Late last night, post the President's State of the Union address, Dana Milbank over at the Washington Post, put up the following:
Not since before the 2001 terrorist attacks has there been such a disconnect between the nation’s focus and the condition of the world. As threats multiply in the Middle East and Europe, President Obama delivered on Tuesday night an annual message to Congress that was determinedly domestic. And his inward-looking gaze is shared by lawmakers and the public.
Thousands of foreign fighters have joined with Muslim extremists in Syria and Iraq, and their fanatical cause has inspired sympathizers across the globe: 17 killed by terrorists in Paris; terrorism raids and a shootout in Belgium; a hunt for sleeper cells across Europe; a gunman attacking the Canadian Parliament; an Ohio man arrested after buying guns and ammunition, allegedly with plans to attack the Capitol. Even Australia has raised its terrorist threat level.
And yet, when it comes to countering the terror threat in America, the State of the Union is nonchalant. “We are 15 years into this new century, 15 years that dawned with terror touching our shores,” Obama said at the start of his speech. “It has been, and still is, a hard time for many. But tonight, we turn the page.”
There is, of course, more of Milbank at the link. and if you're not faint of heart, there are pictures of additional heinous and un-Godly events over at Vice News.
I post the Milbank piece because much earlier in the day, I came across this horrifying news put up over on Yahoo News:
The UN on Tuesday decried numerous executions of civilians in Iraq by the Islamic State group, warning that educated women appeared to be especially at risk.
The jihadist group is showing a "monstrous disregard for human life" in the areas it controls in Iraq, the UN human rights office said.The group, which controls large swathes of territory in Iraq and in neighbouring war-ravaged Syria, last week published pictures of the "crucifixions" of two men accused of being bandits, and of a woman being stoned to death, allegedly for adultery.
Numerous other women have also reportedly been executed recently in IS-controlled areas, including Mosul, spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters.
She said "educated, professional women, particularly women who have run as candidates in elections
for public office, seem to be particularly at risk."
"In just the first two weeks of this year, reports indicate that three female lawyers were executed," Shamdasani said.
A number of other groups are also targeted by the jihadists, Shamdasani said, pointing to "the ruthless murder of two men, who were thrown off the top of a building after having been accused of homosexual acts by a so-called court in Mosul."
Minorities are not the only ones suffering, with IS meting out "cruel and inhuman punishments" to anyone accused of violating its "extremist interpretations of Islamic Sharia law, or for suspected disloyalty," she said.
More detail on some of these heinous and un-Godly events over at Vice News but be forewarned, that link is not for the faint of heart.
While Obama turns the page on terror, the terrorists are rewriting the book on what it means to be evil; his head buried in the proverbial sand while the derrières of far too many innocents are increasingly exposed.
I've had the sense for some time now that something big, something ugly, something calamitous is coming. My hope is that it's nothing more than paranoia fed by the ineptness and apathy being shown by this administration and my reaction to the evil the world seems to be ignoring.
Lord help us all if it isn't.
