By Debbie Schlussel
Sadly, I can’t do what I really wish I could tomorrow, on Valentine’s Day.
You see, I know–as hopefully you do–that it’s a forced day. By forced, I mean that most men aren’t buying women chocolates or flowers for their wives or girlfriends or taking them out to dinner because they want to. It’s because they have to. It’s an obligation, period. Not an expression of love. Don’t fool yourself into naive notions otherwise.
So what did I want to do? Well, last year, Valentine’s Day a/k/a “Doghouse Risk Avoidance Day” fell on a weekday, on a workday. I happened to be at a CVS near my home between 5:30 and 7:00 p.m. I laughed as I watched the steady march of a crowd of men on their way home from work, trudging through CVS–without happy looks on their faces–looking for cards and chocolate or other candy. None of ’em looked like they wanted to do it. But if they didn’t, they’d be in the doghouse with their women. This was their last chance, the last outpost before a trip to man’s best friend’s humble, dark, cold abode.

Is that really what women want? A forced expression of obligation? Well, if you like Valentine’s Day, that’s basically what you’re getting. There’s nothing wrong with romance. But, for the most part, for men, Valentine’s Day is an obligation, not romance.
And aside from that, love is not about buying chocolates and a card because Hallmark and Hershey told you, too. What these guys were doing all day long before they got to CVS–struggling to make a living, put food on the table, and, likely, to support a family–is the real love they show every day of the year. Any woman who puts any one of them in the doghouse despite all of that–because he didn’t buy chocolate or a card on top of it–well, she’s missing what’s really happening. (And if the wife is the one earning the living, well, that’s a whole different column on another serious problem–Mr. Moms; sorry, Todd Palin.)
I wanted to videotape the “Last March of the Doghouse Avoiders.” At the time, I asked some of these men if they were doing this because they wanted to. “Are you kiddin’ me?!” was the basic response. I laughed and told some of them: “Well, you just avoided the doghouse.” They agreed. And they weren’t laughing with me.
But this year, there’s no steady, simultaneous rush of men after work buying candy at CVS as a last chance at ransom for a night of peace at home. Since Valentine’s Day falls on a Saturday, there won’t be one crush of ransom marches. And since it’s the Jewish Sabbath, I can’t videotape it anyway.
Ah, well. . . there’s always next year.
I’m not saying that there are no men who are buying the cards and the chocolates and/or springing for dinner out because they want to and because they love their wives, girlfriends, and/or mistresses. I’m just saying most are doing this out of obligation only. The ones who would do this of their own volition, well, they don’t need a special day and greeting card companies and pop culture hype to dictate to them to do it on this particular day.
And they aren’t suddenly rushing the local CVS in unison on only one day a year.
Not that I’m opposed to Valentine’s Day. It’s great for the economy. This feeling of obligation spurs a spike in spending just a month and a half after the Christmas buying season, which is much needed especially now when consumer spending is significantly down and leading to an endless cycle of job-cuts, store-closings, and even less spending. Though, this year, Valentine’s Day-related spending will be down, by $20 on average, according to some estimates. (And much of the candy bought for this manufactured “holiday” is now produced in jobs that U.S. candy makers took away from Americans and shipped to Mexico.)
But, let’s be clear–the spending on Valentine’s Day is done mostly by men. Every year, they do studies, and every year, men outspend women on Valentine’s day by an average of something like $20.00.
Spending is down, too, on what has also become the biggest cheating and catch-a-cheater days of the year:

