Here are some of the important stories and opinions from recent days.
Harris on Islamic State: Whatever his errors (and they are many), Sam Harris is right in pointing out that, contra Obama, Islamic jihadists are motivated by their religion. See also my article for the Objective Standard on the subject. And see Harris’s mostly-good essay, “Why I Don’t Criticize Israel.”
Lessons of 9/11: In a new thirteen-minute video, Elan Journo of the Ayn Rand Institute sets some of the important context for the 9/11 attacks and Islamic State, and he explains a proper foreign policy to deal with those problems. Regarding the nature and actions of Iran and Saudi Arabia, see Craig Biddle’s “The Jihad against America and How to End It.”
About Those Syrian Rebels: Obama has expressed very different views of the Syrian rebels who aren’t in Islamic State—the people he now wants to arm. Obama also overstates the “broadness” of his “coalition.” See Krauthammer’s op-ed for the Washington Post.
Islamic State Cash: Islamic State takes in some $32 million per day in oil money, the Daily Signal reports.
In other news:
Missouri Abortion Restrictions: “Missouri Enacts 72-Hour Wait for Abortion,” the New York Times reports. This again shows that religious conservatives do not oppose economic controls by government per se; they just want their kind of controls.
Police State: “The U.S. government threatened to fine Yahoo $250,000 a day in 2008 if it failed to comply with a broad demand to hand over user communications” to the NSA, the Washington Post reports. (Hat tip for this story and the last to the Week.)
Denver Post for Sale: Read all about it.
Young Readers: Who said social media would kill reading? “Study finds that people under 30 are reading more than their elders,” reports the Week.
Swimming Dinos: Don’t tell Syfy, or we’ll get “Spinosaurusnado.”