Recommended Reading

See Comey’s last stand for the deep state by Mark Penn, former Clinton aide and 2008 political strategist for Hillary Rodham Clinton (with thanks to Silverfiddle for this link).

The full essay by Mark Penn is below the fold:

Uranium One Informant Revealed, Sebastian Gorka Discusses

Comey On Capitol Hill

Mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, philosopher Blaise Pascal (1626-1662)

I didn't watch all of FBI Director James Comey's March 20, 2017 testimony on Capitol Hill.  Of course, I've seen snippets of video and the screeching headlines.

Is THIS accurate?

FBI’s Comey Doesn’t Deny the FBI Is Wiretapping Trump: 'I just can’t talk about anything that relates to the FISA process in an open setting’

The FBI is leaving open the possibility it sought -- and perhaps attained -- a wiretap of Donald Trump's communications.

When addressing the controversy over whether the Trump Tower was wiretapped during the Obama Administration, the FBI director, James Comey, tread carefully, acknowledging there is an investigation into Donald Trump's campaign's communications with Russia, but said there is "no evidence" to support Trump's tweets exactly as written.

Comey notably left open the possibility that it had, or still is, monitoring Trump communications.

When asked whether the FBI sought a FISA court warrant to wiretap Trump's team, Comey simply said he cannot comment on anything FISA related.

Here's an excerpt from Comey's question and answer session with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.):...

Read the rest HERE.

Another question: What facts were presented in Comey's testimony?

Circa News reporter commenting on Comey's testimony:

Philadelphia: Amtrak Train Entirely Derails, All Seven Cars, "Twisted and Torn Like Tinfoil", One Reporter Declares It A "Massive Crime Scene"

6 Dead, 146 Injured



From CNN:

"It is an absolute, disastrous mess," Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said of the crash site. "I've never seen anything like this in my life." Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 was traveling from Washington to New York when it derailed in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Philadelphia about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. 

The impact tore cars apart, sending seven of them flying from the tracks, and left the engine a mangled mess. 

"We have confirmed an engine and all seven cars derailed," a U.S. Department of Transportation representative told CNN on Wednesday, adding that the engine and two cars were left standing upright, three cars were tipped on their sides, and one was nearly flipped over on its roof. 

The seventh one is "leaning hard," they said. The northeast corridor, which reaches from Washington to Boston, is the busiest passenger line in the country, and the train was carrying 238 passengers and five crew members. The cause wasn't immediately known. 

"We do not know what happened here. We do not know why it happened," Nutter said. There was no indication the derailment was a result of an impact with another train, he said. 

So far, there's nothing to indicate the incident was an act of terrorism.

This reporter spontaneously referred to the derailment as a "Massive Crime Scene".

FLASHBACK: FBI Warns of Train Derailment Threat

My Guess Is, Katy Perry - UPDATE

Blind Item #4

This A list singer is being watched by the FBI. Apparently her celebrity husband is giving a great deal of money to several Muslim organizations, some of which are on a terror watch list. The thing is the husband doesn't have as much money as he has been giving so has been using his wife's money. Does she know her money is being used this way? It could be a career crusher.

SOURCE

UPDATE - I have not been keeping up on my Pop Culture very well. Apparently Katy Perry and Russell Brand divorced.

Ok.

Another guess is Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz.

"I'm Not Hiding. I Prefer To Think I've Gone Underground: Filmmaker Erik Allen Bell Has Been Forced To Live Under FBI Protective Custody

From Eric Allen Bell's Facebook page:

It's 2012 and in the past 3 weeks, I have been moved from safe house to safe house, each with increasing levels of security. I have been advised not to tell anyone where I am, do not go outside or stand near windows, and to scramble my IP address, use disposable phones, and wait. 

I have received easily 100+ death threats from followers of Islam. Branches of law enforcement, including FBI Counter Terrorism are conducting numerous investigations. 

For every death threat I receive online, a law enforcement officer has to go before a judge and obtain a warrant against that IP address. 4 newspapers in the regions of Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka have wrongfully and purposefully named me as the director of "The Innocence of Muslims". 

The first article I ever wrote on Counter Jihad was called "How and Why Loonwatch.com is a Terrorist-Spin Control Network". The owner of that site, Atchuthan Sriskandarajah, is from the same region where the newspapers keep naming me as the filmmaker and demanding my death. 

A Pakistani national, with high level DOD clearance, hacked into my Facebook account from his computer at work, at Bell Helicopter in TX - here in America! Facebook will not take action against that hacker, any of the 100+ death threats directed at me, from followers of Islam, on Facebook. 

I don't get to go outside. I may be underground for quite some time. 

Although I have never served in the military, and this is by no means similar - in a strange way I know what it is like to look the enemy in the eye. Except in the military you are commanded to fight. In America, you are advised to "go into hiding". I'm not "hiding". 

I prefer to think that I've gone underground. 

I will get to the bottom of this, and when I do, it will only prove the point that many of us have been making about the truth - the truth about Islam. This crisis will be turned around into a major win for us. It must. It has to. 

We cannot let the enemy take away our basic freedoms and punish those who speak the truth. All of this attempt to silence or kill me is going to backfire. The truth will out. This is war.

Here's a clip of a Jamie Glazov interview with Eric Allen Bell:

 

Yet Another Gormless Shahid Wannabe Arrested in Virginia

Breaking report on the latest al Qaeda groupie and shahid wannabe's ineptitude exposed by an FB of I sting.


VA. Man Arrested For Plotting DC Attacks
October 27, 2010 - 1:33 PM by: Mike Levine

A Virginia man has been arrested for allegedly trying to help Al Qaeda plan multiple bombings around the nation's capital, according to U.S. officials.

Farooque Ahmed, 34, of Ashburn, Va., was arrested today by the FBI and charged with providing material support to terrorists and collecting information for a terrorist attack.

“It’s chilling that a man from Ashburn is accused of casing rail stations with the goal of killing as many Metro riders as possible through simultaneous bomb attacks,” said Neil MacBride, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Today’s arrest highlights ... our ability to find those seeking to harm U.S. citizens and neutralize them before they can act."

