I like this photo of Gov. LePage holding the Heritage Foundation’s copy of the US Constitution.
Update!Reader Dana sent us this link. 16 Test positive for TB at Sacramento area high school—wonder where it came from???
Not physically slapped around, but verbally in the Bangor Daily News which apparently wants to debunk his claim. Note the first sentence of the story by Christopher Cousins—if you don’t read beyond that, you have been told what the media wants you to believe.
….however, there are a large number of ACTIVE TB cases in Maine!
Regular readers may remember that Maine has become the go-to state for asylum seekers—migrants who got into the country one way or another and are now seeking ‘refugee’ status. In Maine, while they are waiting for the decision, they can get various social services that are not available elsewhere.
There may be other states that give out welfare to asylum seekers, but I haven’t read about those. Gov. LePage has been attempting to remove the sweetener that Maine has been providing.
AUGUSTA, Maine — The consensus among public health experts regarding Gov. Paul LePage’s comments linking illegal immigrants to the spread of infectious diseases during his State of the State address on Tuesday is that they have seen no data to back up his claims.
Officials from the LePage administration have provided no substantiation for the comments and have not responded since Wednesday to the Bangor Daily News’ requests for data and comment on the matter.
Here’s what the governor said:
“When a refugee comes here from a foreign country, they get a medical assessment, and we know their health. But when they come here illegally, they don’t get medical assessments. And one thing that we don’t want to see is the uptick of hepatitis C, HIV and tuberculosis. But it is here. We are dealing with it. And it is very costly. So if nothing else, they should be getting a medical assessment when they get here.”
By the way, even if a refugee gets a medical assessment before entering the US, the presence of TB or HIV is not a bar to entry.
So, after many paragraphs of making light of the governor’s comments we come to this one (below) on TB. I was blown away by the number of ACTIVE Tuberculosis cases diagnosed in Maine. Do you remember when one guy with active TB got on a plane somewhere a few years ago and all hell broke loose in the media — well, heck, why isn’t there a lot of news about these ACTIVE cases in Maine? How many are there in other states?
The resettlement industry mouthpieces are quick to tell us that LATENT TB is no big deal. O.K. but what about all these active cases getting in here? Twenty plus cases of ACTIVE TB over three years is a lot of cases—and, you are paying for their meds!
Active tuberculosis cases were higher in 2012 and 2013 than they had been since 2009, with 15 reported cases in 2013. There were less than 10 new cases reported in 2014, according to Hannan’s data. The CDC also tracks latent cases, which means the tuberculosis bacteria is present but the patient shows no symptoms (untreated latent tuberculosis is a precursor to full-blown tuberculosis in up to 10 percent of cases). There were 433 latent cases recorded in 2013, up from 398 in 2012. The CDC report also includes the country of birth for people recorded to have latent tuberculosis. The top countries of origin for latent tuberculosis cases were Angola (41), Burundi (43), Congo (51), Iraq (41), Rwanda (38), Somalia (53) and the United States (78).The 2013 CDC report contains no information about how long the patients had been in Maine before their diagnosis.
See our‘health issues’category for more on diseases, mental health problems and other medical issues involving refugees. I’ve often said that health concerns are going to have a far greater impact on American attitudes toward immigration than the fear of terrorists getting in here.
Editor: This is the 4th in a series of guest posts by ‘Pungentpeppers’ about Bacha Bazi, the Afghan pedophile practice targeting boys that has made its way to the West (including possibly to the US). Go here,here, and here to see the previous reports. Part II (Australia grapples with Bacha Bazi compulsive predators) was our top post last week.
Bacha Bazi & Islam: Devilish Deception, The Mullah’s Response, and Beyond Heaven’s Pearly Gates
“Arab sheikh with servant, 1910. Eugene Chatelain.” http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eug%C3%A8ne_Chatelain_-_Adda_et_le_vieillard,_vers_1910.jpg
Why does Afghanistan, an Islamic country, allow men to prey on boys – men such as Ali Jaffari who came to Australia, bringing his immorality with him? Do these men operate under some grand delusion? Their behavior is perplexing because Islam expressly and clearly and repeatedly forbids homosexuality. Yet in Afghanistan so many men – regardless of ethnic origin – actively engage in sexual activity with underage boys, contrary to religious law. This Bacha Bazi culture also pervades the tribal areas of Pakistan.
