Eye

>We Were Warned (in 1899)

by Winston Churchill

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.

The effects are apparent in many countries, improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement, the next of its dignity and sanctity.

The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.

No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.

Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."

Sir Winston Churchill; (Source: The River War, first edition, Vol II, pages 248-250 London).

by dan friedman {We can keep ignoring the warnings of great people, but at some point it doesn't matter because history won't bend to the will of the fools who deny it. df}

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A LESSON FOR U.S. VOTERS

from Dan Friedman

'Jews In the Land of Make Believe' - one

-world-trade-center-paris-attacks

Some of us will never "get it." In the wake of the Paris massacre, many Israelis and other Jews are calling on the civilized West to adopt a new meme, "We are all Israel now." Sorry friends, but it will never catch on. Kumbaya is the official anthem of the "peace makers," but Hatikvah will never make it into the songbook.

Jews may long to be one of the boys, but history has other ideas. After the flowers dry in front of the Bataclan theater, the memorial candles go out all over Paris, and the World Trade Center’s red, white and blue lights are extinguished in NYC, the "international community" - including France - will revert to type and go back to their psychotic obsession with Jews and Israel. After a short timeout (if that) they will turn their attention back to the stuff that really matters: Jewish building in Jerusalem and boycotting oranges grown in Israel.

Yet, there is this irony. The Muslims will always keep silly daydreamers honest - either at the point of a knife or the tip of a Muslim H-Bomb. Heck, they haven’t let us down in 1400 years! The only question is, are 130 dead in Paris going to be enough to convince us who the real enemy is and who’s trying to destroy our way of life? If not, the religion of peace will be glad to oblige with an endless supply of cadavers – both Jews and gentiles.

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Why Do Working Americans Support Job-Killing Democrats?

By Star Parker

After years of review, President Obama has killed the Keystone XL pipeline project. The pipeline would have moved crude oil from Western Canada to Nebraska, where it would have connected to existing pipelines and moved the oil to refineries at the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The exact number of jobs that the project would have created was disputed, but a reasonable estimate seems to be several thousand jobs. These would have been largely blue-collar jobs, which is why labor unions, usually a constituency that a Democratic president seeks to please, supported the project.

But another Democratic constituency, the environmental lobby, opposed the project, and they won the day with our president. { BOLD }

Immediately after the president killed the project, the three Democrat presidential contenders — Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley — endorsed the president’s decision.

Looking at the rationale the president used to justify his politically motivated decision to kill this pipeline project raises the question, “Why do so many working-class Americans, and in particular low-income Americans, continue to support big-government Democrats, who are more interested in their left-wing agendas than creating jobs and prosperity in America?”

Polls regularly show the economy and jobs at the top of the concerns of Americans. And on that front, this president has been a particular disaster.

But you wouldn’t know it listening to his justification for killing this project.

“The pipeline would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to our economy,” said the president. He then continued on to describe how the economy has supposedly thrived under his watch.

“Our businesses created 268,000 new jobs last month. They’ve created 13.5 million new jobs over the past 68 months — the longest streak on record. The unemployment rate fell to 5 percent.”

We must wonder if President Obama knows better or if he actually believes this deceptive and distorted picture about what is going on with our economy.

We are experiencing one of the most sluggish economic recoveries in history.

In a paper submitted for the Focusing the Presidential Debates Project, Hoover Institution economist John Cochrane points out, “sclerotic growth is the overriding economic issue of our time.”

Cochrane notes, “from 1950 to 2000 the US economy grew at an average rate of 3.5 percent per year. … From the bottom of the great recession in 2009, usually a time of super-fast catch-up growth, it has only grown at two percent per year.”

What does this mean in terms of jobs?

In contrast to the 13.5 million jobs created over the last 68 months that President Obama brags about, Ed Lazear, a Stanford economist and former chairman of President George W. Bush’s council of economic advisers, notes that if the economy had grown sufficiently fast to “make up for the recession and keep pace with growing population” it would have created 17.5 million jobs.

In other words, there are 4 million fewer jobs today than there would have been had the economic recovery been sufficiently robust to make up for the losses caused by the recession.

Why is this recovery so poor? Because this recent pipeline decision characterizes all the economic decision-making that has been taking place over the last seven years.

It’s all about government, political power and interests rather than allowing what drove the 3.5 percent economic growth from 1950 to 2000 — free enterprise.

President and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce Harry Alford recently spoke at the Port of New Orleans about the suffocation of business at the hands of the regulatory state.

