Muslim Terrorist Attacks on Christians: A Global Comparison

Tweet

Dogo Nahawa Massacre, Nigeria, 2010: Over 500 Christians--mostly women and children--are hacked to death by Muslim attackers screaming "Allah Akbar!"

The always useful Religion of Peace website has compiled a running list of Muslim terrorist attacks on Christians since 9/11. As of the end of March it lists 1,242 attacks in 51 countries and territories, totaling 9,161 deaths and 12,003 injuries. It's a morbid subject, obviously, but it's also important. I believe the authors try to stick to a consistent and fair methodology. Here are some notes on it:

1. Tens of thousands of 21st century Christians have been martyred for many reasons and by numerous hostile groups--including members of various non-Christian religions and anti-Christian ideologies--but only attacks by Muslims are counted.
2. Only attacks on Christians where they were almost certainly singled out and targeted as Christians are counted. Thus, few of the most well-known Muslim terrorist attacks are counted--since the victims of those attacks were for the most part targeted indiscriminately.
3. The list includes some personal actions--a Muslim father murdering his daughter because she converted to Christianity--religiously motivated attacks by lone or unaffiliated attackers, mob actions, premeditated attacks by recognized terrorist groups and war crimes by quasi-military units.
4. Due to reporting and other considerations it no doubt leaves out many other occurrences, ranging from more personal attacks to quasi-military actions.
5. The list does not include attacks or human rights violations by governments.
6. 87% of the attacks involved at least one fatality and 48% involved at least two fatalities.
7. For the most part, each attack was labeled by country, though there are a few exceptions--attacks in the Muslim areas of the Russian Federation are broken out by territory and there are a few non-national territories included, such as Kosovo and the Palestinian Authority.
8. There are no links on the site's list but each attack is easily verifiable due to the inclusion of a date and a relatively unique description of the event.

We put together a summary of the data, based on recorded casualties, ranking the results by % of total casualties per country, and by % of total casualties by country controlling for population:

Total Casualties by Number and % of Total:

Nigeria 11,377 54%
Egypt 1,601 8%
Iraq 1,541 7%
Pakistan 1,223 6%
Syria 1,220 6%
Indonesia 1,032 5%
Philippines 934 4%
Lebanon 346 2%
Sudan 311 1%
Kenya 305 1%
Bangladesh 251 1%
Central African Republic 226 1%
Somalia 120 1%
Ethiopia 109 1%
Other 568 3%

% of Total Casualties by Country, Controlling for Population:

Lebanon 19%
Nigeria 16%
Syria 12%
Central African Republic 11%
Iraq 11%
Egypt 4%
Philippines 2%
Somalia 2%
Kenya 2%
Sudan 2%
Libya 2%
Pakistan 1%
Israel 1%
Kosovo 1%
Liberia 1%
Indonesia 1%
Palestinian Authority 1%
Macedonia 1%
Saudi Arabia 1%

Tentative Conclusions:

1. Much of this is not a surprise. That Nigeria tops the list, accounting for over half of the total casualties, is not unexpected.
2. However, it might be a surprise that, controlling for population, Lebanon is even more dangerous.
3. Virtually all of the casualties are in the Middle East, Africa and South and South East Asia--areas that to one extent or another are not fully covered by Western media.
4. Population is total population, not total Christian population. Thus, for example, Pakistan is almost certainly a more dangerous place for Christians than the numbers might indicate.
5. All attacks since 9/11 are given equal weight. I suspect that some areas--Syria and Iraq--would appear much more dangerous if only recent results were counted.

The number of Christians killed and injured on this list is horrific, and as a Catholic I have no doubt that many of the dead were and will be recognized as martyrs. But it is notable and perhaps odd that virtually none of the Christians killed were public personalities. For example, I believe the list includes only one bishop and very few well-known priests, ministers or Christian laymen. (One exception might be the Orthodox priest Daniel Sysoev, murdered in 2009, who became locally famous in Russia for evangelizing within the Moscow Muslim community.)

By contrast, there have been numerous well-known non-Christians and atheists murdered, including the Bangladeshi bloggers cited in the previous post, the Charlie Hebdo journalists, and the Dutch anti-Islam figures Pym Fortune and Theo van Gogh. And of course there are a number of others, such as Salmon Rushdie, who have lived for many years under the threat of death.

Why this is the case is a question I hope to answer in another post. It almost certainly reflects well on the bravery of some contemporary atheists. And by the same token probably reflects badly on the current state of organized Christianity and the Catholic Church, especially in Western countries.

If atheists, such as Oyasiqur Rahman are willing to sacrifice their lives to tell the truth about a violent, tyrannical and soul destroying religion, where are, say, the Catholic priests and bishops? And where is the Pope, or is he too busy bragging about riding in a used car?

Third Atheist Blogger Hacked to Death by Muslim Assassins

Tweet

Oyasiqur Rahman

Dhaka Bangladesh, 30 March 2015. Anti-Islam blogger Oyasiqur Rahman, 27, was attacked and killed by three-cleaver wielding men in broad daylight on a public street. He had been on his way to work and was just fifty feet from his home.

"Robbers are killing a man! Save Him!"

