Genetic Literacy Project

The Human Condition:

Why Americans respond to drug placebos more than any other nationality

Ben Locwin | Genetic Literacy Project

Remarkably the placebo effect--a fake treatment in which a person taking an inactive substance like sugar, water or saline solution reports feeling better simply because the person has the expectation that it will be helpful. seems to be influenced by where you live

Could we functionally cure HIV through gene editing?

Meredith Knight | Genetic Literacy Project

Charlie Sheen’s HIV announcement put AIDs back in the headlines. Gene editing may provide the chance to eliminate the disease.

Obesity is in our head and in our genes

Andrew Porterfield | Genetic Literacy Project

The sources of obesity look more biological, and less psychological, which opens new avenues toward addressing the crisis. Finding answers has never been more important, and will probably come from a complex array of factors, including diet, exercise, and biology.

Why elephants almost never get cancer–and why that might save human lives

Caitlin A. Nichols | Genetic Literacy Project

Why don’t elephants die of cancer nearly as often as humans, even though they have about 100 times as many cells? The answer to that question may save your life.

Answers to why we age may lie in genes

Neuroscience News

Genes offer clues to why grandparents remain mentally alert

Kelli Whitlock Burton | American Association for the Advancement of Science

Genetics tells us to rethink ‘one size fits all’ healthy diet

Fiona Rutherford | BuzzFeed

Genes trump parenting in shaping who we are

Brian Boutwell | Quillette

Government-funded poop bank delving into gut microbiome

Sarah Zhang | Wired

Agriculture:

Dizzying definitions: Consumers tell FDA what ‘natural’food means to them

Elaine Watson | Food Navigator
The FDA will have its work cut out when it comes to coming up with a workable definition of ‘natural’, if the comments submitted to the FDA thus far are anything to go by. The comments – which you can read HERE -are in response to an FDA call to actionissued on November 10 inviting views on whether it is appropriate to define‘natural’ on food labels, and if so, what the definition should be. The FDA has also asked whether consumers view 'natural' and 'healthy' as "synonymous terms", and whether shoppers confuse the terms 'natural' and 'organic'. So far, most of the 781 comments available for viewing in the docket from the 2,110 received are from consumers, with the leading food companies and trade associations likely to request for the comment period to be extended or failing that, submit their views just prior to the Feb 10 deadline. Down the rabbit hole... So what can we learn from the comments submitted thus far?...

It’s all bug spray in the end: Organic pesticides not necessarily safer for bees

Andrew Porterfield | Genetic Literacy Project

Many critics of conventional agriculture claim organic food is grown with "natural" and "botanical" pesticides that are safer than synthetic products. Some studies are starting to dispel this belief.

Engineering debates on GMOs: How to change minds when emotions overrule science

Iida Ruishalme | Genetic Literacy Project

Discussions about GMOs often degenerate into shouting matches, especially on line. The science minded should consider the psychology of how views are formed. Don't 'fight with facts' or just science; respect and curiosity works best.

Is Europe’s opposition to importing GMOs violating trade agreements?

Andrew Porterfield | Genetic Literacy Project

The World Trade Organization ruled that the EU violated treaties when it banned GM imports. What's happened since?

Trade and economic growth, not pesticides, major driver of beehive declines?

Andrew Porterfield | Genetic Literacy Project

Declines in bee health have been blamed on pesticides and other factors. A new study suggests that economic changes may be the primary causal problem.

Engineering debates on GMOs: How to change minds when emotions overrule science

Iida Ruishalme | Genetic Literacy Project

Discussions about GMOs often degenerate into shouting matches, especially on line. The science minded should consider the psychology of how views are formed. Don't 'fight with facts' or just science; respect and curiosity works best.

