Texas gov honors 'American Sniper' with 'Chris Kyle Day' | TheHill

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced Friday that he was declaring Monday "Chris Kyle Day" to honor the late Navy SEAL who served four tours in Iraq.

Kyle, who died at a shooting range on Feb. 2, 2013, was credited with the most kills in U.S. military history, and his best-selling autobiography "American Sniper" formed the basis of the recently released blockbuster film.

Abbott tweeted about his declaration, including a photo of Texas-native Kyle. The governor spoke to military veterans Friday on his legislative priorities for state lawmakers, including offering free mental health screenings and making it easier for veterans to get their businesses up and running, a local NBC affiliate reported. (CONTINUED)

FULL ARTICLE HERE:  Texas gov honors 'American Sniper' with 'Chris Kyle Day' | TheHill

Navy Seal Chris Kyle Interview: Most American's Don't Understand War

VIDEO LINK: Navy Seal Chris Kyle: Most American's Don't Understand War - YouTube

SHOCKER! Snow in Central Mexico & 2nd "Rare" S.W. USA Snowstorm (46) - YouTube

VIDEO LINK: Mini Ice Age 2015-2035 | Snow in Central Mexico & 2nd "Rare" S.W. USA Snowstorm (46) - YouTube

John McCain Taunts ‘American Sniper’ Critics - Breitbart

Warner Bros. Pictures

BY CHARLIE SPIERING

U.S. Navy Veteran Sen. John McCain praised Clint Eastwood for his film “American Sniper” and chided critics for lashing out against the film.

“It is deeply regrettable that obsessive critics of U.S. foreign policy have sought to disparage this film and denigrate the memory of a noble American warrior,” McCain said in a statement.

The senior Arizona Senator celebrated the fact that Americans are embracing the film in spite of liberal critics such as Michael Moore.

“Fortunately, their pettiness has not stopped millions of Americans from seeing American Sniper, and hopefully in the process, gaining a greater appreciation for the service and sacrifice of America’s military service members and their families,” he said. (CONTINUED)

FULL ARTICLE HERE: John McCain Taunts ‘American Sniper’ Critics - Breitbart

Good Shepherd Church African Evensong Closing Piece by Dance Dimensions - YouTube

The local Hampton Roads dance troupe, Dance Dimensions, performed traditional African dances for this service. This is their closing number. 

 Background: 

Sunday, January 25, 2015 marked a wonderful Evensong of African liturgy and music at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Norfolk, organized by Women to Women (Southern Diocese), a local church group that works directly with women in the DR Congo to ease their suffering and empower their lives. The Congo has one of the worst records of abuse against women anywhere, so groups like Women to Women provide valuable physical, emotional and spiritual support.

Good Shepherd Church African Evensong Closing Piece by Dance Dimensions - YouTube

Geert Wilders on Paris Attack Time to Act - YouTube

VIDEO LINK: Message Geert Wilders on Paris attack - YouTube

THE REBEL PUNDITS ANSWER OBAMA'S State of the Union 2015 - YouTube

The Rebel Pundits, who speak out for the Black community in Chicago, have their own video reply to Obama's 2015 State of the Union speech: 



VIDEO LINK: Chicago Unchained: The State of the Union 2015 - YouTube

SEE 24 DAYS! New French film about barbaric anti-Semitic murder strikes a painful chord | Haaretz

The 2006 kidnapping and murder of Ilan Halimi, who is pictured here, is the subject of '24 Days,' from director Alexandre Arcady. (Courtesy of Stephanie Yin) Photo by JTA

I highly recommend this riveting 2014 film, 24 Days, now making its way through various Jewish film festivals. I just saw it at the the 22nd Annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film at the Naro Cinema in Norfolk. Following is an Israeli article from last year on it. Buy it online or rent it if you must, but see this movie that has become more timely than ever after the recent terrorist attacks in Paris.

FROM HAARETZ, JULY 8, 2014:

For Israeli audiences, this scenario may sound horrifyingly familiar. A young man is kidnapped and brutally tortured. He meets his bitter end when his perpetrators drag him to a forest, douse him with gasoline and set him on fire. 

Except this didn’t happen last week, but eight years ago – and in a place far away. The victim was Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old Parisian Jew whose murder has come to symbolize the rise of anti-Semitism in modern-day France. (CONTINUED)

FULL ARTICLE HERE: New French film about barbaric anti-Semitic murder strikes a painful chord - Jerusalem Film Festival 2014 - Israel News | Haaretz

SLANDERING A HERO: Kyle Derangement Syndrome | National Review Online

By Ian Tuttle

With the release of Clint Eastwood’s Chris Kyle biopic American Sniper, based on the life of America’s deadliest marksman, the Left has been eager to take potshots at the late Navy officer and Iraq veteran. By deceptively quoting Kyle’s 2012 autobiography (also entitled “American Sniper”), they have gained traction for questionable interpretations and outright lies. Here are the three most egregious falsehoods, and the truth his critics have willfully ignored. (CONTINUED)