Flowers and chocolate aren’t the only big sellers for Valentine’s Day. There’s also spyware.
The use of tracking devices and hiring of private investigators surge around this holiday – an opportune time to catch a cheating spouse.
“If there’s anything going on, a spouse will more than likely make contact with a lover on Valentine’s Day, the day before or the day after,” says Ruth Houston, author of the book, Is He Cheating on You? 829 Telltale Signs.
Private investigators agree. “Valentine’s Day is a day of lovers, and sometimes the lover is not a spouse,” says Jimmie Mesis, editor of PI magazine. That’s why, he says, investigators are often busy this time of year.
Mesis says suspicious spouses are also turning to spyware, which costs less than a detective.
“They do their own CSI work,” he says.
His website’s sales of GPS trackers are more than 20% higher in the three weeks before Valentine’s Day than at other times of the year.
Sales of spyware to track spouses – his customer service representatives talk with buyers about how they’ll use the items – were 141% higher in the past four weeks than the monthly average for the preceding six months, says Todd Morris, CEO of BrickHouse Security.
Such devices, retailing for $50 to $400, include cameras hidden in alarm clocks, light scanners to detect evidence of sexual activity and devices to monitor e-mail.
Morris says he expected more people to stay home with their spouses in a weak economy, but sales suggest otherwise. “Apparently,” he says, “money troubles don’t stop the philandering.”
The dismal economy is making it more difficult, though, for people to afford a private investigator.
David Hill, an investigator in Tuscaloosa, Ala., says he has had lots of inquiries in recent weeks, but often callers cannot afford his $1,500 retainer.
This Valentine’s Day is one of the few in the past two decades that has not triggered a surge in clients, says Kelly Riddle, owner of Kelmar & Associates in San Antonio, a firm of 39 private investigators.

And then, there’s my favorite completely cheesy Valentine’s day promotion. Since I keep kosher, I’ve never eaten one of these burgers/sliders, and if I didn’t (keep kosher), I don’t think I would (eat one). Still, I give this company credit for chutzpah and kitsch in marketing. It’s got a certain kind of low-budget charm and humor to it.

White Castle restaurants will offer reserved candlelight dining on Saturday, February 14 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. If you crave the steam grilled goodness of White Castle then you’ve found the perfect dinner destination to share with your favorite Valentine.
Not only can cravers dine with candlelight, the tables will be adorned with flowers and decorations. Customers will be presented with a special menu and will receive table side service.

“This is the fourth year we have offered reserved seating for Valentine’s Day dinners. It was a huge hit last year and the year before – it always puts a smile on everyone’s face. We’re really looking forward to hearing more White Castle stories from our customers that evening. It seems that so many of our loyal customers either met in a White Castle or have a fond childhood memory that continues to bring them back into the restaurants time and time again,” said Bob Harrison, Regional Director of Restaurant Operations in Detroit.
Reservations are filling up quickly and can still be made by calling [your local White Castle].

In the past, White Castle has also offered promotional photos to couples who took part in this Valetine’s Day offering (though not this year).
Check here to find out if your White Caste is a “Love Castle.”
Just hope that Harold and Kumar aren’t within driving distance. Nor a doghouse.

By Debbie Schlussel
But wait, but wait, we were told that Muslims in America are different than their violent brethren around the world, that they are “moderate” and “peaceful.”
Hmmmm . . . tell that to Aasiya Hassan. This isn’t the first time Muslims have beheaded their wives in America. It’s only the latest.
Ironically, Mr. Hassan is the founder and head of Bridges TV, an American Muslim cable channel which he set up after 9/11 to show us how “moderate” American Muslims are. I wonder when we’ll see the Bridges TV Muslim Beheading Year in Review.

Orchard Park police are investigating a particularly gruesome killing, the beheading of a woman, after her husband–an influential member of the local Muslim community–reported her death to police Thursday.

“Religion of Peace” = Religion of Pieces

Police identified the victim as Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37. Detectives have charged her husband, Muzzammil Hassan, 44, with second-degree murder.
“He came to the police station at 6:20 p.m. [Thursday] and told us that she was dead,” Orchard Park Police Chief Andrew Benz said late this morning.
Muzzammil Hassan told police that his wife was at his business, Bridges TV, on Thorn Avenue in the village. Officers went to that location and discovered her body.
Muzzammil Hassan is the founder and chief executive officer of Bridges TV, which he launched in 2004, amid hopes that it would help portray Muslims in a more positive light.

To paraphrase the loathsome “Dr.” Phil, “And how’s that workin’ for ya?”

Muslim Wife Aasiya Hassan: Now Headless

The killing apparently occurred some time late Thursday afternoon. Detectives still are looking for the murder weapon.
“Obviously, this is the worst form of domestic violence possible,” Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III said today.
Authorities say Aasiya Hassan recently had filed for divorce from her husband.
“She had an order of protection that had him out of the home as of Friday the 6th [of February],” Benz said.

Why is this beheading only second degree murder? It’s not that easy to behead someone, and it was likely planned in advance “with malice aforethought.”
Like I said before, this isn’t the first time.
In the past, I’ve written about Dr. Azizul Islam, a Muslim doctor in Michigan, who chopped his wife to bits (including beheading her) and spread her “parts” around.

