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Terrorism Tag

Posted by Amy Miller on November 23, 2015 6 Comments
10 days after a series of terrorist attacks rocked Paris, the city is still in the process of regaining its footing and tracking down the team of extremists who killed 130 people and injured hundreds more. Officials are still attempting to identify a third terrorist involved in the Stade de France bombing, keeping a spotlight on the risks associated with large gatherings. U2 has rescheduled 2 performances cancelled in the wake of the attacks for early December. Today officials found a suspected explosive belt and a phone associated with the group that allegedly planned the November 13 attacks, and in Brussels, officials are still "on high alert" as law enforcement executes a series of anti-terror raids in a broadened search for suspects. As the search across Europe continues, the French military has launched its first airstrikes against ISIS from an aircraft carrier. The strikes targeted strategic sites in Iraq, and come as part of French President Francois Hollande's vow to intensify military action against ISIS in Syria in Iraq. Via CNN:
Warplanes took off from the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle in the eastern Mediterranean and attacked ISIS targets in Iraq, the French Defense Ministry said.

Posted by Amy Miller on November 23, 2015 68 Comments
Remember Ahmed Mohamed? He’s the Texas teen who sailed into his (extended) 15 minutes of fame after one of his teachers mistook a “homemade clock” for a homemade bomb. This week, Ahmed's family is attempting to turn those 15 minutes into a 15 million dollar settlement with both the City of Irving and the Irving school district. They're claiming civil rights violations, as well as both physical and mental anguish. Demand letters went out today, and the city has 60 days to respond, or risk facing a high-profile lawsuit. More from WFAA:
The letters claim Ahmed was singled out "because of his race, national origin, and religion." "Ahmed never threatened anyone, never caused harm to anyone, and never intended to," read the letter to the city. "The only one who was hurt that day was Ahmed, and the damages he suffered were not because of oversight or incompetence. The school and city officials involved knew what they needed to do to protect Ahmed's rights. They just decided not to do it." The letters demand $10 million be paid to the family by the city of Irving, and $5 million from the school district.
WFAA has the letters of demand the family sent to both the city and the school district. In addition to the $15 million dollar fiscal safe space, the family is also demanding apologies from Irving mayor Beth Van Duyne, the school district, and the police chief making it clear that Ahmed never planned on hurting anyone, wasn't suspected of being part of some sort of science fair jihad, and that the ensuing detention, interrogation, and arrest was wrongful and not the product of reasonable suspicion.

Posted by Mike LaChance on November 23, 2015 9 Comments
California senator Dianne Feinstein has been one of the few Democrats willing to voice concern over the Obama administration's handling of ISIS. Yesterday on Face the Nation, she continued to express doubt. David Rutz of the Washington Free Beacon:
Feinstein: Obama Approach to Islamic State Not ‘Sufficient to the Job’ Face The Nation host John Dickerson asked whether her earlier concerns about the administration’s strategy had been alleviated by a briefing from Secretary of State John Kerry. “No, I don’t think the approach is sufficient to the job,“ Feinstein said on Face The Nation. “I think their general principles and their general principles in terms of the administration’s strategy, too, but I’m concerned that we don’t have the time, and we don’t have years. We need to be aggressive now, because ISIL is a quasi-state.”

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on November 22, 2015 10 Comments
As Ted Cruz's campaign gains momentum and as Obama continues to be more aggressive in his critique of Republicans than of ISIS, Cruz challenged Obama this week over comments made overseas regarding the Paris attacks, ISIS, and the Syrian refugee crisis. Politico reports:
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Wednesday said that if President Barack Obama wants to be critical of his rhetoric, he should "come back and insult me to my face." Obama has been critical of Cruz's proposal for handling the Syrian refugee crisis, which includes allowing in Syrian Christians, but not Syrian Muslims. The president earlier this week called that approach "shameful," adding, "we don't have religious tests to our compassion." "Mr. President, if you want to insult me, you can do it overseas, you can do it in Turkey, you can do it in foreign countries, but I would encourage you, Mr. President, come back and insult me to my face," Cruz told reporters Wednesday morning, looking directly into the cameras. "Let's have a debate on Syrian refugees right now. We can do it anywhere you want. I'd prefer it in the United States and not overseas where you're making the insults. It's easy to toss a cheap insult when no one can respond, but let's have a debate."