Bystanders raised the alarm and a number of people pursued the men, catching and holding two of them after a half-mile chase. News sources have described the quick-acting Samaritans as "hermaphrodites" or "transgendered persons" whose behavior contrasted with that of "locals" who were reluctant to get involved.   

The attackers immediately confessed to murdering Oyasiqur because of his anti-Islam views. They had been given their "assignment" the previous day by another man.

This is the third fatal machete or "cleaver" attack on atheist anti-Islam bloggers in the capital of Bangladesh. Ahmed Rajib Haider was killed in February, 2013 and just last month, visiting Bangladeshi-American writer Avijit Roy was killed after leaving a book conference. His wife Rafida Bonya Ahmedwere was also injured in the attack.

According to some reports the faces of Haider and Oyasiqur were so mangled as to be unrecognizable. 

"#I am Avijit"

After the murder of Roy, Oyasiqur changed his Facebook avatar to include the above on a plain background, adding on his profile,

"#WordsCannotBeKilled".

From The Daily Star (Dhaka) and the Dhaka Tribune.

Kerry: Nuke Deal Possible "If Allah Wills It"

Tweet

"I assure you, Mr. Ambassador. All of our chocolates are completely halal."

According to a reporter covering the nuclear talks between the United States and Iran in Lausanne, Switzerland, when asked if a deal was still possible, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry responded "Inshallah" (Arabic for "if Allah wills it").

Laura Rozen of Al-Monitor tweeted these yesterday afternoon:

Later she retweeted this from another journalist:

The story ran on the Drudge Report, by way of Gateway Pundit via BizPac Review.

One thing many missed (though not Bare Naked Islam):

They don't speak Arabic in Iran.

Gay Supporters of Le Pen: The Very Idea

Tweet

Dreaming of his next glass of Chablis

This article from AFP News Service on Yahoo News is a set-piece in reporting (I assume) actual facts while subjecting them to an "angle" that is so extreme as to resemble parody. Mahound's Paradise has helpfully annotated it for you. No endorsement of gay sex, straight sex, good sex, bad sex, Catholic sex, Muslim sex, atheist sex, or sex in general is made or implied. Not that there's anything wrong with it.

What rising gay support means for France's far-right National Front 

By Bruce Crumley and Eric Randolph, 28 March, 2015 

Beauvais (France) (AFP) - Sebastien Chenu, a former gay activist, does not seem a typical member of France's far-right National Front (FN), a party accused of deeply reactionary views with a history of homophobia. 

Chenu was the founder of GayLib. Perhaps half of all senior members promoted by Marie Le Pen in the "homophobic" National Front are homosexuals. That's a fascinating and, in it's way, sort of blockbuster fact. But since it spoils the narrative of this story, it is ignored.

"The National Front is the only party whose leader is a woman and its deputy leader is gay," he points out over a glass of Chablis in Beauvais, the northern town where he is standing as a candidate in local elections this week. 

Well, at least that cuts down on the usual mistress support payments. Also, note, homosexuals drink Chablis.

Despite opposing same-sex marriage and touting traditional family values, Chenu says the FN under leader Marine Le Pen is actually more open to minorities than mainstream parties. 

"Marine Le Pen represents a sort of absolute freedom in a political world that is very policed, where everyone resembles each other. She has come in and shaken things up," he says. 

I suspect what Chenu is saying is absolutely true. Though, of course, it depends what is meant by minorities. The mainstream European political parties are as dedicated and focused as their 1930's Fascist predecessors in limiting access to only approved people or ideas. That they put forward a facade of diversity makes it all the more insidious.

But it is not long into talking with Chenu that the limits of that freedom become apparent. 

Cue sinister music.

Asked about Muslims and Roma migrants, Chenu quickly reverts to common FN tropes. 

Roma "poison the daily life of Parisians"; immigrants "reproduce cultures that destabilize areas of towns... It's not for us to integrate them, it's for them to assimilate themselves," he says.

It's for them to assimilate themselves. The horror. Does he actually mean the government has no obligation to provide Gypsies job training in pickpocketing techniques?

Gay support for the FN is rising: a recent Ifop poll showed 26 percent of homosexuals in Paris supported the party, compared with 16 percent of heterosexuals. 

Whoa! That sentence deserves an award for something. Gay support for this "homophobic" party is rising? Rising? The facts show that Le Pen has almost twice as much support (in Paris at least) among gays as among non-gays. On one reading that would almost make it the sort of default party for gay voters. Rising?

The presence of several gays in Le Pen's entourage, including deputy leader Florian Philippot, marks a sharp change from the days of her father and predecessor, Jean-Marie, who was known for phrases like: "homosexuality... constitutes a biological and social anomaly. 

Yeah. But Jean-Marie Le Pen used to get together with J. Edgar Hoover and dress up in women's clothing.

Okay. That was a joke.

Also, note how the female Le Pen and her gay supporters, travel in "entourages".

But that has less to do with a more open attitude to minorities in the FN than the emergence of more racist attitudes among parts of the gay community, says author Didier Lestrade, who has written a book on the subject. 

"The LGBT community was always rooted in diversity, but recently racism has come out in the open and we see more and more LGBT people seduced by the FN," he says. 

