In response to the Orlando killings, U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-7) wants an increased federal focus on online radicalization. Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ Read more
Post-Orlando, Lance Seeks Stepped-up Counters to Online Radicalization
Category: islamic Jihad
Ultimate sleeper cell: U.S.-born kids of immigrants are fertile jihadist recruiting grounds
By Stephen Dinan – The Washington Times – Monday, June 13, 2016
While immigrants draw much of the attention, it’s their children who are proving to be the most fruitful recruiting ground for radical jihad in the U.S., accounting for at least half of the deadly attacks over the past decade.
The latest instance of the second-generation terrorist syndrome played out in Orlando, Florida, over the weekend when Omar Mateen, son of immigrants from Afghanistan, went on a jihad-inspired rampage, killing 49 people and wounding 53 others in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
Authorities said Mateen had flirted with other terrorist groups but declared his allegiance to the Islamic State on Sunday morning as he began his horrific spree.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jun/13/second-generation-americans-proving-most-fruitful-/
Orlando gunman had used gay dating app and visited LGBT nightclub on other occasions, witnesses say
by Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Jenny Jarvie and Del Quentin Wilbe
The gunman who attacked a Florida LGBT nightclub had attended the club before the attack and had used a gay dating and chat app, witnesses said.
Kevin West, a regular at Pulse nightclub, said Omar Mateen messaged him on and off for a year before the shooting using the gay chat and dating app Jack’d.
But they never met – until early Sunday morning.
West was dropping off a friend at the club when he noticed Mateen – whom he knew by sight but not by name – crossing the street wearing a dark cap and carrying a black cellphone about 1 a.m., an hour before the shooting.
“He walked directly past me. I said, ‘Hey,’ and he turned and said, ‘Hey,’” and nodded his head, West said. “I could tell by the eyes.”
https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-orlando-nightclub-shooting-20160613-snap-story.html
The Group that Wants to Arm Gay America
What if the Orlando clubgoers had been armed? Pink Pistols wages a battle to get LGBT people to carry.
By Julia Ioffe
June 13, 2016
Within hours of the shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Gwendolyn Patton was on the case. She sat down, banged out a press release and posted it on her website. “This is exactly the kind of heinous act that justifies our existence,” it read. Swatting away the pleas for gun control she knew would follow in the wake of a high-profile mass shooting, Patton wrote: “At such a time of tragedy, let us not reach for the low-hanging fruit of blaming the killer’s guns,” she went on. “A human being did this. The human being’s tools are unimportant when compared to the bleakness of that person’s soul.” She lamented that the revelers mowed down at the Pulse were practically sitting ducks: In Florida, even though gun laws are quite loose, you’re not allowed to carry firearms in a place that serves alcohol. What if there were a designated carrier, she wondered? Someone tasked with remaining sober and toting a gun around a bar? “It’s sad that we must consider such things,” she concluded, “but when there are persons out there who mean us harm, we must find ways to protect ourselves within the law.”
ISIS ‘kill list’ targets Palm Beach, Treasure Coast residents: Ex-FBI agent
BY KATHLEEN WALTER WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8TH 2016
WEST PALM BEACH (CBS12) — A pro-Isis group has released a hit list with the names of more than 8,000 people mostly Americans.
More than 600-people live in Florida, and one security expert believes that many of those targeted live in Palm Beach County and on the Treasure Coast.
The “United Cyber Caliphate” that hacked U.S. Central Command, 54,000 Twitter accounts and threatened President Barack Obama is the same pro-Isis group that’s reportedly created a “kill list” with the names, addresses and emails of thousands of civilian Americans.
Reports of the list came to light online when Vocativ reported the list was shared via the encrypted app, Telegram, and called on supporters to kill.
Former FBI agent-turned lawyer Stuart Kaplan says the threat is especially alarming, because the people on this list are civilians who don’t have the security necessary to protect themselves.
Orlando nightclub terrorist worked for major DHS contractor that secures “90 percent of U.S. nuclear facilities.”
BY Paul Sperry · | June 13, 2016
The Orlando nightclub terrorist who pledged allegiance to ISIS worked almost a decade for a major Department of Homeland Security contractor, raising alarms that ISIS sympathizers and agents have infiltrated the federal agency set up after 9/11 to combat terrorists.
