The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
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Featuring:
Netanyahu's framing of Middle East
situation is spot-on
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"Know who you are standing with"
"Show me your friends and I'll show you your future"
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CONSERVATIVE GROUP HITS BENNET OVER nOBAMACARE BUST
WashEx: “Americans for Prosperity on Wednesday released an attack ad against Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet on the failure of his state's consumer operated and oriented plan. The group, backed partly by influential GOP donors and industrialists Charles and David Koch, said that it could do more attacks on the co-op failures. The ad says Colorado HealthOp caused more than 80,000 state residents to lose their health insurance. It also cites a Colorado NBC affiliate that reported some doctors turned away HealthOp policyholders for fear they won't get reimbursed”
[Bennet brushed aside questions from Politico about his reported support of a Colorado plan to replace nObamaCare with a single-payer model long sought by liberals.] -Fox News
WashEx: “Americans for Prosperity on Wednesday released an attack ad against Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet on the failure of his state's consumer operated and oriented plan. The group, backed partly by influential GOP donors and industrialists Charles and David Koch, said that it could do more attacks on the co-op failures. The ad says Colorado HealthOp caused more than 80,000 state residents to lose their health insurance. It also cites a Colorado NBC affiliate that reported some doctors turned away HealthOp policyholders for fear they won't get reimbursed”
[Bennet brushed aside questions from Politico about his reported support of a Colorado plan to replace nObamaCare with a single-payer model long sought by liberals.] -Fox News
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Don't Look to Students to Solve University Problem There is a problem in higher education and students know it. College students from the University of California, Berkley, to Northeastern University in Boston, who called themselves the Million Student March,took to the streets Thursday to express their dissatisfaction with the state of American higher education. The march's proposed solution was to, well, let's hear what one national student organizer, Keely Mullen,told Fox Business Network:
"Well, so the movement, the Million Student March, um, is a movement for a more, um, equitable and fair system of education, as opposed to, um, the really corporate model that we have right now. Uh, so the three core demands of the National Day of Action are free public college, a cancellation of student debt, and a 15-dollar-an-hour minimum wage, um, for people who work on the campus. ... The 1% of people in society that are hoarding, um, the wealth and really sort of causing, um, a catastrophe that students are facing. I mean, we have a relationship right now where 1% of the population owns more wealth than the 99% combined."
Stunning analysis right there. If the students wanted to be intellectually honest, they should have all slapped Bernie Sanders buttons to their chests while they marched, as the Democrat Socialist candidate for president has gained traction in his campaign for promising a whole goodie bag of free stuff for Americans if he is elected. But the marchers do have a point: Ballooning student loans have hampered graduates' ability to save for retirement. The problem is worse at Christian colleges — many of them conservative in nature — where students often have to borrow even more than their public university counterparts in order to study their faith at a deeper level. However, the students' proposal to rob the 1%, who are already being milked for everything Democrats can think of, completely disregards Economics 101. Contrary to this philosophy of envy, the 1% are not a never-ending well of untapped money. Meanwhile, it's primary season: Where are the Republicans' fiscally sound solutions to rising student debt? One candidate, at least, has a plan... -The Patriot Post
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Groberg Receives Medal of Honor
On Nov. 12, Captain Florent "Flo" Groberg became the tenth living Medal of Honor recipient for actions while serving in Afghanistan. Groberg, who became a naturalized citizen in 2001, was serving as the brigade personal security detachment commander for 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. On Aug. 8, 2012, Groberg spotted a suicide bomber headed for his patrol. According to the Army's account of his actions:
Groberg rushed the suspect and shoved him away from the patrol. Groberg then immediately confirmed the individual was wearing a suicide vest, and with the help of Sgt. Andrew Mahoney ... grabbed the suicide bomber, physically driving him away from the formation and down to the ground.
While on the ground, the bomber's explosive vest detonated. The explosion caused a second suicide bomber, who remained hidden behind a small structure near the road, to detonate his vest prematurely. Most of the blast of the second bomber's suicide vest went straight into a building, adjacent to the patrol.
Groberg's actions disrupted both bombers from detonating as planned, saving the majority of lives he was charged with protecting.
