A True Martyr

Not far from the Normandy beaches where Allied forced began the liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe, Islamofascists loyal to ISIS stormed a church this morning. They forced Father Jacques Hamel, an 86 year-old priest, to his knees, beheaded him and filmed the attack.

A nun also suffered life-threatening wounds before French police shot and killed the jihadists. One of the attackers had been previously convicted of terrorism charges and was supposed to be under electronic surveillance.

News of this disgusting attack is being met with widespread revulsion in France, throughout Europe and here in the U.S. It is important to remember that this is not an isolated event.

Islamic supremacists have been engaged in the mass murder of Christians throughout the Middle East and across Africa. Churches have been burned, Christian girls have been kidnapped and sold into sex slavery or forced to convert to Islam. Nuns have been raped and families have been burned alive.

And yet even as this carnage continues, few Christian refugees are making it to Europe or the United States under Barack Obama. Instead our elites demand more Muslims be admitted.

When will the insanity end?

Obama's Failed Foreign Policy

In a recent column, Washington Post columnist Jackson Diehl notes that when Barack Obama took office seven years ago, he set out to reset America's foreign policy not only with Russia, but most especially with Muslim-majority countries.

He took his message of "hope and change" to Turkey and Egypt, delivering major addresses in both nations. But as the Arab Spring erupted, Obama embraced more radical elements like the Muslim Brotherhood.

Obama alienated U.S. allies and friends, and allowed Islamists to seize power. He stood by while Syria devolved into civil war. He allowed ISIS to emerge in Iraq. He allowed Libya to crumble into chaos. And to top it all off, he cut a deal with the ayatollah legitimizing Iran's nuclear program.

Diehl writes that Turkey and Egypt now view the U.S. with deep suspicion, and are increasingly turning to Russia. He warns that the next president will find these pillars of "U.S. engagement in the Middle East" have become "Muslim anchors of an emerging global movement: unfree and anti-American."

Pro-Life America

A new Marist poll finds that most Americans, including many who call themselves "pro-choice," reject the abortion-on-demand mantra of the left. For example:
 

• 78% of Americans support restrictions on abortion that would effectively limit the procedure to the first three months of pregnancy.
   
• 62% of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortions.
   
• While the Supreme Court recently overturned a number of commonsense regulations passed by the state of Texas, the Marist poll finds that those regulations were overwhelmingly popular with the American people. Seventy-eight percent of Americans believe abortion clinics should meet the same standards as other surgery centers, and 70% percent of Americans want doctors who perform abortions to be required to have hospital admitting privileges.

  Here's some more good news: The pro-life activists who exposed Planned Parenthoods barbaric business practices of selling baby body parts were cleared today. The last remaining charges against David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt were dropped this morning.

  Congressman Compares Israeli Jews To "Termites"

  Congressman Hank Johnson of Georgia compared Jewish families living in Judea and Samaria to termites yesterday. Speaking of the families building their homes, Rep. Johnson said, "There has been a steady [stream], almost like termites can get into a residence and eat before you know that you've been eaten up and you fall in on yourself. . . You see one home after another being appropriated by Jewish people. . ."

  Rep. Johnson's disturbing remarks come just a few weeks after a 13 year-old Israeli girl was stabbed to death while sleeping in her own bed by a Palestinian jihadist. Her murderer was incited by a steady barrage of extremist rhetoric in Palestinian media and culture.

  It is outrageous that a member of the House of Representatives would use the same kind of ugly rhetoric.

  Goodbye, Tim

  Yesterday, pastor, author and evangelical leader Dr. Tim LaHaye passed away after suffering from a stroke in recent days. He was 90 years old.

  Dr. LaHaye is perhaps best known as the author of the "Left Behind" series, which Jerry Fawell once said left a greater impact on Christianity "than that of any other book in modern times, outside the Bible."

  He was also very instrumental, along with Jerry Falwell, in founding the Moral Majority, which contributed enormously to Ronald Reagan's successful campaign for the presidency in 1980. That effort changed the course of America and the world.

  As many of you know, he was married to a wonderful lady, Dr. Beverly LaHaye, founder of Concerned Women for America. Earlier this month, the LaHaye's celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary.

  Dr. LaHaye is survived by his wife, Beverly, his brother, Richard, his sister, Margaret, four children, nine grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren.

  Please join Carol and me in praying for the LaHaye family.