Officials say Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, an Afghan-American who held two firearms licenses and a security officer license, was employed by the security firm G4S Secure Solutions USA Inc. since Sept. 10, 2007. The Jupiter, Fla.-based company merged with the Wackenhut Corp. after 9/11 and assumed federal contracts.
“G4S supports the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection (CPB), with its operations at the U.S. Mexico border and with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to transport illegal immigrants in selected urban areas,” the company says in a brochure, titled “Providing Manpower Solutions for Government Services.”
The DHS contract with G4S is worth more than $234 million. The contract states that one of the “performance requirements” is helping identify “suspected terrorists” trying to enter the U.S.
The security contractor also provides security guards and other security services for “90 percent of U.S. nuclear facilities.”
G4S uses fortified buses to transport “hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants” from city to city and from cities to the U.S.-Mexican border. But earlier this month, Judicial Watch revealed G4S has been quietly moving and releasing van loads of illegal aliens away from the border to interior American cities.
ISIS claims responsibility for mass shooting
Gunman in Pulse nightclub shooting identified as Omar Mateen; 50 dead
By Daniel Dahm , Michelle Dendy
Posted: 4:03 AM, June 12, 2016Updated: 6:21 PM, June 12, 2016
ORLANDO, Fla. – Sen. Bill Nelson says that ISIS has taken credit for the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando and police say that the gunman called 911 declaring allegiance to the Islamic State.
Police said the gunman, identified as 29-year-old Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, opened fire early Sunday morning at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, killing 50 people and injuring at least 53 more in what is the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
Mateen called 911 around the time of the attack to pledge his allegiance to ISIS and he mentioned the Boston bombers, according to the FBI.
News 6 was on scene Sunday afternoon as local and federal bomb squad personnel were entering Mateen’s Fort Pierce apartment. It’s not clear what they found. Mateen, an American citizen born in New York, has been on law enforcement radar since 2013.
Officials said Mateen made the 911 call more than 20 minutes into the attack and had legally purchased two of the firearms, a handgun and a long gun, used in the shooting within the last week in Florida.
Mateen had been previously investigated by the FBI as possibly having ties to Islamic extremism. The investigations didn’t find evidence to charge Mateen with anything, officials said.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/several-injured-in-shooting-at-orlando-nightclub
Imam Speaking in Orlando Said Gays Must Be Killed Out of ‘Compassion’
BY PATRICK POOLE JUNE 12, 2016
There is new information on the horrific terror attack in Orlando last night that has killed at least 50 and wounded more than 100 in the largest mass shooting in American history.
Sources are telling the Daily Beast that suspected killer Omar Mateen hadpreviously been investigated by the FBI in 2013 and 2014, making this yet another “known wolf” terror attack:
Omar Mateen of Port Saint Lucie, Florida, came to the attention of federal authorities twice prior to being identified as the gunman in the Orlando nightclub mass shooting, a senior law enforcement source told The Daily Beast.
Mateen 53 people and shot more than 100 in total at the Pulse gay nightclub early Sunday morning, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
The senior law enforcement source reports that Mateen became a person of interest in 2013 and again in 2014. The Federal Bureau of Investigation at one point opened an investigation into Mateen but subsequently closed the case when it produced nothing that appeared to warrant further investigation.
“He’s a known quantity,” the source said. “He’s been on the radar before.”
Mateen was a U.S. citizen; his parents are from Afghanistan, CBS News reports.
Muslim Mass Murderer OMAR MATEEN Had Been Investigated by FBI, tied to Islamic Terror Groups
By PAMELA GELLER on June 12, 2016
The jihadi who slaughtered at least 50 at a gay nightclub in Florida last night was known to law enforcement. More of their “Muslim outreach,” I’m sure.
“Omar Mateen, Terrorist Who Attacked Orlando Gay Club, Had Been Investigated by FBI,” Daily Beast:
Mateen was a ‘known quantity’ to federal law enforcement before he killed 53 people in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
Mateen came to the attention of federal authorities twice prior to being identified as the gunman in the Orlando nightclub mass shooting, a senior law enforcement source told The Daily Beast.
The source reports that Mateen became a person of interest in 2013 and again in 2014. The Federal Bureau of Investigation at one point opened an investigation of him, but subsequently closed the case when it produced nothing that appeared to warrant further investigation.
“He’s a known quantity,” the source said. “He’s been on the radar before.”
The gunman is said by the source to have been born in New York and to have been married for a time to a woman from New Jersey. His father, Seddique Mateen, appears to reside in Florida, but is said to be presently running for office in Afghanistan.
