A possible terrorist plot against military personnel at Ft. Hood in Texas was disrupted with the arrest of an Army private who had purchased ammunition and bomb-making materials in preparation for such an attack, law enforcement officials said Thursday.
Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo, a 21-year-old Texas native who had successfully argued that he was a conscientious objector whose Muslim faith would not allow him to deploy to Afghanistan, was arrested at a motel Wednesday by Killeen, Texas, police after his purchase of gunpowder at a local gun store aroused employees’ suspicion. Abdo, who had been charged this year with possession of child pornography, had been absent without leave since early July.
Authorities suspect that Abdo, who was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Ft. Campbell in Kentucky, was planning to construct bombs and detonate them at a restaurant popular with Ft. Hood personnel, according to a U.S. official who has been briefed on the case. Abdo intended to gun down survivors after the bombs went off, said the official, who asked not to be named because he is not in law enforcement.
How many more of these stealth jihadis is it going to take before the government realizes that devout Muslims, whose sole allegiance is to Islam, and the U.s. military don’t mix?
/these jihadis in the military have already killed dozens of their unsuspecting, defenseless, infidel fellow soldiers, only a tip from an alert citizen may have saved the death toll from rising even higher
A Saudi national living in Texas was arrested Wednesday for allegedly researching and acquiring chemicals to make a bomb, authorities said Thursday.
Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 20, of Lubbock, Texas, allegedly researched several possible targets, including the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush. along with nuclear power plants and hydroelectric dams.
. . .
In a personal journal found in Aldawsari’s apartment home, Aldawsari wrote the events of September 11, 2001, had produced a “big change” in his thinking and that he had been inspired by the speeches of Osama bin Laden, the affidavit said. He had excelled in high school in order to take advantage of scholarship opportunities offered by Saudi companies to get to the United States, he wrote, and had been planning to commit a terrorist attack in the United States for years, according to the affidavit.
Aldawsari allegedly wrote the scholarship “will help tremendously in providing me with the support I need for Jihad.” The entry continued: “And now, after mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for Jihad,” the affidavit says.
But don’t worry, Aldawsari is just a “lone wolf”. Of course, the question is, how many “lone wolves” does it take to form a pack of wolves, an ongoing pattern, and a persistent national security threat? How many more of these “lone wolves” are out there, waiting for their turn at jihad?
/and remember, Islam is just as peaceful and righteous as any other of the world’s major religions, you know, except for that whole encouraging and inciting Muslims to murder infidels, for the sake of jihad, thing
Two crew members from the International Space Station took a major step toward replacing a critical piece of the orbiting laboratory’s cooling system today, following a failed attempt Sunday.
During a 7 hour, 26 minute spacewalk, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Army Col. Douglas Wheelock removed a coolant pump on the outside of the station, clearing the way for another spacewalk Monday to install an on-board spare.
The pump failed unexpectedly on July 31, cutting in half the station’s capacity to shed heat generated by its electrical systems, laboratory experiments, as well as six active astronauts.
The six crew members aboard the station were never in danger, NASA officials have emphasized. But the outage forced mission managers to significantly curtail research activities on the orbiting lab.
“Lots of smiles down here guys,” came the word from mission control as Dr. Caldwell Dyson and Colonel Wheelock sat in the air lock after the spacewalk.
A major fix-it project
Swapping the coolant pumps represents one of the 14 most difficult maintenance jobs station crews face. Spacewalks ordinarily take weeks to plan because they require detailed choreography. But the urgency of returning the station’s cooling system to full capacity prompted planners to accelerate the process for a repair job astronauts had trained for with only the broadest of brush strokes.
For instance, last night, engineers were still working on procedures governing the use of the station’s robotic arm for today’s effort. The broad-brush plan for removal of the pump that astronauts used in training had assumed that the arm wouldn’t be available.
Clamping an astronaut to the end of the robotic arm, then having him hold a 780-pound pump steady while a crew member inside the station moves the two to the spot where planners want to deposit the pump – that’s a procedure planners would rather not develop at the last minute, mission officials said.
But they did.
“There are so many facets to a major change out that you just don’t really get to tackle” in the planning stage “unless you train for it at a very detailed level, which we hadn’t done yet,” said Michael Suffredini, NASA’s space station program manager, during a post-spacewalk briefing.
Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson, two American astronauts, spent just over eight hours in the void outside the space station in an effort to repair the orbiting lab’s faulty cooling system, NASA said.
It was the longest spacewalk in the International Space Station’s history and the sixth longest ever.
“It was a tough one as spacewalks go,” an announcer from NASA’s mission control in Houston, Texas, conceded on a live video feed.
The pair had slept in an airlock beforehand to allow their bodies to adjust to different pressure conditions.
The walk was slightly delayed because of what NASA officials described as a “communication problem” inside Caldwell Dyson’s helmet, but the issue was resolved.
Experts had warned ahead of the spacewalk that the operation was challenging because the astronauts would be handling ammonia lines at full operating pressure, which makes them stiff.
A second spacewalk is planned for Wednesday when the astronauts will once again attempt to repair the system, which shut down on July 31.
One of the more illuminating remarks during the health-care debate in Congress came when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told an audience that Democrats would “pass the bill so you can find out what’s in it, away from the fog of controversy.”
That remark captured the truth that, while many Americans have a vague sense that something bad is happening to their health care, few if any understand exactly what the law does.
To fill this vacuum, Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, the top House Republican on the Joint Economic Committee, asked his staff to prepare a study of the law, including a flow chart that illustrates how the major provisions will work.