According to Alford, “every year since 2009, federal agencies have piled on about $150 billion in new compliance costs.” He says the total impact of regulatory costs now exceed $2 trillion.

All working Americans must hear from Republicans that economic growth is our No. 1 priority. And free enterprise is the only way to do it.

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Pantry Essentials

I try to only use ingredients that I can find here in the midcoast for my recipes I've been sharing here on the blog. Our local grocery store here in the midcoast does carry a lot of ingredients to make pretty many kinds of cuisines from all around the world. But whenever I have a chance to make it down to Portland, I stock up on all kinds of spices and specialty food at the Asian grocery stores down there.

A few days ago, I went on a huge shopping spree when we went down the Chinese, Korean, Thai, Indian, and African grocery stores in Portland. I thought I'd share with you some of the things I've got which are basically my pantry essentials. For those who want to really get into Asian cooking, here are some of the ingredients that are just always useful to have on hand:

First Stop: the Indian grocery.

Left to right: Ajwain seeds, curry powder, whole green cardamon, bay leaves, red lentils, whole nutmeg, hot spicy powder, cardamon seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds. Other spices that are my pantry essentials are garam masala and turmeric which I didn't get this time because I have still have two big bags of them at home already.

Most of these spices you can also find at local grocery stores in the mid coast. However, a few items you might be unfamiliar with are the Ajwain seeds, fenugreek seeds and hot spicy powder.The Ajwain seeds are a family of bishop's weed and they look just like the seed of bishop's weed. This is a common spice they use in India and you will often find them in the samosa shell. It actually tastes very close to thyme, so if you can not find them, you can substitute it with thyme. Fenugreek seeds are another spice I use a lot, but it's more commonly used in East African dishes and gives them that very distinctive scent and flavor. As for the hot spicy powder, I really just bought it out of curiosity. It's basically garam masala and also added saffron and chili powder.

Second Stop: the Chinese grocery.

Left to right: Sesame oil, cooking wine, soy sauce, white pepper, dried shiitake mushrooms, szechuan pepper, beef stew spice pack, chicken and pork stew pack and coriander seeds.

Most of these are very common Chinese ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry as well. The only thing you probably don't have are szechuan pepper corns, which is a little hard to find around here. It has a very distinct flavor. It's not very hot but it will make your tongue feel numb. It is also one of the main spices in Chinese Five Spice, so if you don't have these pepper corns, usually five spice will do. Obviously, Chinese Five Spice is another essential I always have in my pantry which I already have.

Someone had asked me before what brand of soy sauce I use. I usually stock up on Jin Lan Chinese soy sauce or the Korean soy sauce when I go to Portland. Korean soy sauce usually is very dark and has a strong and slightly sweet flavor. If I do go to one of our local stores for soy sauce I get the Kikkoman brand (not the low sodium kind) because it is the brand that has the most authentic flavor. The store brand soy sauce is what you really don't want to get because it doesn't taste anything like soy sauce to me.

Left to right: Dried mung bean, dried red beans, rice flour, glutinous rice flour, soy beans, fries shallots, unsweetened coconut flakes, cinnamon sticks, chili powder. You are probably familiar with rice flour, but are wondering what glutinous rice flour is. Glutinous rice is also known as sweet rice or sticky rice and it's what we use to make mochi rice cakes.

Left to right: dried chili, bonito fish flakes, star anise and frozen pork belly. Bonito fish flakes are great to for making the base for Japanese noodle broth, such as Udon. It's also commonly used for garnish on noodles and street food as well. I've also bought some frozen pork belly because we love pork belly but it's a little hard to get them around where we live unless get them at the butcher, which is great but can be a bit pricey. Unfortunately, you can't always depend on the English label at Chinese grocery stores...

Now I question what did I buy at the store?

Third Stop: Thai grocery.

Left to right: fresh Thai basil leaves, Pandan extract and fresh lemon grass. We usually plant our own Thai basil in the garden, but this time of the year we can only get them from the store. Pandan is a leaf commonly used in south east Asian cuisines and has a very distinct aroma. They often infuse the fresh leaves in rice and desserts. Another great Thai essential ingredient to have is obviously fish sauce, again it didn't make it on my shopping list because I still have a bottle of it in my refrigerator.

Last stop: Korean grocery.