"[I]t was the worst day of my life," he said, "because even though we defeated the enemy, I lost four of my brothers." Four Americans were killed by the blasts, but the damage would have beenmuch worse without Groberg's selfless act. He suffered significant injuries and spent nearly three years at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Still, he says, "The proudest thing I have ever done in my life is to wear this uniform and serve my country." Before Thursday's ceremony, Groberg said, "I would give anything to have allthese guys back — anything. This medal ... I'd turn it right back in, right now, say, 'No, thank you. Bring my guys back right here.' But it's combat. It's Afghanistan. We understand when we raise our right hand ... [that] we are volunteering to defend our nation. And we will go where they send us." Typical of the humility of such heroes, Groberg added, "I'm just a lucky man to have had the opportunity to stand next to these men. And they're the true heroes in this. I am just a courier. 'Cause that medal doesn't belong to me. It belongs to them, to the true heroes. It belongs to their families." -The Patriot Post
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AP Publishes Another Monotonous Hit Piece on Carson
Now that Ben Carson sits near or at the top of the Republican presidential field, the gloves are off. On Friday, Politico launched a defamation assault on the renowned pediatric neurosurgeon by erroneously accusing him of fabricating his decades-old West Point account. At worst, Carson used ambiguous language. What he didn't do was lie — an allegation the Left still makes. Now the Associated Press has joined the fray with its own hatchet job.
Carson "called for harsh criminal penalties for health care fraud, but the Republican presidential candidate and his wife also have kept millions invested with a close friend who admitted defrauding insurance companies," according to an AP review. "Pittsburgh dentist Alfonso A. Costa pleaded guilty to a felony count of health care fraud after an FBI probe into his oral surgery practice found he had charged for procedures he never performed, according to court records. Though the crime carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison, Costa was sentenced to house arrest and probation after Carson helped petition a federal judge on behalf of the man he described as 'one my closest, if not my very closest friend.'" The trial took place in 2008.
The AP says, "Investments that Carson and his wife made through Costa earn the couple between $200,000 and $2 million a year, according to financial records that Carson was required to file when he declared his candidacy." And just like that, we have an outright scandal of monolithic proportions. Or so the Leftmedia wants us to believe. "The government urged the judge to make an example of Costa," according to the AP. The judge, for whatever reason, evidently felt differently. Yet the AP implies Carson's role in the trial was all about the money without a smidgen of evidence. What was Carson supposed to do, throw him under the bus? If the AP is hunting for cases of financial impropriety, there's always the Clinton Foundation, which has landed lucrative donations through nefarious practices. And did we mention one of its founders faces the possibility of felony charges? And where was the AP when news surfaced that Chicago slumlord and convicted felon Tony Rezko secretly helped the nObamas buy their Chicago mansion for $300,000 below asking price? -The Patriot Post
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SHARIAHVILLE, USA: CITIES ‘SURRENDER’ TO ISLAM
{Terresa Monroe-Hamilton} ~ Hohmann’s article describing the growing number of Shariahvilles in places like Michigan, Massachusetts and Minnesota will be discussed... America’s first Muslim-majority city council was recently sworn in Hamtramck, Michigan. Governor Rick Snyder celebrated the event as he makes plans to accommodate thousands of unvettable Syrian Muslim refugees in a state where persecuted Christians from the Middle East are fearful of the behavior of their Sharia-practicing new neighbors.
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Critics: nObama’s Islamic State Strategy ‘Highly Dangerous’
{Daniel Wiser} ~ President nObama’s containment strategy against the Islamic State has failed to prevent the terrorist group from launching further attacks, destabilizing the Middle East and potentially posing a threat to the U.S. homeland, critics say... In an interview with ABC on Thursday, nObama said that the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) is not “gaining strength.” “From the start our goal has been first to contain and we have contained them,” he said. “They have not gained ground in Iraq and in Syria they’ll come in, they’ll leave.” “But you don’t see this systemic march by ISIL across the terrain,” he continued. “What we have not yet been able to do is to completely decapitate their command and control structures.” Now that is a one big joke. http://freebeacon.com/national-security/critics-obamas-islamic-state-strategy-highly-dangerous/.
Volunteers Fighting The “Imaginary Air Monster” – EPA..."
{rickwells.us} ~ Most Americans have figured out that EPA climate Nazi Gina McCarthy is full of it; BS is seeps from every pore of her disgusting little unisex body... She’s nothing but a blatant propagandist, which under the nObama regime, is in fact the second most useful and valued function. It ranks just below the top-level position of subversive. Naturally, all of the necessary skill sets fall under the broader, regime-wide category of “anti-American.” She’s obviously speaking to an audience of idiots or, at a minimum, people whom she believes to be idiots. It’s hard to comprehend how otherwise relatively normal-appearing adults could make the deliberate and at least semi-conscious decision to expend the effort to attend this mind-screw session and subject themselves to this drool-inducing idiocy. It’s a little overly-generous to state that liberals are entirely normal in their appearance; the derangement is easy to spot if you know where to look. The empty, glazed-over “don’t confuse me with facts” eyes, the optional “hey dude” or disheveled “just got out of bed” hairstyle, the makeup-free feminist “manly is beautiful” look, the polyester-dominated wardrobe, and the tiny bits of insect parts stuck between their teeth are all characteristics which cry out, “I’m a mentally disturbed liberal and I need professional care.” http://rickwells.us/archives/22178.
