Historical Context: the Last Stand of 300 Spartans

This piece of historical context is filled to the brim with valuable information: how a nation came about from a position of cultural diversity in the Greek city states

"Wars are won by breaking the will of your enemy to fight on". Quote attributed to Sun Tzu.

@Johan_Druyff Man is capable of anything. The outcome is determined by his values, by his standard to measure Right and Wrong.

Geert Wilders Publishes Open Letter to the Pope

In the exhortation Evangelii Gaudium Pope Francis drew attention to the indebtedness of Christianity to the Jews and their faith. It inspired Geert Wilders, leader of the PVV (Dutch Freedom Party) to address an open letter to the Pope

Ahmad Al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of the Al-Azhar Institute in Cairo.

Open letter to his Holiness Pope Francis

Your Holiness, 

In your recent exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (Paragraphs 247-248) you draw the world’s attention to the indebtedness of Christianity to the Jews and their faith. The exhortation also contains a sharp condemnation of the terrible persecutions which the Jews have endured from Christians in the past.

Your words are words which might inspire many.

Unfortunately, they are in sharp contrast to the expressions of hatred which were voiced last October by the spiritual leader of Sunni Islam, Ahmad Al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of the Al-Azhar Institute in Cairo. Ahmad Al-Tayeb.

Angola: Islam Doesn't Qualify as a Recognized Religion

Angola has decided to ban Islam and ordered the destruction of mosques in an effort to prevent what happened to non-Muslims in other parts of the world, especially in Africa

This video from September 14, 2013 surfaced with the following text translated from Portuguese: Warning - The destruction of nine mosques, should be stopped immediately and we demand the apologize from President Angola to Muslims worldwide. If not, then we would like to invite the Muslim community to hold peaceful demonstrations in front of the buildings of Angolan embassies worldwide. H/t @JacquelineWxxx blog

There is evidence that mosques have been destroyed since at least September this year. The UAE are already up in arms (Source) (auto translation from CNN Arabic)

UPDATE: The Guardian appears to have solved the conundrum of the Angolan 'ban of Islam' while at the same time managed put it into the service of Jihad. Under Angolan law, to receive legal recognition, a religious organization needs 100,000 members, whereas Muslim Angolans number 90,000 (out of about 18 million). Atlas Shrugs has more:

The Guardian newspaper, in its unending service to the jihad, has successfully ginned up the Muslims in the UK to protest against the tiny nation of Angola for a news story that the Guardian more than manufactured ("Angola bans Islam!"). 

What actually happened is that the Angolan justice ministry last month “rejected the applications of 194 organisations, including one from the Islamic community.” But the protesters do not appear to want religious freedom either, but called for a ban on democracy and the establishment of a Islamic Khilafah (caliphate) in Angola, establishing Sharia law. 'Islam', stated one of the posters some held, 'Will Dominate the World'. 

Not content to destroy just Great Britain, the Guardian wants the rest of the world to suffer Britain's grave fate. It seems to me that the Guardian is "not conducive to the public good" -- perhaps the British government should silence the Guardian. Did they not ban Robert Spencer and me for this very reason? (Source)

Amazon Wants to Drone Up. What's Wrong With That?

To many people the concept of a drone has become a weapon from the War of Terror. But that is not in essence what a drone is. A drone is an unmanned flying robot

Amazon Prime Air. Wow. Jeff Bezos, the man behind Amazon.com, announced last night that his company is working on plans to deliver its merchandise by unmanned chopper. From your screen to your door in 30 minutes, by means of awesome new technology.

Amazon Prime Air: What Are You Waiting For? 

By Alexander R. Cohen

Imagine: Drones that deliver life-enriching goods. A perfect image of the difference between the power of business and the power of government. And you might see Amazon’s octocopters in the skies over your city within five years—if Bezos’s team can pull it off.

If the team can pull it off—and, says Amazon’s website, if the FAA can make the “necessary regulations.”

Suddenly the story becomes less exciting. Instead of just waiting for its inventors to get the technology ready and then launching its octocopters when they’re built, Amazon is also waiting for permission—and saying it’s “necessary.”