Left to right: Nuruk power, Gochujang ( Korean chili paste), dried kelp and Korean pepper flakes. Nuruk is a starter culture for making makgeolli (Korean rice wine). Makgeolli is a milky sweet and sour rice wine that is usually home brewed which is why some call it "Korean Moonshine." It's very delicious and unique, so I'm very excited to make it myself for the first time this winter. Kombu (dried kelp) is great for making the base for Korean and Japanese broth. This variety of pepper flakes is what I used to make kimchi in my first recipe on this blog.

One more Korean cooking essential I always have in my refrigerator is Dashida (Korean beef stock).

I hope this blog will give you a little guide for what you can have in your pantry if you are interested in cooking Asian meals.

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BLUE LIVES MATTER TOO

'BLUE LIVES MATTER, BUT ANARCHY GROWS'

By Marshall Frank

On the night of Oct. 20, shots were heard in the area of East Harlem. Cops responded. A suspect was confronted by officers. He had a gun. He fired, they fired. Randolph Holder, 33, died from a bullet in the head.

The shooting resulted in the death of a black man. Only, this black man was a five-year veteran of NYPD. Indeed, a black life who mattered.

Four cops have been murdered in just one police department – NYPD – in the last 11 months. Two were virtually ambushed. Thirteen others have been ambushed around the nation.

Four days after Randolph Holder was killed, “Black Lives Matter” anarchists took to the streets to protest all police officers. Ten months ago, a mob in New York chanted in streets, “What do we want? Dead Cops!” Those same hated cops made sure the streets were secured and marchers were protected. In April of 2015, Baltimore anarchists burned the city and destroyed property posing as “protesters.”

Where is this country going?

Cops – our protectors – were ordered to stand down as rocks and torches were hurled at them, sending dozens to the hospital. It seemed they were ordered there to be ridiculed.

Does the history matter that some of those career cops in New York, Baltimore and Ferguson had been given medals of valor for saving the lives of men, women and children when called to dire situations? Does it matter that these same cops risked their lives over and over, being dispatched to hundreds of calls to quell violence and/or protect innocent people from others?

Meanwhile, anarchists parade, scream, demean and promote hatred. And our leaders, including some mayors, politicians and even the White House do or say nothing to bring peace and truth to America.

The lightning rod cases cited by anarchists – Michael Brown in Ferguson; Eric Garner in Staten Island; Freddie Gray in Baltimore – each have a common thread: crime and thuggery.

Michael Brown strong-arm robbed a store and then attacked a cop in his car, trying to wrestle his gun away. The Attorney General determined the shooting was justified.

Career criminal Eric Garner baited police while a friend shot videos. He deliberately resisted arrest. Without weapons, they used minimal force needed to take down the 350 pound behemoth. No one knew that Garner suffered from serious asthma.

Freddie Gray had a long history of criminal activity. He suffered injuries in the police van, and we still don’t know how or why. Nevertheless, six cops were charged; three black.

Most puzzling is how some well-meaning people are so easily swayed to believe the propaganda. With goodness in their hearts, they stand up for minorities and no matter the evidence, they fall lock-step with protest programs without questioning validity. The fallout portends a dangerous future for law abiding people in our cities.

FBI Director, James Comey, recently spoke out in opposition to the president’s mantra. He said cops have told him they constantly feel taunted by youths with cell phones.

“In today’s YouTube world,” Comey said, “officers are reluctant to get out of their car.” He cited a renewed spike in violent crime, adding, “I do have a strong sense that some part of the explanation is a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement over the last year. And that wind is surely changing behavior.”

Of course, bad cops should be weeded out. So should bad politicians.

The constant denigration of police by “Black Lives Matter,” and the validation provided by media, is destined to spawn divisiveness, anarchy and hatred. All that will embolden more crime and give cause for average cops to tacitly withdraw in deference to protecting their own families and their futures. It’s getting personal.

Blue lives matter too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About The Author: Marshall Frank is a 30-Year Retired Captain of Police, Miami-Dade,

and also the author of a dozen books, including 'Militant Islam In America' - reb

___ ___

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Xinjiang Lamb Rice

Rice is such a staple dish at our house that we eat it for almost every single meal. But recently it dawned on me that I have not shared a rice recipe yet, despite the name of this column. It’s time to change that! - See more at: http://freepressonline.com/Content/Top-Scrolling-Area/Top-Scrolling-Area/Article/The-Way-Rice-Should-Be-Xinjiang-Lamb-Rice/126/724/42203#sthash.IHkvmDBw.dpuf

Recently, I have been exploring a lot of Western and Central Chinese cuisines. One of the cuisines I fell in love with is the food of Xinjian, a land-locked region located in the heart of the silk road and bordering nine different countries including India, Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. With its long history as a route for the spice trade, it’s no wonder Xinjiang’s food is so unique and flavorful. This week I’d like to share with you a very delicious Xinjiang dish that I’ve been making and absolutely loving this fall. Xinjiang Lamb Rice is a very simple rice dish with meat and vegetables and it’s perfect for those evenings when you feel like just throwing everything in one pot.