End Govt War On Citizens, Anti-Middle Class Politicians Killing..."
{rickwells.us} ~ Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is arguably the fiercest defender of the American people and our Constitution in United States government... In that role he is, by definition, staunchly pro-American worker, and a vocal opponent of illegal as well as excessive levels of legal immigration, as well as injurious and unconstitutional international agreements, such as the sovereignty-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership. On Thursday Senator Sessions published an op-ed on USA Today addressing the never-ending onslaught against the American citizen by the very government entities that should be supporting them. He addressed the difficulties encountered at the hand of the executive branch and his sellout colleagues in the Congress, self-serving political gender-neutral Jezebels for rent to the highest bidder. He offered some advice as to what needs to be done to correct the current situation as well as the characteristics and type of individual needed in the White House. http://rickwells.us/archives/22204.
France promises 'Merciless' response to attacks
{wnd.com} ~ President Francois Hollande on Saturday promised a “merciless” response to a wave of attacks by gunmen and bombers in Paris on Friday. Latest updates indicate129 dead and 352 injured, with 99 in critical condition... Four gunmen slaughtered at least 87 young people at a rock concert being held at the Bataclan concert hall. Dozens of survivors were rescued, and bodies were still being recovered on Saturday morning. The Christian Post notes 40 more people were killed in five other attacks in the Paris region, including an apparent double suicide bombing outside the Stade de France national stadium, where Hollande and the German foreign minister were watching a soccer game between France and Germany. It is now known a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest was blocked from entering the Stade de France soccer venue. It was the worst such attack in Europe since the Madrid train bombings of 2004, in which 191 died.
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How Can Anyone Be Shocked?
{Judith Bergman} ~ One of the most surprising aspects of the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday night is how "deeply shocked" members of the European political establishment appeared to be... Angela Merkel, David Cameron and the Pope all expressed their condolences -- and "deep shock" -- at the well-coordinated, citywide terror attacks in six different places across Paris, which as of this writing have claimed at least 128 lives and more than 200 wounded. French President François Hollande confirmed that Islamic State terrorists perpetrated the attacks, carried out with suicide bombings, hand grenades and assault rifles. According to witnesses, terrorists were heard yelling, "Allahu Akbar" ['Allah is the Greatest"] and "this is for Syria" as they shot into the audience at the Bataclan Theater, where a rock concert was underway. Although the writing has literally been on the wall in blood for the past decade and a half, the West, especially Europe, continues to be taken aback every time a new terror attack occurs, as if each one were the first. http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6874/paris-attacks-shocked.
South Carolinians to nObama: Keep Your Syrians
{totalconservative.com} ~ In Berkeley County, South Carolina, they have a message for President nObama and the State Department: Your damn Syrians can go somewhere else... The Republican-dominated county council passed a resolution Monday disapproving of the administration’s Refugee Resettlement Project. Though Berkeley County has not been identified officially as a likely spot for refugees, there have been efforts to use Spartanburg County not far away. In September, the Spartanburg county council declined to pass a resolution disapproving of the effort. However, Berkeley is not the first county in South Carolina to take this step. Pickens County passed a similar resolution in October, and Greenville County will consider it later in November. http://totalconservative.com/south-carolinians-to-obama-keep-your-syrians/
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Israel Stands With France; Netanyahu Wants United War on Terror
{israeltoday.co.il} ~ Across Israel on over the weekend it was clear that the Jewish state was standing in determined solidarity with France... while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a united war on Islamic terror. Rallies, political statements, and the lighting up of the Knesset and Jerusalem’s Old City in red, white and blue (the colors of the French flag) demonstrated that Israel not only felt France’s pain after last Friday’s horrific terrorist assault in Paris, but that it was ready to work together to end the terrorist threat. That was the message Netanyahu delivered at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday morning. “It’s time that the world wake up and unite to beat terror,” said the prime minister. http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/27785/Default.aspx.
