20110428

Muslim sex-attack victim, Lara Logan of CBS News, to interpret event on 60 Minutes

CBS Reporter, Lara Logan, Recounts ‘Merciless’ Assault in Egypt

Lara Logan recovering from sex-assault in Egypt's Tahrir Square.
“My clothes were torn to pieces,” Ms. Logan said.

She declined to go into more detail about the assault but said: “What really struck me was how merciless they were. They really enjoyed my pain and suffering. It incited them to more violence.”

After being rescued by a group of civilians and Egyptian soldiers, she was swiftly flown back to the United States.

“She was quite traumatized, as you can imagine, for a period of time,” Mr. Fager said. Ms. Logan said she decided almost immediately that she would speak out about sexual violence both on behalf of other journalists and on behalf of “millions of voiceless women who are subjected to attacks like this and worse.”


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20110422

Syrian goons fire, killing at least 75 civilian freedom demonstrators; 250 killed this month

Rights groups and activists say at least 75 people were killed in Syria on Friday, after security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters who rallied across the country.

The toll would make Friday the deadliest single day of protests in the country since the anti-government uprising began in March.

Witnesses and activists say security forces used live ammunition and tear gas on protesters, who poured onto the streets after Friday prayers and called for President Bashar al-Assad's immediate departure.

(Video: Al Jazeera English )

The deaths were reported in areas including the southern Daraa region, the central city of Homs and communities near the capital, Damascus.

In Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the latest use of force and said the Syrian government's "outrageous'' use of violence against the protesters must "end now.''

Allahpundit in HotAir analyzes:
Israel, despite its antipathy to the Assad clan, is in no hurry to see Bashar go for fear of what will succeed him. There’s a reason why Obama’s statement quoted above, despite its indignation, never quite gets around to calling for Assad’s ouster. Things can get worse. (That’s one of the fears about the Libyan rebels, no?)

20110421

Free speech experts question handling of Terry Jones protest

By J. Patrick Pepper Press & Guide Newspapers 21 April- DEARBORN — Pastor Terry Jones might be unwelcome here but legal and civil rights experts say he should have an opportunity to speak when and where he wants.

“The guarantee of religions freedom for all and the fundamental American right to protest are both essential elements of the First Amendment and they should be honored equally by the city of Dearborn,” said Rana Elmir, communications director for the American Civil Liberties Union Michigan.



City officials on Wednesday denied him a permit for the protest and this afternoon Jones is due in 19th District Court for a hearing on a verified complaint by the Wayne County prosecutor. The complaint seeks to make Jones post a peace bond, which is cash or surety deposited by a defendant to guarantee that they would not bother or threaten another person. If the terms of the bond are violated it is forfeited and the defendant risks arrest.

Peace bonds are requested relatively infrequently.

“We are deeply concerned by the proposal to require Rev. Jones to post a peace bond,” said Elmir. “As reprehensible as his beliefs may be, we believe this is an unconstitutional attempt to limit his unpopular speech.”

Government authorities point to two main reasons for the tack they have taken.

First are questions of accesibiliy with the site where Jones want to protest. The only public property near Islamic Center is a right-of-way separating Ford Road and Altar Road, the street Islamic Center is located on. Altar Road is a limited-access drive that is also home to four Christian churches that will be offering Good Friday worship services at various points throughout the day.

And although Jones only listed a handful of people who would be joining him on his permit request, city officials said they will not allow the expected gaggle of media and counter protesters to prevent parishioners from attending services

20110419

On 16th anniversary of Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing that killed 171 Americans, why aren't Feds investigating third-terrorist evidence - or Muslim Iraqi soldier currently in custody?

Criticism lingers regarding Feds' kid-glove avoidance of Islamic terror connection in the Oklahoma City Federal Building, despite the arrest of an Iraqi suspect bearing an identifying tattoo and the same name, Hussain al Hussaini, as the suspect alleged by Oklahoma City investigative reporter Jayna Davis as the "Third Terrorist" or "John Doe #2." That the only publicly presumed culprits (Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols) were white Christians - has been the convenient exception to the notion that terrorism is usually committed by Muslims.

On April 26, 2011, Hussain al Hussaini will be tried in Quincy, Mass only on mayhem charges related to a slicing the face of a homeless man there.

Douglas Hagmann, founder and director of the Northeast Intelligence Network published in the Canada Free Press on 11 March:
On Wednesday 9 March, a “homeless man” was arrested in the Boston suburb of Quincy, Massachusetts, on a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon after allegedly striking another man with a beer bottle. His name is Hussain Hashem al-Hussaini, although has several other aliases and a previous arrest record.

His arrest would have likely gone unnoticed except for the tenacious investigative journalism conducted in the months and years following the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City by author and investigative journalist Jayna Davis. Ms. Davis, a former reporter for KFOR-TV at the time of the bombing, identified al Hussaini as the “John Doe #2” in the April 19, 1995 bombing that claimed the lives of 168 people, including 22 children, three who were unborn. Her investigation is chronicled in her book, The Third Terrorist, and is an important investigative report into the actual events that took place in the months, days and weeks leading to the bombing, and perhaps even more importantly, in the years afterward.