By Debbie Schlussel
I’m getting sick and tired of receiving a couple of phony stories readers keep sending me, which simply aren’t true. I love how certain so-called terrorism experts can’t even read. And others, well, they’re just flat-out wrong.
So, in that vein, I have to answer a couple of alleged stories in today’s edition of MYTHS & FACTS.
* MYTH: The False Story that President Obama Gave $20 Million to Bring Palestinian Refugees and HAMAS terrorists to the U.S.
FACT: This phony story has been repeated, regurgitated, and otherwise hacked to death by a number of people who call themselves terrorism experts, some well-known conservatives, and some mid-level bloggers. (I’m not going to name names, lest I embarrass people who didn’t do their homework or even a cursory, basic fact-check.)

The thing is, it’s JUST NOT TRUE. As much as I don’t like Barack Obama and his far-left Mid-East policy, he’s not giving $20 million of our tax money to bring Palestinians to America. He is, indeed, giving them $20.3 million (and will give them far more very soon). And that’s cause enough for concern. But the money is for aid to HAMASastan, not for bringing them here.
Those who claim this BS keep citing an Executive Order and Federal Register entry, which reflects the United States’ latest dumb contribution to UNRWA–the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. I’ve written and spoken about UNRWA many times. It’s the U.N. agency that was set up to deal exclusively with Palestinian so-called refugees, instead of grouping them with all other refugees (who fall under UNHCR–the U.N. High Commission on Refugees). UNRWA is basically a HAMAS cesspool that pays to train and propagandize terrorists from cradle to grave.
I’m opposed to paying the $20 million plus in “emergency aid” to UNRWA–which was given to help the Palestinians in HAMASastan for their “suffering” after they got temporary retribution for sending rockets over Gaza. And that’s what this money is for. It is NOT, as keeps being falsely reported by people who should know better, money that is to bring HAMAS terrorists and other Palestinians to America.
Don’t get me wrong–plenty of Palestinians continue to come here–as they did during 8 years of President Bush increasing their numbers here–but that has nothing to do with this $20 million.
Below is the text of the order. As you’ll note, it says not a thing about bringing Palestinians to America. It’s specifically aid allocated to go through the State Department, as all budgeted American donations to UNRWA are.
That’s bad enough. We don’t need phony terrorism experts and conservative commentators lying about what it says to embellish it.
Again, the money is UNRWA aid to the Palestinians in Gaza. It’s not to bring them here (though some will surely end up here, regardless of the $20 mill). In the past, I’ve written about programs and aid to bring Islamic refugees (like the Hezbollah ones from Lebanon) to the U.S. This is NOT one of those cases. Palestinian activists in America are trying to get tax money and a special program to bring them here. So far, they haven’t been successful as a group in doing so (though I’m sure plenty will come here on their own and try to stay; they’ve been doing for the last eight years and decades before that).

Presidential Determination No. 2009-15 of January 27, 2009
Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs Related To Gaza
Memorandum for the Secretary of State
By the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 2(c)(1) of the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 (the “Act”), as amended (22 U.S.C. 2601), I hereby determine, pursuant to section 2(c)(1) of the Act, that it is important to the national interest to furnish assistance under the Act in an amount not to exceed $20.3 million from the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for the purpose of meeting unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs, including by contributions to international, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations and payment of administrative expenses of Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration of the Department of State, related to humanitarian needs of Palestinian refugees and conflict victims in Gaza.

