Posts Tagged: Ties


8
Feb 11

Spencer: Obama’s Muslim Brotherhood Ties

ObamasMBTies.jpg

In “Obama’s Muslim Brotherhood Ties” in Human Events this morning, I discuss how the Muslim Brotherhood is not just in Egypt:

Barack Obama has declared that all opposition groups should have representation in the next Egyptian government, which essentially ensures that the Muslim Brotherhood will be part of that government. The Brotherhood is the largest opposition group in Egypt, so it will probably end up in the driver’s seat in any new regime, and steer Egypt toward becoming an Islamic state inveterately hostile to the United States.

So why isn’t Obama working to limit the Brotherhood’s scope and influence? Maybe because he doesn’t really have a problem with the Brotherhood, despite its hostility to America. He made sure to invite Brotherhood leaders to attend his notorious speech to the Islamic world in Cairo, Egypt, in June 4, 2009. Starting in the earliest days of his administration, he showed an intense desire to establish friendly ties with Brotherhood-linked organizations-despite the Brotherhood’s stated goal of “eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within.”

Obama first reached out to the Brotherhood when he chose the leader of a Muslim Brotherhood-linked group that had been named an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case to give a prayer during his inauguration ceremonies. Ingrid Mattson, then-president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), offered this prayer at the National Cathedral on Obama’s Inauguration Day-despite the fact that the ISNA has admitted its ties to the Brotherhood. The previous summer, federal prosecutors rejected a request from the ISNA to remove its unindicted co-conspirator status.

Obama didn’t ask Mattson to explain the ISNA’s links to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. On the contrary: He sent his senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, to be the keynote speaker at the ISNA’s national convention in 2009.

Even worse, in April 2009, Obama appointed Arif Alikhan, the deputy mayor of Los Angeles, as assistant secretary for policy development at the Department of Homeland Security. Just two weeks before he received this appointment, Alikhan (who once called the jihad terror group Hezbollah a “liberation movement”) participated in a fund-raiser for the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). Like the ISNA, MPAC has links to the Muslim Brotherhood. In a book titled In Fraternity: A Message to Muslims in America, co-author Hassan Hathout, a former MPAC president, is identified as “a close disciple of the late Hassan al-Banna of Egypt. “The MPAC-linked magazine The Minaret spoke of Hathout’s closeness to al-Banna in a 1997 article: “My father would tell me that Hassan Hathout was a companion of Hassan al-Banna. … Hassan Hathout would speak of al-Banna with such love and adoration; he would speak of a relationship not guided by politics or law but by a basic sense of human decency.”

The late al-Banna, of course, was the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood….

There is more.

Jihad Watch


7
Feb 11

Super Bowl XLV Ties Highest Overnight Rating

Matches 1987 game in metered…
B&C – Breaking News


2
Feb 11

Charlotte’s Obama Ties

A political party’s choice of convention site can be electorally-motivated, but money may also be a factor.

The Center for Responsive Politics reports Charlotte is “bursting with political love for President Barack Obama… During the 2008 election cycle, political donors in the sprawling Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill metropolitan area who gave more than $ 200 favored Obama with more than $ 2 for every $ 1 McCain received.” 
Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire


25
Jan 11

Arizona Legislator Ties Loughner’s Actions to Roe v. Wade

Arizona State Senator Linda Gray opined on a local radio show that the Roe v. Wade decision has created a culture of “disrespect for human life” that might have influenced Jared Loughner’s shooting spree.

This point of view is not new, as Steve M. reminds us:

Brian Rohrbough, the father of one of the victims of the Columbine massacre, became well known in anti-abortion circles for arguing that legal abortion helped make Columbine possible. He insisted that a memorial to his son near the site of the massacre bear the following inscription:

Dad, I have a question. Why?

My son in a Nation that legalized the killing of innocent children in the womb; in a County where authorities would lie and cover up what they knew and what they did; in a Godless school system your life was taken … Dan I’m sorry.