The disheveled homeless man arrested this week is at the epicenter of a plot that involves not only domestic terrorism, but the inexcusable failures and activities of the FBI that led directly to the events of September 2001. Ms. Davis documented the direct involvement of a Muslim terrorist operation involved in the 1995 bombing, and attempted to warn the FBI of additional attacks being planned. Despite impeccable documentation compiled by Ms. Davis that I personally reviewed in my capacity as an investigator, her warnings went unheeded. Six years later, the worst attack on American soil killed another 3,000 people. It is my belief that the attacks of 9/11 could have been stopped had the FBI acted upon the evidence she submitted to the FBI.

20110417

Melanie Phillips: "Why are the Left (and the BBC) so keen to promote this ghoulish culture of death?"

From the London Daily Mail Online

The gathering pressure to adopt the former course says something terrible about our society. It says we are turning into a culture of death.

We must resist it and reaffirm life, true compassion and our common humanity.
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20110407

Palestinian media campaign has created a tolerance for Muslim terror against Jews; Prior targeting of L.A. Jews justifies vigilance, greater deference from journalists, law enforcement


Bomb scare forces neighborhood evacuation Santa Monica Daily Press April 8, 2011
An explosion near a Santa Monica Jewish center prompted police to evacuate about 100 people Thursday morning, but investigators determined the blast was the result of an apparent underground mechanical failure and not a pipe bomb as had been initially feared. ... 
The force of the explosion sent a piece of metallic debris onto the roof of a nearby residence, Trisler said. Police initially though the debris may be a pipe bomb. The bomb squad was called out and determined it was not.
SM Chabad Rabbi Isaac Levitnasky (Photos: Dave Zentz, AP)
The explosion at Southern California's Chabad of Santa Monica today was all-too-quickly dismissed by reporters as "not a hate-crime" as they assume would be reactionary Jews on a hair trigger. Jihadist terrorist targeting of Jews in synagogues in the West L.A. area just 6-years ago create reasonable cause for suspicion and vigilance to protect L.A. Jewry. Evidence of a target just 3 blocks from today's synagogue explosion helped result in the incarceration of 3 California Muslim jihadists.

Given the quick-turnover of reporters on the morning shift in L.A., none of the reporters I watched on TV displayed any knowledge of this history or propensity. (In fact, none could even pronounce "Chabad" properly).  The apprehended plot, below, resulted in the targeted US Armed Forces recruitment center being relocated from a building adjacent to the St. John's Medical Center. Regardless, Los Angelenos concerned about Islamism voice little concern about the long-time, Islamist fraternizing of L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca.  Sheriff Baca testified on behalf of American Muslims at Rep. Peter King's Homeland Security hearing on Muslim radicalization

American-Muslim jihadists plead guilty in terror plot against Jewish-Americans, LAX Airport Terminal, Santa Monica Hospital office   DemoCast, December 14, 2007 
The plot was orchestrated by Washington, Patterson and Samana at the behest of Kevin James, a California State Prison, Sacramento inmate who founded the radical group Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh, or JIS, authorities said.

Levar Haley Washington 
converted to Islam while imprisoned with James, then looked to recruit other members for the group, authorities said. 
Washington, Gregory Patterson and Hammad Samana — who attended the same Inglewood mosque — allegedly conducted surveillance of military sites, synagogues, the Israeli Consulate and El Al airline facilities in the region as well as Internet research on Jewish holidays, prosecutors said in 2005.
James preached that JIS members should target for violent attack any enemies of Islam or "infidels," including the U.S. government and any supporters of Israel, according to court documents.

On Monday, 17 Aug 2009, US District Court Judge Cormac Carney completed the sentencing of the remaining terrorist of the J.I.S. (translated from Arabic as meaning "The Association of True Islam") California jihadist group.  Santa Monica College student, Hammad Riaz Samana, age 26, plotted terrorist bombings of the Los Angeles Airport, West L.A. synagogues during Jewish High Holidays, a US National Guard recruiting office, and the Israeli Consulate. Mr. Samana drove the armed robbery getaway car to steal to finance gang's terrorist actions.

He convinced the court that he had schizophrenia at the time. He was sentenced to just a fraction of his fellow collaborators' time, less than 2-years beyond time already served.   
In August 2005, four men were indicted in Orange County, Calif. for a terror plot described by FBI Assistant Director of Public Affairs John Miller as "the one that operationally was closest to actually occurring" since 9/11.

It was the subject of the October 2006 WGBH-PBS-broadcasted documentary "The Enemy Within: A case study of America's response to the threat of homegrown terrorism," produced by Lowell Bergman and Oriana Zill de Granados, (and viewable online as of today). This program challenges the government's handling of homegrown terror management and prosecution for political effect. 
Democracy Broadcasting News reported in December 2007 that Mr. Samana worked at a Barnes & Noble bookstore, attended Santa Monica College, played cricket, and ran cross-country. He attended the same mosque in Inglewood (near Los Angeles Airport) as co-conspirators, Black American converts to Islam, Gregory Patterson (who is currently serving a sentence of 12.5 years in prison), and Levar Washington (currently serving a 22-year sentence). The organizer of the Muslim JIS group, Kevin James, 32, was sentenced in March to 16-years in federal prison. 

20110401

Democracy sweeps Moslem world (yes, April Fools)!

Israeli political cartoonist published this on Feb. 21st, but it still applies to our current state of middle-east affairs:

Courtesy Yaakov Kirschen DryBones Blog
 Kirschen writes: "The countries around Israel are burning with insurrections. Main-stream Media presents it as the birth of democracy. America seems powerless, lost, and is projecting weakness. The world condemns and delegitimizes Israel. Persians are sending warships... it feels like Purim has come early this year."