Politically correct two-step: The National Front is homophobic and anti-gay. But then why do gays support it at a rate twice as high as non-gays? Oh, that's easy (said without missing a step), it's because gays have recently been "seduced" by racism. No actual facts may ever spoil the narrative. Calling the Karl Popper police.

Lestrade blames fear-mongering among parts of the gay community, particularly towards Muslims for their perceived homophobia. 

Perceived?

But he agrees with Chenu that a closeted political establishment has pushed homosexuals towards fringe parties. 

"The paradoxical situation is that the National Front is one of the few places where homosexuality is not an obstacle." 

And as one gay activist, waiting to heckle Le Pen at a recent campaign rally, told AFP: "LGBT have diverse political opinions. They can be just as stupid as anyone else." 

I don't know. I think they seem pretty hip to things in France. It's amazing how "we'll throw you off a building, you pansy Kaffir" focuses your mind.

Two parties in one 

The shift in attitude towards gays is one part of the "de-diabolisation" (detoxification) campaign launched by Marine Le Pen since she took over the party in 2011, seeking to make the party a more palatable alternative to the discredited mainstream. 

It helped lead the FN to first place in last year's European elections and a quarter of the votes in the first round of last week's local polls. 

But the cautious marketing has left voters uncertain about what exactly would happen if Le Pen went all the way to the presidential palace in 2017. 

Part of the confusion stems from the fact the FN is now two parties in one, says political scientist Thomas Guenole. 

Marine Le Pen represents a faction that focuses on economic and political issues, such as pulling out of the euro. 

But the other faction still exists -- an old guard of "xenophobes, racists, anti-Semites and misogynists," says Guenole.

But, but, I thought it was the "new guard" of Chablis drinking gays that was racist?

They are held together by agreement on the fundamentals: slashing immigration and getting tough on crime by building more prisons and reimposing capital punishment. 

"It's not a neo-Nazi party, but it is a nationalist, sovereigntist, protectionist and anti-system party that would reclaim all authority and power for the central French state, and defend the interests and citizens it designates as truly French," says Guenole. 

Serious note: whatever you think of the French, they have always had a history of valuing "Frenchness" but making it more of an ideological than a racial category.

"Don't make waves" 

As for areas it already controls, the FN has been careful "not to make waves," says Guenole.

"(FN) mayors make sure walls are painted, sidewalks paved, flowers bloom in public gardens and spots are available in day care centres." 

The fiends.

That has been slightly undermined by one FN-linked mayor, Robert Menard, who has done things like ban spitting and the hanging of clothes to dry from windows -- considered by some to be African-Arab habits -- as well as equipping local police with guns. 

The fiend.

But some say the FN will never get beyond these kind of symbolic gestures. 

"Cutting immigration, restricting aid to only French people, stripping naturalised people of citizenship and deporting people they don't want -- it's hard to imagine how they could push such laws through," Nonna Mayer, a specialist on far-right movements, said. 

"The FN is nowhere near to taking national power. Yes, she's had recent successes... (but) it's mad to imagine Marine Le Pen in the Elysee." 

Hold on to your seatbelt, Nonna. You're in for a little paradigm shift.

Mark Levin: Obama is the Greatest Threat to Israeli Jews Since the 1930's.

Tweet

"I want ten cartons of Noblesse Virginias delivered by midnight tonight or I declassify the nuke information."

From The Mark Levin Show, for Wednesday, March 26 (and as posted on Bare Naked Islam, a few hours ago):

(The video screenshot is misleading. It's not a convention speech--just part of the monologue from the show.)

Here's the transcript:

I've got something on the tip of my tongue that I believe to be absolutely accurate and I'm really wondering whether to say it or not. 

I'm going to say it. 

Barack Obama as a result of this [declassifying information about Israel's nuclear program] and the other things he's doing, including arming up the Islamo-Nazis in Tehran, is the greatest threat the Jews face, not in this country, but in Israel, since the 1930's. 

Do you agree with me, Mr. Producer? 

He's the greatest threat they face since the 1930's. And I say that because he is doing more now to degrade Israel's military and defense posture, it's intelligence information... He's doing more now to arm Israel's enemy than anybody. 

The Germans are resisting what he's doing. The French are resisting what he's doing. The Israeli's are resisting what's he's doing. The Arab countries are resisting what he's doing. 

He is the greatest threat that that nation faces. And by the way, he's a great threat to our nation to, as far as I'm concerned. But I'll leave that for another day, and every day. 

Let me continue. Oh, this will be the headline, what I just said. I don't care. I don't say it for it to be a headline. I say it to communicate with you, my beloved audience, the truth, certainly as I see it. 

But I think it's true. Because a nuked up Iran, in my view, will attack Israel. And in fact if they can get them on their ICBM's their going to attack our West Coast.