I love you dad I’ll see you tomorrow.

7:00 p.m., April 19, 1999.

There is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked.


The Moderate Voice


23
Jan 11

Federer Ties Connors’s Grand Slam Quarterfinal Record at Australian Open – Bloomberg


Sydney Morning Herald
Federer Ties Connors's Grand Slam Quarterfinal Record at Australian Open
Bloomberg
Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates victory during his men's final match against Rafael Nadal. Photographer: Julian Finney/Getty Images Roger Federer advanced to a record- tying 27th straight Grand Slam
Attacking Federer not worried by errorsTimes of India
Federer comes through after wobbleThe Press Association
Federer into Australian Open quarterfinalsChicago Breaking Sports – Tribune
The Canadian Press –AsiaOne
all 1,218 news articles »

Sports – Google News


21
Jan 11

Dinners With The Enemy, Politicians With Tacky Musical Ties and Other Viral Footage

Is Donald Trump going to run for president?  Well if he runs and wins I would love to be a fly on the wall during his first meeting with the Chinese.  Yesterday he went on a rant about Obama’s appeasement of China that was all bravado and absolutely no diplomacy.  You can see the video linked to below which was part of today’s Viral Footage. Other videos show the British member of parliament whose tacky musical tie went off  while he was making a speech to his parliamentary colleagues, both commercials that have been rejected by Fox for inclusion in the Super Bowl, and so much more.

So Click on  any of the links below and enjoy:

 
 




YID With LID


20
Jan 11

Family Ties

In a Fortune profile of John Roberts, Roger Parloff reports that the Chief Justice has a lesbian cousin. Michael Petrelis perks up:

If it had been reported before that the chief justice of the Supreme Court has a lesbian cousin, I'm almost sure I would have filed that factoid. Googling for any gay or lesbian references to Podrasky didn't turn up much, but she worked in the 1990s at the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. BTW, the transcript of the hearing at which Roberts introduced his cousin shows he made no mention of her being a lesbian.

While I can understand Podrasky not chatting up her influential cousin about cases that might soon come before the Supreme Court, I would still hope that she would talk to him about the real-world impact of his decisions and the affects they have on gay people.





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The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan


19
Jan 11

U.S.-Centric View Insufficient for Closer Sino-American Ties: Global Times, People’s Republic of China

Are American policy makers listening to the sound of their own voices to the detriment of better relations with China and the world? Correspondent Rong Xiaoqing of China’s state-run Global Times dismisses U.S. complaints about Chinese trade, intellectual and foreign policies, arguing that if President Obama manages to put himself in China’s shoes during President Hu’s visit, a successful great leap forward is possible.

For the Global Times, Rong Xiaoqing writes in part:

In some quarters the barrage of comments from the likes Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, might even be considered a bit rude ahead of the arrival of a leading guest. But to be fair, they were probably aimed more at a domestic audience than at influencing or upsetting China.

But when you live in the United States, it’s quite easy to swallow a very U.S.-centric view of the world. That’s until you pinch yourself and start to dissect it intellectually. The United States is a great country and has so many things going for it – but you have to understand that its government and a majority of its citizens always put U.S. interests first.

President Obama is a very intelligent man, and I do believe he’ll be able to see the world from a Chinese as well as an American perspective. If he does, I think the already very deep business relationship between the two countries has the potential of becoming so much more.

READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, your most trusted translator and aggregator of foreign news and views about our nation.


The Moderate Voice


17
Jan 11

New Jersey Governor Christie’s dirty ties to Hamas-linked Islamic supremacists

Cross another one off the Presidential timber list for 2012. A tale of yet another clueless or compromised politician: “Governor Christie’s Dirty Islamist Ties,” by Daniel Greenfield at Sultan Knish, January 16 (thanks to Dave):

New Jersey, the Garden State, has just taken its first step toward becoming the Sharia State, with Governor Christie’s nomination of Sohail Mohammed, an attorney to detained terrorist suspects, to a Superior Court judgeship in Passaic County. The Sohail nomination continues Christie’s unfortunate pandering to the American Muslim Union and the Islamic Center of Passaic County.