You will need:

Rice is such a staple dish at our house that we eat it for almost every single meal. But recently it dawned on me that I have not shared a rice recipe yet, despite the name of this column. It’s time to change that!

Recently, I have been exploring a lot of Western and Central Chinese cuisines. One of the cuisines I fell in love with is the food of Xinjian, a land-locked region located in the heart of the silk road and bordering nine different countries including India, Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. With its long history as a route for the spice trade, it’s no wonder Xinjiang’s food is so unique and flavorful. This week I’d like to share with you a very delicious Xinjiang dish that I’ve been making and absolutely loving this fall. Xinjiang Lamb Rice is a very simple rice dish with meat and vegetables and it’s perfect for those evenings when you feel like just throwing everything in one pot.
- See more at: http://freepressonline.com/Content/Top-Scrolling-Area/Top-Scrolling-Area/Article/The-Way-Rice-Should-Be-Xinjiang-Lamb-Rice/126/724/42203#sthash.IHkvmDBw.dpuf

The Way

Ingredients (Serves 3-4 people)

1 cup basmati rice
2 cup water
1 large red onion
1 large carrot
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp. ginger
1 lb. lamb shoulder chop
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1-3/4 tsp. course salt
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1/8 tsp. black pepper
3/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. coriander seeds
3/4 cup raisins

Directions:
Start by soaking the basmati rice in the water. Let it soak for 20 minutes

Meanwhile, cut the onion and carrot into thin slicks.

And mince the garlic and ginger.

Cut the lamb into small bite-size pieces and season with 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. white pepper and 1/8 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper.

Using a deep pot on high heat, brown the meat along with 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil for about 1 minute until the meat is golden brown on the outside. The meat will not be fully cooked at this point.

Take the meat out of the pot and turn the heat to medium then toss in the onions and carrots. Cook until the onion is soft and translucent.

Now throw in the minced garlic, ginger, ground cumin and coriander seeds. I prefer using the coriander seeds because I like the crunch. But if you don’t have them, you can also use ground coriander seeds. If you do so, I’d suggest only using 1/4 tsp. instead of 1/2 tsp. Cook and stir for a minute. Then pour the meat and any excess juice back into the pot along with the remaining salt and vegetable oil. Cook for another minute. Don’t worry about the bottom of the pot browning — that’s just the vegetables and meat caramelizing. Once you pour in the rice and water, it will all be deglazed.

Now pour in the soaked rice along with all of the soaking water into the pot. Keep stirring until it comes to a boil. Then turn the heat to low, cover the pot up and let it cook for 20 minutes. Check the rice after about 15 minutes to make sure the bottom is not burned, but try not to stir it too much.

Once the rice is cooked, turn the heat off and stir in the raisins quickly but very gently. Cover the pot up with the lid and let it sit for five minutes to allow all the flavors to infuse. I used a variety of regular and golden raisins here. The raisins not only give the rice an extra layer of sweet and tangy flavor, but they also balance out the greasiness from the meat.

After the rice has sat for five minutes, crack the lid open slightly and let it sit for another 5 minutes right before serving. This will allow the steam to escape and dry the rice out a little bit.

Serve it warm in a bowl.

An Ayatollah's Dream... End of America

Written by : Amir Taheri

The topic was at the center of a daylong seminar in Tehran last week attended by ambassadors from Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela, plus a number of Islamic Iranian officials and scholars.

The five Latin American nations with left-wing regimes represent one of the “clusters” that former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tried to organize as points of anti-American “resistance” across the globe. Another “cluster” consisted of Lebanon, controlled through the local branch of Hezbollah, Syria, under Bashar Al-Assad, and parts of Iraq dominated by pro-Tehran armed groups. The plan was to set up another “cluster” by breaking up the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) bloc through the Finlandization of some of its members while seizing control of Yemen through local Trojan outfits.

Next month, Tehran is scheduled to host the fifth annual “End of America” conference with a number of professional anti-American figures from Europe and the US itself also expected.