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on November 22, 2015 6 Comments
In light of the terror attack in Paris and (presumably) Obama's weak performance against ISIS and bizarrely petulant performance in Turkey, terrorism now rivals the economy as the single most important issue to American voters. ABCNews reports:
Terrorism suddenly rivals the economy as the single most important issue to Americans in the 2016 presidential election -- and a year out, a new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds more people paying close attention to the contest than at this point in any race back to 1988. After years of dominating the political landscape, the economy now has company. Given the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, 28 percent of Americans now call terrorism the top issue in their choice for president, compared with 33 percent who cite the economy. Nothing else comes close. Attention, moreover, is focused as never before. Three-quarters of Americans say they are closely following the 2016 race, including three in 10 who are following it very closely. That’s the highest level of attention at this point in a presidential race in polls back nearly 30 years.
According to this report:  "Partisan divisions are 33-23-36 percent, Democrats-Republicans-independents."

Posted by Amy Miller on November 22, 2015 15 Comments
This month's attacks in Paris, France killed 130 innocent people and left hundreds more battered, bruised, and reawakened to the danger of radical Islamic terrorism in the west. Political leaders and presidential candidates are speaking out, and everyone's megaphone is pointed straight at Syria and the heart of ISIS. BBC anchor and host of This Week Andrew Neil took his network's coverage to the next level this week when he totally let loose against the terrorists' ideals: “Welcome to This Week, the week in which a bunch of loser jihadists slaughtered 132 innocents in Paris to prove the future belongs to them, rather than a civilization like France. Well, I can’t say I fancy their chances.”

Posted by Mike LaChance on November 21, 2015 1 Comment
Authorities in Europe are tense due to warnings of another attack or wave of attacks. Belgium has raised its terror alert to the maximum level and has nearly shut down. The Guardian reports:
Brussels in lockdown after terror threat level is raised to maximum Brussels has been blanketed with security after the Belgian government raised alert levels on terrorist threats to the maximum, warning of the “serious and imminent” possibility of a Paris-style attack involving firearms and explosives. The city’s metro system was closed down on Saturday until Sunday afternoon at the earliest as shops shut, shopping malls were partly shuttered, professional football was cancelled, concerts were called off and music venues, museums, and galleries closed their doors for the weekend.

Posted by Mike LaChance on November 21, 2015 10 Comments
In the newest edition of Afterburner, Bill Whittle lays blame for the recent terror attacks in Paris and Mali at the feet of liberals who appease and reward radicalized Muslims. Whittle points out that increased immigration to France from Muslim countries led to no-go zones which became incubators for radical Islam. Instead of dealing with this problem, he continues, socialists rewarded immigrants with more sympathy and benefits.

Posted by Amy Miller on November 20, 2015 47 Comments
Since footage of the terrorist attacks in Paris started plastering itself across our computer and television screens, the country---and the rest of the world, at this point---has been engaged in a knock down, drag out battle royale over refugees, terrorists, refugees who might be terrorists, and most notably, the influence and effects of Islamic culture in America. Everyone---from our grandmas to our long lost high school frienemies to the presidential candidates from both parties---have chimed in with condolences, opinions, and solutions to address the refugee crisis and the rise of radical Islam. The key word here is radical. By and large, the commentary has centered on how to counter the threat of radical Islamic terrorism on American soil, but even so, the this-or-that-and-nothing-else-type arguments posited by talking heads and politicians have acted as chum in the water for comms shops and operatives looking to update the RAAAAACISM narrative for the 2016 cycle. It's been an ugly time on Facebook on Twitter---and the DNC wants you to know that they're watching. They put out an ad today accusing the Republican presidential candidates of lumping all Muslims together with ISIS and other radical sects. The only problem is, they couldn't seem to find a single example of a Republican presidential candidate lumping all Muslims together with ISIS and other radical sects. Watch this nonsense:

Posted by Mike LaChance on November 20, 2015 7 Comments
When asked about combating ISIS at the Democratic Party debate last Saturday, Hillary Clinton said "It cannot be an American fight." She took some heat for saying that, even from the left. After what must have been a furious few days of focus groups and word testing, she presented a plan to defeat ISIS in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations yesterday. CNN reports:
Hillary Clinton calls for U.S. to 'intensify and broaden' efforts to fight ISIS Hillary Clinton is calling for more allied planes, more airstrikes and a "broader target set" -- though no large-scale mobilization of U.S. ground troops -- to combat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. She urged Congress to approve a new authorization of the use of military force against ISIS, saying that doing so would signal "that the U.S. is committed to this fight. The time for delay is over. We should get this done."

Posted by New Neo on November 19, 2015 0 Comments
Obama's taunt that Republicans "are scared of widows and orphans" takes on an ironic twist in light of the fact that one of the dead in Wednesday morning's Paris raid was a female suicide bomber, Hasna Aitboulahcen [Featured Image]. We also know that, in some of the earliest conflicts in which a significant number of female suicide bombers and other terrorists were involved (Chechnya), many of these women terrorists were in fact widows. That status inspired the group's Russian name, which means "Black Widows":
Shahidka,...sometimes called "Black Widow" or Chyornaya Vdova in Russian, is a term for Islamist Chechen female suicide bombers, willing to be a manifestation of violent jihad. They became known at the Moscow theater hostage crisis of October 2002...

