Jonas: The Aftermath

It's been a week since Jonas dumped over two feet of snow in my area, and lots of it is still around.  Due to some shoveling by myself, my neighbors and the municipal powers that be, the roads, sidewalks and some walkways have become passable.  My neighborhood is located next to an artificial lake, which is surrounded by paved walkways, such as this one that runs parallel to a nearby street.

The other walkways near the lake, however, were not cleared of snow, but some people still made their way along them, forming paths in the snow.

The lake itself has been covered with snow.  You can also see the partially melted snow on the roofs of the nearby townhouses.

Here's another part of the lake, with a pier toward the right, and in the background, a contrail in the sky.

Woman Identifies As Cat

A twenty-year-old woman in Oslo, Norway claims to be a cat "trapped in a human body".  She meows, purrs, walks on all fours and hisses at dogs, but has admittedly not yet caught any mice.  I haven't found any information about whether she uses a litter box to relieve herself, but have a feeling that she might snap out of her state of mind if someone decides to have her spayed or de-clawed.  On the other hand, if I ever take this "Bigfoot" thing too far, I'll have a kindred spirit in Norway.

Read more at the Mirror, the Daily Mail, the Metro and The Journal.

Paul Kantner 1941-2016

Paul Kantner, the singer-guitarist-songwriter who co-founded Jefferson Airplane and later Jefferson Starship, has died of multiple organ failure and septic shock.  He had suffered a heart attack earlier this week.  He is survived by his daughter China, whose mother is his former bandmate Grace Slick, and his sons Gareth and Alexander.

Paul Lorin Kantner was born in San Francisco to Paul Schell Kantner and the former Cora Lee Fortier.  While attending Catholic boarding school, he became interested in both music and science fiction.  He went to college for three years before dropping out to devote himself to music.

In 1965, Kantner co-founded Jefferson Airplane with singer Marty Balin, who also played an occasional guitar.  For the band's first album Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, they were joined by lead guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, bassist Jack Casady, singer Signe Anderson, and Skip Spence, who was persuaded to play drums even though he was a guitarist.  Afterwards Anderson and Spence left the group, and were replaced by singer Grace Slick, who also played keyboards, and drummer Spencer Dryden.  The band would last until 1972 and at various times would include violinist Papa John Creach, drummer-singer Joey Covington, drummer John Barbata, and singer David Freiberg.  Although Kantner initially wanted to create a folk-rock group, Jefferson Airplane's music has been called "psychedelic rock".

Thursday Links

As the snow from last weekend slowly continues to melt, here are some things in the news:

From NBC News and the "clinging to guns and religion" department, at a security checkpoint near a Disneyland Paris hotel, a man and a woman are arrested after two guns and a Koran are found in his possession.

From The Age, an Australian teenager is accused of planning terrorist attacks, including using a kangaroo as a suicide bomber.

From The Verge, T-Mobile is adding Amazon Video to its Binge On program.  (via ReCode)

From the Daily Mail, Donald Trump continues his media assault on Megyn Kelly.

From UPI, Trump says that other GOP candidates will join his "counter-debate event".

From Townhall, Senator Harry Reid (D) recalls how Trump raised money for him.

From Fox News, France and Iran make a deal.

From the Los Angeles Times, five people remaining at the  Malheur National Wildlife Refuge are trying to negotiate a peaceful exit.

From The Washington Free Beacon, Russian special forces in Syria are reportedly trying to locate a Turkmen rebel leader.

From The Times Of Israel, Coca Cola will soon be opening a factory in Gaza.

From YNetNews, after visiting the family of a terror victim, a Knesset member's car is pelted with rocks.

From the Chicago Sun-Times, federal prosecutors have confirmed that there are more than one victim in the case against former Speaker Denny Hastert (R).

From The Washington Times, Connecticut Governor Daniel P. Malloy (D) makes some legislative proposals building on his "Second Chance Society" program enacted last year.

From The Daily Signal, how Obama and his administration "let ISIS happen".

From the Birmingham Mail, Muhammad Afzal, who has been elected Lord Mayor of Birmingham, has gotten some flack for saying that men are more likely than women to be victims of domestic violence.

From the Express, two months before New Year's Eve, German police were allegedly told to overlook crime committed by migrants.

