My head is spinning

Heading toward New Year's Eve, some people will be celebrating the end of 2015, and others will be celebrating with enthusiasm the upcoming New Year.

I can understand celebrating the end of 2015. It was, all in all, a pretty horrific year. And I don't understand celebrating the arrival of 2016.

I admit I'm pretty neutral about the whole thing. Dec. 31 is just another day on the calendar, as far as I'm concerned, and I expect Jan. 1 to be the same.

Quite frankly, 2015 was an awful year. Judging by the world headlines as I write this, the New Year will be a replay of the old one, only worse.

For all intents and purposes, depending on who's speaking – we are either on the verge of World War III or already in the midst of it.

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The Middle East is in turmoil and getting worse, as militant Islam spreads into virtually every Western country.

The Russians are saber rattling, and many in the West are welcoming it. But our political leaders, from the man who is president on down, hesitate to take a firm position one way or the other.

Militant Islam continues its bloody rampage across continents, killing Christians as they go – beheading, crucifying, kidnapping, raping, murdering children and bragging that their god is the only god.

While you might think Christian leaders would speak out vehemently against such medieval horrors, their silence is deafening.

The pope has said nothing against the Muslim beliefs of such horrors and has said virtually nothing about the fate of the Christian Church in the Middle East. Instead of shouting to the heavens that such atrocities are among the worst insults against a Christian God, there is virtual silence. His Christmas message – along with those of many Catholic cardinals and bishops – was focused on the "plight" of the refugees – those thousands who are leaving their countries and streaming into the West, among them the very terrorists we should fear.

At least the Archbishop of Canterbury sees the danger and speaks frankly, as reported by Sky News: Christianity is facing "elimination" in the Middle East at the hands of a Islamic State "apocalypse … heralded only by the angel of death."

Not very pretty but at least honest and courageous, spoken by a religious leader.

The queen of England spoke of the triumph of good over evil with a tribute to the warriors of World War II. She spoke of Jesus' message of love, not revenge or violence.  But there was nothing of dealing with the realities of the violence and revenge the West, Christians and Jews face daily at the hands of militant Islam.

The man who is president of the United States was just as vague. Barack Obama stressed that Americans should follow the example of Jesus and treat each other "with love and compassion."

Essentially, he was trying to shame Americans into welcoming the so-called "refugees" from the Middle East without acknowledging that among them are jihadis that we are unable, and apparently unwilling, to screen out – the very people who can undermine and destroy our country.

He also reiterated his latest trope – stressing his support of our "values" and that we all appreciate them and must continue that.

Apparently, "values" is the Obama word of the month – as though the jihadis buy into that belief system.

Leo McKinstry, writing in the Express, said it bluntly, "… that the national identities of Europe in any meaningful sense will probably cease to exist this century.

"As the social revolution accelerates, traditional values of democracy, freedom and solidarity will be replaced by conflict, sectarianism, oppression and intolerance."

"Increasingly Islamified, barbaric and poverty-stricken, Europe will become indistinguishable from large swathes of North Africa and the Middle East."

That's a pretty grim view of what's in store for Europe (and us too) but in fact, such changes are playing out. Millions of refugees from the Middle East are swarming into Western Europe. In some cases, they're welcomed by the governments; in other cases, any resistance is beaten down.

Regardless, the bulk of the refugees are Muslims and as they move into towns and cities across what was the European Union, they are bringing social and religious changes with them. They are demanding Shariah law, and they're forcing their beliefs on schools and businesses and, in fact, even on the churches.

While Americans look at this with some interest, they are blind to the fact that the same thing is happening here. The movement of "refugees" into towns and cities across the country by the Obama administration, the accommodation of the social system, the law and the schools to Islamic beliefs, and the weakness of the Christian churches in dealing with what will be repression of their own beliefs – all are clearly the beginning of the breakdown of those "American values" that we are told are so important.

Actually, those values are important, and we're in the midst of losing them.

Happy 2016!

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