Passaic County has the second largest Muslim population in the country. And the Islamic Center of Passaic County is the state’s largest mosque, and it’s the only one run by an an Imam who was a member of the Hamas terrorist organization. But when the United States government attempted to deport Mohammed Qatanani, New Jersey’s pols and wannabe pols like Christie, quickly came to his aid. Despite the fact that Mohammed Qatanani was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the organization that is behind both Al Qaeda and Hamas, despite his own guilty plea to being a member of Hamas, and despite the fact that even in the United States, he had defended a charity that provided funds to children of suicide bombers (this is done as an incentive to reassure terrorists that if they die their families will be taken care of), Qatanani was not deported.

This is less a sign of his innocence, then of the power and influence wielded by Qatanani and the American Muslim Union. There was hardly a top New Jersey public official who did not come out for Qatanani. And that included both of the major candidates in the governor’s race, Governor Jon Corzine and Chris Christie. Christie called Qatanani, “a man of great goodwill” and “a constructive force” and allowed Charles McKenna, one of his associate attorneys to testify on behalf of Qatanani. Afterward Christie tapped McKenna to head New Jersey’s Department of Homeland Security. McKenna had spent a good deal of time on Muslim “outreach” and made numerous statements echoing their talking points.

The pioneering terrorism researcher, Steve Emerson called it, “a disgrace and an act of pure political corruption”. He stated, “I know for certain that Christie and the FBI SAC had access to information about Qatanani’s background, involvement with and support of Hamas.” Defending Qatanani required Christie to pit himself against the Department of Homeland Security, which wanted him deported. But the Department of Homeland Security wasn’t running for office in New Jersey. Christie was.

The first Imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, Mohammad El-Mezain, was convicted of funneling money to Hamas. El-Mezain had actually boasted of raising almost 2 million dollars for Hamas. And his replacement, Qatanani, actually was a member of Hamas. An ordinary politician might have been forgiven for not knowing this, but Christie was the US Attorney for New Jersey. It’s absolutely impossible that he would not have known the background of the Islamic Center of Passaic County. Yet Christie attended a Ramadan dinner, in the same place where terrorists had fundraised, and kissed Qatanani on the cheek.

Now Christie has nominated Sohail Mohammed, Qatanan’s former lawyer, to a Superior Court judgeship. Sohail Mohammed is a board member of the American Muslim Union, an organization that has interlocking leadership with groups that have fundraised for Hamas and hosted a Hamas speaker. The American Muslim Union is closely interlinked with Qatanani’s Islamic Center of Passaic County….

There is much more. Read it all.

Jihad Watch


15
Jan 11

Wasserman Schultz has long ties with Gabrielle Giffords

Updated at 8:55 p.m. with Wasserman Schultz appearance on the PBS Newshour.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, became friends with U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., before each went to Congress.

Their friendship dates to a legisaltive fellowship program about seven years ago. “My husband and I traveled through the country with them on this legislative fellowship and had an opportunity to become close friends then and helped her get elected to Congress, and have been friends ever since,” Wasserman Schultz said.

What makes them click?

“There’s only a handful of young women in Congress, so we both kind of gravitated to each other just by being at a similar point in our lives, and we were both state legislators. You don’t know why people click. We spent some time together at that fellowship and really liked each other. When you enjoy someone’s company and you come from similar experience and places in life, this is a tough job. We spend a lot of hours, a lot of hours working on behalf of the people. A lot of time away from our families, so your colleagues that you become close with become like your family,” she said in an interview this week.

On Wednesday night, Wasserman Schultz was in the hospital room when Giffords opened her eyes.