* MYTH: The Phony Claim That the FBI Cut Off All Ties to CAIR Back in August and isn’t meeting with CAIR anymore.
FACT: Yes, the FBI sent out a letter it released to the public, in which it instructs its local offices to cease relations with the Council on American-Islamic Relations. But it’s a public relations ploy, for which FOX News and many others fell.
In fact, the FBI continues to consult with and have regular, pandering meetings with CAIR officials all over the country, including in Michigan, Santa Clara, and most other places where CAIR is active.
Typically, the FBI doesn’t release letters, like the one they sent out regarding CAIR, unless it was meant for public consumption in the first place. But it’s phony, and the FBI knows that it continues to hang with the extremists at CAIR. They just don’t publicize it.
I know that “terrorism expert” Steven Emerson and his Investigative Project have been touting this alleged ceased relationship between CAIR and the FBI. That’s because they need something to trumpet, since Steve has had no new terrorism information or intelligence since before 9/11, just before the real terrorism expert who worked for him, Rita Katz, quit working for him. And he needs something to show for the money he continues to seek from donors, while falsely pleading poverty (he still has yet to file a publicly available tax return to show the millions his organization has in the bank; CAIR still remains more transparent and open in its record-keeping than the suspect Emerson and his organization).
And that’s why Steven Emerson keeps the focus on this alleged FBI cutting of ties with CAIR, for which he takes credit, and which actually didn’t happen. He has nothing else newto show donors for the last seven years. So, he’s gotta claim this.
Unfortunately, though, CAIR personnel are still meeting with FBI agents. And that’s a fact. There’s nothing to celebrate here.
(Read more on Steven Emerson.)

By Debbie Schlussel
A reader sent me this video, which was posted on YouTube in mid-January by Muslims apparently looking for confirmation of their deranged views in yet another mindless celeb. It’s supposed to be Tom Cruise, and while the voice sounds a lot like him–as does the insane tirade, I completely doubt it’s him. The guy looks like Tom Cruise from like 15 or 20 years ago and pre-nose job, and is a pretty good impersonator, but it doesn’t pass the smell test. More like a pan-Islamist version of Punk’d. He looks even shorter and tinier than the diminutive Cruise. No way it’s him.
Language alert. Also, don’t blame me for the title on this. As we know, the real racism is not “Israeli.” It’s Islamic and Arabic. Hello . . . .

By Debbie Schlussel

This weekend’s box office is largely a garbage dump. And, ironically, the best movie is about a homeless vagrant woman and her dog, with a short 3D movie for kids as the runner up. Sad to say, it’s probably best to stay home and rent a great movie like “The ODESSA File,” or, if you haven’t already, see the excellent “Taken (read my review).”

* “Confessions of a Shopaholic“: Well, it’s Valentine’s Day weekend, so, guys, you’ll probably get dragged to this dumb, predictable, non-credible comedy, starring the real-life Borat Baby Mam, Isla Fisher (she’s long been “engaged” to Sacha Baron Cohen and had his kid). Think a better-looking but dumber version of “Grease”‘s Frenchie, lotsa pink, and a dopey, hackneyed romance. I laughed like twice.

Watch full length movies online and pick among the variety of exciting shows.

Rebecca Bloomwood is a shopping addict, who dreams of writing for a high fashion magazine. But her huge bills, for high-priced designer duds she really can’t afford, are getting in the way. And she’s stuck in a dull job writing for a gardening magazine. Soon, though, a chance meeting combined with dumb, immature behavior, combined with the need for yet another expensive accessory–a silk green scarf–are the stars that align to get her a job as “The Girl in the Green Scarf,” a financial advice columnist who uses metaphors about buying clothes to serve up a message of fiscal responsibility and frugality.

Bloomwood finds herself falling for the editor who is now her boss. But all the while, she’s battling her shopping addiction, as she’s stalked by a bill collector.

Um, how many bill collectors stalk a person by visiting their office, apartment, and a TV show on which the debtor is a guest? It just doesn’t happen that way. Nor do high finance companies hire foolish, ditzy writers in pink plaid miniskirts and ponchos, whose wardrobes run the gamut of bubblegum pink to Barney purple, and who crawl onto the conference room table. So many other things in this movie were equally annoying and stupid.

And you know a movie is in trouble when it has to resort to former NBA star John Salley–not playing himself–in several cameos.
Nothing objectionable. It was just, well, dumb. And it wasn’t very entertaining.

ONE MARX

* “The International“: This was very slow and boring for a “thriller.” And it wasn’t very thrilling. The confusing, uninteresting, and busy plot centers on a Swiss-based international bank, IBBC, which launders the money of mobsters and organized crime and creates wars to control warring countries’ debts

Ostensibly modeled on the real-life BCCI, this movie managed to make an interesting bank scandal extremely dull. BCCI (the Bank of Commerce and Credit International) was the playground of Islamic terrorists, Gulf-state sheiks, and the real-life husband of “Wonder Woman” Lynda Carter.