Monsanto to go carbon-neutral by 2021, in part by leveraging low till GMOs

Jim Salter | Associated Press

Beta carotene-fortified potatoes paving way for biofortified African cassava

Patricia Waldron | Boyce Thompson Institute

Environmentalist opposition to AquaAdvantage salmon ‘irrational, self-contradictory’

Steven Novella | Blog

To make case for GMOs, big corporations must earn back public trust with transparency

Marcelo Gleiser | NPR

Here’s how to do GMO labeling so everyone wins

Nathanael Johnson | Grist

Media paint modern agriculture as ‘boogeyman,’ but science disagrees

Thomas R. DeGregori | Butterflies and Wheels

For science to carry more weight in GMO debate, it needs to be more transparent

Daryll E. Ray, Harwood D. Schaffer | AgWeek

Western Australia to begin trials of GM medflies in attempt to control pest

Bridget Fitzgerald | ABC Rural

Drought stricken Indian state of Maharashtra looks to GM sugar cane to preserve crop

Jayashree Bhosale | Economic Times

GMO rice dramatically reduces farm greenhouse gas emissions

James Conca | Forbes

From Jon Ray's Dissecting Leftism

What’s Next in the Terrifying, Unraveling Russo-Turkish Crisis

Sometimes political leaders do insanely stupid things, with horrific consequences for millions

By John R. Schindler

The downing of a Russian Su-24 bomber jet on November 24 by a Turkish F-16 fighter on the Turkish-Syrian border, where the two air forces have been playing high-speed cat-and-mouse games for months, opened a new and dangerous phase in an international crisis that’s long been brewing on low-boil.  Although President Recep Erdoğan’s Turkey and President Vladimir Putin’s Russia are ancestral foes, in recent years the countries had enjoyed a cordial relationship with substantial trade between them and significant alignments on many security issues, notwithstanding the former’s NATO membership going back to the early Cold War. As the Middle East has gone up in flames since the Arab Spring, a Russo-Turkish partnership might have gone a long way in preventing wider conflagration.   Alas, any regional cooperation between Ankara and Moscow has broken up on Syrian rocks, with the two countries pursuing contrary goals in that sad country, which has experienced the torments of hell since its civil war began in spring 2011. While Mr. Putin has backed its proxy—the Assad dictatorship in Damascus—to the hilt, Mr. Erdoğan has quietly supported anti-Assad guerrilla groups with equal determination…..To Read More…..

Islam Can't Be Reformed and Still Exist!

Time to Reform Islam, James Arlandson

Islamic law must be reformed. But will we see it in our lifetime? Can any part of Islamic law be reformed?Not all of it, but let's see if we can open a dialogue. My only platform or right to speak is that I spent endless hours from 2004-2007 studying and writing about Islam. I felt it was my duty to write critically about its unpleasant aspects because back then hardly anyone knew about them. Then I updated my sharia articles in 2012, culminating in a long summary.  I'm not going back to writing about this religion, but with the terrorist attacks on 11/13 in Paris, I would like to offer a possible path for reform.  Are there any Muslims who have the courage? Are they teachable?....

The Logic of Islamic Intolerance, Raymond Ibrahim

 

Why Western secular relativists and multiculturalists -- who currently dominate media, academia, and politics -- are incapable of understanding, much less responding to, the logic of Islamic intolerance - A sermon delivered by popular Saudi Sheikh Muhammad Salih al-Munajjid clearly demonstrates why Western secular relativists and multiculturalists -- who currently dominate media, academia, and politics -- are incapable of understanding, much less responding to, the logic of Islamic intolerance.  During his sermon, al-Munajjid said that “some [Muslim] hypocrites” wonder why it is that “we [Muslims] don’t permit them [Western people] to build churches, even though they allow mosques to be built.” The Saudi sheikh responded by saying that any Muslim who thinks this way is “ignorant”….. Do you want another other than Allah to be worshiped”….. although “intolerant” from a Western perspective, it is, in fact, quite logically consistent and reveals the wide gap between Islamic rationalism and Western fantasy (despite how oxymoronic this dichotomy might sound)…… From an Islamic paradigm -- where Allah is the true god and Muhammad his final messenger -- “intolerance” for other religions is logical and difficult to condemn…… And no matter how violent, Islamic jihad -- terrorism -- will always be exonerated in Muslim eyes as fundamentally “altruistic.” On the other hand, Western secularists and multiculturalists, who believe in nothing and deem all cultures and religions equal, will continue to respect Islam and empower Muslims, convinced that terrorism is an un-Islamic aberration destined to go away -- that is, they will continue disbelieving their own eyes. Such is the offspring of that unholy union between Islamic logic and Western fallacy.......