Holiday in the Caliphate

Tweet

Allah Über Alles

After Jello Biafra from an original idea by Brian Renninger

So, you been to school
For a year or two
And you know you've seen it all
On Mommy's tab
Thinkin' you're real fab
Downtown your kind don't crawl

Play ethnicky rap
To parade your snap
On your three grand iMac Pro
Bragging that you feel
How the homeless are so real
And the barrios have soul

It's time to taste what you most fear
Axe Spray will not help you here
Brace yourself, my dear:

It's a holiday in the Caliphate
It's tough, dude, but it's life
It's a holiday in the Caliphate
Don't forget to pack a wife

You're a Cat in the Hat
You scurry like a rat
You want everyone to be like you
Write irony
On your Twitter feed
And post a photo of your new tattoo

Well, you'll be wearing
An orange suit
I hear they're all the rage
Make videos
To say your last hellos
Then you're burned alive in a cage

Now you can go where people submit
Now you can go where they blow up sh*t
What you need, a bit

Is a holiday in the Caliphate
Where women dress in black
A holiday in the Caliphate
Where you'll convert or crack

Islam, Islam, Islam Islam (etc.)

And it's a holiday in the Caliphate
Where to Allah you will kneel
A holiday in the Caliphate
Where the homeless are so real

ISIS Fighters are the New International Brigadistas

Tweet

Oh darn. She had such a bright future in England.

From 1936 to 1939, during the Spanish Civil War, 2,000-4,000 Britons went to fight for the Republicans--the anti-Franco forces that eventually lost. The standard narrative is that these were the good guys. George Orwell, Stephen Spender and all that. The standard narrative is wrong.

Read Homage to Catalonia, especially the first section. Orwell, who would become famous for describing a totalitarian Hell in his 1984 a few years later, described a totalitarian Hell in Barcelona. But here he was in favor of it:

Practically every building of any size had been seized by the workers and was draped with red flags or with the red and black flag of the Anarchists; every wall was scrawled with the hammer and sickle and with the initials of the revolutionary parties; almost every church had been gutted and its images burnt. Churches here and there were being systematically demolished by gangs of workmen. Every shop and café had an inscription saying that it had been collectivized; even the bootblacks had been collectivized and their boxes painted red and black. Waiters and shop-walkers looked you in the face and treated you as an equal. Servile and even ceremonial forms of speech had temporarily disappeared. Nobody said 'Señor' or 'Don' or even 'Usted'; everyone called everyone else 'Comrade' and 'Thou', and said 'Salud!' instead of 'Buenos días'. Tipping was forbidden by law since the time of Primo de Rivera; almost my first experience was receiving a lecture from a hotel manager for trying to tip a lift-boy. There were no private motor-cars, they had all been commandeered, and all the trams and taxis and much of the other transport were painted red and black. The revolutionary posters were everywhere, flaming from the walls in clean reds and blues that made the few remaining advertisements look like daubs of mud. Down the Ramblas, the wide central artery of the town where crowds of people streamed constantly to and fro, the loudspeakers were bellowing revolutionary songs all day and far into the night. And it was the aspect of the crowds that was the queerest thing of all. In outward appearance it was a town in which the wealthy classes had practically ceased to exist. Except for a small number of women and foreigners there were no 'well-dressed' people at all. Practically everyone wore rough working-class clothes, or blue overalls, or some variant of the militia uniform. All this was queer and moving. There was much in it that I did not understand, in some ways I did not even like it, but I recognized it immediately as a state of affairs worth fighting for. Also I believed that things were as they appeared, that this was really a workers' State and that the entire bourgeoisie had either fled, been killed, or voluntarily come over to the workers' side; I did not realize that great numbers of well-to-do bourgeois were simply lying low and disguising themselves as proletarians for the time being.

Again, remember, this was written by someone on their side.

Change "workers" to "Muslims", the hammer and sickle to the crescent and star, and you will have something a bit like Raqqa, the capital of the new ISIS "Caliphate":

"Inside the city, the signs of destruction are obvious on some government buildings and homes,"...FSA brigades and civil society activists tried to change street names in Raqqa. Tal Abyad Street, the city's most popular, was renamed after martyr Ali al-Babinsi. However, people keep using the old name. In any case, very few people know its official name in city records, which is al-Qunaytirah Road. Martyr Basel al-Assad Street was turned into Colonel Hussein Harmoush Street and al-Jalaa or "Clock" Roundabout became Freedom Square. "Mr. President Square" is now Martyrs’ Square, but people on both sides call it after the nearby fire station. Civil society activists had also painted some of the city's statues with the colors of the "revolutionary flag." However, ISIS removed the "flag of infidels" and raised its banners everywhere...Alaa Jubran, a resident of Raqqa who was there on a recent visit, told Al-Akhbar, "Street vendors do not occupy the city's sidewalks anymore. ISIS established a popular market in the city center. It was equipped to include the vendors and traveling salesmen, banning them from using the streets." ISIS transferred the busy Friday market next to Raqqa's old wall, a historical site, and moved moved market day to Thursday so it would not distract people from attending Friday prayers in the mosque. It also created a consumer protection office and imposed monthly payments on commercial establishments, in return for sanitation, electricity, water, and phone services. At a later stage, this will be extended to civilians to ensure the continuity of services. Two signs in particular are hanging in shop windows. "Sisters, please do not remove the niqab inside the shop," said one. The other announced that "work stops 10 minutes before prayers." Prayer rooms were established in public venues and streets become almost empty before prayer times, save for ISIS’ patrols...The Islamist Traffic Police is on every street and market, wearing the same uniform, conducting traffic, and issuing tickets. Inside official buildings and facilities, the staff is committed to serving the citizens. Emergency vehicles of the water and electricity departments are rushing to fix problems all the time. On the other hand, the recently created Islamic Services Authority supervises state institutions. The Accounts Bureau monitors the markets, sales operations, applying sharia, and holding violators accountable. The official weekend is now on Thursday and Friday. 