“My heart was overflowing with love for my friend Gabby today. It was absolutely incredible to witness Gabby open her eyes. I am confident that the power of love, friendship and the prayers of a nation will help bring Gabby back to her family, her friends and her beloved constituents,” she said through a spokesman.

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Wasserman Schultz, above left, with Giffords at a Miami Beach fundraiser in September or October 2010.




Broward Politics


12
Jan 11

Voters Reject Ties Between Political Rhetoric And Arizona Shootings

Another poll tending to prove that, this time at least, the public is smarter than the pundits:

Americans have closely followed news stories about the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the killing of six others in Arizona on Saturday, and most don’t feel politics was the cause of it.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 28% of Adults say the shooting in Arizona was the result of political anger in the country. Fifty-eight percent (58%) say instead that it was a random act of violence by an unstable person. Fourteen percent (14%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Republicans and 56% of adults not affiliated with either of the major political parties view the shooting as a random act of violence. Even Democrats by a 48% to 37% margin agree, although leading members of their party have attributed the shootings to a climate of anger they say has been generated by opponents of President Obama.

In a separate survey taken following the weekend shootings, 45% of Likely U.S. Voters said they are at least somewhat concerned that those opposed to the president’s policies will resort to violence, but 52% do not share that concern.

That’s not going to stop us from having yet another pointless conversation about “rhetoric,” though.




Outside the Beltway


10
Jan 11

“Moderate Muslim” Suhail Khan’s stealth jihadist ties and hair-raising jihadist statements

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Connections to Alamoudi, who is serving 23 years in prison for jihad finance activity, connections to Hamas-linked CAIR, connections to Hamas-linked ISNA — and check out Khan’s own words: “The early Muslims loved death, dying for the sake of almighty Allah, more than the oppressors loved life. This must be the case when we are fighting….What are our oppressors going to do with a people like us? We are prepared to give our lives for the cause of Islam.”

You gonna strap on a suicide vest, there, Suhail?

This is a man who has exerted an extraordinarily negative influence upon conservatives, selling them a bill of goods about the Religion of Peace and about himself, and aiding the execrable Grover Norquist in opening the corridors of power to Islamic supremacists. He was also the relentlessly biased “moderator” of what amounted to a two-against-one debate I had at CPAC 2007 with Dinesh D’Souza — they still ended up losing, not because I’m a great debater but because the facts weren’t on their side. Yet though he was willing to tip that playing field with deceit and detours, he won’t debate me one-on-one, and has ducked repeated invitations to do so.

What are you afraid of, Suhail? Being unmasked even more than you already have been?

“A GOP ‘moderate Muslim’ — or not,” by Paul Sperry in the New York Post, January 10:

Suhail Khan, a major Republican supporter of the Ground Zero mosque, has been lobbying GOP leaders on the Hill to back off their opposition. He’s got their ear, mainly because he portrays himself as a moderate, patriotic Muslim. Yet newly surfaced videos contradict that.

Khan, a Bush administration vet who sits on the board of the American Conservative Union, assures skeptics that “Park 51 community center” imam Feisal Rauf is a “moderate.” Fears over the mosque are overblown, he insists, fomented by “anti-Muslim bigotry.” In a recent letter to fellow Republicans, he warned the party was “alienating millions of Arab-American and Muslim-American voters.”

But Khan’s assurances ring hollow against his own connections to radicals. While he strenuously denies such ties, evidence has emerged — including exclusive video footage — that exposes Khan comfortably in the company of known Islamic extremists. Consider:

* In June 2001, Khan personally accepted an award from the now-notorious Abdurahman Alamoudi, then head of the American Muslim Council.

* “We have with us a dear brother,” Alamoudi said as he prepared to honor Khan with a plaque at the group’s annual conference. “I’m really proud to be with Suhail Khan. Some of you saw him today in the White House, but inshallah [Allah willing], you will see him in better places in the White House, inshallah.”

Khan thanked his patron, saying “Abdurahman Alamoudi has been very supportive of me. . . . I hope, inshallah, we can keep working together.”