Japan’s Cute Army

By Matt Alt

Surrounded on all sides by ocean, postwar Japan has long been able to rely upon the United States military for strategic protection. But tense territorial disputes with neighboring countries, the capture and beheading of two Japanese journalists by ISIS in February, and the horror of the terror attacks in Paris have all served to remind the Japanese of the limits of physical isolation and dependence upon others. This, in turn, has fed an ongoing debate over the mission of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Is their role truly one of self-defense, pure and simple? Or does the Japanese constitution allow for preëmptive strikes outside of domestic borders, in the manner of a traditional military? The question won’t be settled anytime soon. But it’s fascinating to watch how Japan’s armed forces have endeared themselves to the Japanese public. The militaries of many nations harness mass media and pop culture for promotional purposes: the United States coöperates with Hollywood; Russia ostentatiously unveils a three-tiered “war center” seemingly modelled on a Bond villain’s lair. Japan is no different. But what makes their military unusual is that the image being projected isn’t one of might or machismo but of cuteness….To Read More…

Obama's Ledger Sheet

Obama's Real Legacy: Ten Ticking Time Bombs
By Dean F. Clancy
Every president is finally remembered by a single sentence. George Washington was the father of our country and the first president. Abraham Lincoln saved the Union and freed the slaves. Ronald Reagan revived the economy and defeated the Soviet Union. Bill Clinton reformed welfare and balanced the budget.   What about Barack Obama? How will he be remembered? He was our first black president and killed bin Laden? He screwed up our health care? Not quite Mount Rushmore material, I’d say.  Still, it would be unfair to call President Obama an underachiever. He boasts a rather impressive legacy, in the negative column.    How many presidents, after all, have managed to increase federal spending by one-fifth and the national debt by two-thirds? What president can compete with him on having expanded presidential power via executive action, often without legal authority? Next to him, Nixon and LBJ look like schoolgirls. And who even comes close to his electoral record? Under Mr. Obama, Democrats have lost 69 House seats, 13 Senate seats, both houses of Congress, 12 governorships, 30 state legislative chambers, and more than 900 state legislative seats. Let no one say this man was inconsequential.....

 

Outrage as military vehicles, equipment taken from officers in wake of Obama order, By Adam Shaw

Valuable vehicles and equipment are being yanked from law enforcement agencies across the country by the Obama administration in the wake of the president’s post-Ferguson order -- as sheriffs and lawmakers tell FoxNews.com the equipment is needed, and losing it could put officers and the communities they serve in danger.  “These things are useful tools and the president taking them away will put more officers in jeopardy and at risk of harm or even death. I don’t know how he can sleep at night knowing his actions will have those repercussions,” Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., told FoxNews.com. President Obama issued Executive Order 13688 in January after the 2014 riots in Ferguson, Mo., amid concerns about the “militarization” of the police fueling a heavy-handed response.......

46 Times President Obama Told Americans "That's Not Who We Are", by David Rutz President Obama is fond of telling Americans “that’s not who we are” when admonishing them about not agreeing with his liberal principles, a new SuperCut shows. Not unlike his warning to political opponents that they may be on the “wrong side of history,” the expression is useful in its ability to shut down conversation and seize a moral high ground, however imaginary. Obama has deployed the term to convince the country of his rightness on immigration, Obamacare, education, national security and not voting for Mitt Romney, among other important issues to his presidency.....

Another White House Scandal: Dumbed Down Intelligence

By Amil Imani and James Hyde

"Where intelligence starts and stops is at the White House," Lt. General Michael Flynn gruffly exclaimed in response to a question posed by Megyn Kelly on The Kelly File. "The president sets the priorities, and he's the number-one customer. So if he's not getting the intelligence that he needs, and if he's not paying attention to what else is going on, then something else is wrong there between them and the advisers that he has.".....Flynn, a no-nonsense, intensely bright, and "ground-truth" general, has been an intrepid and stormy critic of the Obama administration, its "whack a mole" air campaign against ISIS, and its mealy-mouthed narrative about terrorism in general. He is the tip of the spear of a growing vanguard of those in the intelligence sector who fiercely defend their craft and the solid information they provide. Top-notch analysts have been appalled to learn that the intel they've been supplying has been watered down like a glass of cheap wine in a cheesy bar.