According to an indictment filed in U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, between April 2010 and Oct. 25, Ahmed repeatedly met with individuals he thought were affiliated with Al Qaeda to discuss "jihad."

On May 15, in a hotel room in Sterling, Va., Ahmed told one individual that he might be ready to travel overseas to conduct jihad, but only after he completed the Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in November, according to the indictment.

In addition, he agreed to watch and photograph Arlington Cemetery Metrorail station and a hotel in Washington, D.C., in order to obtain information about their security and busiest periods.
In fact, on July 7, he participated in surveillance and recording images of Arlington Cemetery Metrorail station. The next month, he allegedy participated in surveillance of the Courthouse, Pentagon City and Crystal City Metrorail stations outside Washington.

During a meeting at a hotel in Herndon, Va., on Sept. 28, he suggested that rolling suitcases be used instead of backpacks, and he said that he wanted to kill as many military personnel as possible, according to the indictment.

Officials say that at no time was the public in danger during this investigation. The FBI was aware of Ahmed’s activities from before the alleged attempt began and closely monitored his activities until his arrest, according to U.S. officials.

Ahmed is set to make his initial appearance Wednesday afternoon in Alexandria, Va.

Couple Charged with Conspiracy to Sell Nukes to Venezuela

Ex-Los Alamos Scientist, Wife Indicted in Alleged Atomic Weapon Conspiracy
Published September 17, 2010
FoxNews.com

WASHINGTON -- A scientist and his wife who both once worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory before becoming outspoken critics were arrested Friday after an FBI sting operation and charged with trying to sell nuclear secrets to Venezuela.

The scientist, Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni, is being detained until a hearing Monday morning in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His wife, Roxby Mascheroni, was released on a variety of conditions, including a monitor attached to her.

The investigation first drew attention last October when federal agents reportedly seized six computers, two cameras, two cellphones and hundreds of files from the scientist, Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni.

Mascheroni declared his innocence to The New York Times last year, saying, "If I were a real spy, I would have left the country a long time ago."

After their arrest Friday morning, the two appeared in federal court in Albuquerque, New Mexico and were accused of dealing with an FBI undercover agent posing as a Venezuelan agent. The government did not allege that Venezuela or anyone working for it sought U.S. secrets.

The pair were indicted for allegedly communicating classified nuclear weapons data to a person they believed to be a Venezuelan government official.

Accused in a 22-count indictment are Mascheroni, 75, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Argentina, and Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, 67, a U.S. citizen. Both were formerly contract employees at Los Alamos.

According to the indictment, Mascheroni told an undercover agent he could help Venezuela develop a nuclear bomb within 10 years and that under his program, Venezuela would use a secret, underground nuclear reactor to produce and enrich plutonium, and an open, aboveground reactor to produce nuclear energy.

Read the rest here.

Our Own Private Iran: Nukes on our Southern border. Nothing like re-living the 60's.

FBI Pays A Visit To Pastor Jones To Intimidate Him Into Canceling Koran Burning

This is exactly what the government is NOT supposed to do in the face of the 1st Amendment.


Sure, I know the First Amendment says, "Congress shall make no law ..." but the FBI is a Federal Agency in charge of enforcing the law.


In this case, they are showing up, under color of authority, and pseudo-enforcing a law which does not exist.


It is well within Pastor Jones' right to burn the Koran.


So, why did the FBI show up?


This is the way it used to be done in the Soviet Union.

Disgusting:

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — FBI agents visited Thursday with a minister of a small Florida church that plans to burn the Quran on Sept. 11, as public safety became a paramount concern and President Barack Obama added his voice to the chorus of opposition.

The FBI spent about a half hour talking with Jones, but church spokesman Wayne Sapp would not disclose what they discussed. Agents leaving the church wouldn't talk to an Associated Press reporter.

Jones said earlier this week that agents have visited him twice since he announced his plans in July, the last visit about two weeks ago.

 Let us be clear: Our government is overstepping it's authority here. They are harrasing Pastor Jones. 


They are violating his First Amendment Right to Free Speech. They are violating his Human Rights.


This could be taken up with the Suprme Court, and the Hague.


Pastor Jones is not hurting anyone, and he is not threatening to hurt anyone.


The trumped-up "security concerns" have nothing to do with the Pastor.


The :"security concern" has everything to do with the fact that we can not trust Muslims to act like law-abiding citizens. Instead, they will become murderous.


But, that is not the Pastor's fault.


It is the fault of Muslims, and of their sick, twisted religion, Islam.


Nuff said.

Shukrijumah New Head of Al Qaeda Says FBI

"Jafar the Pilot" just got kicked upstairs. According to the FBI, Adnan Shukrijumah, 35, has taken over Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's old job as Al Qaeda chief of global operations, FOX News is reporting. Probably the best go-to for background on Shukrijumah is Dr. Paul Williams, who covered his previous jihadist globetrotting in his 2007 book "The Day of Islam". Adnan is one nasty, and dangerous, piece of work.

Report: New Al Qaeda Leader Knows U.S. Well
Published August 06, 2010
Associated Press

MIAMI -- A suspected Al Qaeda operative who lived for more than 15 years in the U.S. has become chief of the terror network's global operations, the FBI says, marking the first time a leader so intimately familiar with American society has been placed in charge of planning attacks.

Adnan Shukrijumah, 35, has taken over a position once held by 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was captured in 2003, Miami-based FBI counterterrorism agent Brian LeBlanc told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview. That puts him in regular contact with Al Qaeda's senior leadership, including Osama bin Laden, LeBlanc said.

Shukrijumah and two other leaders were part of an "external operations council" that designed and approved terrorism plots and recruits, but his two counterparts were killed in U.S. drone attacks, leaving Shukrijumah as the de facto chief and successor to Mohammed -- his former boss.

"He's making operational decisions is the best way to put it," said LeBlanc, the FBI's lead Shukrijumah investigator. "He's looking at attacking the U.S. and other Western countries. Basically through attrition, he has become his old boss."

