reward ratio starts shifting. The chances of an Achilles tear or an ACL injury is increasing each month, and then the satisfaction that I get from playing diminishes...

With videos of beheadings, stonings, and incineration of helpless victims by the Islamic State flooding the media, President Obama took the occasion of his address to the National Prayer Breakfast this week as an opportunity to try to dampen the anger of partisans of civilized behavior. "Let's not forget that 800 years ago Christians committed horrendous crimes against peaceful Muslims during the so-called Crusades," Obama reminded. "Whole populations were massacred—men, women, and children—all in the name of Christ. Five hundred years ago, the Inquisition sent thousands of heretics and apostates to be burned at the stake. From a historical perspective,...

Governor Palin addresses the corruption of the media's herd mentality:  Sarah Palin  PoliticianFriends, this is a very important post I respectfully ask you to read through. Forgive its length. May it help you nail the coffin that's given shelter to a corrupt press that would stop at nothing in their fight against right.Reports today claimed Tom Brokaw was calling on his former network to fire Brian Williams for lying for years about being hit by enemy fire in Iraq. Brokaw apparently denies the reports. (Personally, I hope Williams keeps his job as the face of network news to remind America how...

First, Sarah Palin is one of us, not one of them. Second, the country needs a healer – someone who can rise above the mass media's hate-fueled attacks while working to bring sanity back to government and ideological balance back to both major parties. Sarah Palin can do this: she's a deeply committed conservative who has consistently shown, and not just as governor and McCain's running mate, but throughout her personal and political life, both an ability to work with the other side and a willingness to listen to others. Third, Palin is electable – whether she takes Scott Walker,...

Holy carp! The great guys from the WeLikeShooting podcast are at the Great American Outdoors Show in Pennsylvania, and had a Google Hangout with me and a few other guys tonight. I've never done this before, so I installed the software and had a good hour-long chat with them. If you folks are into guns and podcasts, you oughta go check them out. http://welikeshootingpodcast.com/

ObamaCAIR! BEFORE we proceed, let's clear up the following whining and opining from Islamists and leftists: since Jews are allowed to arbitrate certain cases via a Rabbinical Bet Din, surely Muslims should have the same right, if they want to utilize their religious court option ala Shariah law, agreed? A fair question, but only if one is ignorant of the major underlying distinctions between the two, or if the questioner is malevolent in intent. That's a mouthful, but no less true. IN the main, the Bet Din ... בית דין ... handles commercial, communal and matrimonial conflicts, but its renderings...

On Monday, I read about a Syrian woman who was accused by ISIS of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning. The barbarians carried out the punishment until they thought she was dead. She miraculously survived and attempted to flee. As one of the savages turned to shoot her, an Islamist jurist intervened and declared that it was God’s will and let her go. This was an anomaly. On Tuesday, I read about a Syrian man that ISIS threw off the roof of a building for being a homosexual. He too survived his initial punishment. But rather than invoke God’s...

FEBRUARY 6, 2015 The Fallon-ization of Dunham and Williams The late-night comedian provides cover and preemptive redemption for lefties caught lying. By Michelle Malkin Comedian Jimmy Fallon is a celebrity fraud’s best friend. He’s an answer to normal America’s question: How do creepy stars get away with their grotesqueries? If you’re lucky enough to sit by his late-night throne and join his cool-kid games, all your troubles will melt away. Funnyman Jimmy is not just a bread-and-circuses buffoon — he’s the keeper of the pop-culture-immunity necklace. A few weeks ago, the Tonight show host bestowed his boob-tube shield upon grotesque...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) A Georgia middle school teacher has been suspended, docked five days of pay and must participate in diversity training because she posted her negative view of a person holding a “Black Lives Matter” sign on her personal Facebook account. The teacher, Kelly Tucker, teaches at Eighth Street Middle School in Tifton, Ga., a town of about 17,000 in the southern part of the state. Tucker’s Dec. 6 Facebook post, which went viral (at least locally) read: “Its turned into a race matter. What about the thugs that beat the father in his vehicle because he didn’t slow down? What...

Germany Clashes with Pope over Child Discipline By Julio Severo (with Associated Press) Germany has on Friday rejected as “unacceptable” the pope’s comments that it’s OK to spank your children to discipline them, as long as their dignity is maintained. Francis made the remarks this week during his weekly general audience, which was devoted to the role of fathers in the family. Francis outlined the traits of a good father: one who forgives but is able to “correct with firmness” while not discouraging the child. “One time, I heard a father in a meeting with married couples say ‘I...

James Zogby: Obama's Speech Was 'Right on Target' Friday, 06 Feb 2015 By Melissa Clyne James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, said Friday on "America’s Forum" on Newsmax TV that President Barack Obama was "right on target" in his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in which he compared the Islamic State’s (ISIS) barbaric acts to those committed by Christians during the Crusades and the Inquisition. "As [Obama] said that when we do this, we're not doing this from a position of patronizing other societies as much as we are speaking from the experience of a culture and...

Lynn Mitchell is at it again. This time standing up for disgraced 5th District GOP Chairman Jon Berkley. Let’s run through her arguments methodically, to be fair. Her arguments: Berkley was a good Chairman. Berkley did nothing to deserve his removal. Berkley had “overwhelming support” within his committee. All three arguments are intellectually dishonest on their face- and Ms. Mitchell should know better. Let’s review. The facts: “Berkley was a good Chairman.” Mitchell’s two arguments seem to be that Robert Hurt won his district in 2014, and that he raised $10,000 for the 5th CD Committee. Well, first off, 2014...

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2554931c-ac85-11e4-9d32-00144feab7de.html#ixzz3R13TxoHh The world is awash with more debt than before the global financial crisis erupted in 2007, with China’s debt relative to its economic size now exceeding US levels, according to a report. Global debt has increased by $57tn since 2007 to almost $200tn — far outpacing economic growth, calculates McKinsey & Co, the consultancy. As a share of gross domestic product,...

Old Ironsides’ Now Ready for Virtual Touring 'Old Ironsides' hosts Medal of Honor recipientsAmerica’s oldest warship afloat is headed into dry dock next month at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, but Google Maps and the U.S. Navy have made it possible for everyone to digitally visit the USS Constitution. Just as Google made it possible to zip virtually up and down city streets almost anywhere in the world, it can now put you on and below deck of “Old Ironsides,” the still-commissioned Navy warship that made a name for itself in campaigns against the French, North African pirates and...