From Reuters, suicide bombers kill four people at a school in northern Cameroon.

From Tax Foundation, a look at Bernie Sanders's tax plan. (via The Hill)

From Asian Scientist, an international team of researchers has discovered the most powerful supernova ever observed.  (H/T Sue from New Mexico, for re-tweeting this)

And from The Hollywood Reporter, actor Tim Allen compares the Clintons to a disease.

Hamas Tunnel-Diggers Die In Collapse

In Gaza, a group of Hamas terrorists were killed when the tunnel they were building near the border with Israel collapsed due to heavy rains.  Depending on the report, anywhere from six to eleven people died when the tunnel caved in, with up to five others being injured.

Read more at The Jerusalem Post, The Times Of Israel, Arutz Sheva and The Washington Free Beacon.

Dog Joins Half-Marathon

Ten days ago in Elkmont, Alabama, the owners of a bloodhound let her out to relieve herself.  Instead of returning, she then ran in the Elkmont Half-Marathon, (unofficially) finishing in 7th place overall and first among female contestants.  At just over two years old, she was most likely the youngest contestant in the race.  Of course, having four legs might have given her a slight advantage over her two-legged competition.

Read more at KTLA, Running, The Guardian, News(dot)com(dot)au and Inquistr.

Virginia Tech Researchers Studied The Water In Flint

It appears that a bunch of people from my alma mater might have earned the right to say "we told you so" in regard to the problems with the water system of Flint, Michigan.  From The Roanoke Times:

Members of the Virginia Tech Flint Water Study team get a lot of questions.

They come from family, friends and more than two dozen media requests daily in recent weeks for the team’s leader, professor Marc Edwards, a nationally known expert on municipal water quality.

How much lead is in the water in Flint? What’s the risk to the public? How does it feel to have the president and a governor address your research?

The group of 25 researchers from Blacksburg traveled to Michigan four times to analyze the tap water and then worked to make their findings public after they were ignored by government agencies. The work has resulted in national attention on water infrastructure, a state of emergency, resignations and a switch back to an old water system.

The italics are in the original.  Read the full story.

Links For A Snowy Day

As I deal with cabin fever, and eventually work up the will to start shoveling, here are some things going on out there:

From The Times Of Israel, according to Secretary of State John Kerry, Hezbollah has 80,000 rockets.

From Townhall, John Hawkins says that the usual scapegoats are not the source of your problems.

From the Chicago Sun-Times, a Chicago alderman wants to take away some of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's control of the Chicago Housing Authority.

From The New York Times, former NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering an independent presidential campaign.  (via New Media Patriot Radio, who call him "the great Slurpee in Chief")

From Fox News, current NY Mayor Bill de Blasio is considering a travel ban due to the large amount snow his city is getting.

From the New York Post, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced a travel ban, which Mayor de Blasio will enforce.  If you're in New York City, get your vehicle off the road by 2:30 p.m.

From the Daily Mail, how London has been turned into a foreign city.

From CNET, a service that will call customer-service on your behalf.

From Bloomberg (not the former mayor), presidential candidate Bernie Sanders asks audience members at his rallies to shout their deductibles.

From Yahoo News, sources claim that U.S. forces are creating an airbase in northeastern Syria.

From Reuters, Vice President Joe Biden says that the U.S. is prepared to deal with ISIS militarily.

From The Washington Times, according to an AP poll, the public doubts that Washington can solve problems.

From Western Journalism, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gets the endorsement of the National Black Republican Association.

From The Hill, Trump says that "Christianity is under tremendous siege."

From The Blaze, Jonas does not keep the Old Guard from performing their duties.

From the Express, there have been over 800 allegations of sexual offenses in Cologne, Germany.

From the Daily Star, a Muslim imam says that "girls who drink beer deserve to be groped."

And from the Twitter feed of Baltimore In A Box, Baltimore gets a visit from a Yeti.

Preliminary Weather Report

Winter Storm Jonas, as expected, has dumped large amounts of snow here in my area, and will continue delivering snow until some time this evening.  I will eventually dig myself out, but until then, I must deal with cabin fever.  Here's the view behind my house, in which snow sits on top of fences, and all but the handle of my lawn mower is buried.