The FBI has been searching for Shukrijumah since 2003. He is thought to be the only Al Qaeda leader to have once held permanent U.S. resident status, or a green card.

Shukrijumah was named earlier this year in a federal indictment as a conspirator in the case against three men accused of plotting suicide bomb attacks on New York's subway system in 2009. The indictment marked the first criminal charges against Shukrijumah, who previously had been sought only as a witness.

Shukrijumah is also suspected of playing a role in plotting of potential Al Qaeda bomb attacks in Norway and a never-executed attack on subways in the United Kingdom, but LeBlanc said no direct link has yet emerged. Travel records and other evidence also indicate Shukrijumah did research and surveillance in spring 2001 for a never-attempted plot to disrupt commerce in the Panama Canal by sinking a freighter there, LeBlanc said.

Shukrijumah, who trained at Al Qaeda's Afghanistan camps in the late 1990s, was labeled a "clear and present danger" to the U.S. in 2004 by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft. The U.S. is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture and the FBI also is releasing an age-enhanced photo of what he may look like today.

It's natural he would focus on attacking on the U.S, LeBlanc said.

"He knows how the system works. He knows how to get a driver's license. He knows how to get a passport," LeBlanc said.

Shukrijumah's mother, Zurah Adbu Ahmed, said Thursday on the front stoop of her small home in suburban Miramar, Fla., that her son frequently talked about what he considered the excesses of American society -- such as alcohol and drug abuse and women wearing skimpy clothes -- but that he did not condone violence. She also said she has not had contact with her son for several years.

"This boy would never do evil stuff. He is not an evil person," she said. "He loved this country. He never had a problem with the United States."

LeBlanc said the new charges were brought after the New York subway bomb suspects identified him to investigators as their Al Qaeda superior. The New York suspects provided other key information about his Al Qaeda status.

"It was basically Adnan who convinced them to come back to the United States and do this attack," LeBlanc said. "His ability to manipulate someone like that and direct that, I think it speaks volumes."

Before turning to radical strains of Islam, Shukrijumah lived in Miramar with his mother and five siblings, excelling at computer science and chemistry courses while studying at community college. He had come to South Florida in 1995 when his father, a Muslim cleric and missionary trained in Saudi Arabia, decided to take a post at a Florida mosque after several years at a mosque in Brooklyn, N.Y.

At some point in the late 1990s, according to the FBI, Shukrijumah became convinced that he must participate in "jihad," or holy war, to fight perceived persecution against Muslims in places like Chechnya and Bosnia.

That led to training camps in Afghanistan, where he underwent basic and advanced training in the use of automatic weapons, explosives, battle tactics, surveillance and camouflage.

"What's dangerous about an individual that understands the U.S. is he may have a better sense of our security vulnerabilities and insights into how to terrify the American people using smaller attacks for large, political impact," said Brian Fishman, a counterterrorism research fellow at the New America Foundation. "This increases the risk of attacks outside traditional places we normally worry about like New York and Washington."

Shukrijumah was born in Saudi Arabia. He is a citizen of Guyana, a small South American country where his father was born. His father died in 2004.

While still in Afghanistan, he met another young recruit -- Jose Padilla, an American citizen once suspected of plotting to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" and now imprisoned on a 2007 terrorism material support conviction in Miami. At one point, according to interrogations of Padilla and other Al Qaeda detainees, Shukrijumah and Padilla were paired in a plot to fill apartments in several high-rise apartment buildings with natural gas and blow them up, but they had a falling out.

"They just couldn't get along. It's like two guys that could not work together," LeBlanc said.

The FBI is still hoping to bring charges in South Florida against Shukrijumah, but key information about him was provided by Guantanamo Bay detainees such as Mohammed, whose use as a witness would be difficult.

"For us, it's never been a dry hole. It's always been an active investigation and it's global in nature," LeBlanc said. "We have never stopped working it."

Stealth Jihad Rides Coattails of Failed Jihad Attacks

In the "no good deed goes unpunished" department, consider this: Alert airline passengers, street vendors, and police saved thousands of lives by preventing two disastrous Jihad attacks from happening, one over Detroit on Christmas and the other in Times Square on May 1. According to this FOX News report, the death toll would have been in the thousands.

Times Square Bomb 'Would Have Killed Thousands,' FBI Test Shows

Published July 20, 2010
NYPost.com

A secret FBI test of a correctly made version of the Times Square bomb revealed that it "would have killed thousands of people" if it had been made to explode as terrorists had intended, law-enforcement sources told The New York Post.

Had he built the Times Square device the way he had originally intended to, terrorist Faisal Shahzad, would have turned his SUV and nearby vehicles into a fatal spray of razor-sharp fragments and transformed building windows into glass guillotines hurtling to the streets, cutting down hundreds of people walking by.

The results were discovered after feds composed the type of bomb Shahzad set out to make -- with the exact components he had initially intended to use -- and exploded it in Pennsylvania last month.

"It would have been the biggest thing ever to happen in this country since Sept. 11," another source said.

"It definitely would have been bigger than [the 1995] Oklahoma City" bombing of the federal building that killed 168 people, the source said. "There would have been a lot of casualties."

At the end of June, the FBI built its replica of the bomb to test its destructive force, sources said. The results of the explosive test were sobering -- showing that Shahzad was on track to becoming the biggest individual mass murderer in U.S. history, several sources said.

The increasingly obvious irony is this: Had either or both of these attacks succeeded, plans for the Ground Zero mosque would have been, at the very least, quietly shelved until it was determined that we had all forgotten. The fact that the mosque is on track to be built now sadly illustrates how short that time can be.

As the violent jihad continues to fail in this country, the stealth jihad advances -- and the question becomes whether it will require success at the former to awaken our snoring citizens to the encroachments of the latter. This is a devil's bargain we should have never got ourselves stuck in.

Timeline for Portsmouth NH Bus Standoff

Seacoastonline has what appears to be an up-to-date timeline on the Portsmouth, NH, bus standoff.