The Spanish Civil War featured the highest proportion of Catholic priests, brothers and nuns murdered or driven into exile of any anti-Catholic eruption in history. And the Republicans didn't just go after the living religious. One of their favorite pastimes was to dig up the bodies of priests and nuns and put them on display in front of Churches. Sometimes they would waltz with the corpses.

See, God has no power over us, we can waltz with corpses.

Charming.

ISIS doesn't dig up corpses (as far as I know). They just smash archeological artifacts.

And kill Christians.

Charming.

One other difference, of course, is that the International Brigadistas fought against God. The ISIS Brigadistas fight to support a false God. What's better? Unfortunately, the results are somewhat similar.

As a number of British news sources have reported, for example, here and here, the number of Britons joining ISIS is on track to match the number joining the Spanish Republicans in the 1930's.

Barcelona, 1936. Raqqa, 2015. It's, you know, so romantic.

Or as someone once said of another totalitarian Hell, "It's tough, kid, but it's life."

"Don't forget to pack a wife."

Why are so many attracted to this sort of thing?

Who Were the Pilots?

Tweet

Could this be another Allah thing?

[BREAKING (8:12 AM EST): "French officials said Thursday it appears that one of the pilots of the crashed Germanwings plane intentionally forced the jet into a descent and refused to open the cockpit door. (8:21 AM EST): "The name of the co-pilot was Andreas Lubitz, Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said." It appears the co-pilot was the one in the cockpit.]

Muslims make up approximately 25% of the world's population.

Proportion of scientific literature published in Muslim countries per year:

1%.

Proportion of books published in Muslim countries per year:

1%.

Proportion of Nobel prizes in the sciences won by Muslims:

2/10 of 1%.

Of the four modern aircraft crashes involving the greatest loss of life and caused by the intentional actions of a suicidal pilot, what proportion of those pilots was Muslim?

75% to 100%.

Well, everybody's good at something.

Here are the crashes:

Royal Air Maroc, 21 August 1994 ATR-42, Captain Younes Khayati, 44 fatalities 

Silk Air Flight 185, 19 December 1997, Captain Tsu Way Ming, 104 fatalities 

Egypt Air Flight 990, 31 October 1999, Co-Pilot Gamil el-Batouty, 217 fatalities 

Malaysian Airlines Flight 470, 8 March 2014, Pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 239 fatalities

Now, the religion of the Captain of the Silk Air Flight, Tsu Way Ming, oddly was never revealed (readers, correct me on this if you have additional information). But Singapore has a substantial Malay population, virtually all of whom are Muslim. An odd twist to the case is that though the contemporary consensus was that the crash was caused by the suicidal actions of the pilot, the Indonesian investigator--the crash had occurred on Indonesian territory--was a strong Muslim and disputed the finding that the crash was caused by the pilot.

If you believe that Islam is a religion of death, then this fits. If you believe otherwise, then this is just a weird coincidence, hyped on by Islamophobes. There should be laws against Islamophobes hyping things. (And there currently are such laws in most Western countries.)

Who were the pilots of Germanwings Airbus A320?

The names of the passengers have been released but not those of the pilots.

There was some funny business at a recent press conference--"That was what he was not supposed to say."

There is breaking news that the black box data indicates that one of the pilots was locked out of the cockpit and was desperately trying to get back in. From the International New York Times:

“The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door and there is no answer,” the investigator said. “And then he hits the door stronger and no answer. There is never an answer.” 

...“You can hear he is trying to smash the door down”... 

...“We don’t know yet the reason why one of the guys went out,” said (an) official, who requested anonymity because the investigation is continuing. “But what is sure is that at the very end of the flight, the other pilot is alone and does not open the door.” 

...“I don’t like it,” said the French official, who cautioned that his initial analysis was based on the very limited information currently available. “To me, it seems very weird: this very long descent at normal speed without any communications, though the weather was absolutely clear”... 

...“So far, we don’t have any evidence that points clearly to a technical explanation,” the official said. “So we have to consider the possibility of deliberate human responsibility.”

Who were the pilots?

ISIS Captures Tatooine

Tweet

Two weeks ago Mahound's Paradise reported that Hamas had entered into a military alliance with Wookiee Planet C. Now comes word from CNN, as reported by the Huffington Post, that ISIS has taken Luke Skywalker's home planet. This blog will continue to monitor developments as they occur.

ISIS Takes Tatooine As Tourists Warned Away From 'Star Wars' Locations In Tunisia 

The Huffington Post | By Ed Mazza 

03/25/2015 1:25 am EDT Updated: 03/25/2015 1:59 am EDT 

"Star Wars" fans are being warned away from several locations in Tunisia linked to the movies due to reported jihadist activity. 

Tataouine, which inspired the name of Luke Skywalker's home planet of Tatooine,has become a way-station for terrorists looking to enter Libya to join ISIS, CNN reported. 