In this movie, the bank CEO, an unscrupulous Swiss man, is a murderer who mysteriously assassinates agents and government officials looking into his operation. But the plot is thin and we never really know much about what he’s doing, other than double-dealing rival countries through the sales of weapons to make war.

As conspiracy theory movies go, this one was simply ridiculous. The only cool part of the movie was an extended, bloody shoot-out scene at the Guggenheim museum. I love to see people with guns destroy crappy modern art. But other than that, this movie made me feel like I was falling asleep.

With the current wave of hatred of banks and bank CEOs, audiences will surely take the bait of revenge against evil, conspiratorial bank officials. But, sorry, that left-wing message doesn’t go for when there’s not much of interest for the rest of the flick. Naomi Watts and Clive Owen are boring to tears in this. And their feigned outrage and sense of urgency was way too overwrought and over-acted.

HALF-MARX

* “Friday the 13th“: I’ve already relayed to you how four stupid, selfish single parents brought their babies and young, impressionable kids to see this celluloid cesspool of violence, graphic dismemberments and beheadings, explicit sex, and glorification of drugs. Basically, this movie is what you’d expect from a Friday the 13th movie, only worse. It’s complete trash, and in this age of declining America, that’s why it will probably be a huge success at the box office this weekend. It’s not just bad for young, impressionable kids. It’s bad for humans. Period. If you like seeing these kinds of movies, there’s something wrong with you. You’re deficient.

A brother is looking for his sister who disappeared weeks earlier at the former Camp Crystal Lake grounds, where legend has it that Jason came back to life after being killed by a camp counselor who fought back. His sister and her friends were at the site to find a massive pot crop, which they planned to sell.

While looking for his missing sister, the brother runs into several college-aged creeps who, like him, look like they walked off the pages of the Abercrombie and Fitch catalog. Meanwhile, the college aged-creeps engage in a day of explicit sexual and drug-laced debaucherie in the swanky cabin of one of them.

Jason, replete with hockey mask, murders them in grisly ways, picking them off one by one, amidst graphic sex scenes, gratuitous topless shots, and bong hits (hey, a great walk-on role for Michael Phelps).

Ironically, other than two good-hearted 20-somethings, the people in this hack-fest are such sad excuses for humans, the most admirable character in this movie is Jason. That’s because he keeps his mouth shut, instead of betraying uber-stupidity, sluttiness, and a fondness for pot and bongs. And he puts those that do out of their misery. A lot of people in this movie I didn’t miss when they were sliced to the next world.

And frankly, the movie would actually have some redeeming value, if Jason took the makers of this piece of horrid garbage with him in some of those same grisly ways. For putting America through the latest torture porn flick, they deserve it.

Completely vile. Skip at all cost, if you are actually human. Ch-ch-ch-ah-ah-ah. Get lost, Jason.

FOUR MARXES PLUS

* “Under the Sea 3D“: This short 40-minute movie is extremely interesting and very cool. The cinematography and fantastic story of underwater sea life is unbelievably fascinating. And it would be a great movie to which to take your kids. . . if you could turn the sound off. While narrator Jim Carrey tells us very interesting things about how eels, cuttlefish, and stingrays camouflage themselves, capture prey, and survive, he’s also way too cutesy and tells your kids repeatedly how these cool fish and adorable sea lions and coral reefs are all gonna die and disappear because of global warming.

That propaganda and other tactics make this movie the carbon copy, Summer-ized, warm water version of “Arctic Tale (read my review),” in which Queen Latifah was the cutesy narrator, instead of Carrey. And in which she also talked in such a cheesy way about how the animals have sex–just like Jim Carrey does in this. And in which she, just like Carrey, scared your kids into telling you to go green because you’re killing the sea lions. Yup, there’s no originality in Hollywood, just repeats of the same old rigid liberal lectures.
It’s really a shame, because the visuals and science learning opportunities for your kids are immense with this movie. And it’s an effective movie (though, seeing giant sea snakes briefly come at you from the giant IMAX screen is kinda creepy). Just be prepared to tell your kids to ignore the global warming messages. You can tell them that sometimes (many times) adult narrators read lies that they’re paid to repeat.

TWO REAGANS (Would have been THREE REAGANS, without the annoying, repeated global warming nonsense)

* “Wendy and Lucy“: Of all the movies out this weekend, I liked this one best. But it’s not a fun, escapist movie. It’s very sad and depressing. And not what you really want to go out on a Saturday night to see . . . if you are looking to have a good time. But it’s absorbing.