Obama and Israel: Nothing Has Changed, Nothing Will Change

Abraham H. Miller

Amid the hoopla of the 2008 election campaign, when much of the world saw candidate Barack Obama as the very incarnation of the messiah, and some even openly proclaimed him so, the Israelis were not buying the narrative. Neither have they since.  Their skepticism was not to be disconfirmed. If Candidate Obama's embrace of the anti-Israel narrative of Rashid Khalidi or Edward Said was insufficient, there was President Obama's speech in Cairo, to which he insisted the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood be invited. In this speech, Obama conveniently ignored the historic Jewish ties to the land of Israel and invoked the Holocaust as the reason for Israel's existence. Even the left-leaning Ha'aretz newspaper found this sufficiently objectionable to call for Obama to rectify his misleading statements.  This narrative, fashionable throughout the Islamic world and one that denies there were ever Jews in the land of Judea is now orthodoxy among the mindless, atheistic Left, with whom Obama shares ideological kinship….

Obama Calls For Gun Control With Killers Still At Large in San Bernardino Shooting in Gun Free Zone
Pam Geller
OBAMA: Never letting a good mass shooting go to waste…..He wastes no time. The body count isn’t even in. But Obama has a knee-jerk strategy for shootings – whether it’s Fort Hood, Garland, Texas, Chattanooga …. he politicizes them to push for the unthinkable — gun control. He calls for disarming Americans, the only hope we have of surviving such an attacks is arming law-abiding citizens. Jihadis and criminals will always be able to get weapons. They don’t obey laws.  Inland Regional Center, the sight of today’s mass shooting in California is a GUN FREE ZONE. Previous targets of shootings were all gun-free zones with the exception of our free speech event in Garland, Texas.

Chicagoland: Why no march for executed 9-year-old?

Larry Elder tells of boy playing in park when gang killers lured him to his death

 Larry Elder About | Email | Archive

 In October 2014, 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was shot and killed by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke.   The dash-cam video of the shooting was not released until a few days ago, when ordered by a judge. Right before the video’s release, the county prosecutor announced the intention to charge Van Dyke with first-degree murder. The excessive charge and the timing were done, presumably, to mollify potential protesters because the prosecutor called the investigation “ongoing.”……...on a warm Nov. 2 as 83-pound Tyshawn (Lee) played in Dawes Park near his grandmother’s Auburn Gresham home, prosecutors said. One of the three chatted up Tyshawn, walked with him to the alley and then shot him five times as Morgan and the third individual looked on from a black SUV....... the boy was targeted because of his father’s gang involvement.”  If anybody marched on the Magnificent Mile to protest yet another Chicago killing – this time the cold-blooded murder of 9-year-old Tyshawn – the media failed to notice........Chicago – so far – has seen almost 450 homicides, mostly black on black, and mostly involving young blacks. Incredibly, only 25 percent or so are solved.......A killing by a cop causes “activists” to hit the streets. But a black 9-year-old targeted and killed by three black gang members – no march. What about agitating against a welfare state that encourages women to marry the government – and men to abandon their financial and moral responsibilities?......To Read More….

Colorado's crime rate was declining... until they legalized marijuana

By Sierra Rayne

Despite what the Big Pot lobbyists claim, the evidence is starting to mount that Colorado's experiment with legalized marijuana has led to increased crime in the state.   According to the latest 2014 Crime in Colorado report by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the crime rate -- based on arrests statistics -- increased 9 percent from 2013 to 2014. But that is only part of the story. Looking back on the crime rate data over the preceding decade, the state's crime rate was rapidly declining (by 32 percent overall) from 2004 through 2012. Since 2012, the crime rate has increased more than 21 percent……To Read More…..

 

My Take - When will we learn if the left supports something - anything - then that's more than adequate reason to be against it? Truth is the sublime convergence of history and reality. Historically dystopia follows leftism - everywhere and in every arena. Reality demonstrates that basic fundamental truth. Why do we listen to their insanity? Because people in positions of power and responsibility in government, the media, academia and industry selfishly promote this clabber because they'll benefit in some way. 

 

They must be insane because history has shown they will pay the same penalty as the rest of society eventually. They must know that! But it's like those who kept investing in real estate as the housing bubble kept expanding beyond the ability to recover. They kept thinking they were smart enough to get out at the right time - and they knew the collapse was coming at some point. But greed kept getting in the way of wisdom! They just couldn't leave a nickel on the table and walk away. Unfortunately they always take the rest of society down with them. 

 

That's history - that's reality!