Hanover Street cleared; robotic devices sent to inspect bus during bomb scare

By Staff reports
news@seacoastonline.com
May 06, 2010 11:41 AMPORTSMOUTH

Five hours after police were called to the area of the High-Hanover parking garage for a report of a possible bomb aboard a Greyhound bus, police cleared Hanover Street of onlookers and media, while one man remained on the bus and robotic devices were sent in to inspect the scene.

Sixteen other passengers walked away from the bus two hours after the initial call, with their hands in the air, down the middle of Hanover Street, flanked by SWAT team members.

By 5:30 p.m., according to Schwartz, police had deployed at least two robotic devices, one of which contained video equipment, to inspect the bus.

"We certainly would like him to get off the bus," said Portsmouth Police Capt. Mike Schwartz of the man that remained on board at 5 p.m.

At approximately 11:40 a.m. Thursday, police and firefighters responded to the area of the High-Hanover parking garage, where they surrounded a Greyhound bus while watching a subject inside. Shortly afterwards emergency responders began evacuating nearby businesses.

Police Chief Lou Ferland said police had received information that there may be a subject on the bus with a bomb.

According to Schwartz, 17 people were on the bus, the driver was not on board during the response, and there had been phone contact with a passenger on the bus, which had stopped in Portsmouth while en route to Boston, Mass. from Portland, Maine.

As the scene unfolded, city police were joined by other local, state and federal agencies including Exeter and Hampton police, the Seacoast Emergency Response Team (SERT), a K-9 unit from Dover, the N.H. State Police bomb disposal unit, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), immigration and customs officials and the FBI. At approximately 12:30 p.m. an armored vehicle was called in from Rye.

Police urged people to stay away from the downtown area.

At 1 p.m. Schwartz said police had been talking with passengers on the bus but have not asked or directed anyone to remain there, and that police were not calling the scene a hostage situation. "The call (from a passenger) to us was a concern based on an observation," said the captain. "We're making the situation as safe as possible."

At approximately 1:30 p.m. passengers exited the bus with their hands up, and one man remained on the bus and appeared to be handcuffed.

SERT members gathered the passengers, who appeared to be in handcuffs, in the High-Hanover parking garage before police transported them to the Portsmouth station for interviews by local police and the FBI, according to Schwartz.

By 2:40 p.m., according to Schwartz, police had attempted to establish phone communication with the man who remained on the bus, and stressed that police were not naming anybody a suspect at that time.

At approximately 3:10 p.m., emergency officials were preparing to inspect the bus with a motorized robotic device which, according to Schwartz, did not necessarily indicate the presence of a bomb, but contained video capabilities which could be used for inspection.

Approximately 20 responders were seen exiting a large N.H. Department of Safety vehicle and boarded another bus which drove away from the scene.

State and city officials on scene included N.H. Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young, Portsmouth Mayor Tom Ferrini, and Father Angelo Pappas, the Portsmouth Fire Dept. chaplain.

Portsmouth High School sophomore Robert Swan said he received a text message about the incident, and that within ten minutes word of the event was all over the school. Swan said all after-school programs were canceled as a precaution, and that many students' facebook pages indicated they had joined onlookers downtown to see what was happening.

N.H. Governor John Lynch, at the Emergency Operations Center in Concord, said in a brief statement that the situation remains fluid and could go on for some time.

Restrictions were put on air travel in the area, which kept television helicopters from flying overhead at closer than 3,000 feet.

According to Schwartz, police had not recovered any type of device from the bus.

As indicated in the blue highlighted paragraph, even with this detailed coverage the facts are confused -- did the passengers have their hands in the air, wear handcuffs, or both, or neither. But it seems significant that the governor thinks this situation "could go on for some time".

Portsmouth Neighborhood Evacuated Man On Greyhound Bus Has "Device"

Part of downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire, has been evacuated because of a report of a device found on a Greyhound bus making a stop between Bangor and NYC. So far I've seen 4 different reports on this, all 4 with different details. Here's what FOX has so far:


New Hampshire Police Investigate Bomb Threat on Bus
Associated Press

DEVELOPING: Police and fire officials are blocking streets in Portsmouth, N.H., around a Greyhound bus after a man reportedly threatened he had a bomb.

The state police explosives disposal unit has responded to the threat Thursday. Police evacuated residents and buildings in the area, including a Hilton hotel where an alarm sounded. A parking garage also has been closed.

The bus had left Bangor, Maine, and was en route to New York City. It was unclear whether the bus was occupied.

CNN has a bit more information on their news site:

Police said the area around Hanover, High and Market streets was closed.

News 9 reported that 17 passengers were still on the bus, but the bus driver had left the bus. There have been reports of a possible hostage situation, but Portsmouth Capt. Mike Schwartz said he wasn't sure why the passengers hadn't left the bus.

A SWAT team was also at the scene, and several businesses in the area were evacuated. The FAA also instituted a 3-mile no-fly zone around the area.

The Associated Press reported that the state explosives disposal unit and FBI were also at the scene.

Despite the heavy law enforcement presence in the area, police were set well back from the vehicle. Yellow caution tape blocked off the streets.

Gov. John Lynch's office said he went to the Emergency Operations Center in Concord and has been advised of the situation.

More Details...

Sources told WBZ's Karen Anderson that a man on the bus was talking on a cell phone in what sounded like Arabic and English.

A woman apparently heard him say something about "a bomb is on the bus."

The woman told the bus driver, who then pretended there was a mechanical problem with the bus and pulled over in Portsmouth. The driver then called police.

Police have closed streets and evacuated businesses, including a Hilton hotel in the busy downtown area.

Two SWAT teams and the FBI are also on the scene.

This could be serious -- or the guy could have been saying "There's a bum on the bus" and was misheard. (It's happened before.) I am hoping this does not turn out to be a hostage situation.

UPDATED: Apparently the passengers are now off the bus. This WMUR site seems to have the most up-to-date coverage.

Mueller" "Anti-Government Rhetoric" = Domestic Terrorism Bigger Threat Than Al Qaeda

Does it even momentarily embarrass this jackass to be braying about "lone-wolf extremists" and "anti-government rhetoric" in the wake of Fort Hood, Northwest Airlines Flight 253, the would-be NYC subway bombers, Jamaat ul-Fuqra bases all over the country, and the rest of the laundry list of Islamist-related threats to our domestic security? What we really need fear is the Hutaree?

