(Via ITV) The Japanese government is ‘looking into’ a video purporting to be from Islamic State militants claiming to have killed one of two Japanese men being held hostage.
In the clip posted online – which features only a still image and audio – journalist Kenji Goto Jogo is shown in an orange jumpsuit as a narrator claims that fellow captive Haruna Yukawa has been murdered.

“You did not take the threats of my captives seriously and you did not act within 72 hours. To my beloved wife I love you. And I miss my two daughters. Please do not let them do the same in my case. You must continue to pressure our government.” (link)

In the video statement, which is read in English, the militant group is now demanding the release of an Islamist prisoner – named Sajida al-Rishawi – in his exchange for Jogo’s release. (more…)

It was only a few months ago when all evidence indicated that Erdogan’s henchmen killed an American female journalist who was about to expose his alignment and support for ISIS.  Now another woman is targeted by Turkish authorities....
(Via Breitbart) Turkish authorities have arrested former Miss Turkey, Merve Buyuksarac, 26, because she quoted a poem on social media that insults President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The arrest is the latest in a crackdown on free speech in Turkey that has worsened since two radical Islamists slaughtered twelve people at satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France.
Buyuksarac, an industrial designer and writer, quoted the poem “The Master’s Poem” from weekly humor magazine Uykusuz on her Facebook page. The poem criticizes “the president through verses adapted from Turkey’s national anthem.” She deleted the post after a friend warned her about the government’s intrusion on freedom of speech.
“I shared it because I found it funny,” she claimed. “I had no intention to insult (Erdogan).” (more…)

Yes, yes he actually said that – today.
Beyond the insufferable willful blindness to avoid calling Radical Islam “violent extremism”, and against the backdrop of ISIS today holding two Japanese hostages under specific threat of beheading, our Secretary of State:

“Today we are witnessing a criminal form of anarchy, a nihilism which illegitimately claims an ideological and religious foundation. Against this enemy we are increasingly organizing and fighting back. But in doing so we have to also keep our heads.

(more…)

Prayers for the families of the hostages.  It is impossible for us to appreciate the depth of their emotional anxiety; however, we can pray for a resolution which unites them -and- a comfort to surround them.
(CNN)—ISIS will reportedly release a statement “soon” about the two Japanese men it’s threatening to execute Friday.  Japanese broadcaster NHK said it has been in contact online with a spokesman for the militant group who made the assertion.

When asked whether ISIS has been in negotiations with the Japanese government, the spokesman said he wouldn’t comment, NHK reported.
ISIS has threatened to kill the two men — Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa — unless Japan pays the group $200 million. The Japanese government says it estimates that ultimatum expires at 2:50 p.m. Friday, Tokyo time (12:50 a.m. ET Friday). (more…)

It is always important to remember the White House logic – when you hear the Islamic State make demands, according to President Obama they are not Islamic.  It is only when you accept the futility in conversation with the professional left, that you are able to reduce your frustration. 

President Obama and the professional left perceive the world as they wish it would be, not as it is…  In essence, they are modern Peter Pan’s. 

CAIRO (AP) — An online video released Tuesday purported to show the Islamic State group threatening to kill two Japanese hostages unless they receive a $200 million ransom in the next 72 hours.

The video, identified as being made by the Islamic State group’s al-Furqan media arm and posted on militant websites associated with the extremist group, mirrored other hostage threats made the group. The man speaking also resembled and sounded like a British militant involved in other beheadings by the Islamic State group, which now holds a third of Iraq and Syria under its self-declared caliphate. (more…)

(Via Stars and Stripes) For the wife of the gunman accused of killing four people at a kosher supermarket in Paris 10 days ago, the escape from questioning about complicity in the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks was relatively easy.
Once Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, got to Turkey, she followed the path of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other European jihadi volunteers before her — into the self-declared Islamic State.
Aided by smugglers in the Turkish border town of Akcakale, and several companions, she walked through a disused border crossing on Jan. 8 and into the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, which has been an Islamic State stronghold for months. (more…)

SAUDI ARABIA – Islamic State lists the capture of Saudi Arabia, home to the holy Muslim grounds of Mecca and Medina, as a key goal.
Just over a week ago, IS militants launched an attack on a Saudi border post, killing a senior Saudi general and two border guards, marking the first direct IS assault on Saudi grounds, The Telegraph reported.

In an effort to defend itself from the IS threat and further attacks, the kingdom launched a massive project to construct a “Great Wall” along it’s northern border with Iraq, where IS presence is heavy. (more…)

(Via Deadline) American Sniper is huge. So huge that the Clint Eastwood-directed film could, by sunrise, make more in one day than any one of his films ever made in a weekend. Per late night industry estimates, the Warner Bros./Village Roadshow pic looks to gun down $29.1M in its first expanded Friday, within inches of blowing away Eastwood’s previous weekend high, 2009’s Gran Torino at $29.5M.
Hands down, American Sniper’s Friday booty ranks as the highest grossing day ever charted by a film in January – and that goes for an opening (previous record holder was 2008’s Cloverfield at $17.16M) and single day (prior was the $25.8M B.O. racked up by Avatar on Jan. 2, 2010).  (continue reading)

(more…)

This is not a Saturday Night Live sketch, this is real [I cannot stop laughing]. This has to be the ultimate representative optic of all things liberal and ridiculous.
In an effort to repair the optics stemming from the White House skipping the French “unity rally”, someone, somewhere, probably Secretary Kerry himself, thought it would be a great idea to take James Taylor to France to sing “you’ve got a friend” publicly, on stage, with Secretary Kerry – as the liberal audience/media look on swooningly….
I just cannot stop laughing. This is too funny to even be embarrassed. Watch: