The Muslim Migrant Attack in St. Louis You Heard Nothing About

St. Louis resident Alicia Clarke says she feels as if she has been “failed by the system” and is now “not feeling safe,” and she has good reason to feel this way. After she was savagely beaten and stabbed by her neighbor, her attacker walked free. The court considered it decisive that he has an IQ of 49. He is also a Muslim migrant, which may explain both the reluctance to prosecute him and the scant and incomplete coverage this incident has received.

St. Louis’ KSDK reported Monday that Clarke went out for a run near her home; when she returned, her cell phone was missing. Tracking it with Find My iPhone to her neighbor’s backyard, she went to get it, and told her neighbor, “I know you did this and I’m calling the police!” At that point the neighbor, whom KSDK describes only as a “6-foot teen,” attacked her.

“He knocked me down, pulling my hair, kicking,” Clarke recounted. When he finally stopped the attack, Clarke called the police. But then he returned: “I am on the phone with St. Louis police dispatch,” she said, “making my way to my backdoor, when he comes back with a weapon. He is on top of me. There was blood everywhere. I was literally fighting for my life at that point.”

The neighbor stabbed Clarke in the head and face with a screwdriver. Finally she was able to get away, and the thug was arrested. But after that, Clarke was assaulted again, this time by the criminal justice system. A juvenile court quickly dismissed the case against her attacker. “The most hurtful thing of all of this, is the dropped charges,” said Clarke. “That was much more hurtful than the physical assault.”

According to KSDK, “a juvenile court official said a staff attorney dropped the case before even going to the judge. The courts weren’t able to comment specifically on this incident, since it involves a juvenile. Clarke said she was told her accused attacker was found incompetent to aid in his own defense because he has an IQ of 49.”

No wonder Clarke feels as if she has been failed by the system.

And it gets worse. Alicia Clarke’s sister, Andrea Clarke Flatley, wrote on Facebook that the attacker gave his sister a broken nose, and that Alicia Clarke now also has “staples in her head and stitches to the puncture wound under her eye” as a result of the attack. Flatley noted that the attacker, whom she named as Hassan, “is a 15 year old refugee from Somalia who lives with his family. He is 6’ and approx 175lbs, much larger than my sister. He has broken into Alicia’s car 3 different times and broken into another neighbor’s house. The police were involved every single time and reported that nothing could be done since he was a minor. Surely this time would be different, though.”

It wasn’t. Because Hassan has an IQ is 49, he was found incompetent to defend himself. The prosecutor in charge of the case, Sakina Ahmad, then formally dismissed the charges. Said Flatley: “We never entered a courtroom, saw a judge, nothing. Hassan was able to go home with a family member. He likely left the building as a free person before we even learned all the above information.”

Flatley added: “The prosecutor sympathized with our frustration and explained that because he is a mentally handicapped, juvenile refugee, every safeguard available is to his benefit and to Alicia’s detriment. She went on to tell us, VERBATIM, that even if Alicia had been KILLED, the outcome would be the same and that this case would be dismissed.”

She noted later, however, that “it only took the kid 4 days to violate the restraining order” and that “SLMPD and SWAT stormed his house and took him back into custody.”

That’s good, but it doesn’t change the fact that  Alicia Clarke was failed not only by law enforcement authorities, but also by the establishment media. The KSDK story contains no hint of the fact that the attacker was a Muslim migrant. It was left to the victim’s sister to reveal that on Facebook. It is clear from KSDK’s refusal to note this detail, which could be important to the case in establishing motive or in other ways, that Muslim migrants are a protected class in America today, at least among the media elites. The establishment media avoids reporting on anything that might reflect poorly upon them.

Was a concern to protect the image of migrants also part of the authorities’ considerations in dismissing the case? That’s what the KSDK reporters should have been asking. Instead, they completely whitewashed that aspect of the story. They seem more interested in fostering complacency regarding mass migration than in anything else, including reporting the news.

SOURCE 





Mainline Churches Decline While American Christianity Grows

With mainline denominational churches in America continuing to decline in size and number, is this a sign that the U.S. population is becoming more secular and less religious? According to recent data from Pew Research, the answer actually appears to be no. Even as mainline churches have declined, nondenominational churches have experienced significant growth. In 1998, the number of nondenominational churches in the U.S. was 54,000; by 2012 the number had increased by 42% to 84,000.

To what should we attribute both the decline in mainline churches and the growth in nondenominational churches? The answer to the first question appears to be in large part related to generational changes. As the expectations and demands of a younger generation of society changes, people’s expectations and demands for churches change as well. Older denominational models that fail to adapt and reach out invariably lose people.

As Wheaton College professor Ed Stetzer observes, “Sometimes churches die, and sometimes they should. A new church, not a reboot of the old, should be started in its place.”

Writer Ericka Andersen argues, “The leaders taking Mr. Stetzer’s advice generally focus on creating churches that cater to specific needs. There is a church exclusively for employees of Disney World. Spanish-language services are more popular than ever. ‘House churches,’ composed of neighbors meeting for informal services — usually in living rooms — are on the rise as well. Popular Christian leaders like Francis Chan, a former megachurch pastor who now advocates house churches, offer free training for this model.”

However, within the changing American church landscape an obvious tension is raised; how much can the form and practice of a church change without the core faith message being compromised? One need look no further than former Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, who declared that his openly homosexual lifestyle was completely compatible with his declared Christian faith. In fact, Buttigieg went so far as to declare that anyone holding to the historic and biblically consistent sexual ethic was at odds with being a “loving Christian.”

So, while it’s true that Christian denominationalism is on the decline and nondenominationalism is on the rise, this may only be viewed as either a positive or a negative development depending on whether this change is leading people to the worship of God in Spirit and Truth. Since humankind is inherently religious by nature, that the American religious and church landscape is changing should come as little surprise. The more important consideration is what these changes reveal about what Americans are seeking to worship. Are more Americans moving toward worshipping a god who comports with their own imaginations and desires or are they responding in genuine faith, seeking to worship God as He has revealed Himself through the Son according to the Scriptures?

SOURCE 





Former equalities watchdog boss Trevor Phillips is SUSPENDED from the British Labour Party over Islamophobia

Antisemitism good; Islamophobia bad?

A former head of the country's equalities watchdog has been suspended from the Labour Party over allegations of Islamophobia.

Trevor Phillips, an anti-racism campaigner who previously chaired the Equality and Human Rights Commission, faces an investigation and could be expelled from the party.

He was among a group of 24 public figures who last year declared their refusal to vote for the Labour Party because of its association with anti-Semitism.

However, The Times reported that he is now being investigated over past comments, some of which date back years, including remarks on Pakistani Muslim men sexually abusing children in northern British towns.

The report also cited other comments by Mr Phillips about the failure of some Muslims to wear poppies for Remembrance Sunday.

It is also thought other remarks included the issue of the sympathy shown by some in an opinion poll towards the motives of the Charlie Hebdo attackers.

However, since receiving news of the suspension Mr Phillips has penned a column for The Times on Monday in which he questions the motivation behind the sanction and accuses Labour bosses of 'political gangsterism'.

Labour officials have reportedly drawn up a draft 'charge sheet' that accuses Mr Phillips of using language 'which targets or intimidates members of ethnic or religious communities, or incites racism, including Islamophobia'.

The Times reports that the allegations cite extracts from a 2016 pamphlet Mr Phillips wrote which contained the statement, 'The most sensitive cause of conflict in recent years has been the collision between majority norms and the behaviours of some Muslim groups.

'In particular, the exposure of systematic and longstanding abuse by men, mostly of Pakistani Muslim origin in the north of England.'

He went on to describe a visit to an industrial site where many African and eastern European immigrants worked but noticed a marked difference in those who were planning to mark Remembrance Sunday.

He wrote,  'Poppies were everywhere. One group had clearly adapted to the mainstream, the other had not.'

In 2016, The Times quoted Mr Phillips referring to 'the unacknowledged creation of a nation within the nation, with its own geography, its own values and its own very separate future'.

The new report said many of his statements date back years but that Labour's general secretary Jennie Formby suspended him as a matter of urgency to 'protect the party's reputation'.

In a letter to the Guardian in November, a group of public figures decided to take a stand against allegations of anti-Semitism in the Labour party.

They said the path to a more tolerant society 'must encompass Britain's Jews with unwavering solidarity'.

They also accused party leader Jeremy Corbyn of having 'a long record of embracing anti-Semites as comrades'.

Mr Phillips told The Times there was no suggestion that he has done anything unlawful and 'no one inside or outside the Labour Party has ever suggested that I have broken any rules'.

And in a column for The Times on Monday, he described how he was shocked when he received news of his suspension and it suspicious of the motives behind it.

Mr Phillips wrote, 'Significantly, my indictment concerns matters of faith, doctrine and dissent.

'It is written, not in the language of a democratic, open political movement but in the cold-eyed, accusatory prose of the zealot.

'In essence, after more than 30 years of promoting the Labour cause, I am accused of heresy, and threatened with excommunication.'

He added, 'So what accounts for this extraordinary turn of events? Some will see it as payback by Corbynistas for public criticisms I made of the leadership's failure to tackle antisemitism in the party.

'Another possibility is that it's an attempt to scare the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which I used to lead and which is investigating Labour's handling of antisemitism.

'Weaponising Islamophobia to attack political opponents may seem like clever tactics but trying to intimidate a legally independent organisation is pure political gangsterism.' 

A Labour Party spokeswoman said: 'The Labour Party takes all complaints about Islamophobia extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.'

SOURCE 





Progressive warfare on economics

Comment from Australia

There’s a concerted effort to shift the focus of economics away from financial data towards social. Specifically, it’s argued that economic welfare would be better measured by our individual and collective ‘wellbeing’ than by the GDP (the value of goods and services produced in the economy).

Would-be Treasurer under a Labor government, Jim Chalmers, has thrown his support behind this idea, praising New Zealand’s ‘wellbeing budget’. He promises a two-pronged assault: first, to supplant GDP’s primacy with a more holistic measure of wellbeing; second, to weigh up budget decisions in terms of social objectives — rather than economic merits.

Chalmers argues that alternatives to GDP would instead “measure what matters” and “redefine what success means in terms of economic outcomes.”

To better measure a country’s progress, the Kiwis now monitor levels of (among others) loneliness, belonging, mental resilience, and digital inclusiveness — all supposedly more important than money. The marker of success for NZ, then, is moving the needle on these indicators, irrespective of the economics — implying that a happier society is better off than a more prosperous one.

Where this comes from is a pessimistic view that, despite nearly 30 years of economic growth, Australia supposedly hasn’t enjoyed social progress —we’re apparently all living miserably.

It’s important to understand this isn’t supported by the economic data or social indicators. First, as the Productivity Commission argued, income inequality has not significantly worsened in Australia.

Second, according to the OECD’s Better Life Index, Australia scores the second highest of any country in the world. And we are sixth on the UN’s Human Development Index — which includes both economic and other factors — and on an upward trend.

Not to forget that economic factors are themselves important indicators of the health of a society.

Indeed, focussing on social indicators rather than economic growth leads to policymakers treating the symptoms rather than the cause of social problems — many of which stem from, or are exacerbated by, adverse economic outcomes.

In short, healthy economies breed healthy societies — and the progressives are wrong about the direction of this causation.

Social progress and cohesion are important policy goals, but prioritising these over broader economic goals would be counterproductive. It also distorts fiscal policy decisions by evaluating spending proposals on the basis of their direct social impact; not financial prudence, or in context of the macroeconomic stability lever that has been the convention.

We can’t afford for economic priorities and progress to be derailed by progressive social policy — especially with the vulnerabilities of today’s economy.

SOURCE  

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  Email me (John Ray) here. 

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