Meanwhile out front, the mirrors and antenna are all that can be seen of the Bigfootmobile.  Cars belonging to my neighbors suffer the same fate.

National Review Comes Out Against Trump

National Review, arguably the leading American conservative magazine, has come out against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, and set forth their reasons for doing so.  Over 20 conservative writers, including NR contributors, have presented their opinions in what NR calls a "symposium".  Much of what they say can be boiled down to "Donald Trump has recently supported Democrats, liberals, and their causes, so he appears to be a recent convert to conservatism, or even a charlatan pretending to be conservative, and either way cannot truly be trusted."  To learn the details, read the full story.

Austin City Staffer Uses Satirical Map

A city staffer in Austin, Texas has been placed on administrative leave for using a satirical map in a presentation at a meeting of the city's Zoning and Platting Commission.  The incident has been placed under investigation.  The map, showing Austin and the surrounding area, includes numerous satirical place names such as "rich hippies", "homeless camp", "cowpeople" and "actual weirdos".

I won't post a pic of the map.  To see it, go to KEYE TV, KXAN or KVUE.

ISIS Destroys Oldest Christian Monastery In Iraq

The Islamic terrorist group ISIS, continuing its practice of destroying non-Muslim sites, has completely raised St. Elijah's monastery, on the outskirts of Mosul, Iraq.  Built in 590, it was the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq, and was used for worship services by Catholic American troops deployed to that country.

Read more at The Daily Star, The Guardian, Rudaw, the Independent and the International Business Times.

Ben Carson Suspends Campaign

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson has suspended his campaign, because three volunteers and one staffer were involved in a car accident in Iowa.  One volunteer has been taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, while the other two volunteers and the staffer were examined and released from Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, Iowa.  Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, has said that he would travel to Omaha.

Read more at ABC News, Yahoo News and CNN.

UPDATE:  The CNN story now reports that the campaign worker brought to Omaha has died.

Glenn Frey 1948-2016

Glenn Frey, one of the founding members of the Eagles, who also had a successful solo career, has died in his home in New York City of complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia.  He had been in surgery this past November.  Besides music, he had also been involved in acting and commercial endorsements.

Glenn Lewis Frey was born in Dearborn, Michigan and grew up in Royal Oak.  He played in several local bands, and would contribute backing vocals to Bob Seger's first hit Ramblin' Gamblin' Man.  He formed the original Eagles, with whom he would mainly play guitar and keyboards, with drummer Don Henley, bassist Randy Meisner and guitarist/banjo player Bernie Leadon, all of whom contributed vocals.  The four had all been hired by Linda Ronstadt to be her backup band.  The group would later add guitarist Don Felder, replace Leadon with guitarist Joe Walsh, and replace Meisner with Tim Schmidt.  Frey and Henley, occasionally with others contributing, created a songwriting partnership.  During the Eagles' hiatus, which lasted from 1980 to 1994, Frey had several hits as a solo artist.

Read more at The Washington Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and Entertainment Weekly.

Links For The King Holiday

Today the federal and state governments celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  His actual birthday was January 15, but the holiday is observed on the nearest Monday.  Here are some stories in the news, and some things relating to Dr. King.

From National Review, in an article originally published three years ago, how the left has ignored the fact that Dr. King was also Reverend King.

From Townhall, there was one area in which Dr. King appears to have been very fallible.

From Politico, Jeb Bush (R-FL) invokes Dr. King while presenting his education plan.

From The Times Of Israel, both sides of the Israel-Palestine divide stake claims to Dr. King's legacy.

From The Blaze, a timeline of Dr. King's life and legacy.

From Wired, Guillermo del Toro interviews filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen.

From Soundcloud, Aaron Klein interviews Juanita Broaddrick.

From Europe Online, a Turkish opposition leader faces a probe after calling President Erdogan a "hack dictator".

From KSL.com, Kurdish militants have reported killed three Turkish policemen.

From Fox News, a rocket fired from Syria strikes a school in Kilis, Turkey, killing one person.

From Russia Today, authorities in Morocco say that they have arrested a Belgian man linked to the Paris attackers.

From the Daily Mail, a Swedish woman is harassed and groped by "migrant" men.