What would these morons do without Timothy McVeigh to flog anew every time this subject comes up? And aren't they worried that some day some one is going to point out that this particular emperor is buck naked because Tim McVeigh had help from Muslim terrorists in planning and executing his little "home-grown" plot?

Yes, Robert, we get the implied message about being polite and not stepping out of line. This weekend is the anniversary of the New Englanders who got the same message from the king of England back in 1775. You may recall what their answer was. Be thankful that all you're getting is "rhetoric". And as John Parker, Isaac Davis, Sam Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, William Dawes, Samuel Prescott might have put it, don't press your luck.

From FOX News:

Mueller: Home-Grown Extremists as Threatening as Al Qaeda
NewsCore

The warning, from the FBI Director, Robert Mueller, came as the former President Clinton drew parallels between the Oklahoma City tragedy and a recent upsurge in anti-government rhetoric.

Fifteen years after the Oklahoma City bombing, the specter of domestic terrorism has returned to haunt the Obama administration, with a warning from the FBI that “home-grown and lone-wolf extremists” now represent as serious a threat as Al Qaeda and its affiliates, The Times reported on Saturday.

The warning, from the FBI Director, Robert Mueller, came as the former President Clinton drew parallels between the Oklahoma City tragedy and a recent upsurge in anti-government rhetoric, while American television audiences heard Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, describe the “absolute rage” that drove him to plan an attack that killed 168 men, women and children.

An FBI spokesman said Friday that Mueller was referring to right-wing extremist groups and anti-government militias, as well as American Islamists, in his testimony to the Senate committee that must approve the FBI’s $8.3 billion budget.

Last month federal agents arrested nine members of a Christian militia based in Michigan, calling itself the Hutaree. They have been charged with plotting to murder local police with a stash of guns, knives and grenades.

Since the passage of President Obama’s health reforms, the FBI has also made arrests in Seattle and San Francisco after death threats were sent to Democratic senators.

“It’s one thing to express dissatisfaction with the Government but once you cross the line with a violent threat, that’s a violation that we take extremely seriously,” Bill Carter, the bureau’s spokesman, said.

The Oklahoma bombing was followed by an exhaustive civilian trial in which McVeigh became a hate figure to most but a hero to some members of the survivalist fringe on which he was radicalized.

He was executed in 2001, but not before granting 45 hours of death-row interviews to the authors of a book, American Terrorist, whose tapes will be broadcast for the first time on Monday.

McVeigh never confessed to the bombing in court but he appears to do so on the tapes.

“I feel no shame for it,” he says. “This was something that I saw as a larger good, and I know that, as I analyzed the history of not just the U.S., but all nations throughout the history of mankind. People have killed for what they believed was the greater good, and it’s accepted. Sometimes killing is accepted.”

The White House was careful to emphasize that the threat of external terrorism remained acute but senior officials are privately confident that military operations in Afghanistan are going well and putting Al Qaeda on the back foot.

Few people in Washington are as confident about the domestic threat.


Good. I hope the little bastards are wetting their pants. By November they'll be claiming that we plan to tar and feather them and ride them out of town -- D.C. to be specific -- on a rail.

If only.

FBI Arrests 7 Linked to "Christian Militia Group Hutaree"

The 7 people arrested during joint FBI/DHS raids have been linked to a "Christian militia group" known as Hutaree.


Mar 28, 2010 6:49 pm
US/Eastern FBI Arrests 7 With Ties To Christian Militia
WASHINGTON (CBS)

A joint-terrorism task force led by the FBI has arrested at least seven people with ties to the militia group Hutaree in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, the Detroit News reported Sunday.

The Hutaree describe themselves as Christian soldiers preparing for the arrival and battle with the anti-Christ.

The FBI is believed to have targeted the Hutaree after its members made threats of violence against Islamic organizations. A U.S. official says some of the people arrested in the raids will face gun charges.

The law enforcement official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation. Federal warrants are sealed.

Michael Lackomar, spokesman for the Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia, an unrelated organization, says a member of his group was called by members the Hutaree Saturday who claimed their property was being raided. Lackomar says the Michigan militia member is cooperating with the FBI.

Michigan Militia members define themselves as survivalists who favor larger local government and smaller federal government. The group has been recognized recently for helping local officials in Bridgewater Township, Mich. locate missing persons.

The suspects in the Hutaree raid will make an appearance in a U.S. District Court on Monday.


Addendum from AOW: Creeping Sharia has some additional information, including CAIR's reaction.

Also, Hutaree's web site is HERE.

House GOP Whip Cantor Reports Office Shot At, Chides DNC for "Fanning Flames"

House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) is having none of the DNC's wolf-crying over alleged threats against Democratic politicians. Despite a shot being fired at his own Richmond, Virginia, district office, Cantor told the DNC to stop using reports of threats "as political weapons".


HOUSE GOP No. 2: Someone Shot At My Office

CNN reports that Rep. Eric Cantor, the number two Republican in the House of Representatives, said Thursday that a bullet had been shot through a window at his district office in Richmond, Virginia. He also said he had received threatening messages.

He said he would not publicly release the messages out of concern that doing so would only incite further violence.

He also accused Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine and Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland - a member of the Democratic House leadership - of "fanning the flames" of violence by using threats that have been made against Democratic members "as political weapons."

"Legitimate threats should be treated as security issues, and they should be dealt with by the appropriate law enforcement officials," Cantor told reporters on Capitol Hill. "It is reckless to use these incidents as media vehicles for political gain. ... Enough is enough. It has to stop."

Cantor, who is Jewish, said he had received numerous threats throughout his career both on account of his religion and his position in the GOP leadership.

More than 10 Democrats have reported trouble since the weekend health care vote, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, told reporters on Wednesday.

Windows have been smashed at Democratic offices in at least three states, and federal agents are investigating whether a cut gas line at the home of a Virginia congressman's brother was related to the lawmaker's yes vote.