Afghanistan’s population is mostly tribal. The prevailing values system, which includes Bacha Bazi, is tribal. The people have values and morals – but their values system is very different from Western values. Their morality also differs from socially acceptable norms found in other Muslim societies. Afghans have adapted Islam to fit their own tribal values and customs. In so doing, they twist certain Islamic teachings into something peculiarly Afghan.
Afghans pedophiles do not admit that they are breaking Islamic law. Incredibly, they claim that Bacha Bazi is permitted and sanctioned by Islam.As usual, the Devil finds ingenious ways to let people deceive themselves.
Some of the deceptions: Women are “impure”; boys without beards are not men; the men are not “in love”, just having sex; the men are not homosexual since they have wives. Such silly arguments are not worth airing. Instead, let’s explore some puzzling Koranic references Afghans use to justify Bacha Bazi.
The Rewards of Paradise: Young, Beautiful, Eternal Boys like Pearls
Bacha Bazi perpetrators say that the Koran allows pedophilia with boys, per passages in the Koran that describe the afterlife in Paradise:
There will circulate among them [servant] boys [especially] for them, as if they were pearls well-protected. [52:24]
There will circulate among them young boys made eternal with vessels, pitchers and a cup [of wine] from a flowing spring. [56:17-18]
There will circulate among them young boys made eternal. When you see them, you would think them [as beautiful as] scattered pearls. [76:19]
These passages, that supposedly justify Bacha Bazi, mention neither sexual rewards nor boys on earth. These eternal beings compared to “pearls”, who are circulating and moving in Paradise and offering refreshments, are called “boys” in English, but the words used for them in Arabic are not identical. Other English translations say they are “youths” or “young men” or “menservants”. The words chosen depend on what the translators think was meant. In Persian, a language used in Afghanistan, the Koran translation for the first entry shows “boy” (in Persian the word is applicable to many different ages), while the second and third ones make use of a term that refers only to pre-teens and teens. You cannot take these translations literally, for they contradict each other. But nowhere do they say that Bacha Bazi is allowed. I will share with you a very different translation in a bit, but first let us make a visit to Afghanistan.
A Mullah’s Dilemma
Islamic cleric Hayat Ed-Din Sahibi
Imagine you are a Mullah (an Islamic clergyman), in Mazar-e-Sharif, where Bacha Bazi is rampant. Yours is a Persian-speaking congregation. Some of the devout have an unshakeable belief that in Heaven, men have sex with pearly pre-teens and teen-aged boys. They grew up with this belief, and if you deny it, they may accuse you, the Mullah, of denying what is in the Koran!Does the Koran lie?! Other members of your congregation have their own Bacha Bazi boys – these men also have guns. Dare you tell them they are not allowed to keep their boys? (Powerful Afghans don’t take kindly to authority.) You know though that boys are being abused and want to discourage Bacha Bazi. What should you tell your congregation?
A cleric named Hayat Ed-Din Sahibi, who preaches in Mazar-e-Sharif, came up with an Afghan approach to discourage his flock from trying to replicate Heaven here on Earth. Speaking in Dari, he preached, “Those who do not get caught in the sins of Bacha Bazi will have God give them beautiful boys in Paradise.” Now I don’t know what his motivations were, or what he really believes. Yes, he told his followers there are benefits to abstinence; but he told them also, in essence, that there is pedophilia in Heaven.
Because this Mullah’s sermons are on YouTube, and they are shared on Facebook, word about this and some other of his unusual sermons got around to Iran, the country next door. Some people reacted fiercely – Mullah Hayat Ed-Din was labeled a liar, and accused of deceiving and misleading uneducated people into thinking there was room in Heaven for the sins the Prophet Lot forbade (i.e., sodomy). They stated he was symbolic of the hopeless backwardness that is Afghanistan.