CNN said two arms caches have been found in the area this month, including one that contained rocket-propelled grenade launchers and more than 20,000 rounds of ammunition. 

Although Tataouine wasn't used as a location in any of the "Star Wars" films, it's not far from some of the sites that served as the slave quarters in "Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace," including the home of young Anakin Skywalker and his mother, Shmi, according to StarWars.com. 

The website said the planet Tatooine was originally going to be called Utapau, but was ultimately changed to one resembling that of the Tunisian location. 

"Star Wars" fans often make pilgrimages to Tunisia to visit the filming locations scattered throughout the country. However, recent violence has led to warnings against travel through some regions. 

Last week, terrorists attacked the National Bardo Museum in the nation's capital, Tunis, killing 23 and leaving many others wounded. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, which was carried out by men later identified as Tunisians who had trained in Libya. 

Several countries have issued warnings about traveling in Tunisia as a result. The United States Embassy is urging travelers to avoid the border areas due to "periodic security incidents." Tataouine is 60 miles from the Libyan border. 

The British government has also warned against "all but essential travel" to a large region that includes Tataouine as well as the sites of a number of other "Star Wars" film locations, including Nefta, the location of the exterior of the Lars Family Homestead, where Luke Skywalker was raised. 

In 2012, fans worked to save the crumbling remains of the film location.

Tip from Philip Garlitz.

Bishop Richard Williamson on Pink Floyd

Tweet

Paul Cook of the Pistols: a member of the Fellay faction

No, I'm not a supporter of Bishop Richard Williamson. But I am a Traditionalist Catholic who has a morbid fascination with the extremes of the movement and who, like most of my peers, also has an interest in rock and roll. I thought I would take an hour or so to research a question that had been nagging at me.

The first thing one usually hears about Bishop Williamson is that he is a Holocaust denier. I don't think there's any question that this is an accurate label for Williamson. And his refusal to shut up about it is the main reason he left/was kicked out of SSPX. But there are other little bits of gossip about the man that have always intrigued me. One is that he hates The Sound of Music. Another is that he loves Pink Floyd.

Now Williamson is thought of by most as a loon. I'm not sure that's quite fair to the Bishop or to loons. But there it is. One thing that happens to people in the public eye who are thought of as loons is that most of their comments or opinions are then interpreted in the looniest way possible. So, for example, Spalding the loon is asked what his favorite sport is. He doesn't follow professional sports that much anymore but he answers the question anyway: "I like baseball, but football, not so much." Spalding thus has an obsession with baseball and a hatred of football. And so on.

So, I wanted to know. Where does the Williamson-loves-Pink-Floyd thing come from? Call me curious, or say that I have too much time on my hands. I don't follow professional sports that much anymore.

As far as I can tell, it all comes from one blog post the Bishop wrote here. Googling produces no other results, or at least no other results not traceable back to this post. Please correct me if I've missed something.

Now, at the risk of being branded a Williamsonite, I don't think the piece is so bad. I agree with much of it and disagree with a bit of it, and am apathetic on the rest. Contrary to the narrative it doesn't show Williamson to be a Pink Floyd devotee. It's more anti- than pro- but it's also, dare I say it, fair-minded. It could have been written by any Traditionalist Catholic who isn't afraid to listen to a bit of Floyd and then work it in to his pontifications about this or that.

I'm reprinting the whole thing because I think it's interesting. I hope this doesn't violate any ethical standards. Click to Williamson's site if you want to give it your custom. Or don't if you don't want your boss or husband to see that you're surfing extremist Catholic Traditionalist sites, or whatever.

See, here at Mahound's Paradise, we find and reprint this stuff for you so you can keep your job, and your husband won't think you're a loon.

Dear Friends and Benefactors, 

One gets used to anything, but nevertheless the music of youngsters in modern Western society is the alarm-bell ringing off the wall. In case any readers are comfortably asleep, let them be rudely awoken by a few moments' study of a classic "Rock" album, so that in this month of the Holy Family we can think of what Catholic parents should do. 

The rock album in question, Pink Floyd's The Wall appeared in 1979. It made quite a stir at the time, even achieving a kind of cult status. The Pink Floyd group is still well-known, making concert tours nearly 20 years later, and numbers from The Wall are still played regularly on Rock radio. So The Wall has achieved classic status amongst thirty years' worth of Rock albums. 

What interests us here is the words of the album, which are made available with the Compact Discs. As for the music, it seems to me not wild, although it breaks into a heavy beat at regular intervals. Above all, it serves the words well, which is what one would expect from a "classic" – these musicians have a message, and their music gets it over. As with – from the sublime to the ridiculous – plainchant, polyphony, Wagner or Frank Sinatra, the words inspire the music and the music weds the words. 

That is why, even if it were true that most fans of Pink Floyd (or of Rock in general) listen to the music without caring for the words – I do not believe it is true, but even if it were – still the words are of central importance, because they are what inspired the music that gets to these youngsters. Tell me what music you like, I will tell you who you are. Tell me the words set, I will tell you the music setting. 

Nor may adults excuse themselves from taking seriously the words of, for instance Pink Floyd, on the grounds that these musicians merely make the kind of music that makes lots of money. Of course Rock can make its stars into millionaires, but money is never the ultimate explanation, the question being merely pushed one stage further back -why does this kind of music and not that kind make so much money? Answer, because it is "hitting the spot", it is filling a need. 

