Gruesome beheading of Coptic Christian men in USA

From: The Commentator

Local media in New Jersey has reported that an Indiana native, Yusuf Ibrahim, shot and killed two men during an argument in a car in Jersey City in early February. It has also been reported that Ibrahim beheaded and later dismembered the pair.

The victims are identified as 25-year-old Hanny F. Tawadros and 27-year-old Amgad A. Konds, two Coptic Christians from Egypt who were known to Ibrahim.

After being alerted on February 7th to suspicious activity at a home in the Buena Vista Township outside Jersey City, police discovered the bodies of Tawadros and Konds in a shallow grade behind the home. They later discovered the men's heads and hands at a separate, nearby location.

Police say Ibrahim got into an altercation on February 5th with the two acquaintances of his while in a white Mercedes-Benz belonging to one of the victims. The men, all apparently Egyptian immigrants, were in Jersey City at the time.

"These were grisly murders in which the defendant allegedly shot both victims in the chest at close range," said Attorney General Chiesa in a press release. "We allege that the defendant was ruthless and calculating in the manner in which he carried out the killings and attempted to prevent identification of the victims by cutting off their heads and hands before burying their bodies."

A report indicated that some members of the Saint George and Saint Shenouda Coptic Orthodox Church in Jersey City, to which Tawadros and Konds reportedly belonged, wondered if religion may have played a part in their killings. The fact that the victims were beheaded has also questions about the motivation of the killing.

Ibrahim is facing two counts of murder and desecration of human remains. Bail was set at more than $3 million cash, though a second hearing, where Ibrahim is to stand charge for a robbery, established further bail conditions of $250,000.

A former roomate of Ibrahim described him as "awesome, with kids" and stated that he was a Muslim but not particularly religious.

The bodies of Hanny F. Tawadros and Amgad A. Konds were flown back to Egypt last week after a service was held for them at their church in Jersey City.

Muslim in New Jersey targeted, murdered two Coptic Egyptian Christ...

Chris Christie’s teacher-tenure coup

From: NYPOST.com

Here’s a sign that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is fundamentally reshaping the Garden State: He’s got teacher-union leaders sounding like, well . . . Chris Christie.

The gov is just days away from enacting a sweeping reform of teacher-tenure laws, which currently guarantee lifelong jobs to even the worst educators.

And Christie has managed to twist the union into quite a pretzel: Its leaders now say they support making it easier to lay off the lemons among them.

“This legislation moves us in the right direction by making it harder to earn tenure, and less expensive and time-consuming to remove teachers who are not performing well,” said union boss Barbara Keshishian.

 

Yes, that’s the sound of Hell freezing over.

More precisely, it’s a labor leader explaining why she’s backing a bill that zaps the system that grants 98 percent of Newark’s new teachers near-automatic tenure — and jobs for life — every year without fail.

It’s a real testament to Christie’s skill. He called out the unions last year for running a system “where you have no rewards for excellence and no consequences for failure.”

And the Senate answered, passing a bill this week that requires four years of high ratings to win tenure, and lets schools revoke tenure and possibly fire teachers who get back-to-back negative reviews.

A watered-down version awaits passage in the Assembly, and a compromise bill should reach Christie’s desk soon.

This legislation is far from perfect: It fails to fix the “last in, first out” seniority rules that require the state to fire the newest teachers first whenever there are layoffs.

And, truth is, we’d rather see tenure abolished wholesale in Jersey and New York.

But the reform is a major achievement that should help dig public-school kids out of a failing school system.
Again, kudos to Christie.

Andrew Cuomo, please take note.
 

When atheists attack!

I enjoyed this post and thought I'd share it.

From: Wyblog.com

In Pitman, NJ the local Knights of Columbus hung a banner across Main Street. "Keep Christ in Christmas," it said.

Simple. Poignant. Offensive?

Lautenberg "we got to eliminate the rich"

Christie to pull N.J. Out of Cap and Trade

Chris Christie gets it right again.

From: North Jersey.com

Governor Christie said this morning that he will pull New Jersey out of a regional cap-and-trade energy program.

The move drew strong criticism from environmental advocates who argued it was a rollback of clean energy efforts. But it was supported by business groups who said the 10-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative was a burdensome energy tax.

“We will withdraw from RGGI in an orderly fashion by year’s end,” Christie said.

RGGI is a cooperative effort by Northeastern and mid-Atlantic states to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 10 percent by 2018. To do so, power plant operators such as PSE&G must purchase allowances from their host states to cover each ton of carbon dioxide emissions they are likely to produce. The companies can then buy, sell or trade their permits. Companies that reduce their emissions and don’t need all their allowances might sell them to a company whose emissions exceed their allowances.

The proceeds are to be invested by the states in energy-efficiency projects and developing renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power.

“It’s a failure,” Christie said. “RGGI has not changed behavior and it does not reduce emissions.”

Opponents say power companies have passed along the costs to comply with RGGI by raising electric bills.

The Sierra Club says the increase is less than half of 1 percent of the average household bill.

“Christie is taking the side of corporate polluters and the coal industry over the environment and health of the people of New Jersey,” said Jeff Tittel, director of New Jersey Sierra Club.