Michelle Williams is Wendy, a girl who is driving cross-country to ultimately seek work in Alaska. Her jalopy car on its last legs. Her only friend and companion is her dog, Lucy. This is like the anti-Marley and Me movie, showing the love of a person for her dog, especially when life is looking ever down.

But Wendy is not just any down-on-her-luck vagrant. She’s sane, resourceful, and trying to pay her way, without asking for hand-outs. When her home and means of transportation–her car–breaks down, things change.

Wendy’s car stops running in a small town, and she finds she can’t afford to pay for it to be fixed and for food. Her mistake: She shoplifts at a supermarket, gets caught, and taken to jail, where she has to pay off most of the rest of her money in fines. When she returns to the market, her dog, Lucy, is gone from the bike rack to which it was leashed.

Wendy spends several days in town desperately looking for Lucy. With her car locked in a garage, she must sleep in the woods, where she is stalked by a crazy homeless man. She has to wash up in a gas station bathroom. And she forages for cans to make some extra money for food, but then finds the line to trade in cans is hours long. The security guard at a mall parking lot, whose initial stickling and by-the-book behavior got her partially into this mess, comes to like and feel sorry for Wendy. The comfort of strangers.

Being a conservative doesn’t mean that you don’t feel for people who are down on their luck. It means that you especially feel bad and have empathy for those who pull themselves up by their bootstraps, try hard to make it, and still find themselves in desperate situations (though we don’t know what brought Wendy to this point in life, how she ended up here). Despite her momentary desperation of shoplifting, Wendy is one of those people. And we could be her.

In this poor economy, there will be many more Wendys who want to succeed. And who love their dogs, but know that sometimes they have to grow up and make things better for themselves, lest they make their pets the priority that draws them into further misfortune and dire straits.

Extremely depressing, but entertaining nonetheless. It pulls you in.

TWO REAGANS

By Debbie Schlussel
Up is down. Right is left, Blue is red. Black is White.
Obama is President.
And he’s very eager to hang with loons Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and Syria, HAMAS, and Hezbollah without preconditions.
But hang with not-so-right-wing righty Binyamin Netanyahu (who refuses to make a winning coalition with Avigdor Lieberman)? Well, not so eager.
A man’s gotta have standards after all.
To summarize: Nutjobs and terrorists, no worries, man. Netanyahu–cause for concern.
Is this really What Lincoln Would Do? No, but it’s what Black Lincoln is doing.

By Debbie Schlussel
At the beginning of the year, I related news of violent attacks on five Chicago-area synagogues, including reader David Makowsky’s synagogue, and two Jewish schools. In addition to destructive vandalism, the perpetrators–whom I surmised (and now am proven correct, yet again) were Muslim–scrawled anti-Semitic graffiti, wishing death to the Jews and Israel all over the buildings they attacked. (It hits close to home. One of the schools, Ida Crown Jewish Academy, is my little sister’s alma mater, and the principal, Rabbi Lenny Matanky, was a counselor at my summer camp.)
This morning, FBI agents raided a Chicago-area home (in West Rogers Park–a highly Jewish area) in connection with these hate crimes. Private Investigator Bill Warner discovered that the residents of the home at 6029 N. Artesian Ave. are Mohammed Alkaramla and Tasfiq Alkaramla and their son, a 2004 high school grad. Wow–what a shocker!–attackers and perpetrators of violent hate-crimes against Jews in America are MUSLIMS. Let’s see if that tiny, irrelevant detail makes the news.

Yup, those peaceful, “moderate” members of the “Religion of Peace”–who are sooooooo different from their violent brethren everywhere else around the world because in America they have easy access to McDonald’s and “Survivor.”
As Bill Warner also notes, the warrant was related to a New York Muslim resident, Youssef Al-Khattab, who preaches jihad against Jews and threatened to destroy the headquarters of the Chabad Lubavitch Chassidic movement in New York. Bill has been on top of the whole Khattab issue for a long time.
Yes, folks, there is an international jihadist network, and it has plenty of outposts around and throughout America’s “moderate” Islamic community. So much for the FBI’s claim that terrorism is no longer an important criminal threat to America.
Hey, it’s only the Jews. So why should we care, right? Echoes of 1930s Europe.