Seddique told NBC News that the sight of two men kissing angered his son.
“We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident. We weren’t aware of any action he is taking,” Seddique said. “We are in shock like the whole country.” Seddique added that the attack “has nothing to do with religion.”
His father’s first response is, the massacre “had nothing to do with religion.” The bodies are still warm and the first response of the father of a mass murderer is protect Islam.
And if this has nothing to do with Islam, why is there an imam at the press conference?
Apple vs the FBI: Is Strong Encryption a Good Thing? What about National Security?
Gary Miliefsky
CEO of SnoopWall, Inc.
by Gary S. @Miliefsky, Breach Prevention Pioneer and CEO ofSnoopWall, Inc. @SnoopWallSecure
When it comes to John McAfee @OfficialMcAfee saying if he couldn’t get into the San Bernardino terrorists iPhone he would ‘eat his shoe’ – many iPhone users thought he was crazy. How could anyone break into a secure, password protected and encrypted iPhone. Well, as I’m going to show you, John would never have to eat his leather shoe and was 100% correct that it could easily be done.
Watch John McAfee on CNBC (used under the fair use provision of US Copyright law) discuss this situation.
Many think the @Apple iOS operating system is one of the most secure in the world for any smartphone or tablet. That may be true as iOS offers full disk encryption with built-in hardened encryption (device KEY, file KEY, Keychain API, Data Protection API, etc). In fact, the iOS currently boots with a low-level boot loader then verifies iBoot. Apple defends well against native code exploits using both address space layout randomization (ASLR) and XN bit (which stands for eXecute Never). The ASLR randomizes memory location of program executable, data, heap and stack every time it is launched. To block cross application memory attacks the XN bit allows the OS to mark segments of a program’s memory such as heap and stack as unexecutable. In addition, Jailbreaking does not allow you to disable the ios sandbox, only to run apps outside of it. Does all this make it impenetrable? Of course not, it makes it more fun to hack because hackers and cyber criminals love two things – 1) a challenge and 2) something well deployed. With nearly 1/2 Billion iOS devices in the market, this is a prime target for hackers.
Early exploits were even able to avoid Jailbreak Detection. Smart malware developers can create jailbreak detection bypasses that fake replies to function calls to make it look like the device is not jailbroken, when it still is. What about the Apple iTunes Review Process? Serious hackers create apps that are Bridging the webkit – so you access native iOS API’s via JavaScript. Some have done Dynamic patching – just look at InstaStock for example by Charlie Miller. What about intentionally exploitable vulnerabilities – write code with a buffer overflow that when triggered causes unseen code to execute – see Jekyll by Georgia Tech. So, yes, there are creative ways to accept the challenge and find ways around the well done system hardening of iOS. Do you remember the Handy Flashlight app? This Flashlight app secretly let users enable iPhone tethering. Handy Light wasn’t actually a flashlight app at all — it was a sneakily disguised tethering utility that let users share their iPhone’s Internet connection with their laptop.
Some have asked if Apple has a secret key or special back door that they just didn’t want to share with the @FBI because Apple is riding the ‘privacy wave’. The latest version of the iPhones and iOS, are using an Elliptical Encryption Key Exchange, augmented by the onboard Cryptography Chip. Therefore, THERE IS NO MASTER KEY. End-user PINs are resolved via the Cryptographic Chip. 10 tries and the iPhone is ‘bricked’. Any changes to this system, would require hardware and software changes, weakening the system and leaving it vulnerable to hackers. However, as Cellebrite of Israel has proven, an external keyboard/usb vulnerability is exploitable in a way that avoids this security feature, ie, infinite password tries could be done without bricking and actually, you only need a few hours of brute force attacks to get in, see: Their exploit tool is called UFED – Universal Forensic Extraction Device and runs less than $700. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Watch Gary Miliefsky on Hardline Discussing Apple vs FBI Case
What about remote access? It’s all about having background permissions and network access. Apple manages all multi-tasking in specially managed threads. Except Keyboard, Audio Player, Alarm Clock and VPN Client, most processes are not allowed to run in the background. With these four exploit vectors, it’s easy to understand that the free Emoji keyboards and free VPNs are not so free, after all. By placing a network monitor on all egress traffic, you’ll be surprised with what you will find out of these two free apps in particular. Just pick one of the 500+ available on iTunes and you’ll start to understand the gravity of the situation. VPNs have control over all of your network traffic. This is a great exploit to access lots of data passed over the tunnel. In addition, products like Web Watcher are called iPhone Monitoring software (and there are at least a dozen vendors) – once installed, track Text messages, Photos, Call and Web-history.