Democratic congressional leaders have demanded Republicans join them in condemning a spate of threats and vandalism that has followed Sunday's vote on a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. health care system.

Post by: The CNN Wire
Filed under: Health Care • Latest news • Politics

Meanwhile, Northeast Intelligence Network Director Doug Hagmann warns of the possibility of an American "Reichstag fire"-type situation brewing, with the FBI and DHS compiling "watch lists" of "tea-party" and other "right-wing" groups and individuals. (The 1933 fire at the German Reichstag parliament building, allegedly set by a Dutch communist, was used by the Nazis as an excuse to suspend civil liberties in Germany.)

Flight Diverted Jets Scrambled AGAIN

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to AirTran flight number 39, nonstop to San Francisco... hah. We should be so lucky. Your in-flight breakfast this morning will be scrambled F-16s fresh from NORAD thanks to the loudmouthed drunk holed up in the can, whose uncooperative behavior necessitates a brief emergency stopover in Colorado Springs in order that said drunk and all the rest of you can be questioned by the Fibbies... "

Deja vous all over again, and again without a name or description of the "unruly" passenger:

Fighter jets scrambled again because of unruly airline passenger
January 8, 2010 5:49 p.m. EST

(CNN) -- In the second such incident in three days, fighter jets escorted a diverted commercial flight on Friday after an unruly passenger caused alarm onboard.

The military sent up two F-16s in response to reports of an unruly passenger aboard AirTran Flight 39, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement.

The passenger had become belligerent and refused to leave the restroom, airline spokesman Tad Hutcheson told CNN Friday. The passenger appeared to be intoxicated, he said.

The flight, bound for San Francisco, California, left Atlanta, Georgia, at 9:48 a.m. ET, according to AirTran's Web site.

NORAD dispatched the fighters at 1:44 p.m. ET, escorting the aircraft to a safe emergency landing in Colorado Springs, Colorado, officials said. The passenger was detained there and FBI agents from Denver, Colorado, were called to question passengers, Hutcheson said.

The other passengers were scheduled to continue their trip at 4:30 p.m. ET, he said.

On Wednesday, NORAD escorted a Hawaii-bound plane back to its origination point of Portland, Oregon, when an unruly passenger in coach became "uncooperative," a Hawaiian Airlines official said.

Flight 253 Passenger Haskell: FBI Is Lying to Americans

Northwest/Delta Airlines flight 253 passenger Kurt Haskell reports a "visit" from FBI officials on December 29th and accuses US of "lying" about a second suspect who was taken away in handcuffs.

Flight 253 passenger Kurt Haskell: 'I was visited by the FBI'
By Aaron Foley MLive.com
December 31, 2009, 9:41AM

Following up on a visit from FBI officials about an eyewitness account first described to MLive.com, Michigan attorney Kurt Haskell described the visit in comment sections across MLive on Wednesday.

Haskell and his wife, Lori, were aboard Flight 253 when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to destroy the plane. They say another man tried to help Abdulmutallab board the plane in Amsterdam.

Haskell had two detailed posts in two different stories. Here is Part One, originally posted here (Nothing below in the indent has been changed. Only links have been added.):

Today is the second worst day of my life after 12-25-09. Today is the day that I realized that my own country is lying to me and all of my fellow Americans. Let me explain.

Ever since I got off of Flight 253 I have been repeating what I saw in US Customs. Specifically, 1 hour after we left the plane, bomb sniffing dogs arrived. Up to this point, all of the passengers on Flight 253 stood in a small area in an evacuated luggage claim area of an airport terminal. During this time period, all of the passengers had their carry on bags with them. When the bomb sniffing dogs arrived, 1 dog found something in a carry on bag of a 30 ish Indian man. This is not the so called "Sharp Dressed" man. I will refer to this man as "The man in orange". The man in orange, who stood some 20ft away from me the entire time until he was taken away, was immediately taken away to be searched and interrogated in a nearby room. At this time he was not handcuffed. When he emerged from the room, he was then handcuffed and taken away. At this time an FBI agent came up to the rest of the passengers and said the following (approximate quote) "You all are being moved to another area because this area is not safe. I am sure many of you saw what just happened (Referring to the man in orange) and are smart enough to read between the lines and figure it out." We were then marched out of the baggage claim area and into a long hallway. This entire time period and until we left customs, no person that wasn't a law enforcement personnel or a passenger on our flight was allowed anywhere on our floor of the terminal (or possibly the entire terminal) The FBI was so concerned during this time, that we were not allowed to use the bathroom unless we went alone with an FBI agent, we were not allowed to eat or drink, or text or call anyone. I have been repeating this same story over the last 5 days. The FBI has, since we landed, insisted that only one man was arrested for the airliner attack (contradicting my account). However, several of my fellow passengers have come over the past few days, backed up my claim, and put pressure on FBI/Customs to tell the truth. Early today, I heard from two different reporters that a federal agency (FBI or Customs) was now admitting that another man has been held (and will be held indefinitely) since our flight landed for "immigration reasons." Notice that this man was "being held" and not "arrested", which was a cute semantic ploy by the FBI to stretch the truth and not lie.

Just a question, could that mean that the man in orange had no passport?

However, a few hours later, Customs changed its story again. This time, Mr. Ron Smith of Customs, says the man that was detained "had been taken into custody, but today tells the news the person was a passenger on a different flight." Mr. Ron Smith, you are playing the American public for a fool. Lets take a look at how plausible this story is (After you've already changed it twice). For the story to be true, you have to believe, that:

1. FBI/Customs let passengers from another flight co-mingle with the passengers of flight 253 while the most important investigation in 8 years was pending. I have already stated that not one person who wasn't a passenger or law enforcement personnal was in our area the entire time we were detained by Customs.
2. FBI/Customs while detaining the flight 253 passengers in perhaps the most important investigation since the last terrorist attack, and despite not letting any flight 253 passenger drink, eat, make a call, or use the bathroom, let those of other flights trample through the area and possibly contaminate evidence.
3. You have to believe the above (1 and 2) despite the fact that no flights during this time allowed passengers to exit off of the planes at all and were detained on the runway during at least the first hour of our detention period.
4. You have to believe that the man that stood 20 feet from me since we entered customs came from a mysterious plane that never landed, let its passengers off the plane and let this man sneak into our passenger group despite having extremely tight security at this time (i.e. no drinking even).
5. FBI/Customs was hauling mysterious passengers from other flights through the area we were being held to possibly comtaminate evidence and allow discussions with suspects on Flight 253 or to possibly allow the exchange of bombs, weapons or other devices between the mysterious passengers from other flights and those on flight 253.