However, the timing of the exercise is puzzling. For the first time in almost a decade, the presidency, and part of the government including the foreign ministry seem to be controlled by the so-called Rafsanjani faction that has been trying to make a deal with the Americans since the late 1980s.

Many in Tehran now wonder whether this year’s “End of America” will take place at all. A number of “Afro-American families of victims of US police brutality” have already been invited along with European religious leaders and scholars opposed to the “Great Satan.”

Some pro-Rafsanjani commentators in Tehran, including a few in the entourage of President Hassan Rouhani, argue against the holding of another “End of America” conference as unnecessary at best and wanton provocation at worst.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif argues that the US has shown its goodwill by bending backward to satisfy Iran’s demands in the nuclear negotiations. It would be foolish to provoke the US at a time that Tehran needs Washington’s support to destroy the edifice of sanctions and kick the whole nuclear saga into the long grass.

More than 30 years ago, Khomeini’s intransigence led to the destruction of Jimmy Carter’s presidency, depriving Iran of a friend in Washington. It would be foolish to repeat the same mistake by humiliating Obama and, through him the Democrat Party, thus helping the return to power of the Republicans who are committed to making life difficult for the Khomeinist regime.

Seen from Tehran the ideal outcome of next year’s presidential election in the United States would be the nomination and victory of either Vice President Joseph Biden or Secretary of State John Kerry. Both men have a history of decades of support for the Khomeinist revolution and the Islamic Republic and remain committed to promoting closer ties with Tehran under the mullahs.

Another four, or perhaps even eight years of Obama’s policies would nicely coincide with the duration of the Vienna nuke deal which envisages “a final closing of the dossier” by 2023 at the latest. Until then, Iran would be kept a year away from building a nuclear arsenal if it so decides. After that, Iran could do so within 60 days, again if it so wished.

More importantly, another eight years of Obama’s strategy would make it immensely difficult, if not impossible in practical terms, for any future US administration to revive the Pax Americana as a viable option. The Obama strategy is aimed at shrinking the American military footprint across the world. Dozens of bases are being closed down or reduced to merely symbolic proportions. Within what is left of Obama’s presidential term, the US army alone is scheduled to fire at least 40,000 of its soldiers. Under Obama the US has undergone the biggest cut in defense expenditure it has experienced since the heady days of post-Cold War and its “peace dividends”.

More importantly, perhaps, Obama has managed to sour, if not actually destroy, America’s old alliances in many parts of the world, notably the Middle East. Even an old and loyal ally such as Great Britain has publicly played the card of privileged ties with China, implicitly taking note of the American retreat.

Obama has changed the image of the US as “the winner” into the loser as borne out by a series of crises from the annexation of Georgian and Ukrainian territories by Moscow to the emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the resurgence of Taliban in Afghanistan, not to mention Tehran’s heightened profile in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.

Obama’s dramatic “red line” warning to Assad, followed by an equally dramatic consumption of humble pie, highlighted the United States’ new status as “the loser.”

The American global retreat has already led to a more emphatic assertion by China of its position as a great Asian power. It has also encouraged the nationalist trend in Japan to the point of seeking constitutional change to allow the nation to deploy troops abroad and, later perhaps, even develop a nuclear arsenal.

Latin America is divided into two rival blocs of left and right powers, with the US less and less regarded as a major player.

In Europe and central Asia, Russia is moving fast to regain part of lost influence and project power wherever it can. Many of the local conflicts mothballed thanks to US mediation are becoming active again, from Transcaucasia to the Indo-Pakistani Subcontinent.

The Israel-Palestine conflict is exploding in the void created by the total collapse of US-backed “peace talks.”

Ending Pax Americana may turn out to be good for the Americans in which case Obama could enter history as a wise visionary.

However, even if such is the case, the mullahs have every interest to encourage Obama in his present strategy and, within their modest means, to help the Obama line continue under Kerry or, even Hillary Clinton as the least bad option.

Many might see the “End of America” world as a far more dangerous place. The mullahs, however, would regard it as the fulfilment of Khomeini’s dream.

Amir Taheri

Amir Taheri was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from 1972 to 1979. He has worked at or written for innumerable publications, published eleven books, and has been a columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat since 1987. Mr. Taheri has won several prizes for his journalism, and in 2012 was named International Journalist of the Year by the British Society of Editors and the Foreign Press Association in the annual British Media Awards.

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