The real reason nObama rejected Keystone
{F. MICHAEL MALOOF} ~ Concern by Saudi Arabia that the United States is achieving energy independence may have been a major reason why the nObama administration rejected construction of the Canadian Keystone XL Pipeline... through the U.S. after six years of consideration, a former House Intelligence Committee chairman says in an exclusive new report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin. The Keystone XL Pipeline would have brought oil from Canada’s shale reserves in Alberta to Nebraska, creating an estimated 9,000 well-paying construction jobs. But former Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra told G2 Bulletin that President nObama rejected the project because he needs the help of Riyadh to resolve the four-year Syrian conflict, which has turned into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. n rejecting the pipeline, nObama said it would transport “dirty oil” and wouldn’t make a long-term economic contribution to the U.S. economy. But Hoekstra, who led the House intel panel from 1993 to 2011, believes there’s another reason. http://www.wnd.com/2015/11/the-real-reason-obama-rejected-keystone/.
ISIS Israeli PM Netanyahu Said The Words NO ONE Else Would...
{gopthedailydose.com} ~ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making it known that Islam is the cause behind the terrorism in France... Other world leaders, including America’s President Barack nObama, have shied away from saying ‘Islamic terrorism’. The prime minister of Israel made it clear and condemned Islamic terrorism in an official statement. I’ve instructed Israel’s security and intelligence forces to assist their French counterparts and their counterparts from other European countries in any way possible. Terrorism is the deliberate and systematic targeting of civilians. It can never be justified. Terrorism must always be condemned. It must always be fought. http://gopthedailydose.com/2015/11/14/isis-israeli-pm-netanyahu-said-the-words-no-one-else-would-about-paris-attacks-wo.
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Netanyahu's framing of Middle East
situation is spot-on
Jonah Goldberg
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The Israeli prime minister was in Washington this week to receive the American Enterprise Institute's Irving Kristol Award. He made some controversial remarks -- at least controversial at AEI, where I am a fellow, and where the freedom agenda is alive and well -- about the need to be realistic about what's going on in the Middle East. Sometimes, he said, brutal dictators are better than the real-world alternatives: even more brutal Islamist movements hell-bent (or, if you prefer, paradise-bent) to conquer the world.
The Israeli prime minister was in Washington this week to receive the American Enterprise Institute's Irving Kristol Award. He made some controversial remarks -- at least controversial at AEI, where I am a fellow, and where the freedom agenda is alive and well -- about the need to be realistic about what's going on in the Middle East. Sometimes, he said, brutal dictators are better than the real-world alternatives: even more brutal Islamist movements hell-bent (or, if you prefer, paradise-bent) to conquer the world.
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Less controversial but more intriguing was his description of the turmoil in the Middle East. "The core of the conflicts in the Middle East is the battle between modernity and early primitive medievalism," Netanyahu explained.
Less controversial but more intriguing was his description of the turmoil in the Middle East. "The core of the conflicts in the Middle East is the battle between modernity and early primitive medievalism," Netanyahu explained.
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Everyone understood what he meant, of course. The Islamic State believes the Muslim world took a wrong turn more than a thousand years ago.
Everyone understood what he meant, of course. The Islamic State believes the Muslim world took a wrong turn more than a thousand years ago.
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The Taliban, the Wahhabis, al-Qaida, the Muslim Brotherhood and all the other Islamists share this same worldview to one extent or another. Not every Islamist believes in crucifying Christians or throwing acid in the face of little girls going to school. But they all reject modernity, pluralism, secularism, democracy and, in many cases, even science.
The Taliban, the Wahhabis, al-Qaida, the Muslim Brotherhood and all the other Islamists share this same worldview to one extent or another. Not every Islamist believes in crucifying Christians or throwing acid in the face of little girls going to school. But they all reject modernity, pluralism, secularism, democracy and, in many cases, even science.
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"Medievalism" isn't a perfect word, but it's a better word than "terrorism" or "Islamism."
"Medievalism" isn't a perfect word, but it's a better word than "terrorism" or "Islamism."
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President George W. Bush settled on "the war on terror" to describe our fight with Islamic terrorists. But there are problems with using "terrorism" as a euphemism for Islamic radicals. I'll give you three.
President George W. Bush settled on "the war on terror" to describe our fight with Islamic terrorists. But there are problems with using "terrorism" as a euphemism for Islamic radicals. I'll give you three.
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First, terrorism is a tactic. If North Korea launches a nuclear missile at the United States, we will not declare war against intercontinental ballistic missiles. We will declare war against North Korea.
First, terrorism is a tactic. If North Korea launches a nuclear missile at the United States, we will not declare war against intercontinental ballistic missiles. We will declare war against North Korea.