FULL ARTICLE HERE: Kyle Derangement Syndrome | National Review Online

Leon Panetta: We've Entered 'A Much More Dangerous Chapter' of War on Terror - YouTube

Leon Panetta: We've Entered 'A Much More Dangerous Chapter' of War on Terror - YouTube

Mini Ice Age 2015-2035 | Blizzard Drops Feet of Snow Across Middle East (41) - YouTube

FULL ARTICLE: Mini Ice Age 2015-2035 | Blizzard Drops Feet of Snow Across Middle East (41) - YouTube

Mini Ice Age 2015-2035 | Vietnam Snowfall & Strange January Pacific Typhoon (43) - YouTube

Mini Ice Age 2015-2035 | Vietnam Snowfall & Strange January Pacific Typhoon (43) - YouTube

German Embed Reporter: ISIS Plans On Killing 'Hundreds of Millions' in 'Religious Cleansing' - Breitbart

JORDAN SCHACHTEL18 Jan 2015

Jurgen Todenhofer, the first Western reporter to embed with Islamic State fighters and not be killed in the process, spoke to Al Jazeera about his time with the terror group.

Todenhofer lived side by side with the jihadist fighters for ten days in the Islamic State-stronghold city of Mosul, Iraq. He was accompanied only by his son, who served as his cameraman.

“I always asked them about the value of mercy in Islam,” but “I didn’t see any mercy in their behavior,” explained Todenhofer. He added, “Something that I don’t understand at all is the enthusiasm in their plan of religious cleansing, planning to kill the non-believers… They also will kill Muslim democrats because they believe that non-ISIL-Muslims put the laws of human beings above the commandments of God.”

The German reporter then elaborated on how shocked he was about how “willing to kill” the ISIS fighters are. He said that they were ready to commit genocide. “They were talking about [killing] hundreds of millions. They were enthusiastic about it, and I just cannot understand that,” said Todenhofer (CONTINUED)
FULL ARTICLE HERE: German Embed Reporter: ISIS Plans On Killing 'Hundreds of Millions' in 'Religious Cleansing' - Breitbart

Cuba Won't Be Liberated By Tourists, Ex-US Ambassador to Venezuela Says

Otto Reich

ARTICLE AND VIDEO HERE: Cuba Won't Be Liberated By Tourists, Ex-US Ambassador to Venezuela Says

Mini Ice Age 2015-2035 | Florida Snow, Rarest Ice Halos on Earth

VIDEO LINK: Mini Ice Age 2015-2035 | Florida Snow and Rarest Ice Halos on Earth (42) - YouTube

Dem Rep Gabbard: Obama Admin 'Refuses to Recognize Who Our Enemy Is' - Breitbart

FULL ARTICLE WITH VIDEO HERE: Dem Rep Gabbard: Obama Admin 'Refuses to Recognize Who Our Enemy Is' - Breitbart

Free Fire Zone- A Strategy to defeat Global Jihad - YouTube

Free Fire Zone- A Strategy to defeat Global Jihad - YouTube

Mini Ice Age 2015-2015 | Hawaii 125 Year Cold & Taj Mahal Stone Tiles Too Cold to Walk On (39) - YouTube

Mini Ice Age 2015-2015 | Hawaii 125 Year Cold & Taj Mahal Stone Tiles Too Cold to Walk On (39) - YouTube

Miss Veteran America | Women In The Fight, Ep. 1 - YouTube

Awesome!!

Meet 'the women beyond the uniform' at the 2014 Miss Veteran America competition. Find out how walking the runway helps support homeless female veterans and their children. For more subscribe: http://themghty.co/1jX7s5q

VIDEO LINK: Ms. Vet America | Women In The Fight, Ep. 1 - YouTube

OPINION: Our Muslim President?

by Alan Caruba

No, I cannot prove that Barack Obama is a Muslim, but a review of his public life from the days he was campaigning to be an Illinois Senator through his years as President have raised a lot of questions, including a notable slip of the tongue during a television interview when he referred to himself as a Muslim. (continued)

FULL ARTICLE HERE: OPINION: Our Muslim President

Mini Ice Age 2015-2035 | Heavy Snow in Across North African Deserts

Global warming my arse!


VIDEO LINK:  Mini Ice Age 2015-2035 | Heavy Snow in Across North African Deserts (38) - YouTube

Going Deep and Dark in the Blue Grotto, New Year's 2015 - YouTube

The light disappears pretty fast in the Blue Grotto the deeper you go, so I had to take advantage of all light sources to produce this video.

Background:

A Lynnhaven Dive Center (Virginia Beach, VA) contingent went diving in Florida around and about Crystal River City south of Gainsville during New Year's week. On our last day, 1/02/15, we dove at the largest clear water cavern in the state, the beautiful Blue Grotto in nearby Williston.You can check out their website: http://www.divebluegrotto.com/index.php/the-blue-grotto



VIDEO LINK: Going Deep and Dark in the Blue Grotto, New Year's 2015 - YouTube

The Amazing Adrian Carton de Wiart: The Unkillable Soldier

Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart was a one-eyed, one-handed war hero who fought in three major conflicts across six decades, surviving plane crashes and PoW camps. His story is like something out of a Boy's Own comic.