Posted by Amy Miller on November 19, 2015 2 Comments
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the mastermind behind last week's terror attacks in Paris that killed 129 people (so far---some victims are still in critical condition) and wounded hundreds more, was confirmed dead following a dramatic police raid on an apartment complex in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis on Wednesday. According to multiple reports, French officials fired over 5000 rounds into the flat where intelligence revealed the terrorist and several other people were hiding. According to Fox News, Abaaoud was identified via skin samples found following the raid. His cousin also died---she blew herself up in a suicide attack on the scene. More from Fox News:
Two counterterrorism sources tell Fox News his death marks a major advance for the investigation, but add they are operating on the premise that more senior suspects connected to the plot are still out there. They describe Abaaoud as the “Mohammed Atta” of the Paris attacks, the “tactical guy” who identified and pulled together the operatives, in the same way the lead hijacker kept the 9/11 teams on course.

Posted by Amy Miller on November 19, 2015 3 Comments
Today, American Yeshiva student Ezra Schwartz was murdered in the Gush Etzion area of the West Bank in Jerusalem. He was one of three killed when a Palestinian terrorist open fired into a traffic jam. The Jerusalem Post reports:
Seven others were lightly wounded in the attack, two Israeli women and five American yeshiva students. They were all evacuated to the Sha’are Tzedek Medical Center. The Americans are due to be released. while the two Israeli women will be hospitalized overnight. ... Initial reports suggest that the terrorist fired at the cars as he drove by them and was even able to reload this gun. He then sped in the direction of the Alon Shvut settlement, but slammed into a car.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on November 19, 2015 11 Comments
As German Chancellor Angela Merkel doubles down on her open-border policy just days after the deadly Paris terror attacks by reiterating her government’s willingness to absorb more migrants, the political landscape in changing rapidly before her eyes. The anti-immigration party AfD that was just above 3 percent in opinion polls as recently as August, is now polling above 10 percent. Established in 2013 as a grassroots reaction to the EU’s monetary policy, the party has skyrocketed to the country's third largest political force. AfD (Alternative for Germany) has aligned itself with the anti-Islamisation movement ‘Pegida’, drawing impressive crowds to its rallies, especially in the eastern part of the country.

Posted by Mike LaChance on November 19, 2015 56 Comments
As the world reacts to the terror attacks in Paris and French authorities continue to address new developments, some progressives are pushing the left's pet issue of gun control. In order to understand their point, you have to completely ignore the fact that France has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world and that the victims of the Paris attacks were completely unarmed. Jenn Jacques reports at Bearing Arms:
Liberals Push Gun Control, Ignorant Rhetoric Following Attacks in Paris I cannot imagine the horror the survivors of last night’s attack in Paris witnessed and I pray peace and comfort will embrace the family and friends of the victims. I watched the reports of the attacks unfold on HD, and like many Americans, sat in disbelief feeling helpless and dumbfounded...

Posted by New Neo on November 19, 2015 17 Comments
The best approach to addressing the ISIS threat would have been one of prevention---an ounce of it worth far more than a pound of cure. An obvious move would have been to keep a small residual force in Iraq, back when even Obama was crowing about the successful transition there. Another good move would have been to not do anything in Syria without knowing exactly who and what was going to replace Assad. I wrote a piece on that very topic in June of 2013, and although I don't pretend to be a strategic genius on the subject, it wasn't hard to predict the problems:
My strong suspicion is that there are few good guys here. It was the same question I asked about Egypt and Libya. In both places there were some “good guy” elements mixed among the Islamicist fanatics, although I suspected the latter would be the ones to end up with the power, just as they had long ago in Iran. And that seems to be the way it’s trending, although news from both countries has died down for the moment.

Posted by Amy Miller on November 18, 2015 7 Comments
Earlier this year, I dove in to the world of ISIS propaganda with a piece explaining that ISIS is using digital media to both recruit new members, and make it more difficult for international intelligence officials to track terror threats. ISIS is really good at propaganda. Their use of social media to recruit and promote themselves is unlike anything we’ve seen from an extremist group; their social media accounts reach into computers and homes all across the globe, and their Al-Bayan radio network is reportedly on par with NPR. Since last week's attack on Paris, ISIS operatives have released multiple videos articulating an intent to attack high-profile sites on U.S. soil. For a JV operation, their propaganda is pretty damn polished.
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