With the movie “Selma” seemingly shut out from Oscar Nominations -except best picture- the Reverend Al Sharpton has an opportunity to exploit his most recent antagonism.
Many people might remember the controversy over the Sony Entertainment hacked and leaked emails which showed some tongue-in-cheek snark toward President Obama.
The presidential advisor on race issues, Al Sharpton, compared the Sony Executives to formerly labeled racist LA Clippers owner, Donald Sterling; then demanded a meeting with the Hollywood executives to lay down his expectations for improvement.  They acquiesced:

[December 18th, 2014] (Reuters) – Civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton on Thursday did not call for Co-Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment Amy Pascal to step down over racially insensitive emails, despite expectations that he might seek her resignation.

The private emails, leaked through a massive hacking attack on Sony Corp, included joking remarks related to U.S. President Barack Obama and his taste in movies. (more…)

Locally the Durham North Carolina media are reporting the typical leftist reason for backing down, threats from religious right wing extremists and zealots.  However, the reality is that Reverend Franklin Graham virtually single-handedly was about to destroy the University’s financial future….
Via Todd Starnes – Duke University has abandoned its plan to transform the bell tower on the Methodist school’s neo-gothic cathedral into a minaret where the Muslim call to prayer was to be publicly broadcast.
“Duke remains committed to fostering an inclusive, tolerant and welcoming campus for all of its students,” university spokesman Michael Schoenfeld said in a statement. “However, it was clear that what was conceived as an effort to unify was not having the intended effect.”
The first adhan, or call to prayer, had been scheduled to be broadcast on Jan. 16. University officials said, the Islamic chant, which includes the words “Allahu Akbar” would have been “moderately amplified” — in both English and Arabic.
However, the decision brought a firestorm of national criticism from a number of high profile leaders including Franklin Graham, the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham.

Graham said Muslims have a right to worship in America. He also said there are millions of “wonderful people in Islam that want to live their life and raise their children and they want to be free.” But he also said that Islam is not a peaceful religion.

In a Thursday interview with WRAL News, Graham refused to back down, even for those Muslims who have condemned radical Islamic actions.
“I don’t feel I owe an apology to anybody. I think Duke University, they owe an apology,” he said. “They’re the ones who owe the apology to Christian students and the ones who donated money for the chapel.”  (link)

(more…)

Asia Times Online,  Jan 16/2015:
Saudi reset with Iran unavoidable, as Saudi Prince Turki renames IS “Fahesh” (obscene)….

The terrorist strike last week on the Saudi border post facing the Iraqi province of Anbar — known to be the Islamic State’s first assault on the kingdom — could be the proverbial straw on the camel’s back, forcing Riyadh into a profound rethink of its regional strategies imbued with the rivalries involving Iran…
Tehran has effectively countered the Saudi plots in Syria and Iraq and at the moment would seem to have the upper hand. The last-ditch Saudi attempt to hurt the Iranian economy by forcing a steep decline in oil prices is not only not having the desired effect but, as President Hassan Rouhani explicitly warned yesterday, Riyadh may end up shooting at its own feet (as well as the Kuwaiti brother’s).

However, it is the attack on the Saudi post by the IS (killing two border guards and their commanding officer) that becomes a defining moment. The fact that the IS attackers included three Saudi nationals must be a rude awakening. To be sure, the blowback has begun. The Saudis hope to erect a ‘great wall’ and insulate themselves from the IS barbarians next door but that is sheer bravado.
(more…)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

From All The Right Snark.

We rarely ask anyone to do anything specific. However, at the end of this article there are three short videos. Please watch them, and ask anyone in the house to join you.  You will find them enlightening, revealing, and quite possibly humorous…

Hank “Tippy Guam” Johnson has followed up his tribute House of Representatives floor speech “I Can’t Breathe” with yet another oration that only Hank can deliver, “Kindergarten Regulations“:

WASHINGTON DC – Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) says, “don’t think that regulations are hurting you.” Johnson even relates federal regulations in America to being in kindergarten.

On the House floor Tuesday, Johnson explained his feelings about federal regulations in America; (more…)

A Brooklyn man terrorized two NYPD cops when he pulled alongside their squad car in Harlem and pointed what appeared to be a weapon at them to show his friends how easy it would be to “shoot a police officer,” authorities said.
Unique Johnson, 32, was driving a Chevy TrailBlazer at West 125th Street and Seventh Avenue at 9 p.m. Tuesday when he suspiciously slowed down and pulled up along the squad car’s right side, police said.
When the 26-year-old officer at the wheel peered over his shoulder, he witnessed Johnson with his arms extended, pointing what looked like a gun, police said.
“I absolutely thought we were dead,” one of the cops said, according to NYPD officials.

(more…)

FTP and BLM protestors wearing adult diapers chained themselves to large concrete filled oil drums near Boston blocking traffic and also blocking emergency responders.

BOSTON — Activists protesting what they call “police and state violence against black people” chained themselves to concrete-filled barrels and blocked a busy Boston-area highway at the height of the Thursday morning commute.

State police shut down northbound Interstate 93 south of the city, and I-93 south, in Medford, north of the city, at about 7:30 a.m., inconveniencing thousands of drivers and causing miles-long backups. The southbound lanes were reopened at about 8 a.m. and the northbound lanes at about 10 a.m. after police and firefighters used power saws to cut protesters out of the barrels to which they were attached while lying in the roadway. (more…)

Four more members of the Dindu Nuffin’s were arrested today, with one suspect still on the run. This brings the total captured to 7, with one still running – and more arrests expected.

 Mississippi – Jackson Police arrested four more suspects in a string of car jackings, armed robberies and assaults on Wednesday evening.
Malcolm Henderson, 16, Quindarius Love, 18, Dontario Rosell, 16 and Marlon Perry, 17, were involved in at least three known armed carjackings in the Metro area. Through interviews, auto theft detectives were able to obtain reliable and pertinent information linking them to the three armed carjackings.
Police are also actively searching for Jushun Paige for armed carjacking. (more…)

Belgium (AP) – Two people were killed when Belgian police halted what local officials are calling “a second Paris,” a reference to last week’s terror attacks in the French capital.

The deaths occurred Thursday evening as anti-terror police carried out an anti-terror operation in the small city of Verviers, about 80 miles east of Brussels, officials confirmed in a Thursday evening press conference. Another person was seriously injured and has been detained.
The suspected terrorists are Arab-French, recently returned from Syria and are believed to have Islamic State ties, according to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. (more…)