Carton de Wiart served in the Boer War, World War One and World War Two. In the process he was shot in the face, losing his left eye, and was also shot through the skull, hip, leg, ankle and ear.

In WW1 he was severely wounded on eight occasions and mentioned in despatches six times.

Having previously lost an eye and a hand in battle, Carton de Wiart, as commanding officer, was seen by his men pulling the pins of grenades out with his teeth and hurling them with his one good arm during the Battle of the Somme, winning the Victoria Cross. (CONTINUED)

FULL ARTICLE HERE: BBC News - Adrian Carton de Wiart: The unkillable soldier

Hottest year ever? Giant clam reveals Middle Ages were warmer than today | Watts Up With That?

From the Chinese Academy of Sciences:

Two recent papers, one is in Earth-Science Reviews and the other is in Chinese Science Bulletin, have studied key chemical contents in micro-drilled giant clams shells and coral samples to demonstrate that in the South China Sea the warm period of the Middle Ages was warmer than the present.

The scientists examined surveys of the ratio of strontium to calcium content and heavy oxygen isotopes, both are sensitive recorders of sea surface temperatures past and present. The aragonite bicarbonate of the Tridacna gigas clam-shell is so fine-grained that daily growth-lines are exposed by micro-drilling with an exceptionally fine drill-bit, allowing an exceptionally detailed time-series of sea-temperature changes to be compiled – a feat of detection worthy of Sherlock Holmes himself.

By using overlaps between successive generations of giant clams and corals, the three scientists – Hong Yan of the Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Willie Soon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Yuhong Wang of Fudan University, Shanghai – reconstructed a record of sea-surface temperature changes going back 2500 years.

The Roman and Mediaeval Warm Periods both showed up prominently in the western Pacific and East Asia. Sea surface temperatures varied considerably over the 2500-year period. (CONTINUED)

FULL ARTICLE HERE: Hottest year ever? Giant clam reveals Middle Ages were warmer than today | Watts Up With That?

Kudos to Sisi: Egyptian President Calls for ‘Religious Revolution’ in Islam | Washington Free Beacon

JERUSALEM—In a speech on New Year’s day, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called for a “religious revolution” in Islam that would displace violent jihad from the center of Muslim discourse.

“Is it possible that 1.6 billion people (Muslims worldwide) should want to kill the rest of the world’s population—that is, 7 billion people—so that they themselves may live?” he asked. “Impossible.”

Speaking to an audience of religious scholars celebrating the birth of Islam’s prophet, Mohammed, he called on the religious establishment to lead the fight for moderation in the Muslim world. “You imams (prayer leaders) are responsible before Allah. The entire world—I say it again, the entire world—is waiting for your next move because this umma (a word that can refer either to the Egyptian nation or the entire Muslim world) is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost—and it is being lost by our own hands.” (CONTINUED)

FULL ARTICLE HERE: Egyptian President Calls for ‘Religious Revolution’ in Islam | Washington Free Beacon

Drift-Diving Down the Rainbow River, Florida on New Year's 2015

A Lynnhaven Dive Center (Virginia Beach, VA) contingent went diving in Florida around and about Crystal River City south of Gainsville during New Year's week. On New Year's Day our second stop was at K.P. Hole Park on the Rainbow River to hop a pontoon boat that would take us a mile and a quarter upstream for a drift-dive back to a rendezvous point an hour or so later.

Rainbow Springs is the core of Rainbow Springs State Park with numerous vents that issue 400 - 600 million gallons of crystalline water daily and create the Rainbow River, which has great visibility and plenty of underwater wildlife and vegetation. A great dive!

Diving Devil's Den Florida on New Year's Eve 2014, Video No. 1 - YouTube

I went on a four day diving trip with Lynnhaven Dive Center (Virginia Beach, VA), starting with Devil's Den near Williston, Florida, south of Gainsville, on New Year's Eve. Here is the first video from the first dive I made. Devil's Den is a karst window, in which the roof over a subterranean river has collapsed, exposing the water to the open surface, It's considered a cavern in commercial travel parlance, with rock formations millions of years old. It does have caves that extend even deeper than the cavern area depth of 60 plus feet, but those are off-limits to the public, too dangerous for anyone but certified cave divers. I shot this with a SeaLife DC600.

More tidbits: Devil's Den is also recognized as a prehistoric site. by the State of Florida because of the many varied fossils found in the cavern and adjoining caves, including the bones of a human male dating to 7500 B.C. A partial mastodon skeleton was also recovered and put on display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.  Other remains include Pleistocene species such as ground sloths, camels, horses, dire wolves, bog lemmings, Florida spectacled bears, saber-toothed cats, and peccaries.



VIDEO LINK: Diving Devil's Den Florida on New Year's Eve 2014, Dive No. 1 - YouTube