Nor may adults dodge the accusation that Rock flings in their face, by saying that skilful managers like Brian Epstein of the Beatles see an opportunity to exploit, and merely create the kind of music to exploit it. For indeed musicians are creators, and all down history they have created new kinds of music. But they do not create in a vacuum. What they create is to a considerable extent shaped by what they sense in their audience. Brian Epstein did not create the Beatles out of whole cloth, but out of the vibrations he was picking up from British youth in the early 1960's, and it is because he read the vibrations correctly that the Beatles achieved such fame and wealth. 

No. If Pink Floyd also achieved fame and wealth, then Western adults, if they care at all for their youth, must pay attention to the message. Surely the message is, precisely, that the adults do not care! "Rock music is one long, unheard, scream for help", readers of this letter were told last June. Let us take a look. We were unable to obtain in time copyright permission to reprint the lyrics of the 27 songs making up The Wall, but here is the message of the first 14 songs, which form like a sequence. (The remaining 13 songs are in similar vein.) 

(1)The artist tells us he has cold eyes which are part of a disguise. He is obviously at war with the world. (2) Sure enough, modern life may look good, but it is as cold and deadly as thin ice. (3) The artist's father disappeared early from his life, leaving only a snapshot behind. (4) The artist's school-teachers were cowardly sadists. (5) His school education was a waste of time (famous lines – "We don't need no education, Teachers, leave the kids alone"). (6) He turns to his mother, who promises to comfort him, but as far as he is concerned, her mothering him means her smothering him. (7) The politicians promised a brave new world, but they lied. There is no blue sky. (8) As fear the activities with which most people seek to fill their empty lives, they are a restless waste of time. (9) The artists seeks refuge with any "cold woman" in the "desert land", but in fact (10) the woman he is with means nothing to him. (11) Yet he longs for his girl-friend, but she is running away because, as he freely admits, he only wants her there in order to be cruel to her. (12, 13) In brief, all people around are nothing but bricks in the meaningless build-up of the wall of modern life which alienates and divides people from one another. Conclusion – (14) – this life is good for nothing but to be departed from, a song which has inspired God knows how many young people to take their own lives ("Good-bye, cruel world"). 

Adults! Wake up! In Western society suicide has become a leading cause of death amongst youngsters – what do you think that means? That we have a wonderful way of life that in all history no civilization on earth has equaled? What is unequaled in all history is so many youngsters singing and dreaming of suicide! Youngsters!! Suicide!! Adults!! Wake up!! They are crying out!! You have got something desperately wrong!! 

Understand me rightly. I am not saying that the musicians who make up the group Pink Floyd are saints, nor that youngsters who revel in Pink Floyd are faultless while all the fault is on the side of the adults. As a colleague commented, the revolt behind these songs has something satanic about it, for instance when it sees no more in mothering than with smothering (6). No doubt, if these musicians and youngsters think they are only being sinned against and not sinning, they are under a youthful illusion. 

But, again, for oldsters to dismiss their revolt as a mere passing stage which they need to grow into and grow out of as part of modern life, is a serious error which the oldsters will pay for, for instance by being euthanized. The revolt against everybody and everything that is expressed by Pink Floyd is so against nature and so unhappy (e.g. 11) that one cannot believe such a mass of youngsters as make stars of Pink Floyd would choose it as a way of life if they had the choice. But the Western materialism inspiring this revolt was chosen for them, by generations and generations of adults that went before them, who, as they grew up, settled for the satisfactions of age-old pride and sensuality made increasingly available by that materialism. 

And no doubt it is true that many Pink Floyders in turn will settle for these ever more available satisfactions (say, coach tours of the North Pole in luxury-heated buses). But woe to them if they do! Nature will not be defeated in this rising war against her. She will take a terrible revenge. She is already taking it, in the suicide rate of the young, but worse is to come. The young are right to protest. There is much more involved in Pink Floyd than just juvenile revolt. Thank Heaven the young are protesting! Their protest is a call from our common human nature which we are violating. Our way of life is rotten. There is a precious spark that is extinguished each time a youngster gives up protesting and joins in building The Wall, or, as Augustine would have said it, helps raise the city of Mammon against God. 

Then what do Catholic parents and adults do? First and foremost, render unto God what is God's. Treating God as though He is of no importance is the heart and soul of the problem. Parents, adore God, love God, give the example of practicing the one true religion of the one true God, with all your mind and with all your heart, in the home. Make the presence of God there as natural to souls as oxygen is to the bodies. Pray the family Rosary, with father kneeling in front, or doing whatever he needs to do to be seen leading his family towards God. 

Secondly, parents, concern yourselves with your children. They are your real wealth. God bless you for not having contraceived them or aborted them. But when they are born, your glorious responsibilities are only just starting. Today's world teaches you well how to look after their bodies, but you must take at least as much care of their souls. From the earliest age teach them to pray, teach them to control themselves, to think of Jesus, to make sacrifices, to think of others, to respect and obey you, their parents. They are not in any way your equals. 