Nothing like a free Keylogger disguised as your Emoji Keyboard
Alarm Clocks and Audio Players have special permission to run in background
VPN’s manage traffic flow which means they see all your network traffic
In any case, these techniques are just the tip of the iceberg as to why the FBI or any government agency for that matter, doesn’t need to weaken the iPhone encryption to get into an iPhone.
“I’ve argued for years, that weakening encryption and creating “Secret Keys and Backdoors” would be a huge mistake and dangerous to national security.”
Let me name a few breaches and see if you can guess what they all have in common:
• OPM.gov Breach = 22 Million Records Stolen by the Chinese government’s cyber army putting in field agents lives in jeopardy.
• Sony Pictures Entertainment = 4 movies leaked, employee records lost, over a terabyte of data stolen by the DPRK’s cyber army.
• Anthem.com breach = 80,000,000 records now in the hands of the Chinese Government (along with the OPM records which can be cross correlated).
• Whitehouse.gov Breach? State.gov Breach? And many more in the news and found athttps://www.privacyrights.org.
Name any other recent breach over the past 3-5 years. What do these all have in common? There was NO ENCRYPTION setup to protect the data. With STRONG ENCRYPTION, none of these breaches would have happened. Lives are now in jeopardy over the OPM.gov breach so without encryption, yes, lives can be lost. Who has cyber armies drooling over our critical infrastructure, network equipment, iot, airplane, car, computer and smartphone vulnerabilities? China, Russia, North Korea, Iran and many cyber criminals!
Cyber-crime, cyber-espionage and cyber-terrorism all exploit: VULNERABILITIES and WEAK (or no) ENCRYPTION!
What would the legal ramifications be for Apple to be forced to weaken their iPhone encryption and not fix all the vulnerabilities I’ve listed above? Writing (STRONG) Computer Code is a form of FREE SPEECH. 1st Amendment guaranteed right. Apple or any other company coders in the USA have the right to unfettered or manipulated speech.
See: https://www.wired.com/2016/02/
So, forcing programmers to create a backdoor is a 5th Amendment violation because they have the right to NOT SPEAK which could easily be construed as ‘self-incrimination’ (weakening code) or forced ‘decryption’.
In addition, almost by chance, the US Government passed a very intelligent law called the Cyber Security Information Sharing Act of 2015 (aka CISA 2015). So, if any Federal Agency (FBI or other) finds a VULNERABILITY in any kind of computer or internet equipment (iPhone, for example), they must disclose this hole to the manufacturer (Apple, in this case) so that they may close the hole and HARDEN they SYSTEM against FUTURE EXPLOITATION.
See “The Protecting Cyber Networks Act” of 2015:https://intelligence.house.gov/
What this says is less VULNERABILITIES and strong ENCRYPTION will make America strong. Encryption is a good thing, it powers the e-tail/retail economy and online banking. Backdooring encryption is a bad thing, it empowers not just ‘trusted’ agencies like NSA and FBI but also any cybercriminal who can find the back door, and they look for them daily. Once criminals know of back doors, they move on to other platforms like silent circle, or video game chat networks or tor – they will always find a way to have a covert conversation. Root cause analysis says find the bad guys at the source, not when it’s too late, so finding them after the fact and hacking their phones is reactive not proactive. Let’s all stand together for VULNERABILITY sharing like the National Vulnerability Database https://nvd.nist.gov which rides off the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures program (see: https://cve.mitre.org) where we all agree that less vulnerabilities is a good thing. Let’s also stand up for strong encryption, see:https://www.savecrypto.org
We could look beyond the iPhone into the vulnerabilities of cars, as exploited for Wired magazine, causing a Jeep to go off the road, or the new Boeing 777 that was launched with vulnerabilities that allow someone in a passenger seat to exploit the avionics. What’s missing in both cases? strong ENCRYPTION. National Security is truly at risk without strong ENCRYPTION. If you are old enough to remember the 1976 Ford Pinto story, you get my point. What ever happened to Made in America with Pride?