Just days earlier, Sen. Arlen Specter of the Judiciary Committee had cited a New York Post report documenting how Alamoudi had supported terrorists and “declared an interest in destroying America.” By 2003, Alamoudi had been busted for plotting a terrorist attack; the top al Qaeda fundraiser is now serving 23 years in federal prison.

* In September 2001, four days before the 9/11 attacks, Khan spoke at the Islamic Society of North America’s convention. Introducing him was Jamal Barzinji, whose offices and home were raided by federal agents after 9/11. “Barzinji is not only closely associated with PIJ [Palestinian Islamic Jihad], but also with Hamas,” according to the search-warrant affidavit. (A lawyer for Barzinji, who has not been charged, says he is the victim of a government “witch hunt.”)

At the event, Khan shared his experiences from “inside” the White House, and praised his late father, Mahboob Khan, for helping found ISNA — which the government now says is a front for the radical Muslim Brotherhood and has raised money for jihad. The founding documents of the Brotherhood’s operation in America (recently seized by the FBI) reveal that it is in this country to “destroy” the Constitution and replace it with Islamic law.

Khan’s father also helped found the Muslim Community Association in Santa Clara, Calif. This Khan family mosque is listed in the Muslim Brotherhood’s own documents as one of “our organizations.” In the 1990s, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, it hosted Ayman al-Zawahiri — now al Qaeda’s No. 2 — as he toured the US raising money.

Khan vowed in his speech to carry on his father’s “legacy.”

* Speaking at ISNA’s 1999 conference, Khan exhorted Muslims to sacrifice their lives to “protect our fellow brothers and sisters” in “Palestine” and Iraq and those held in the US as terrorist suspects.

“The early Muslims loved death, dying for the sake of almighty Allah, more than the oppressors loved life,” said an impassioned Khan, who wiped away tears throughout his speech. “This must be the case when we are fighting.”

He added: “What are our oppressors going to do with a people like us? We are prepared to give our lives for the cause of Islam.”

* More recently, in March 2008, Khan led a private Council on American-Islamic Relations workshop with Jihad Saleh Williams of the Congressional Muslim Staff Association on how to “jump-start” a career on the Hill….

Jihad Watch


9
Jan 11

Dem Leader Clyburn Ties AZ Shooting To Sharron Angle Statement

Citing no evidence that the Arizona shooter had ever heard of Sharron Angle of Nevada or her remarks about Second Amdendment remedies, a top Dem leader has nevertheless tied the shootings to Angle's statement.

Rep. James Clyburn, third in the House Dem leadership, made his allegation on Fox News Sunday today.  He began with a general statment, then made a specific accusation.

JAMES CLYBURN: I think that what is happened here is that the vitriol has gotten so elevated until people feel emboldened by this. And people who are a little less than stable, and people aren't thinking for themselves are so easily influenced, they go out and do things that all of us pay a great price for.

Brett Baier, subbing for Chris Wallace, then read to Clyburn a statement from Tea Party leader Judson Phillips predicting that the left would blame the shootings on the Tea Party movement.  That didn't deter Clyburn, who proceeded to tie the shootings to Sharron Angle.

View video after the jump.

read more

NewsBusters.org – Exposing Liberal Media Bias


9
Jan 11

Miami Herald misleads readers about ISNA’s ties to Hamas

In this fulsome puff-piece about the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Miami Herald pseudo-journalistic propagandist Jaweed Kaleem, whose inveterate prejudices have shown through in his “reporting” before, tries to mislead his unlucky readers into thinking that ISNA’s links to the jihad terror group Hamas are just a fabrication of Americans Against Hate, rather than something that has been officially confirmed by a U.S. District Court Judge and federal prosecutors. ISNA has even admitted ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, contrary to Kaleem’s claim here.