Logical fallacy: "Appeal to the stone"

By Rich Kozlovich

I'm an almost 70 year old autodidact.  The benefit of being self-taught is you aren't taught what to think.  You teach yourself how to think.  The problem with being self-taught is a failure to know what you should learn.  An autodidact kind of stubles on these things by reading extensively.

I think Thomas Sowell is one of the finest thinkers in the nation today - take a look at his articles, especially his "Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene".  I've read a couple of his books and one of them started out saying he was only going to discuss three logical fallacies in this book.  I stopped and said to myself - what the heck is a logical fallacy and it he's only going to discuss three - how many are there?  That was about ten years ago and since I'm a well read person and I never knew anything about logical fallacies I don't look down on anyone who's never heard of them.  However, once we discover these things we should endeavor to undertake a study of them. 

Logical fallacies are a foundational part of any discussion. Did you ever get into an intellectual disagreement with someone where you know you're right but can't explain why they're wrong? Certainly that can make you wonder whether or not you really are right! However, often times it isn't because you're wrong – it's because their arguments are filled with logical fallacies - all of which are easily overcome if you can recognize them.

Lets start with the logical fallacy known as Appeal to the Stone. This fallacy “consists in dismissing a statement as absurd without giving proof of its absurdity.” The name of this fallacy is attributed to Dr. Samuel Johnson, who refuted Bishop Berkeley's immaterialist philosophy (that there are no material objects, only minds and ideas in those minds), by kicking a large stone and asserting, "I refute it thus."

One given example of this fallacy is:

Speaker A: Infectious diseases are caused by microbes
Speaker B: That's rediculous!
Speaker A: How so?
Speaker B: It's obviously ridiculous.

Speaker B gives no evidence or reasoning, and when pressed, claims that Speaker A's statement is inherently absurd, thus applying the fallacy.

Although they don't have an exclusive claim on it - I find this to be a common tactic of all leftists. Start paying attention to Hillary Clinton when confronted with accusations of her misdeeds and lies.

Myth busting on ‘contamination’: GMO farms’ halo effect often protects organic farms

Andrew Porterfield | November 23, 2015 | Genetic Literacy Project

According to many activists, the crops of innocent organic farmers are about to overtaken (any moment now) by genetically modified invaders, and despoiled by the chemicals often paired with them. “Organic Farmers Pay the Price for Contamination,” screams a typical blog post headline, this one by Food and Water Watch.........

Activists claim they are taken this position to protect innocent farmers who have not only found their crops contaminated, some of whom, they say, have been sued by Monsanto et al. after the contamination occurred — essentially victimized twice. In fact, there is not one recorded case of that happening — not one court case in the United States or Canada in which a farmer whose crops were accidentally cross fertilized or otherwise were found to have GMO crops growing on their land were sued........

A key point to make: there is no scientific term as “contamination” in agriculture — it’s an ideological designation used to demonize the historically natural phenomenon of cross fertilization........Ironically, If there is any contamination going on, it is often as likely to come from pest species that originated on organic cropland but spread to GMO farms that were otherwise protected from these pests. 

When it comes to contamination, organic pest control methods, including pesticides, have not been effective at controlling insects, weeds, and fungal pests. That point was made in the wake of the Marsh v. Baxter ruling, in which Baxer noted that he believed he had a powerful case that his farm faced “contamination” and not his neighbors organic property:.........To Read More....

From Maury and Dog

Maury Siskel

In the broadest possible sense, my pride in and love of the people and behavior of this nation remains profound. But I cannot quell a growing, deep seated cynicism as I watch the President of this great nation behave as an honest-to-God circus clown who is so inept, so divorced from reality, that he cannot even inspire laughs. I thoroughly enjoy any humor; political, sexual, ethnic, religious, medical, critters (all kinds even including humans), institutional, life & death -- and topics I can't even think of right now. Emotions such as anger, love, bigotry, hate, reverence, admiration, humor, and so on are in the 'eyes' of the sensor, not necessarily at all in the sender.

My biases lead me to believe that our President is ill; his behavior in Paris is so completely odd that try as I might, I find no humor at all in that situation. Man-made CO2 produces global terrorism . . .? There probably are a few billion inhabitants of this planet without even electricity; do you suppose that might lead to some terrorism?