One of the less discussed but deeper reasons I believe that Apple is standing up for strong encryption in their devices, is that they are betting on the future of mobile commerce via ApplePay. If they can guarantee to the banks that transactions are safer coming from their devices than our wallets and purses, it will open up an entire ecosphere that thrives off Apple. This could be worth billions in the long haul. One weak security key to ApplePay and cyber criminals will make it painful for retail, which has now made the transition to e-tail, to continue on it’s path to m-tail or ‘mobile commerce’. This is a big bet and a backdoor for the FBI would ruin Apple’s future in this green field.
In the bigger picture, even beyond Apple, less vulnerable products with strong encryption will result in higher taxable GDP in America because we’ll have more quality products to sell internationally, we’ll lose less to cyber theft, leaving more money in our bank accounts to grow our businesses. There will be more international revenues and exports as other countries and international companies will once again trust that Made in America means made well and strong. This will create more jobs in America and there will be less successful Cybercrime against the US. It will dramatically reduce the chance of cyber-terrorism in America and oh by the way to my friend John McAfee and all fellow privacy advocates, as a side effect of being smart about hardened products and strong encryption, yes, the Citizens get the reclaim their privacy, a sovereign right in our great Nation.
To those who will only get this message through visuals, I’ve put these four videos up for your enjoyment:https://tinyurl.com/woes4star
I’m placing my bets on hardened systems, strong encryption and the value of privacy here at SnoopWall as is John McAfee in his new public company, (NYSEMKT: MGT) folding in an array of privacy products and services. Please watch us to see how it pays out.
About the Author
Gary is the CEO of SnoopWall, Inc. and a co-inventor of the company’s innovative breach prevention technologies. He is a cyber-security expert and a frequent invited guest on national and international media commenting on mobile privacy, cyber security, cyber crime and cyber terrorism, also covered in both Forbes and Fortune Magazines. He has been extremely active in the INFOSEC arena, most recently as the Editor of Cyber Defense Magazine. Miliefsky is a Founding Member of the US Department of Homeland Security (https://www.DHS.gov), the National Information Security Group (https://www.NAISG.org) and the OVAL advisory board of MITRE responsible for the CVE Program (https://CVE.mitre.org). He also assisted the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC), which operates within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in their development of The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace as well as the Center for the Study of Counter-Terrorism and Cyber Crime at Norwich University. In his earlier career he sold and licensed technology that he invented to Hexis Cyber, a division of KeyW, Intel/McAfee, IBM, Computer Associates and BlackBox Corporation. Gary is a member of ISC2.org and is a CISSP®. Email him at ceo@snoopwall.com and visit him online athttps://www.snoopwall.com.
Suspected Islamic extremist shoots dead at least 20 at Florida gay club after bursting in ‘wearing a suicide vest’ and taking hostages – injuring a further 42 – before he is killed in shootout
Suspected Islamic extremist opened fire inside Pulse gay club in Orlando in the early hours of this morning
He shot more than 40 people – killing about 20 – and took party-goers hostage before being killed by police
Shooter, believed to be in his 20s, was carrying a suspicious device, possibly a suicide vest, when he attacked
Police used an explosive device to distract the gunman and rescue around 30 people who had been taken hostage
Police engaged in gunfire with the man and an officer was shot in the head, but he was saved by his helmet
FBI says gunman may have ‘leanings to radical Islamic terrorism’ and it is being investigated as ‘an act of terrorism’
Took place four miles from where The Voice singer Christina Grimmie, 22, was shot dead at The Plaza Live on Friday
By MATT HUNTER FOR MAILONLINE and JENNY STANTON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 03:08 EST, 12 June 2016 | UPDATED: 08:01 EST, 12 June 2016
A suspected Islamic extremist wielding an assault rifle and a handgun has killed about 20 people after taking party-goers hostage inside a gay club in Orlando.
The gunman was carrying a suspicious device, possibly a suicide vest, when he opened fire on the dance floor inside Pulse in the early hours of this morning.
Orlando Police Chief John Mina said authorities have not determined the exact number of people killed, but that ‘approximately 20’ have died. Another 42 people were taken to hospital.
An FBI spokesman said the mass shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism, adding that they are looking into whether this was an act of domestic or international terror, and if the shooter was a lone wolf.
Police said the gunman, who was shot dead by officers, was believed to be in his 20s was not a local man, while the FBI believe he may have ‘leanings to radical Islamic terrorism’.
The killings took place less than four miles from where The Voice singer and YouTube star Christina Grimmie, 22, was shot dead at The Plaza Live in Orlando on Friday.
