Fearless nun speaks out against Jihadists in rebel army.
A 38-year-old Syrian Christian was kidnapped by Islamist rebels, beheaded, and his corpse fed to dogs, reports The Daily Mail of London.
Speaking from a hidden sanctuary in Lebanon, Mother Agnes-Mariam de la Croix, the Mother Superior of the Melkite-Rite Catholic Monastery of St. James the Mutilated in southern Syria, detailed the murder of fellow Christian Andrei Arbashe.
Twitchy
When politicians, celebrities, and public figures get called out on controversial tweets, their first instinct is often to reach for the social media whitewash. But as we like to remind those who try to hide from sunlight, Twitchy is forevah.
Without further ado, here are our picks for the top 20 deleted tweets of the year — preserved for posterity, hilarity, and transparency.
20. Civility, anyone? Top Democratic National Committee new media director Greg Greene tweeted a foul-mouthed, gloating reaction to the Supreme Court decision upholding Obamacare. He then deleted the message. Silly “new media director.” You can’t send your profane bloviations down the rabbit hole!
Miami Herald
It was a cruel, cruel year — a year that kept raising our hopes, only to squash them flatter than a dead possum on the interstate.
Example: This year the “reality” show Jersey Shore, which for six hideous seasons has been a compelling argument in favor of a major earth-asteroid collision, finally got canceled, and we dared to wonder if maybe, just maybe, we, as a society, were becoming slightly less stupid.
But then, WHAP, we were slapped in our national face by the cold hard frozen mackerel of reality in the form of the hugely popular new “reality” showHere Comes Honey Boo Boo, which, in terms of intellectual content, makes Jersey Shore look like Hamlet.
Edward Sapir: “Languages drift down time.”
As of this writing (my computer clock currently reads 1 p.m.), the New Year is T minus 11 hours away and counting. What better way to ring in 2013 than to “deep six” words and phrases in English that are likely to give offense?
No, the reference is not to four-letter words (where would we be without them?) but to phrases like “deep six,” or at least its metaphorical companion, “bucket list.”
Mediaite
Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan said Sunday she believes President Obama is largely at fault for the stalemate of fiscal cliff negotiations, telling substitute host Norah O’Donnell, “with this president, it’s always cliffs, it’s never deals.”
She called it a “big cliche of this moment in history” that “there’s a lot of blame to go around.” She outlined “two real problems” regarding the fiscal cliff deal: the failure of House Speaker John Boehner’s “Plan B” and the fact that “you get only one president at a time.”
It must have seemed like an enlightened idea when it was dreamed up, especially for a once and current community organizer: Start up a page at the White House website titled “We the People: Your Voice in Government.” Urge the citizenry to petition the administration to make policy that genuinely reflects the will of the people.
Hillary Clinton hospitalized after doctors discover blood clot
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was hospitalized Sunday after doctors discovered a blood clot during a follow-up exam related to a concussion she suffered this month, her spokesman said.
She is expected to remain at New York Presbyterian Hospital for the next 48 hours so doctors can monitor her condition and treat her with anti-coagulants, said Philippe Reines, deputy assistant secretary of state.
I wish her a prompt and full recovery. This can be a most serious condition.
Owen Jones, The Independent
We don’t know the name of the 23-year-old student who was raped and killed on a city bus in Delhi.
We do know that, after getting on a bus home after watching a film with a friend, she was tortured so badly that she lost her intestines. Six people – including the bus driver – have been arrested; they have been widely denounced as “animals” on social media. It’s always comforting to think – despite everything that the 20th century should have taught us – that those who commit vile acts are sub-human, are not quite like us, so we can create emotional distance from them. But it was thinking, feeling, living human men who committed this rape, however nauseating it is to accept.
The death of a woman popularly named Damini – “lightning” in Hindi – has provoked thousands to take to India’s streets, furious at endemic and unchecked violence against women. Some have been met with police batons, tear gas and water cannon. But, in the West, Damini’s death has triggered a different response: a sense that this is an Indian-specific problem. “The crime has highlighted the prevalence of sex attacks in India,” says the Daily Telegraph; “India tries to move beyond its rape culture,” says Reuters. Again, it’s comforting to think that this is someone else’s problem, a particular scandal that afflicts a supposedly backward nation. It is an assumption that is as wrong as it is dangerous.
The Hill
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Sunday introduced a bill he said would “soften the landing” if the nation went over the “fiscal cliff.”
Manchin said his bill, the Cliff Alleviation at the Last Minute Act, — the CALM Act — would slowly phase in the tax rate increases and allow the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to propose substitute cuts to replace sequestration.
Manchin’s proposal comes as lawmakers neared their year-end deadline to avoid January’s tax hikes and across-the-board cuts. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said there would be no votes on Sunday, but added that negotiations for a final deal were still underway.
Senators McCain, Graham, & Lieberman, WaPo
As 2012 draws to a close, Syria is descending into hell. At least 40,000 people, and likely many more, have been killed, while millions have been forced to flee their homes. Over the past 12 months, Bashar al-Assad has steadily unleashed ever-greater military firepower in response to what began as peaceful protests by the Syrian people. Starting with tanks and heavy artillery in February, the Syrian regime escalated over the summer to using attack helicopters and fighter jets. In recent weeks, it has begun firing Scud missiles at its own population.
The world has failed to stop this slaughter. President Obama has declared that his “red line” is Assad’s use of chemical weapons. Many Syrians, however, have told us that they see the U.S. red line as a green light for Assad to use all other weapons of war to massacre them with impunity. Many of those weapons continue to be supplied directly by Iran.