Zica Virus: A New Emerging Disease ~ Lyme Disease cases in Pennsylvania top 10,000

By Jerry Genesio, Researcher and Freelance Writer at Retired

Countries that have past or current evidence of Zica virus transmission (as of October 2015) Southern Hemisphere 11/28/15 reuters.com: by Jeb Blount – A link between a form of fetal brain damage and the mosquito-born zica virus has been confirmed by Brazilian health authorities on Saturday. The link between zica, first medically identified as a new disease half a century ago, and birth defects has never been made. The virus, endemic in parts Africa, South America, Southeast Asia and some Pacific Islands, has until now been blamed for symptoms such as fever, mild headache, skin rashes, joint pain and conjunctivitis, or “red eye.” .......There's more see the link below.....



Lyme Disease

Pennsylvania 11/28/15 outbreaknewstoday.com: by Robert Herriman – Pennsylvania continues to lead the nation in Lyme disease cases as the Commonwealth through Nov. 27 has reported more than 10,000 cases, about one-third of all cases in the US that have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (31,479). This compares to 7,400 cases in 2014 and 5,900 in 2013. In April, Pennsylvania health officials reported for the first time the presence of the Lyme vector, the blacklegged (deer) tick, in all 67 counties. Lyme disease is a huge problem in the US and Pennsylvania, both medically and financially.....To Read More......

A Tick that Feeds on Birds May Increase the Range of Lyme Disease

By Meredith Swett Walker

If you have lived in the northeastern United States any time in the last 25 years or so, you have almost certainly heard of Lyme disease. You may have scrutinized odd-looking insect bites, wondering if they are developing the disease tell-tale bulls-eye rash. And you may have become skilled at distinguishing......Cases of Lyme disease are on the rise. According to the CDC, “Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vector borne illness in the United States.” It is also on the move. While most commonly diagnosed in the northeast and upper Midwest, especially Wisconsin and Minnesota, Lyme disease is spreading geographically, especially into Virginia and the southeastern United States. The CDC estimates that about 300,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme disease each year, afflicting sufferers with flu-like symptoms. If not treated with antibiotics, the infection can cause inflammation of the joints and it can affect the heart and nervous system....... Read more of this post

Preventing Threats from Reaching American Soil

By Representative Bob Gibbs

Earlier this month the House of Representatives voted on H.R. 4038, the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act.  This legislation is a safeguard to help prevent attacks like those we saw in Paris on November 13th. This is important legislation that does the following:

1. Requires comprehensive background checks of every refugee from Iraq or Syria before they can be admitted into the United States.
2. Prevents the admission of Syrian or Iraqi refugees until:
   • The FBI Director certifies the background investigations.
   • The Secretary of Homeland Security, the FBI Director and the Director of National Intelligence certifies with Congress that each refugee is not a security threat.
3. It also creates an additional layer of protection by requiring the DHS Inspector General to independently assess the refugee approvals—making sure that high-risk individuals do not slip through the cracks.

The refugee crisis in Syria is a tragic situation. Millions of people are being displaced by violence and the United States should do everything it can while keeping our own nation safe. It is obvious that ISIS is using the flow of refugees to smuggle terror into Europe. We cannot allow that to happen to the United States. This legislation does not close the refugee program, but ensures that a rigorous and thorough vetting of all refugees coming to America is conducted. We are a generous nation and have welcomed refugees many times in the past but ISIS poses a unique and significant threat that we must take seriously. Furthermore, the United States could and should do more to provide humanitarian assistance to those waiting to be vetted and enter the United States. The President's veto threat of this commonsense legislation shows how unserious he is in confronting Islamic extremism and defeating ISIS.

My Take - Even conservatives of Rep. Gibbs standing are missing the most important point - these Muslim refugees - whether they're actual terrorists or not - are the problem.  This is an invasion that is a form of Jihad, and is required in the Koran to convert the world to Islam.  Note this article Immigration is Jihad:

"Migration is part of the doctrine of jihad. Migration is so important that the Islamic calendar is based upon the Hijra, Mohammed’s migration from Mecca to Medina. Why? Because it was migration that lead to the creation of jihad in Medina. And it was jihad that made Islam triumphant.

In the past Muslims tended to stay in Islamic countries. Today, the new politics is to migrate to Kafir lands and immerse themselves in local politics. This is the jihad of money, writing and speech. Their politics is to bring the Sharia to Kafir culture. An example is using Islamic money is to build departments in universities that will support Sharia and never criticize Islam."

 Why is that so hard to understand?