From The Washington Times, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says the President Obama lives in a "fantasy land" when it comes to Iran.

From the New York Post, three people have been found dead at a house near a college in western New York.  Two were students at the college, and the other a former student.

From the Jakarta Post, French President François Hollande has declared an economic emergency.

From The Local De, in Germany, a group of rightwing demonstrators are attacked and beaten after attending a demonstration.

From NBC Chicago, ten things to know about dealing with dangerously cold weather.

From The College Fix, a college professor debunks the claim that right-wing extremists have been deadlier than Islamic terrorists.

From Deutsch Welle, in Bangla Desh, five Islamic terrorists have been sentenced to ten years for their carrying out a string of bombings.

From The Telegraph, in Great Britain, four alleged would-be Islamic terrorists, one of whom is a medical student, stand trial for conspiracy.

From The Siasat Daily, a video of Justin Trudeau praying at a mosque in 2013, two years before he was elected Prime Minister.

From Life News, Democrat politicians are now "fighting each other over who is more pro-abortion".

And back to the New York Post, Belgian astronomers name a constellation after David Bowie.

Wal-Mart To Close 269 Stores

Wal-Mart has announced that it will close 269 of its stores this year, including 154 stores in the United States.  The American stores will include all 102 Wal-Mart Express stores.  Most of the stores to be closed are located within 10 miles of another Wal-Mart.  About 16,000 employees will be affected, including about 10,000 in the U.S.

Read more at CNN Money, Reuters, USA Today, CNBC and CNS News.

Planned Parenthood Shooter Reveals Motive

The man who shot 12 people, three fatally, in the vicinity of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs has told a Denver TV station his reasons for doing so.  Via LifeNews, from The Gazette:

The accused Planned Parenthood shooter told a Denver television station Wednesday he impulsively attacked the Colorado Springs clinic nearly two months ago, because he believed federal agents were following him and “they wanted to start a war.”

“I felt like they were going to get me and so I am going to pick where I want to make my last stand,” Robert Lewis Dear Jr. told Denver-based CBS4. “And I picked Planned Parenthood because it’s murdering little babies.”

Trying to figure Mr. Dear's motive has been somewhat confusing, since he certainly has been anti-abortion, saying things like "no more baby parts", but on the other hand did not attack anyone in the abortion clinic itself.  Read the full story.

Al Jazeera America To Shut Down

Al Jazeera America, which has been the American outlet for the Qatar-based network Al Jazeera, has announced that it will shut down by the end of this coming April.  The channel was created in 2013 after Al Jazeera purchased Current TV from former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.

Read more at USA Today, Politico Media, The Intercept and The New York Times.

Iran Detains 10 American Sailors

Ten American sailors operating two riverine boats have been taken into custody by Iranian military forces.  The boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain, but may have drifted into Iranian-claimed waters near Farsi Island.  Iran has reportedly promised to return the sailors, but has said nothing about the boats.

Read more at the New York Post, NBC News, BBC News, Reuters and CNN.

UPDATE:  According to NBC News, the sailors and their boats have been released.  (via Hot Air)

Tuesday Links

Once again, Tuesday is the day for linking stories in the news:

From CBS News, in case anyone doesn't already know, Alabama defeated Clemson 45-40 to win the NCAA football championship.

From the Daily Mail, the Arabic gang-rape tactic of "taharrush" has spread to Europe.

From Today's Zaman, at least 10 people have been killed in a suicide bombing in Istanbul.  (via Breitbart's National Security)

From Tech Crunch, you can now get your tickets to the ninth annual Crunchies.

From The Baltimore Sun, in Baltimore, thugs allegedly stab a cyclist to death.

From National Review, the one left-wing ring.

From AOL, the Powerball jackpot has reached $1.5B.

From The Washington Times, presidential candidate John Kasich (R-OH) doesn't appear to care where presidential candidate Ted Cruz (R-TX) was born.

From One News Now, pro-life marches this year will not be confined to Washington, DC.

From Politico, Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis will attend the upcoming State of the Union address, but will not say with whom.

From CNN, the TV show Batman reaches its golden anniversary.

From Fox8, Cleveland police are collecting socks, thermal underwear and boots for the homeless.