 

“Religion of Peace” Vandalizes Lincolnwood Synagogue Near Chicago 

With “Death to Israel; Free Palestine” Graffiti, Broken Windows
More:

 

Rabbi Alan Abramson of Congregation Anshe Motele, 6526 N. California Ave., said the “Death to Israel” graffiti spray-painted on the synagogue took a toll on worshippers.
“When you have elderly people who are survivors of the Holocaust who show up on Saturday morning for prayers and they thought they left this all behind when they left Nazi Germany, it’s a psychological fear,” Abramson said. “Who would ever think that would happen here in Chicago?”

Wherever there are Muslims, it’ll happen. Bet on it.

 

One and The Same 

By Debbie Schlussel
Is it just me? Or is it ironic–not to mention, sickening–that while
A) Compuware Corp. of Detroit laid off 4% of its workforce–250 employeees–yesterday (after laying off 300 workers four months ago);
B) Compuware Corp. of Detroit, also yesterday, hired ex-con former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick fresh out of jail?
I guess the employees in Group A made the mistake of not ripping off the people of Detroit to the tune of $9 million-plus and lying under oath.
Innocent people lose their jobs. Yet, a famous criminal thug gets a job the same day from the same company. Sounds like a third world country.

Pete Karmanos, Wife #3 (or 4?); Ex-Con Kwame “The Kingpin” Kilpatrick
Ask Compuware CEO and billionaire Pete Karmanos why he throws good, hardworking, decent people on the street, while he scoops up criminal gangsta mayors up for jobs.
Must have something to do with those gazillion dollar incentives and favors Kwame Kilpatrick gave Karmanos after he moved his company to downtown Detroit.
Crime pays. And so does bribery and corporate welfare, er . . . “tax incentives”, apparently.
Oh, and one other thing: When Pete Karmanos hires criminals, he does it in style. He is the one who reportedly footed the bill for Kwame the Kingpin to fly, via private jet, to Dallas for his job interview (which was a formality, he’d already been offered the job), and to move Kilpatrick’s family into a swanky $3,000/month home in Dallas, where they’ve been living since the fall.
Yup, crime pays.

By Debbie Schlussel
Weinstein studio reps just sent me this trailer of “Inglourious Basterds” (no, I didn’t misspell this one), Quentin Tarantino’s new movie about American-recruited Jewish soldiers who kill Nazis during World War II.
Drawback #1: It stars Mr. Angie Voight a/k/a Brad Pitt.
Drawback #2: It’s by Tarantino, so it’s likely gonna be a sarcastic bloodfest, instead of an interesting movie.
Drawback #3: It comes out in late August, the pet cemetery for movies to which the studios want to give a quick, painless death–movies they think are duds. Is this an exception to that rule? Doubtful.
In my view, Tarantino is the most over-rated director in the movie biz–the Obamessiah of Hollywood. I don’t think I’ve liked a single one of his movies, which really are just violent hackfests, which continue to define deviancy down. But I’ll reserve judgment until I review it, since this looks like I could actually like it–I’ll never be disturbed by seeing Nazis hacked to death. Stay tuned for my review on this site, G-d-willing, the day it debuts in theaters.

By Debbie Schlussel
When I saw this video the other night, I found it chilling. I don’t agree with the dumb assertion that this is happening because Washington is “too obsessed with Al-Qaeda terrorists.” You’ll have to ignore that clueless comment along with former Governor Moonbeam’s comments (not even sure why a pot-addled California official is in this video about Arizona). As investigative journalist Todd Bensman has repeatedly pointed out over the years, Al-Qaeda and these illegal Mexican immigrants crossing the borders are a related problem, since Al-Qaeda operatives have snuck in along with them. These aren’t mutually exclusive issues. And anyone who thinks so is a complete ignoramus.
Thanks to our open borders policies, Phoenix is now the kidnapping capital of America. Just remember that all of this happened under the “leadership” of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano a/k/a “The Lesbionic Woman.” She was a prosecutor and Governor as this problem developed and escalated, and at that time, she opposed local laws that made it harder for illegal aliens to flourish here. Therefore, she bears a lot of responsibility for this. Aren’t you glad she’s now in charge of our nation’s national security? Feel safer?

She did nothing to stem the tide . . .

Artwork by David Lunde/Lundesigns