Correction Muslim Martyrs Get 72 Raisins Instead of Virgins
photo #ArtChick #Phillyfaces Posing with the Famous #CaliforniaRaisin ( Joe Mazz ) #churchstreetstudio
The Great Koran Controversy: Will Muslim Martyrs Get 72 Raisins Instead of Virgins, & Other Speculations
January 16, 2008
According to an Islam tradition, Muslim martyrs will go to paradise and marry 72 black-eyed virgins. But some Koran scholars point to a less sexy paradise. While beautifully written, Islamic texts are often obscure. The Arabic language was born as a written language with the Koran, and growing evidence suggests that many of the words were Syriac or Aramaic.
Specifically, the Koran says martyrs going to heaven will get “hur,” and the word was taken by early commentators to mean “virgins,” hence those 72 concubines. But in Aramaic, hur actually meant “white” and was commonly used to specifically mean “white grapes.”
The exact number of virgins (or raisins) is not specified in Koran, but the number 72 comes from a quotation of Muhammad recorded in one of the lesser-known Hadith. (“Hadith” is an Arabic word meaning traditions.) After Muhammad’s death, several collections of his deeds and sayings were collected to form the Hadith, which is the second most authoritative document is Islam, after the Koran.
The philologist “Christoph Luxenburg”, (who always uses a pseudonym for security reasons) notes that grapes would actually make more sense, because the text compares them to crystal and pearls, and because contemporary accounts have paradise abounding with fruit, especially white grapes.
Okay, so for the sake of argument, lets say that Luxenburg is right and martyrs will get some grapes rather than young maidens, but what’s the big fuss? The real controversy is the notion that translations of Islamic holy text, including the Koran, have ever existed in the first place.
https://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/01/the-great-koran.html
Al Qaeda’s online magazine tells terrorists to target U.S. business leaders in their homes
By Rowan Scarborough – The Washington Times – Sunday, May 15, 2016
Al Qaeda’s Inspire online magazine is calling on jihadis to damage the American economy by killing business leaders and entrepreneurs in their homes.
Articles in the May 14 edition, its 15th, also urge radical Islamic terrorists to emulate the Palestinian street-killings of Jews by walking up to Americans and stabbing them to death.
Inspire’s cover carries the headline “Professional Assassinations” and the subhead “Home Assassinations.” It depicts the dark profile of a hooded killer stalking a victim who lives in an upscale American home.
A photo montage shows Microsoft founder Bill Gates, a pistol and spattered blood.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/may/15/al-qaedas-online-magazine-tells-terrorists-to-targ/
If ISIS Came to Your Town Would You Convert to Islam?
You might expect a group of teenagers to say they’d stand up to the Islamic State and refuse to convert. But what would you do if push came to shove?
BY DAVID HARRIS
Thu, April 21, 2016
So here’s the scenario.
A teacher in Italy taught her class of 13-year olds all about the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL). At the end of the project she asked her 25 students what they would do if the Islamic State took over their town. All but two reportedly said they would convert to Islam.
It’s somewhat tragic that a mix of classroom education and possibly some media exposure to ISIS barbarism would suck the bravado out of all the kids, other than two die-hard Catholics. But that’s the effect of the threats and actions of ISIS.
In every generation, there are the brave few who stand up to fight against one evil scourge or another, despite the likely great personal sacrifice.
In the Massacre of Verden in 782, Charlemagne is said to have killed 4,500 captive Saxons who rebelled against forced conversion to Roman Catholicism.
Legend has it that the Souliot women in the village of Zalongo in 1803 in Epirus danced and sang as they killed their own babies before committing suicide rather than facing capture by Ottoman-Albanian ruler Ali Pasha and all that would have followed.
https://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/if-isis-came-your-town-would-you-convert-islam
Saudi Arabia Warns of Economic Fallout if Congress Passes 9/11 Bill
By MARK MAZZETTIAPRIL 15, 2016
WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible in American courts for any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The Obama administration has lobbied Congress to block the bill’s passage, according to administration officials and congressional aides from both parties, and the Saudi threats have been the subject of intense discussions in recent weeks between lawmakers and officials from the State Department and the Pentagon. The officials have warned senators of diplomatic and economic fallout from the legislation.
Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, delivered the kingdom’s message personally last month during a trip to Washington, telling lawmakers that Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they could be in danger of being frozen by American courts.