Did Jaweed Kaleem really not trouble himself to find out any of that? Or does he just hope that you don’t know it? And are journalistic standards so far gone that he can keep his job at the Miami Herald despite consistently turning in such shoddy, misleading, inaccurate and tendentious work?

Apparently so.

“ISNA conference draws hundreds of Muslims,” by Jaweed Kaleem for the Miami Herald, January 8:

As a sophomore at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Feras Ahmed doesn’t get many opportunities to interact with other Muslims outside his family and a close circle of friends.

So when he heard that one of the largest Muslim organizations in the country was convening hundreds of Muslims from the eastern seaboard in South Florida this weekend, Ahmed joined his brother, mother, uncle and two cousins on a road trip to Fort Lauderdale.

“I’m here to try to get a sense of community, to get involved in what’s going on with Muslims in America,” the 20-year-old said. […]

Four months after a Gainesville pastor’s threats to set off a bonfire of Qurans drew international attention to Florida, the Islamic Society of North America is holding a regional conference in South Florida for the first time, aiming to strengthen community ties and promote civic engagement among Muslims.

The organization, which draws 40,000 Muslims to its annual national convention in Chicago, is making a timely bet on South Florida, which has about 70,000 Muslim residents.

“There has been a lot of misunderstanding of Islam. We have got to get out there and show who we are,” said Imam Mohamed Magid, the organization’s president and a well-known figure in Islamic circles. […]

Yes, there has been a lot of misunderstanding of Islam. Unfortunately for Magid, Muslims who misunderstand his peaceful, tolerant religion are committing acts of oppression and violence in its name virtually on a daily basis. Yet of course he is referring not to them, but to those non-Muslims who dare to report about their activities. He hopes not to convince violent and supremacist Muslims to live in peace with Infidels as equals on an indefinite basis without trying to impose Sharia upon them; instead, he hopes to convince Infidels to disregard the evidence of their eyes and ignore or misdiagnose Islamic jihad attacks and plots even as they increase in number around the world.

In a community where mosques and Muslim organizations are often divided along ethnic or geographical lines, the conference was notable for drawing a broad cross-section including Sunni and Shia Muslims and groups such as the Council on American Islamic Relations and Islamic Circle of North America. […]

A few hours later, Americans Against Hate held a protest outside the convention center. The small Broward organization accused ISNA of having ties to terrorists and of supporting Hamas, a U.S. State Department-designated terrorist group.

ISNA officials have denied such allegations, and the organization has formally denounced terrorism….

Jihad Watch


24
Dec 10

Senate Confirms U.S. Marshals Director With Private Prison Ties

The Senate this week confirmed President Barack Obama’s nominee, Stacia A. Hylton, to head the U.S. Marshals Service. Hylton has come under fire from human rights groups who are concerned about her ties to a private prison company.

Critics said that Hylton, was too cozy with private prison companies that work with the U.S. Marshals Service in part because she worked as a consultant for the GEO Group, the second largest private prison company in the U.S. But Hylton defended her work during her hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, stating that she followed all ethics requirements and regulations before she left federal service in early 2010.

“I welcome last night’s confirmation by the Senate of Stacia A. Hylton as the 10th director of the U.S. Marshals Service,” current Director John Clark said in a statement this week. He added, “As I retire from federal service on Jan. 1, 2011, I am confident that under Stacia’s leadership the U.S. Marshals Service will continue to carry out its varied missions – from apprehending fugitives, housing and transporting prisoners, protecting witnesses and federal judges and managing and selling seized assets – with professionalism and excellence.”

Clark had announced his resignation earlier this month in a letter obtained by TPM, stating that he had accepted a position in the private sector and would step down on Jan. 1 unless his replacement was confirmed before that point.

“I am pleased that Stacia Hylton will return to the U.S. Marshals Service to build upon 29 years of distinguished service at the department,” Attorney General Eric Holder said.

Hylton was nominated by Obama back in September and was endorsed by the Senate Judiciary Committee via voice vote on Dec. 1.







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