Pomo Scientist: Humans are a Chimp-Pig Hybrid

Bogus science, activism masquerading as actual objective knowledge, is everywhere. The worst cases that happen to come to the surface are chronicled here

Diederik Stapel is back! The Dutch social psychologist failed to make his highly ethical goals subservient to morality and principles of science; and he blames capitalism, quick and dirty prejudice and stereotyping (or something) (for more on Stapel, scroll to bottom posting)

UPDATE: Some interpretation may be in order here: this is probably some effort, not just to reduce humans to mere mammals, but to downgrade them even further, to the level described in the Koran as the origin of the Jews, i.e. "apes and pigs". Because humans are evil, and must die for the sake of the rights of inanimated matter!

One of the world’s leading authorities on genetics says the human race was born into existence after a chimpanzee mated with a pig. Dr. Eugene McCarthy’s stunning claims were made in an online article, although it was not clear when the startling findings was initially published. According to the University of Georgia scientist, while human beings share a number of characteristics with chimpanzees, there are others that don’t correspond with the primates. “What is this other animal that has all these traits? The answer is Sus scrofa – the ordinary pig,” he wrote. (Source)

Glenn Beck Reads From Ayn Rand's 'Anthem'

Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in England

Glenn Beck reads an excerpt from Anthem.

The novella is set at some unspecified future date when mankind has entered another dark age characterized by irrationality, collectivism, and socialistic thinking and economics. Technological advancement is now carefully planned (when it is allowed to occur at all) and the concept of individuality has been eliminated (for example, the use of the word "ego" is punishable by death). Rand, as a teenager living in Soviet Russia, initially conceived Anthem as a play. (Wiki) 

Don't miss!

Anthem, by Ayn Rand

Read free. Free audio book. 

Super Cute: Awwww, Who Knew? A Baby Sloth

Today in the super cute series: a baby sloth. Where have these cuddly critters been hiding for so long?

Time spent with a sleepy sloth in the palm of your hand on a beach is never wasted pic.twitter.com/G7IvcwQY
— Marcus Chown (@marcuschown) February 20, 2013

H/t @FirstMate1060

Revolution Brewing in the EU to Save the Nation State

"The Resurgence of European Patriotism. How to ruin the day of bureaucrats and politicians in Brussels," an article in the Wall Street Journal by Geert Wilders

Geert Wilders by Objectivist cartoonist Bosch Fawstin @BoschFawstin More on Fawstin's blog. More on Pomonews. 

Here is a tip if you want to ruin the day of the bureaucrats and politicians in Brussels. Just mention next year's European elections and they will become extremely nervous and agitated. They will fume with anger and warn you about rising populism, a threat to democracy.

Americans and Dutch Building Libertarian Floating City

Combining Dutch water engineering and the American pioneering spirit the Seasteading Institute is building crowd funded cities of the future on the high sees

Joe Quirk is calling for contribution to their Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for the Floating City Project to help pay for an innovative engineering design contracted to DeltaSync.

For five years the Seasteading Institute has been conducting research into the potential for permanent, innovative communities – floating at sea. They believe humanity needs a new, blue frontier, where man can be free to demonstrate new ways of life. They have now reached their first funding goal of $ 27,000.

If you dream of living in a small floating city and can afford the cost of living in a major metropolis, please donate. The Thiel foundation has generously doubled the amount to $54,000 to pay for the first designs contracted to the Dutch engineering company DeltaSync founded by Rutger de Graaf and Katrina Czapiewska. (Dutch)

Ireland Hints It May 'Go Solo' After Bailout Exit

Ireland to go it alone: Kenny announces clean exit from #bailout http://t.co/fvD8wMFu9x
— Independent.ie (@Independent_ie) November 14, 2013

Eurogroup president @J_Dijsselbloem: "We'll hear from the Irish colleague today, it's possible we can come to decisions" on Ireland's exit
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) November 14, 2013

Ireland #cleanexit -- Wishing Dublin the best of luck. Important to remember Ireland was the good a bailout outlier to Greece's bad
— Matina Stevis (@MatinaStevis) November 14, 2013

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