The State Department should get out of the business of making up awards

[Beco]

At 3 p.m., Secretary of State John Kerry and first lady Michelle Obama presented Women of Courage Awards to nine bloggers, teachers and human rights protesters — but Egyptian activist Samira Ibrahim will not be among them.

The Obama administration announced Thursday it would postpone her award after The Weekly Standard unearthed anti-Semitic comments on her Twitter account. Ibrahim has since “refused to apologize” for her tweets, writing on Twitter that the ”Zionist lobby in America” is to blame.

The State Department was honoring Ibrahim for speaking out against the sexual abuse she suffered in Tahrir Square in 2011, when Egyptian soldiers subjected her and other female protesters to brutal “virginity tests.”

A month later, Ibrahim posted a quote she attributes to Adolf Hitler: ”I have discovered with the passage of days, that no act contrary to morality, no crime against society, takes place, except with the Jews having a hand in it.”

According to the Egyptian blogger @SciencePyramid, Ibrahim also posted — and promptly deleted — a 9/11 anniversary message saying “America should burn.”

 

[islandman]

Beco, it only takes a few brain cells to come up with a fancy-sounding award. Anyone can do it.

No need to feel inadequate.

 

[rosco rathbone]

Not until the Weather Channel gets out of the business of making up bogus storm names.

 

[Beco]

Not until the Weather Channel gets out of the business of making up bogus storm names.

or bogus storms....

 

[islandman]

Not until the Weather Channel gets out of the business of making up bogus storm names.

Don't they do that in alphabetical order?

 

[rosco rathbone]

Don't they do that in alphabetical order?

They've only done Nemo and Saturn so far, in that order, so yes.