From Fox News, Hillary Clinton (D) comes out against the current administration's deportation raids.

From The Hollywood Reporter, in rebooting Nancy Drew, CBS will give the title character a race-change operation.

From The Daily Caller, for the first time in 40 years, American crude oil reaches Europe.

From Canada Free Press, the stupidity of New York's "pronoun law".

From The Washington Free Beacon, Russia has been accused of bombing hospitals, schools and humanitarian aid offices

And from WGN, the "carsicle" parked next to Lake Erie.

David Bowie 1947-2016

David Bowie, the British singer known for reinventing himself numerous times, has died of cancer at the age of 69.  He had been battling the disease for 18 months.  His last album, Blackstar, was released this past Friday.

David Robert Jones was born in the Brixton area of London on January 8, 1947 to Haywood Jones, a promotions officer for a children's charity, and his wife Margaret, who worked as a waitress.  The family would move to the suburb of Bromley.  During his teen years, David Jones attended Bromley Technical High School, where he got to know another young musician named Peter Frampton.  After playing in several bands, Jones adopted the stage name of David Bowie, to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees.

During his career, Bowie's musical style would shift between glam rock, hard rock, soul, art rock and punk, among others.  Besides singing, he also played guitar, keyboards, sax and harmonica on his recordings.  His contributions to other artist's work included writing All The Young Dudes for Mott The Hoople, producing Lou Reed's Take A Walk On The Wild Side, and collaborating with Iggy Pop.  During the late 1980's, he formed a band called Tin Machine.  Bowie was also an actor, often appearing in cameo roles.  He was married twice, first to the former Mary Angela Barnett, and then to Somali-American model Iman.  His two children are Duncan, whose mother is Barnett, and Alexandria, whose mother is Iman.

Read more at CNN, The Hollywood Reporter, CBS News, the Independent and BBC News.

Attack On Calgary Nightclub Foiled By Bouncers

This story comes via Jihadwatch, who got it from Pamela Geller, whose source is Global News.  According to Global News:

Police said they responded to a shooting at Ten X Nightclub at the 1100 Block of 10 Avenue southwest just before 2 a.m. Sunday morning.

A 38-year-old man was shot and taken to hospital in stable condition.

Two men are now facing charges after a gunman opened fired inside the Calgary nightclub.

Two of the club's bouncers are being credited for saving more people from being shot, as they put their lives on the line to tackle the gunman.

The two suspects are named Mohamed Elmi and Mohamed Salad, and are both of Calgary.  This incident, if you ask me, looks like an attempt to recreate the recent terror attack in Paris on a smaller scale.  I can only wonder how long before some official in Calgary states that the suspects' motive had nothing to do with Islam.  Read the full story.

Man Shoots Philadelphia Cop "In The Name Of Islam"

The term in quotes reportedly comes from the suspect's own confession.  While driving through West Philadelphia, officer Jesse Harnett was shot by a man whose gun had been stolen, and who later claimed to have acted on behalf of Islam.  Officer Harnett returned fire, hitting the attacker, and was later taken to a hospital.  Both he and the suspect are expected to survive.  Although the suspect claimed to have acted "in the name of Islam" and pledged allegiance to ISIS, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney announced that the shooting had nothing to do with Islam or any faith.

Read more at NBC10, WPVI, CBS Philly and Philly(dot)com.

State Of Emergency Declared Over Methane Leak

California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency over a leak of methane gas from a storage well in the Porter Ranch section of Los Angeles.  The well is operated by Southern California Gas Company.  The leak started this past October.  Repair measures are reportedly underway, but have so far not been successful.  SoCal officials have stated that the leak might not be stopped until March.  Besides being flammable and unhealthy to breathe, methane is a greenhouse gas.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times, Gizmodo, BBC News, CNN and the Independent.

Iran-Linked Terror Cell Busted In Bahrain

Bahrain, which recently cut off diplomatic relations with Iran in solidarity with Saudi Arabia, claims to have busted an Iran-linked terror cell.  In other news, Qatar and Djibouti have also cut ties with Iran.

Read more at The National and the Kuwait Times.

Tuesday Links

As 2016 gets going, here's some of what's going on:

From BBC News, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expresses her disgust at the sexual assaults committed by gangs around the railway station in Cologne.

