MADNESS – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  Do you remember the abducted Nigerian girls?  Remember how "world leaders" held up little signs saying "Bring back our girls"?  That was only weeks ago, and yet the trendies have already moved on – a phrase they love – to other pressing matters.  The girls are forgotten.  After all, who wants to hold a cocktail party in Manhattan or Beverly Hills for Nigerian girls? 

And what is going on in Nigeria is frightening, a warning to us of spreading Islamist influence in Africa.  From CNN: 

(CNN) -- Authorities have arrested three women who have been secretly recruiting members for the female wing of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, Nigeria's Defense Ministry said Friday.

"The arrested trio suspects were luring ladies, especially widows and young girls, by enticing them with male suitors who are mainly members of their terror group, for marriage," said Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, director of defense information.

"Before their arrest, they were on a mission to take additional briefings from the leadership of the terror group," said Nwachukwu.

The suspects, identified as Hafsat Usman Bako, Zainab Idris and Aisha Abubakar, were arrested while traveling to the town of Madagali.

Officials say one of the women, Hafsat Bako, was married to a member of the terrorist group who was killed by the military. "Hafsat continued with the terror group, specializing in surreptitious recruitment of members into their fold," said the ministry.

The arrests were made after a recent suicide bombing attempt on a military facility in the state of Gombe, carried out by a female suspect who blew herself up.

Boko Haram has been terrorizing Nigeria's Borno state in recent years and thousands have fled the violence. In April, the terrorist group abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in Chibok. The girls are still missing. 

COMMENT:  In country after country, radical Islam is on the march.  Nigeria.  Syria.  Iraq.  Libya.  Yemen.  Our influence is crumbling, yet the president seems largely unconcerned. 

And nuclear negotiations with Iran are faltering badly.  More on that tonight or tomorrow.

July 5, 2014