Typically Afghans were reluctant to criticize the Mullah. Though some denied he said certain things, his words are recorded and on the internet. Others said it was a “mistake” or he spoke thus because of where he preaches. However, it is apparent that they don’t like ignorance and wrong things being said. Perhaps, eventually – though it may take a very long time or a miracle – Bacha Bazi will become unacceptable in Afghanistan. But in the meantime, keep an eye open, in case it arrives to your shores!
What Really Awaits the Faithful Behind Those Pearly Gates?
Islamic scholars differ on the meanings of certain passages in the Koran. The knowledge gap is especially wide because the origins of the Koran go back 1400 years. In any language, the meanings of words and phrases change over time. To understand the true meaning you must understand the historical context. Further, since the Koran’s references to Christian beliefs are numerous, Christian teachings can be studied along with the Koran to see whether they shed light on puzzling passages of the Koran.
Pink grapes, pink pearls
Scholars have given many different explanations for the Koran’s unusual references to “boys” who are “like pearls” and are circulating. I have put some of them in the links. Historical linguists, however, say the “boys” are not boys in the sense of humans, but are instead “fruits”, specifically grapes. Grapes are the refreshment in Paradise that is circulating, not boys or youths.
At the Last Supper, Jesus said in Aramaic, “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Matthew 26:29) The “fruit” of the vine are grapes that are pressed to make new wine.
The language of Jesus, Aramaic, has a dialect called Syriac. Syriac became the language used by Eastern Christians. Jesus’ word was spread throughout the Near East through the Syriac Bible. Syriac was also the major medium of communication in the regions north of the Arabian peninsula and was used by Arab traders. The Syriac language is a close cousin to Arabic.
The Syriac Bible relates the above passage from the Last Supper. For the word fruit it gives “yalda”. The word “yalda” means “child” or “birth” or “that which has been born” – i.e., the “child” of the vine is its fruit. In an odd coincidence, we have the word “yield” in English that is also used to mean the product of a crop. In Arabic, the word boy, “walad” is similarly close in sound, but some of the verb forms referring to “giving birth” and “production” drop the “w” and replace it with “y”. At the winter solstice, Persians celebrate the festival of Shab-e-Yalda (night of “Yalda”) and eat the fruit of pomegranate, but the word “Yalda” itself comes from the Syriac for “birth” and “Christmas”, and is related to our “Yule”. Thus, our discussion about Heaven yields all good things: fruits and festivals and feasts.
And yet the Afghans say they are allowed on Godly authority to harm young boys. Truly, theirs is a Devilish deception.
In the next segment, we return to Australia. How will the Australian Parliament protect boys from arriving Bacha Bazi predators?
For additional reading ‘Pungentpeppers’ has forwarded the following links:
Sufism and same-sex relations:
In English, Misunderstanding Sufism
http://www.dar-al-masnavi.org/rumi-shams.html
In Persian, Sufism and pederasty:
http://www.adyannet.com/news/12635
About Heaven’s “boys” in Islam:
http://islamqa.info/en/43191
http://www.understanding-islam.com/q-and-a/sources-of-islam/young-boys-for-sex-6385
Islamic teachings on homosexuality:
http://www.missionislam.com/knowledge/homosexuality.htm
About those “Grapes” beyond the Pearly Gates:
“Boys of Paradise” An excerpt from “The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran: A Contribution to the Decoding of the Language of the Koran” by Christoph Luxenberg
http://books.google.com/books?id=227GhaeKYl4C&pg=PA284&hl=fr&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false
“Virgins? What Virgins?” “The Guardian” book review:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jan/12/books.guardianreview5
.
