Today Junaid Hussain made a threat on Twitter. A member of the Islamic State, he goes by the nom de guerre Abu Hussain al-Britani. Hussain is a British citizen, a twenty-year-old hacker from Birmingham. Although the US is certainly going to take any threat from the Islamic State seriously, Hussain promised that the Freedom of…
The REAL paid trolls
June 2, 2015
Adrian Chen has written a stunning piece on Russian social media trolls. Titled “The Agency,” the article is a virtuoso example of investigative journalism. Chen can rest on his laurels forever, as far as I’m concerned. “The Agency” is the gold standard of how to expose wrongdoing. It’s a very long article, but here’s an…
If so, where’s the morality?
May 31, 2015
My sources tell me that the Israeli Military Advocate General (MAG) Corps has reached a decision on the Gaza beach incident of July 16, 2014. That ruling—whether or not members of the IDF are criminally culpable in the deaths of Ismail, Mohammed, Ahed, and Zakaria Bakr—will be announced shortly. I don’t know what the MAG…
The desperate denial of the doomed
May 30, 2015
Since 2003 the world has known about the inconceivable brutality of the organization that now calls itself the Islamic State. It was originally Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (Organization of Monotheism and Jihad), the group that wrote the script for jihadist beheading videos. And yet to this day, soldiers and civilians surrender to the Islamic State after…
About these Mohammed cartoon contests…
May 29, 2015
Today a protest called “Freedom of Speech Rally Round II” is being held in Phoenix, Arizona, as I write this post. The protest is taking place in front of the Islamic Community Center. This is where two jihadists worshiped before they were killed by police on May 3, 2015, as they attacked the Muhammad Art…
I love war!
May 27, 2015
Today was a nadir in my ongoing interaction with people who are so stupid that they shouldn’t be allowed outside their houses. One way you can tell that someone knows he or she is wrong is when they frame your disagreement as illegitimate. Because I don’t think that Israel should unilaterally disarm, that means I…
If a Shi’ite cleric ruled the world
May 26, 2015
In about 2008, I saw an interview on YouTube with an Iraqi Shi’ite cleric who was asked if he wanted alcohol and nightclubs banned. “No,” he said. “If all your temptations are removed, then you can’t call yourself a moral person. You must have the opportunity to sin but refuse those opportunities. That’s the definition…
Today I remember Captain Ben Salomon
May 25, 2015
This is Memorial Day. Today we remember our fallen warriors. I’d like to introduce to you Captain Benjamin Lewis Salomon, a dentist with the 105th Infantry Regiment. He’s one of only three dentists and twenty-seven Jews to have been awarded the Medal of Honor. Salomon was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on September 1, 1914. He…
Words are worse than killing
May 23, 2015
Today I had an utterly fruitless conversation. It was a giant waste of time, but I didn’t realize it until I went out on my walk. I do some of my best thinking while walking. It struck me again that for many people, words are worse than killing. What happened was that someone posted a…