When Belgium police stopped the terror threat two days ago they discovered the suspects held police uniforms at their hideout, along with a cache of assault rifles, knives and explosives. Now reports are surfacing that sleeper cells in England, France, Germany and Belgium are active.
Police and security agencies all over Europe are on high alert as suspected terror cells are being rounded up.
WASHINGTON – Up to 20 sleeper cells comprising 120 to 180 people may be ready to strike targets in several European countries, intelligence source say in the wake of the discovery of an “imminent threat” of an attack in Belgium this week.
More than two dozen people with suspected ties to Islamic extremists were arrested in a sweep Friday, and an unnamed Western intelligence source told CNN that as many as 20 sleeper cells are ready to strike targets in France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
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(Via Deadline) American Sniper is huge. So huge that the Clint Eastwood-directed film could, by sunrise, make more in one day than any one of his films ever made in a weekend. Per late night industry estimates, the Warner Bros./Village Roadshow pic looks to gun down $29.1M in its first expanded Friday, within inches of blowing away Eastwood’s previous weekend high, 2009’s Gran Torino at $29.5M.
Hands down, American Sniper’s Friday booty ranks as the highest grossing day ever charted by a film in January – and that goes for an opening (previous record holder was 2008’s Cloverfield at $17.16M) and single day (prior was the $25.8M B.O. racked up by Avatar on Jan. 2, 2010).  (continue reading)

Again, not a fan of his fanatic cling to all things Democrat. But on the subjects of Free Speech, Islamophobia and challenging liberals in their hypocrisy regarding Islam, he is 100%. Salty Language Alert

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If you’ve been with us for a while, and you know about the 2010 Rivkin Project, you are able to see the profound confirmation to our 2011 analysis contained within this message from President Obama.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Europe must do more to better integrate its Muslim communities, and not “simply respond with a hammer”, US President Barack Obama said Friday in the wake of last week’s terror attacks in France.

“Our biggest advantage, major, is that our Muslim populations – they feel themselves to be Americans,” Obama told a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

“There are parts of Europe in which that’s not the case. And that’s probably the greatest danger that Europe faces… it’s important for Europe not to simply respond with a hammer and law enforcement and military approaches to these problems.”

Understand the Rivkin Project HERE

This is not a Saturday Night Live sketch, this is real [I cannot stop laughing]. This has to be the ultimate representative optic of all things liberal and ridiculous.
In an effort to repair the optics stemming from the White House skipping the French “unity rally”, someone, somewhere, probably Secretary Kerry himself, thought it would be a great idea to take James Taylor to France to sing “you’ve got a friend” publicly, on stage, with Secretary Kerry – as the liberal audience/media look on swooningly….
I just cannot stop laughing. This is too funny to even be embarrassed. Watch:

Locally the Durham North Carolina media are reporting the typical leftist reason for backing down, threats from religious right wing extremists and zealots.  However, the reality is that Reverend Franklin Graham virtually single-handedly was about to destroy the University’s financial future….
Via Todd Starnes – Duke University has abandoned its plan to transform the bell tower on the Methodist school’s neo-gothic cathedral into a minaret where the Muslim call to prayer was to be publicly broadcast.
“Duke remains committed to fostering an inclusive, tolerant and welcoming campus for all of its students,” university spokesman Michael Schoenfeld said in a statement. “However, it was clear that what was conceived as an effort to unify was not having the intended effect.”
The first adhan, or call to prayer, had been scheduled to be broadcast on Jan. 16. University officials said, the Islamic chant, which includes the words “Allahu Akbar” would have been “moderately amplified” — in both English and Arabic.
However, the decision brought a firestorm of national criticism from a number of high profile leaders including Franklin Graham, the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham.

Graham said Muslims have a right to worship in America. He also said there are millions of “wonderful people in Islam that want to live their life and raise their children and they want to be free.” But he also said that Islam is not a peaceful religion.

In a Thursday interview with WRAL News, Graham refused to back down, even for those Muslims who have condemned radical Islamic actions.
“I don’t feel I owe an apology to anybody. I think Duke University, they owe an apology,” he said. “They’re the ones who owe the apology to Christian students and the ones who donated money for the chapel.”  (link)

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Asia Times Online,  Jan 16/2015:
Saudi reset with Iran unavoidable, as Saudi Prince Turki renames IS “Fahesh” (obscene)….

The terrorist strike last week on the Saudi border post facing the Iraqi province of Anbar — known to be the Islamic State’s first assault on the kingdom — could be the proverbial straw on the camel’s back, forcing Riyadh into a profound rethink of its regional strategies imbued with the rivalries involving Iran…
Tehran has effectively countered the Saudi plots in Syria and Iraq and at the moment would seem to have the upper hand. The last-ditch Saudi attempt to hurt the Iranian economy by forcing a steep decline in oil prices is not only not having the desired effect but, as President Hassan Rouhani explicitly warned yesterday, Riyadh may end up shooting at its own feet (as well as the Kuwaiti brother’s).

However, it is the attack on the Saudi post by the IS (killing two border guards and their commanding officer) that becomes a defining moment. The fact that the IS attackers included three Saudi nationals must be a rude awakening. To be sure, the blowback has begun. The Saudis hope to erect a ‘great wall’ and insulate themselves from the IS barbarians next door but that is sheer bravado.
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Belgium (AP) – Two people were killed when Belgian police halted what local officials are calling “a second Paris,” a reference to last week’s terror attacks in the French capital.

The deaths occurred Thursday evening as anti-terror police carried out an anti-terror operation in the small city of Verviers, about 80 miles east of Brussels, officials confirmed in a Thursday evening press conference. Another person was seriously injured and has been detained.
The suspected terrorists are Arab-French, recently returned from Syria and are believed to have Islamic State ties, according to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. (more…)