“The Qur’an: Misinterpreted, Mistranslated, And Misread. The Aramaic Language Of The Qur’an” by Gabriel Sawma.
http://www.openisbn.com/isbn/9780977860692/
See Part One for a link to a short YouTube video on Bacha Bazi in Mazar-e-Sharif, Hayat Ed-Din’s region:
Article about Hayat Ed-Din and Bacha Bazi in Heaven (Persian)
http://vocir.org/2014/12/09/%D9%88%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%87-%D9%84%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B7-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%A8%D9%87%D8%B4%D8%AA-%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%B7-%DB%8C%DA%A9-%D9%85%D9%84%D8%A7-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%BA%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%AA/#more-3468
Opinion piece about Hayat Ed-Din (Persian):
http://www.roushd.com/newsIn.php?id=14682
Top countries from which visitors arrived (besides the US):
Australia
Canada
UK
France
Malta (those Maltese seemed to like the Le Pen story)
New Zealand
Germany
Sweden
Netherlands
Finland
And, although we don’t normally go beyond the top ten, next after Finland was Romania (that is a first to find that country so high on the list).
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The UN is testing a new way of keeping track of who is who in refugee camps around the world, but here is the hitch—they first must have real proof of who you really are. They don’t say that of course, but that is the ultimate problem with the system. You could be anyone who shows up at a camp and reports that you have no papers (you were running for your life, but maybe you have a criminal record in S. Africa), give a name, any name, and soon have a rock solid identity and a UN ID card.
So who, exactly, am I? Refugees line up at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi.
Come to think of it, wouldn’t it be great to have such an ID (with Iris data!) to vote in the US (of course with the proper paperwork to prove who you are in the first place and that you are a legal citizen). Walk in, have your Iris scanned and then vote!
DZALEKA, Malawi, January 22 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has completed initial testing of a new biometrics system that should help it better register and protect people, verify their identity and target assistance for the forcibly displaced in operations around the world.
The identification management tool, which is being developed by UNHCR with a private sector company, was tested here at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi last month. It stores fingerprints, iris data and photographs for facial recognition and will include an emergency feature to aid in fixing populations in advance of full registration. For refugees without ID, this becomes a vital record.
[….]
Refugees questioned by UNHCR said they were happy because now there was a permanent record of their identity. Many refugees lose their documents during flight and this can cause them problems later and restrict access to aid and protection. “I can be someone now. I am registered globally with the UN and you’ll always know who I am,”said 43-year-old Congolese refugee Olivier Mzaliwa, echoing the thoughts of other refugees.
This is getting to be old news. The only thing new is the location!
This time it is Texas—the state which is now receiving the largest number of refugees in America.
Earlier today we told you about Bosnian refugeesbusted for supporting ISIS. In this case the Somali we gave a home to (food, education, healthcare etc.) was helping Al-Shabaab.
So much for that thorough security screening we keep hearing about!
“On the same day that President Barack Obama decided to take a swipe at Christians and continues to use euphemisms to describe Muslim terrorists, a Somali national living in San Antonio, Texas, was sentenced on Thursday to 15 years in federal prison for his conspiring to provide material support to the radical Islamic group Al Shabaab. The Somalia-based Islamist group is designated by both the U.S. State and Treasury Departments as a foreign terrorist organization. The defendant, Abdinassir Mohamud Ibrahim, was also convicted for lying in order to get refugee status to enter the U.S., according to Justice Department officials.
Ibrahim, a citizen of Somalia, had been charged and pleaded guilty to both criminal offenses on July 31, 2014. The 43-year-old Ibrahim confessed that for about four-years beginning in May 18, 2010, he conspired with other supporters of Muslim terrorism to provide material support to Al Shabaab. Somalia’s Al Shabaab is affiliated with what’s known as “core” al-Qaida.
“This Somali, like many others living in the United States, lied to get into the country, lied to get refugee status and lied about his loyalties. One can only estimate how many more ‘Ibrahims’ are out and about in our country,” said former police counterterrorism unit member Pauline Soulters. “And yet we have a Commander in Chief who wants to talk about the 11th and 12th Century Catholic Church rather than the 21st Century Muslim jihad,” she added. Soulters was referring to comments made by President Barack Obama during a prayer breakfast in which he gave a lecture about the evils committed by Christians during the Crusades.”
Haven’t rounded up for two weeks—away last weekend!
This is getting to be old news. The only thing new is the location!