From The Daily Caller, while the American Pacific fleet dwindles, China continues its activities in the South China Sea.

From Wired, some volcanoes to watch out for this year.

From The Blaze, the British Parliament debates banning Donald Trump from entering the U.K.

From American Thinker, what the establishment doesn't grasp about Trump.

From Bloomberg Politics, President Obama claims that his new expansion of background checks does not infringe anyone's rights.

From The Daily Signal, Obama's action "is all poltics".

From The Texas Tribune, Texas' elected leaders give their opinions on Obama's actions.  (via High Plains Daily News)

From CNS News, Obama's rules about anyone selling firearms are "vague".

From Gizmodo, scientists have an idea how Pluto's "weird, bumpy plains" were formed.

From Medical Press, when mothers care for babies, they should put down their cell phones.

From Town Hall, Senator Bernie Sanders, although in Congress for 25 years, says he's "not exactly a career politician".

From Arutz Sheva, an Israeli NGO finds that Facebook has an anti-Israel bias.

From The Express Tribune, Pakistani clerics press for the release of a man who had killed someone for blasphemy, and a girl in Pakistan is killed by her brother for making her own choice of someone to marry.

The Gatestone Institute asks if the U.S. is "criminalizing free speech".

From WLWT, Turkey releases a jailed journalist.

From CNN, the story of a young woman killed by ISIS.

From France24, an American company claims to have destroyed all of Syria's declared chemical weapons.

From TechSideline, Virginia Tech upsets #4 Virginia in basketball.

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Shane Beamer, most recently an assistant football coach at Virginia Tech under his father Frank, has been hired by Georgia.

And from WUIS, snowboarders being rescued from a stalled gondola get an "insane" ride.

Saudi Allies Sever Or Downgrade Relations With Iran

Three allies of Saudi Arabia have joined the kingdom in either cutting off or limiting their diplomatic relations with Iran.  Bahrain and Sudan have announced that they are severing ties with Iran, while the United Arab Emirates will downgrade theirs.

Read more at USA Today, The Guardian, BBC News, The Washington Post and The Times Of Israel.

Saudi Arabia Breaks Off Relations With Iran

Saudi Arabia, in response to the storming of the their embassy in Tehran, has broken off diplomatic relations with Iran.  The Saudi government has given Iranian diplomatic personnel 48 hours to leave the kingdom.

Read more at NBC News, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Haaretz and CBC News.

Armed Protesters Occupy Federal Building

Late yesterday, a group of armed protesters occupied a closed federal building in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, about 30 miles southeast of Burns, Oregon.  They reportedly include members of the Bundy family, whose ranch in Nevada was the site of a standoff with federal agents in 2014.  The reasons given for their actions, which also included a peaceful protest, included the treatment of two ranchers who had been convicted of arson, and the government's expansion of the refuge.  The protesters claim that they're prepared to occupy the building "for years".

Read more at NBC News, The Oregonian, St George News, CNN and The Washington Post.

Protesters Damage Saudi Embassy In Tehran

Protesters at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran stormed the building and setting part of it on fire with Molotov cocktails, in response the Saudi government's execution of a Shiite cleric.  He was one of 47 people executed for "terrorism-related charges", but his offense appears to be criticizing Saudi Arabia's treatment of its Shiite minority.  Police would clear away the protesters.

Read more at The New York Times, Russia Today, ABC News, Haaretz and the Daily Mail.

Some News From The Middle East

Here are a few stories from the Middle East, gathered and posted to Twitter by Middle East News:

From Equilibrio Informativo, after driving ISIS out of Ramadi, Iraqi troops clear the streets of bombs and debris.

From The Times Of Israel, a gunman who killed two people and wounded seven in Tel Aviv has been identified as an Arab living in northern Israel.

From the Daily Mail, French warplanes bomb ISIS oil sites.

From Fox News, the number of beheadings in Saudi Arabia in 2015 was the most in 20 years.

From Asmarino Independent, the number of Christians in the Middle East continues to decline.

And from The Guardian, Nepalese women have been trafficked to Syria and forced to work as maids.

Happy New Year 2016

To all who read this blog: