THIS WEEK IN REVIEW

An entire county’s public schools were closed today in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley region following a controversial homework assignment. In a calligraphy assignment, students were asked to write, in Arabic, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”. Daily Beast 2015 Dec 18 (Story)

The first criminal charges to stem from the recent mass shooting in San Bernardino will be brought against Enrique Marquez, a long-time friend and former neighbor of gunman Syed Rizwan Farook. It was Marquez who bought the semi-automatic rifles that were used in the killing of 14 people a few weeks ago. NBC News 2015 Dec 18 (Story)

France’s former Foreign Minister, Roland Dumas, said in a TV show recorded in 2013 that Britain planned to invade Syria long before protests against Assad began, and that it would do this in order to defend Israel. Activist Post 2015 Dec 17 (Story) (Cached)

US Senator, Jeff Sessions, criticized his fellow Republicans for supporting the new Omnibus spending bill. The 2000-page bill would fund the President’s refugee program; fund sanctuary cities; fund the resettlement of illegal aliens youth and their families crossing the border; lock-in welfare payments (in the form of tax credits) to illegal aliens; and increase the number of foreign workers permitted to replace Americans workers. Prison Planet 2015 Dec 17 (Story)

The Open Ledger Project is an effort by a consortium of banks to adapt bitcoin technology to their own operations. Two of the strongest appeals of bitcoin are that banks are not needed and there is no way to know the identities of those making transactions. [Although details of the Open Ledger Project are not released at this time, it is certain that any system acceptable to the banks or to governments will not include these features.] Wired 2015 Dec 17 (Story) (Cached)

ISIS produces nearly 40 pieces of propaganda each day in various formats ranging from video, to print, to radio. ISIS’ media operations are the group’s primary recruitment tool. The US government refuses to authorize bombing those media outlets, claiming concern over killing civilians. ZeroHedge 2015 Dec 17 (Story) (Cached)

A Turkish member of parliament, Eren Erdem, is facing charges of treason for revealing that ISIS had smuggled poison gas through Turkey for use in Syria, and that Turkish officials did nothing to stop them. Gateway Pundit 2015 Dec 16 (Story) (Cached)

In the latest Republican debate, Governor Christie called for shooting down any Russian planes that fly over Syria in violation of a US no-fly declaration – even though the Russians have been invited to do so by Syria and Iraq. Senator Rand Paul responded by telling the applauding audience that, if they want WW3, Governor Christie is their candidate. InfoWars 2015 Dec 16 (Story)

US: The new Omnibus spending bill, now being considered, likely will be passed with little or no debate. It contains revisions to the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act that will significantly reduce privacy safeguards in the gathering of personal information on citizens. Wired 2015 Dec 16 (Story) (Cached)

Baltimore, Maryland: A mistrial has been declared in the case of Baltimore Police Officer, William Porter, who was charged with the mysterious death of Freddie Gray from injuries incurred while in a police van. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous agreement, partly because the judge denied their request to see the transcript of testimony of witnesses. BBC 2015 Dec 16 (Story) (Cached)

New York: Carolyn Walker-Diallo was elected last month as a judge in Brooklyn’s 7th Municipal District and she took her oath of office using the Koran, the holy book of Islam. NY Daily News 2015 Dec 16 (Story) (Cached)

Thousands of Palestinians rallied in Gaza in support of Hamas, a militant group that believes that only resistance can liberate occupied Palestinian territories. Press TV 2015 Dec 15 (Story)

US: Congressional auditors found that the Environmental Protection Agency broke the law by launching a social-media propaganda campaign to generate support for its Clean Water Rule that gives federal power over streams and wetlands. New American 2015 Dec 15 (Story) (Cached)

The Saudi government announced it is creating a new military force to oppose terrorism and extremism saying that the killing of innocent victims is against the Islamic religion. This is in the wake of increasing international criticism of the Saudis for financing ISIS. AFP 2015 Dec 15 (Story)

Israel says it has conducted a successful test of its Arrow-3 missile. It is capable of destroying targets in space, incoming ballistic missiles, and space satellites. The system was developed by Israel and the US Missile Defense Agency. CNN 2015 Dec 14 (Story)

The US Supreme Court, in a case originating in California, has ruled that state laws relating to contracts are preempted by federal law in matters relating to arbitration. Huff Post 2015 Dec 14 (Story) (Cached)

The Yemeni army, backed by popular committees loyal to the Houthi Ansarullah movement, attacked a Saudi military headquarters in the Yemen’s southwestern province with a surface-to-surface missile that killed more than 80 Saudi troops, including 42 Blackwater mercenaries. The missile also destroyed property that belonged to Blackwater, including two Patriot missile systems, three Apache helicopters, and more than 50 military vehicles. Amnesty International previously condemned Saudi Arabia’s deliberate strikes on schools and hospitals in Yemen as war crimes, calling for the prosecution of those involved. Soldier of Fortune 2015 Dec 13 (Story)

Mexican drug cartels have moved into North Dakota to supply the demand for drugs in the all-male camps for oil workers. CNN posted 2015 Dec 12 (Story)

US: The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says that individuals with ties to terrorist groups in Syria have intentions of infiltrating the United States through the Obama refugee program. Judicial Watch posted 2015 Dec 12 (Story) (Cached)

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