At the National Prayer Breakfast yesterday, Barack Obama warned that we should not “get on our high horse” over the immolation of Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot 1st Lt. Muadh al-Kasasbeh because Christians used to burn people too.
It shocking and reprehensible that two days after Islamic terrorists burn a man alive, the President of the United States sternly lectures the American people about the 800-year-old Inquisition.
There have been over 25,000 Muslim acts of terror since 9-11. There is a cancer in the house of Islam. If you deny this, you deny reality. And if you deny reality, you are all but surrendering to bloodthirsty Islamic terrorists.
Obama’s depraved moral calculus is that of an adolescent who’s been blowing dope and experiencing, y’know, like, deep thoughts.
Those who draw a moral equivalence between ancient Christianity and contemporary Islamists should be shunned by responsible adults.
Decent people whose moral compass is intact will mount a high horse — and stay there.
A few pictures to alleviate the gathering darkness.
“Anne Frank and I were born in the same year, lived in the same country, experienced the same war, except she was locked up and I was on the outside. Reading her diary was like reading my own experiences from her point of view. I was quite destroyed by it… It was in a different corner of Holland, but all the events I experienced were so incredibly accurately described by her—not just what was going on on the outside, but what was going on on the inside of a young girl starting to be a woman… all in a cage. She expressed the claustrophobia, but transcends it through her love of nature, her awareness of humanity and her love—real love—of life.”
– Audrey Hepburn speaks about Anne Frank.
I always love the self appointed “scholars” that seem to infest the government and media. One idea they all seem to have was that Islam always existed almost as if it came with the primordial foundation of the Earth. When confronted with the question what was the dominant religion of the Middle East at the founding of Islam none seem know it was Christianity nor that the well spring of Christianity is Judaism. They cling to pseudo-intellect to prop up power in their self constructed reality. A reality infested with imaginary magic, astrology, and a belief in a strange nothingness dominated self imagined danger. Enough smart guy stuff, good looking kids there Robert.
P.S. Quite a bit of wailing and gnashing of teeth over “American Sniper” in your stomping grounds. Heh.
I’m reading “In the Shadow of the Sword” by Tom Holland, a serious historian who was surprised to get death threats after his book came out. At the moment, I’m at the Sassanid Persian Empire. It’s about the origins of Islam and whether Mohammed existed. Very interesting, especially as there is almost no remaining material from Muslim sources on the 200 years after Mohammed’s death.
Yes, I really like Holland’s books especially about Rome. His take on the 200 year gap is interesting.
There is a great story about Bob Feller in his first season. One of the batters facing him was called out on strikes and turned to the umpire and said, “Ump that one sounded a little high to me.”
The early T-birds were small and compact, a bit like an early Corvette or a Mercedes SL. They are still fat looking to me. Only the Mercedes has kept its shape. I saw an SLS on the freeway the other day and it is gorgeous but I can no longer afford them. $212,000 “and up.’ Fantastic looking car, though. Gull wing.
In the early 70s I was offered a fully restored 300 SL for $19,000. I turned it down and have kicked my self for 40 years.
Lovely pictures, Robert. I especially enjoy any photo of Audrey Hepburn. She was the incarnation of class and elegance, and it’s sad that we’ll never see that again in Hollywood.
Obama warned that we should not “get on our high horse”
Fitting that these words be spoken by a low jackass.
Your ainikel is adorable bli ayin hara. I love that age.
Thanks so much. Have a great Shabbos.
It’s a small point, but the Inquisition was busy burning people (by the thousands) in the late 1500s, so a bit over 500 years ago. It is what led to the Dutch war for independence.
Another observation is that the Inquisition, while clearly the incarnation of evil of its time, was never quite so evil as to practice burning for the sake of creating a public propaganda spectacle. Their reasoning was that it was to save the heretic’s soul. Utter garbage, obviously, but I do think there is a slight difference between evil where evil was intended, and where it was not.
So not only are we dealing with scum who aim to revive medieval barbarism, but in fact they are worse than their predecessors.
Thanks for the correction.
Bibi Netanyahu’s father, Benzion Netanyahu, was a scholar of the Spanish Inquisition. His magnus opus is “Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain.”
As a Jew whose ancestors were burned at the stake by Christians, I have to admit I don’t worry about the Church anymore. I worry about Islam and leftism. I also don’t care about theology, I care about how people act.
Yes indeed. One valuable thing you have taught me about Judaism is its insistence on considering people’s actions, rather than whatever their motivation for those actions may be. Or for that matter their intentions, good or bad, when not translated into actions. That isn’t part of my own background, and it is a very useful approach.
“Reprehensible” is certainly the right word for Obama’s comments, irrespective of the historical problems with Christianity or with any other belief system.
The real point here which cannot be repeated too often is that Obama was not elected as Historian-in-Chief or Philosopher-In-Chief, both nonexistent positions for which he would be singularly unqualified if they did exist. The job for which he campaigned so vigorously and to which we are to believe that he was elected involves guaranteeing the security of the American people from present danger, which is clearly from Islam.
Presuming that you mean the Spanish Inquisition — there were four inquisitions: Medieval, Spanish, Portuguese, and Roman — it lasted 1481-1834. Burning people by the thousands? The total deaths were 3,230, averaging about 9 deaths per year. Of the 44,674 people tried from 1540-1700, only 804 were recorded with the verdict called “Relaxation” that usually resulted in burning at the stake. Only 1% of the 125,000 tried recorded over the 353 years resulted in execution. (It actually ran for 345 years when you discount the three abolishments after 1800.)
Instead, pay more attention to the most likely cause of the Spanish Inquisition: the slaughter of Otranto, Vieste, Lecce, Taranto, & Brindisi by the Turkish fleet led by Gedik Ahmed Pasha between Aug & Nov 1478. More people died in that Islam convert-or-die event than in the Spanish Inquisition.
[See The Irrational Atheist, Vox Day, 2008, pp 214-220.]
As for the Dutch War of Independence, Spanish anti-Protestantism was only one problem. Don’t make it the sole cause.
It’s sad that Ford ruined the Thunderbird by inflating it, like most car makers do with good models. I had a girlfriend who had a 1957 T-bird and it was gorgeous. She wasn’t bad but I loved the car. The 1958 model was a monstrosity. That 1962 was just as bad.
I have a Toyota Highlander that I bought in 2006. I love it but the new Highlander is about 20% bigger, from what I see. I guess it is a design trend that seems to go on. Movies have a similar trend. If something small and spare works, like “The Maltese Falcon,” it has to be pumped up like a balloon for the next use.
I see few modern movies. Russell Crowe has some good ones, especially with Ridley Scott, and American Sniper was terrific. Clint Eastwood learned well from Don Siegel.
She wasn’t bad but I loved the car.
LOL!
It’s sad that Ford ruined the Thunderbird by inflating it
Well, they’ve long since deflated it.
Great! Lovely.
(Although, the modernist paintings… ehh…)
I do love when you go all eclectic on your Friday pictures. These are interesting.
Have a wonderful Shabbos.
Thanks so much.
It’s instructive to watch the progression from Vermeer to McLaughlin in the genre of landscape/seascape paintings.
Indeed, Robert! Vermeer’s painting shows a true humanity in the oil. You can see (and almost feel) the town, the churches, the boats and the water’s edge. McLaughlin, on the other hand, depicts a stark isolationism. Perhaps society has become a reflection of his painting…
As I have gotten older, I have often thought about the guilt Otto Frank must have faced in his life. He struggled to protect his family (and others) as best he could, but he was the only member of his family to survive the ordeal, so he must have felt some sort of a sense of failure.
I must agree with Audrey Hepburn though. When I read Anne’s diary, I was destroyed. We were forced to read the book in about 7-8 grade and I clearly remember thinking “How could people, my people (I’m about 50% German), do these things to other living beings?” My head knows the answer, but my heart still struggles with that.
And finally, Walter “The Big Train” Johnson was an incredible pitcher who usually doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. Ty Cobb wrote:
I love the Vermeer. The modern work does nothing for me.