Seriously Mr. Ron Smith, how stupid do you think the American public is?

Mr. Ron Smith's third version of the story is an absolute inplausible joke. I encourage you, Mr. Ron Smith, to debate me anytime, anywhere, and anyplace in public to let the American people see who is credible and who is not.

I ask, isn't this the more plausible story:

1. Customs/FBI realized that they screwed up and don't want to admit that they left flight 253 passengers on a flight with a live bomb on the runway for 20 minutes.
2. Customs/FBI realized that they screwed up and don't want to admit that they left flight 253 passengers in customs for 1 hour with a live bomb in a carry on bag.
3. Customs/FBI realize that the man in orange points to a greater involvement then the lone wolf theory that they have been promoting.

Mr. Ron Smith I encourage you to come out of your cubicle and come up with a more plausible version number 4 of your story.

Haskell continued his comment in a different post on MLive.

For the last five days I have been reporting my story of the so called "sharp dressed man." For those of you who haven't read my account, it involves a sharp dressed "Indian man" attempting to talk a ticket agent into letting a supposed "Sudanese refugee" (The terrorist) onto flight 253 without a passport. I have never had any idea how it played out except to note that the so called "Sudanese reefugee" later boarded my flight and attempted to blow it up and kill me. At no time did my story involve, or even find important whether the terrorist actually had a passport. The importance of my story was and always will be, the attempt with an accomplice (apparently succesful) of a terrorist with all sorts of prior terrorist warning signs to skirt the normal passport boarding procedures in Amsterdam. By the way, Amsterdam security did come out the other day and admit that the terrorist did not have to "Go through normal passport checking procedures".

Amsterdam security, please define to the American public "Normal passport boarding procedures".

You see the FBI would have the American public believe that what was important was whether the terrorist in fact had a passport.

Seriously think about this people. You have a suicide bomber who had recently been to Yemen to but a bomb, whose father had reported him as a terrorist, who supposedly was on some kind of U.S. terror watchlist, and most likely knew the U.S. was aware of these red flags. Yet, he didn't go through "Normal passport checking procedures." What does that mean? Maybe that he flashed a passport to some sort of sympathetic security manager in a backroom to avoid a closer look at the terrorist's "red flags"? What is important is that the terrorist avoided using normal passport checking procedures (apparently successfully) in order to avoid a closer look into his red flags. Who cares if he had a passport. The important thing is that he didn't want to show it and somehow avoided a closer inspection and "normal passport checking procedures." Each passport comes with a bar code on it that can be scanned to provide a wealth of information about the individual. I would bet that the passport checking procedures for the terrorist did not include a bar code scan of his passport (which could have revealed damning information about the terrorist).

Please note that there is a very easy way to verify the veracity of my prior "sharp dressed man" account. Dutch police have admitted that they have reviewed the video of the "sharp dressed man" that I referenced. Note that it has not been released anywhere, You see, if my eye witness account is false, it could easily be proven by releasing the video. However, the proof of my eyewitness account would also be verified if I am telling the truth and I am. There is a reason we have only heard of the video and not seen it. dutch authorities, "RELEASE THE VIDEO!" This is the most important video in 8 years and may be all of two minutes long. Show the entire video and "DO NOT EDIT IT"! The American public deserves its own chance to attempt to identify the "sharp dressed man". I have no doubt that if the video indicated that my account was wrong, that the video would have already swept over the entire world wide web.

Instead of the video, we get a statment that the video has been viewed and that the terrorist had a passport. Each of these statements made by the FBI is a self serving play on semantics and each misses the importance of my prior "sharp dressed man" account. The importance being that the man "Tried to board the plane with an accomplice and without a passort". The other significance is that only the airport security video can verify my eyewitness account and that it is not being released.

Who has the agenda here and who doesn't? Think about that for a minute.


While Haskell's "man in orange" may have been detained on unrelated charges, the incident as reported by various passengers still raises questions. As noted in a comment elsewhere, the possibility of an explosive device in a second passenger's carry-on bag expands the possible scope of the attempted attack. If another eyewitness report is true, the whole thing may have been videotaped by another passenger. Another eyewitness account corroborates both stories (though some details differ). In contrast to the dirsruptive shenanigans of the Muslim passengers on AirTrans flight 297 and similar incidents, flight 253 appears to have involved both an actual bombing attempt and an elaborate (and relatively quiet except for the brief period of bedlam near the end) "dry run" involving multiple participants. And which was possibly recorded by a member of the "team" who may still be at large -- and busy reviewing the tape with other attack planners.

Northwest 253 Passenger Says Flight Was Videotaped

A passenger on Northwest (Delta) flight #253 Christmas Day is claiming that the entire flight was videotaped by an unidentified man seated several rows behind the would-be bomber.

Oconomowoc Family Survives Terrorist Attempt
By Jay Sorgi
Story Created: Dec 28, 2009

(Story Updated: Dec 28, 2009 )

MILWAUKEE - "I would just like to know how to get to Ethiopia by boat."

Patricia "Scotty" Keepman still has a sense of humor after the harrowing experience she, her husband, daughter and two new adopted children from Ethiopia had as a man tried to detonate an explosive device while their plane was getting ready to land in Detroit on Christmas Day.

[...]

They were sitting about 20 rows behind Abdulmutallab, in a center aisle with her husband and daughter a row ahead of her and their two new adopted children, a six-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy.

Her daughter said that ahead of them was a man who videotaped the entire flight, including the attempted detonation.

"He sat up and videotaped the entire thing, very calmly," said Patricia. "We do know that the FBI is looking for him intensely. Since then, we've heard nothing about it."