Love them, but discipline them. Never discipline without love, but also never love without discipline. Give them always good example. They will watch what you do much more than they will listen to what you say. Give them your time. They are more important than your bank- accounts. One soul, one world, one eternity. Give time especially to adolescents, who are today desperate for adult counsel, guidance, advice. Adults have lost the art of listening to them! That is why they turn to one another and to the Pied Pipers of Rock. And the Grim Reaper reaps a grim harvest! 

Give to your children at all ages instruction. You are their elders. You do know better. Teach them not only their Catholic Faith, but also life. The natural is carrier of the supernatural. No carrier, no carried. Children have to grow up for this world as well as for the next. Teach them a Faith for living and living in the Faith, not some cultish sentimentality which they will toss out the moment they meet the real world. Teach boys hand-skills, teach girls hand-crafts, because "The devil finds work for idle hands". Let children not just eat and go to Mass. Keep their minds and hearts occupied all day with good things, according to their varied talents, so that the Devil will never find a vacuum waiting to be filled by him. 

Lastly, keep television and the computer to a minimum in the home. The problem is not primarily the filth so easily available on each of these machines, serious though that is, and more than enough reason to ban both. The real problem is that machines cannot teach people to be people. Only living souls can form living souls. Better, for a child, a live reading than a dead video, as such. Better, to learn life, a live farmyard than a dead cupboard of Nintendo games. The subject needs a letter of its own. 

And let us men be men, as You meant us to be, let the dear women be women and let children be children, throughout the New Year, and our nature will be in that much better posture to carry Your sanctifying grace. 

Sincerely yours in his Sacred Heart, 

Bishop Richard Williamson

Tomorrow, Bernard Fellay on the Medieval lyricism of Johnny Rotten.

Safe European Home

Tweet

Beslan

Here are the major Muslim and Muslim-related terrorist attacks and murders that have occurred in Europe since 9/11. I suspect what is to come in the next years will make the following look like a picnic.


Hilversum, Netherlands, 6 May 2002. Leading anti-Islam politician Pim Fortuyn is murdered, nine days before the general election. The assassin is a non-Muslim leftist who claims to be acting in the interests of Muslims.

Moscow, 23-26 October, 2002. Siege by Muslim separatists at Moscow theater results in 133 civilians killed and over 700 injured.

Madrid, 11 March, 2004. Simultaneous commuter train bombings by Muslim terrorists kill 191 and injure 1,800.

Beslan, Russia, 1 September 2004. Hostage siege by Muslim separatists ends in 344 deaths, including 186 children.

Amsterdam, 2 November 2004. Anti-Islam filmmaker Theo van Gogh is stabbed to death and nearly beheaded on a public street by a Muslim assassin. Subsequent to the murders of Fortuyn and van Gogh, prominent anti-Islam figures in the Netherlands have lived in hiding and/or under guard. The two most famous-Geert Wilders and Ayaan Hirsi Ali--have been harassed and prosecuted by their own government. Hirsi Ali went into exile in the United States.

London, 7 July, 2005. Muslim suicide bombers kill 53 and injure nearly 700 in four simultaneous attacks.

Moscow, 29 March 2010. Suicide bomb attacks at two Metro stations by Muslim "Black Widows" kill 40 and injure 102.

Moscow, 24 January 2011. A Muslim suicide bomb attack at Moscow's busiest airport kills 37 and injures 173.

Frankfurt, 2 March 2011. Muslim gunman kills 2 and injures 2 in attack on U.S. military personnel.

Oslo and Utoya, Norway, 22 July, 2011. Anti-Islam terrorist Anders Behring Breivik kills 77 and injures 319 in bomb and shooting attacks at two locations. Many of the dead are teenagers.

Toulouse and Montauban, France, 11-22 March, 2012. Muslim gunman kills French soldiers in both cities and then attacks Jewish school, resulting in 7 killed (including 3 children) and 5 injured.

Burgas, Bulgaria, 18 July, 2012. Muslim suicide bomber attacks bus carrying Israeli tourists, killing 7 and injuring 32.

London, 22 May, 2013. Two men, affiliated with the Nigerian Muslim group Boko Haram, one armed with a cleaver, murder off-duty soldier Lee Rigby on a public street.

Volgograd, Russia, 21 October - 30 December, 2013. Three attacks by Muslim suicide bombers kill 40 and injure 121.

Brussels, 24 May, 2014. Muslim gunman murders 4 inside Jewish Museum of Belgium.

Paris, 7-9 January, 2015. Multiple attacks including on the offices of Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish deli kill 20 and injure 22.

Copenhagen, February 14-15, 2015. Attacks at a free-speech conference and at a synagogue kill 2 and injure 5.

De Profundis

Out of the depths I have cried unto Thee, O Lord, Lord, hear my voice.
Let Thine ears be attentive: to the voice of my supplication.
If Thou, O Lord, shalt mark our iniquities: O lord, who can abide it?
For with Thee there is mercy: and by reason of Thy law I have waited on Thee, O Lord.
My soul hath waited on His word: my soul hath hoped in the Lord.
From the morning watch even unto night: let Israel hope in the Lord.
For with the Lord there is mercy: and with Him is plenteous redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel: from all his iniquities.
Eternal rest give to them, O Lord.
And let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.
Amen.