William McCants for the Brookings Institution: On Valentine’s Day, a video surfaced of an Islamic State group executing 14 Egyptian Christians on the coast of Libya. An English speaker in tan camouflage emceed the grisly event.
The look and apocalyptic script of the video parallels the video of Peter Kassig’s execution in November 2014. “You have seen us on the hills of al-Sham and on Dabiq’s plain chopping off the heads that have been carried across the region for a long time,” the camo-wearing emcee says, using an Arabic term for Syria and referring to the execution of Peter Kassig and 18 Syrian soldiers. Kassig’s executioner claimed the American was the first crusader to be killed on the plain of Dabiq in northern Syria, an allusion to a statement attributed to Muhammad prophesying the location of a final battle with the infidels before the Day of Judgment.
Before the ISIS men of Libya murder their captives, the emcee explains to Christians — the “community of the Crusaders” — that the Islamic State’s war against them will only end when the Christians allied against them stop fighting.
Lest Christians become hopeful that a more passive approach to the Islamic State will curb its bloodlust, the emcee says the Christians will stop fighting because they have been defeated. Then Jesus will descend from heaven to break the cross, kill the swine, and abolish the poll tax on non-Muslims. In Islamic prophecy, Jesus descends at the End of Days.
After the execution, the emcee promises the conquest of Rome, another event in the Islamic end-times drama.
Westerners are not used to encountering apocalyptic messages in Islamist propaganda. Al Qaeda downplayed Islamic prophecies of the Day of Judgment, preferring more accessible political rhetoric and wary of stirring messianic fervor. … the Islamic State is different. While its tactics and strategies are practical, its goals and motivations are eschatological.
MOTOR VOTER
Stuart Naifeh for Demos’ Policy Shop: Picture this: You go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to apply for a driver’s license. You complete an application that contains your name, address, data of birth, citizenship and Social Security number. You provide multiple proofs of address and identity. Then you come to a box asking whether you want to register to vote. Why not? You are already giving the DMV all the information needed to register. It should be easy, right?
Not in California (or some other states, too). In California, if you want to register to vote at the DMV, you must fill out a separate voter registration form and provide all the same information the DMV already has on file. Then, if you are lucky, the DMV will pass the voter registration form on to the county voter registrar who will put you on its list of eligible voters. I say “if you are lucky” because many in California have jumped through all of the DMV hoops only to find that they are not on the voter rolls on Election Day.
Shelley Small is one of those who was not so lucky. Small is 62 years old and had never missed an election in 43 years. In 2014, she moved from one part of Los Angeles County to another. She went to the DMV to update her driver’s license. Under federal law, Small should not have needed to do any more for her voter registration to be automatically updated, but she wanted to be sure, so she specifically asked about updating her voting address. The DMV told her they would take care of it. But when Small went to the polls on Election Day, as she had done on every Election Day since she was 19, she was told she was not on the list of eligible voters and was turned away, unable to vote. …
California is not alone in neglecting its Motor Voter obligations. As Demos explains in its new report, “Driving the Vote,” and as last year’s Presidential Commission on Election Administration highlighted, states around the country are making registering to vote through the DMV more cumbersome and difficult than the law allows.
THE SHARING DRINKS ECONOMY
Molly Schwartz for the R Street Institute: We use apps to order groceries, car rides, temporary apartments, declarations of love, personal assistants, valets, private chefs. And now, booze!
The Klink alcohol delivery app lets you order alcohol to your doorstep by touching a button on your phone or your computer…
Klink’s business model contains many of the hallmarks of other startups in the sharing economy, in that it disrupts a market that was difficult or unpleasant to navigate and replaces it with services that are more user-friendly, affordable, customized and convenient. …
It is surprising that Klink has found a legal niche in one of the most tightly regulated markets in our economy, with laws regarding a whole range of operations, from Sunday sales to retail establishments that vary state by state and sometimes county by county. After all, illegally transporting alcohol across state lines is one of only two ways that a private citizen can violate the U.S. Constitution. The other is by enslaving someone.
Klink has navigated the complexities of the regulatory system as it expands to new states, having already launched in Florida, Michigan and the District of Columbia. As it’s expanded, Klink has discovered some surprising allies. The vocal nonprofit MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) is supportive of alcohol delivery and ridesharing services that keep those who imbibe off the roads.
Compiled by Joseph Lawler from reports published by the various think tanks.