"We heard what sounded like an electrical pop to me. Everybody looked above their seats, kind of like startled, panicked. Shortly thereafter, we heard the screams. We could not see what was going on. We were too far back. We heard shouting, and you could hear the mayhem happening.

At that point, two flight attendants ran at full speed to get fire extinguishers.



There's lots more but the money quote is highlighted in red.

Only sketchy coverage of this story appears to be available at this point, so neither the credibility of this witness or whether this is actually being investigated by the FBI is confirmed at this point.

However, if the story is accurate, one can think of several reasons for a passenger "calmly" videotaping an entire transatlantic flight, including a violent confrontation involving fire breaking out on the aircraft, such as having nothing better to do and not understanding the situation. The most disturbing question is why would the accomplice of a suicide bomber bother to videotape a flight that is supposed to end in detonation of a bomb?

Islamberg: A Village Is Missing Its Idiots

Paul Williams updates the case of the missing Muslims.

December 22, 2009

The Case of the Missing Muslims: Why Is Islamberg Now a Ghost Town?
Paul Williams, PhD

The Wall Street Journal reports this week that U.S. investigators are discovering that more and more young Muslims are vanishing from mosques, madrassas, and Islamic centers.

The disappearances, the Journal notes, are raising grave concerns among FBI and Homeland Security officials who fear that an onset of jihadist activity will take place on American soil in the near future.

Hundreds of Muslim men are also missing from Islamberg and this is not a propitious omen.

The sentry post is gone and no guards are in sight at the entrance to the 70 acre Islamic settlement located in the dense forest between Deposit and Hancock in upper New York State.
Young men in Islamic garb no longer congregate before the makeshift mosque, and no students are in attendance at the one room shack that serves as Sheikh Gilani's “International Quranic Open University.”

Gunfire no longer can be heard from the firing ranges along the eastern parameter of the property – and no grunts come from new recruits at the obstacle course.

A new sign at the entranceway reads, “Welcome to Holy Islamberg: The International Quranic Open University.” Next to this sign, which features the image of a mosque emerging from the mountains, is a pot of plastic carnations. Another sign proclaims that the community is home to the “United Muslim – Christian Forum.”

Such statements of welcome are offset by the “No Trespassing” signs that have been nailed to trees throughout the compound.

On the opposite side of the road leading into the community is a rack of metal mailboxes bearing such names as Abdul-Haqq, Abdul Jalil, Mumim Roberts, Abdullah Simonds, and Salam Insan.

What has happened to this once bustling complex of radical Islamists – a place where the cries of muezzins were accompanied by the incessant rat-tat-tat of machine gunfire? Where are the Arab dignitaries that used to visit this remote community in chauffeur-driven limousines? Where are the armed sentries who warded away all intruders?

A handful of children play in the mud and muck before rows of rusty old trailers, and a few women in full burkas walk along the rutty dirt road that leads to the heart of the squalid Muslim compound.

The few residents who remain in the settlement are not environmentalists. Sewage seeps from septic tanks and outhouses into the creek that flows at the base of the settlement. Bags of rotting garbage remain stacked between the trailers. And the once pristine countryside is now littered with junk cars, moldy mattresses, empty tanks of propane, and old appliances.

Where are the men?

What has happened to this bustling center of jihadi training?

Why has Islamberg become a ghost town?

The same phenomenon of vanishing Muslim men is taking place at mosques, madrassas, and other Islamic communities throughout the country and at other Jamaat ul-Fuqra paramilitary compounds, including one in Red House, Virginia.

U.S. investigators have now discovered that many of the missing Muslims are showing up in the killing fields of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Somalia.

Five American Muslims recently were arrested in Pakistan following a raid at the home of a member of the Jaish-e-Muhammad, a Pakistani movement designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2001.

[...]

Where are the Muslim men from Islamberg?

The answer comes from a heavy-set woman in a long black burka who stops to check her mail box. “The men – all gone,” she says in halting English. “All – in Pakistan.”

Islamberg was established in 1980 by Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, a Pakistani cleric who served as the imam of the Yasin Masjid in Brooklyn. A quack practitioner of something called “Koranic psychiatry,” Sheikh Gilani presented himself to the Brooklyn congregation as "the sixth Sultan ul Faqr,” with a lineage that dates back to the prophet Mohammed. He claimed to have supernatural powers that came from his regular reception of visits by jinn and “non-human beings.”

Sporting ammunition belts, Gilani called upon members of a Black Muslim street gang known as Dar al-Islam (DAR) to take part in the holy war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Hundreds answered the call and headed off to training camps in Pakistan, which had been established by Osama bin Laden, and other members of the mujahadeen.

Under Gilani’s direction, the DAR transformed into Jamaat ul-Fuqra (“the community of the impoverished”) and continued its prison ministry under Muslims of the Americas, a new, non-profit corporation. The sheikh soon came to realize that it would be financially advantageous to train new recruits for the holy war on American soil rather than shelling out the freight of sending them to Lahore and Peshawar. He purchased a 70-acre parcel of land near Green Haven, set up a firing range and an obstacle course, purchased a slew of old single-wide trailers and created a paramilitary compound called Islamberg.

When released from the federal prison, former convicts now received not only the customary $10 and a suit of clothes but also a one-way ticket to Gilani’s compound.

What took place at Islamberg and the International Quranic Open University?

The answers came from Sheikh Gilani in his recruitment videos: “We give [students] specialized training in guerilla warfare. We are at present establishing training camps. You can easily reach us at Open Quranic offices in upstate New York or in Canada or in South Carolina or in Pakistan.”

Similarly, in a handbook, published by the university, Gilani wrote that the foremost duty of all students is to wage war against “the oppressors of Muslims.” The students are expected to sign an oath that reads: “I shall always hear and obey, and whenever given the command, I shall readily fight for Allah’s sake.”

Now that the recruits at Islamberg have been trained in the basics of guerilla warfare, they have been deployed to Pakistan for advanced courses in explosives and weapons of mass destruction.

They will be returning home soon.