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Second, in a war, tactics are secondary. Let's imagine the Islamic State kept growing and became a major military power. If it replaced typical terror tactics with tanks, ships and armies but continued to make war against the U.S. and our allies, that wouldn't change the fact that we'd still need to destroy our enemy.
Second, in a war, tactics are secondary. Let's imagine the Islamic State kept growing and became a major military power. If it replaced typical terror tactics with tanks, ships and armies but continued to make war against the U.S. and our allies, that wouldn't change the fact that we'd still need to destroy our enemy.
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Last, there are many terrorist groups that are not Islamic at all. The self-described "Real IRA" is certainly a terrorist outfit, and I have no problem with it being crushed, but it is not a strategic threat to the United States.
Last, there are many terrorist groups that are not Islamic at all. The self-described "Real IRA" is certainly a terrorist outfit, and I have no problem with it being crushed, but it is not a strategic threat to the United States.
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This is why many conservatives prefer terms like "jihadism" or "radical Islam" -- for the simple reason that it is more accurate. Conceptual clarity is essential to national security strategy.
This is why many conservatives prefer terms like "jihadism" or "radical Islam" -- for the simple reason that it is more accurate. Conceptual clarity is essential to national security strategy.
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Still, one can understand why Bush didn't want to declare war on Islamism or jihadism. Put simply, such labels create a propaganda problem because they make it easier for the radicals to claim we are at war with Islam itself. There are more than a billion Muslims in the world, and while far too many are sympathetic to the jihadists, there are still hundreds of millions who reject terrorism. It does not help us with our Muslim allies when we sound like we are at war with their faith.
Still, one can understand why Bush didn't want to declare war on Islamism or jihadism. Put simply, such labels create a propaganda problem because they make it easier for the radicals to claim we are at war with Islam itself. There are more than a billion Muslims in the world, and while far too many are sympathetic to the jihadists, there are still hundreds of millions who reject terrorism. It does not help us with our Muslim allies when we sound like we are at war with their faith.
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Israel certainly can't afford to sound like it's at war with Islam, not when it needs to work with Muslim countries like Egypt and Jordan. Hence the term "medievalism." While not perfect, the term is far more clarifying and accurate than "terrorism." It also helps to illuminate why the left is so wrongheaded in its knee-jerk tendency to condemn criticism of Islamic radicalism as intolerant.
Israel certainly can't afford to sound like it's at war with Islam, not when it needs to work with Muslim countries like Egypt and Jordan. Hence the term "medievalism." While not perfect, the term is far more clarifying and accurate than "terrorism." It also helps to illuminate why the left is so wrongheaded in its knee-jerk tendency to condemn criticism of Islamic radicalism as intolerant.
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At the core of progressive ideology is the Whiggish idea that modernity is preferable to the customs of the past. As a conservative, I think progressives often go too far -- way too far -- in applying and misapplying this thinking. But they are right on the big picture. Modernity -- by which I mean tolerance, pluralism, equality, democracy -- is preferable to absolutism.
At the core of progressive ideology is the Whiggish idea that modernity is preferable to the customs of the past. As a conservative, I think progressives often go too far -- way too far -- in applying and misapplying this thinking. But they are right on the big picture. Modernity -- by which I mean tolerance, pluralism, equality, democracy -- is preferable to absolutism.
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In February the U.N. issued a report chronicling how the Islamic State was burying alive, beheading and crucifying children. The next day, President nObama went on a tear about how we in the West shouldn't get on our "high horse" about it because Christians did terrible things a thousand years ago.
In February the U.N. issued a report chronicling how the Islamic State was burying alive, beheading and crucifying children. The next day, President nObama went on a tear about how we in the West shouldn't get on our "high horse" about it because Christians did terrible things a thousand years ago.
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I'd still rather live under medieval Christians than under the Islamic State, but that's beside the point. The reason nObama's statement was so morally obtuse is that he was comparing medieval Christians from a millennium ago to monsters who proudly videotape their crimes in the here and now. If we can't get on our high horses about that, what use is there in having high horses at all?
I'd still rather live under medieval Christians than under the Islamic State, but that's beside the point. The reason nObama's statement was so morally obtuse is that he was comparing medieval Christians from a millennium ago to monsters who proudly videotape their crimes in the here and now. If we can't get on our high horses about that, what use is there in having high horses at all?
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And that's what I like about the term "primitive medievalism." It highlights the real divide not just between modern Westerners and the barbarians, but between modern Muslims and the barbarians.
And that's what I like about the term "primitive medievalism." It highlights the real divide not just between modern Westerners and the barbarians, but between modern Muslims and the barbarians.
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