The result, made public July 28, provides citizens with a preview of the impact the health-care overhaul will have on their lives. It’s a terrifying road map that shows Democrats have launched America on the most reckless policy experiment in its history, the economic equivalent of the Bay of Pigs invasion.
Before discussing what the law means for you, we have to look at what it does to government. That’s where the chart comes in handy. It includes the new fees, bureaucracies and programs and connects them into an organizational chart that accounts for the existing structure. It’s so carefully documented that a line connecting two structures cites the legislative language that created the link.
Well, I for one DO NOT welcome our new health care overlords. Hopefully, if the Republicans can at least take back the House, they can strangle this vile monstrosity to a slow death by withholding funding, assuming it can’t be straight up repealed.
/in the meantime, be afraid, be very afraid, this is idiotic craziness, far beyond sheer insane madness
Just how this whacked out Yale alumnus and graduate from the University of Virginia Law School keeps getting elected to Congress, even over the low standards barrier for Democrats, is a mystery to me. You’d think her constituents would be too embarrassed to keep sending her back.
/oh sure, laugh now, but when she finally leaves, voluntarily or otherwise, you, the taxpayer, are going to be paying for her more than generous, lifetime Congressional pension
Of course, they’re only doing what good, devout Muslims do, promote terrorism and the global jihad. Unfortunately for them, providing material support to other Islamists, for the purpose of killing Jews and Infidels, Islamic activities sanctioned by the Koran, is against U.S. law, not that they believe they’re subject to U.S. law or anything other than Sharia.
First up, we have this lovely Jihadi couple from Ohio.
A couple were arrested Thursday on charges they conspired to provide thousands of dollars to a Mideast terrorist group, federal authorities said.
Hor Akl and his wife, Amera Akl, were taken into custody after an FBI informant provided them with $200,000 in cash, which they were preparing to hide in a vehicle that was to be shipped to Lebanon, prosecutors said.
The Akls planned to conceal up to $500,000 so the money could be given to Hezbollah on behalf of anonymous donors in the United States, a court complaint said.
The U.S. government lists Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and blames it for numerous attacks on Israel. Hezbollah has been trying to reinvent itself as a more conventional political movement in Lebanon.
The Akls, both 37 years old, face numerous charges, including conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of up 15 years in prison and a fine of $500,000 upon conviction.
A Hempstead man is charged with supporting a terrorist organization in the Arabian Peninsula.
Barry Walter Bujol Jr., an American citizen, is accused of providing material support to Al Qaeda as well as aggravated identity theft.
Investigators say Bujol, 29, provided money, pre-paid telephone calling cards, mobile telephone SIM cards, GPS receivers, and military information about unmanned aerial vehicle operations and military weapon systems.
An investigation, started in 2009, revealed Bujol was in contact with Anwar al-Aulaqi, a known associate and propagandist for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Bujol repeatedly told an FBI informant that he wished to fight alongside Al Qaeda in a violent jihad and attempted to travel to Yemen or the Middle East according to court documents.
Bujol was arrested on May 30 when he boarded a ship with intent to deliver materials to Al Qaeda in the Middle East, investigators say.
If convicted, Bujol faces up to 15 years in prison for the supporting terrorism charge and an additional five years for the aggravated identity theft charge.
It goes without saying that for every one of these homegrown Muslim jihadists the FBI runs to ground, there’s probably at least a dozen more running loose, plotting murder and mayhem in the name of Allah.
/where are all the rumored “moderate Muslims”, rising up with a coherent, united voice to emphatically denounce this growing and ongoing threat to Western civilization in the name of Islam, do moderate Muslims even exist?
Once again, the New York Times gives aid and comfort to our enemies and puts American military service members’ lives at risk by publishing top secret information, conducting the espionage against the United States the Iranians could only dream of.
Teams of American special forces have been authorised to conduct spying missions intended to pave the way for a military strike on Iran in case President Obama orders one, US government sources have confirmed.
The military units would penetrate Iranian territory to reconnoitre potential nuclear targets and make contact with friendly dissident groups, according to a secret directive written by General David Petraeus. The document’s existence was disclosed for the first time yesterday.
It authorises an expansion in the use of US special forces throughout the Middle East, US officials said. However, it is the possibility of American troops operating covertly inside Iran that has the greatest potential to destabilise regional security.
General Petraeus, the most senior American commander in the Middle East and Central Asia, relied on special forces to ensure the success of the US troop surge in Iraq in 2007. His order to increase the use of Delta Force, Navy Seal and Army Ranger units for intelligence gathering and combat missions could jeopardise US relations with allies in the region while intensifying a long-running turf war between US military intelligence and the CIA.
The seven-page document, seen by The New York Times, remained classified yesterday, though it was written in September. Since then US military specialists working with Yemeni armed forces have killed 6 out of 15 leaders of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The raids followed reports linking the group to the murder of 13 Americans at Fort Hood, Texas, and the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines jet.
Yes siree, there’s nothing like U.S. Special Forces trying to conduct sensitive, covert operations after the New York Times publishes your classified playbook for the whole world to read, making risking your life for your country that much riskier. What’s not to like, especially if your work for Iranian counter-intelligence?
/of course, this is far from the first time that the New York Times has severely compromised U.S. national security by publishing leaked, top secret information, yet no one ever seems to go to prison, why is that?
Heavily armed Mexican freshwater pirates have been shaking down U.S. boaters on Falcon Lake, a reservoir and bass fishing haven that straddles the Rio Grande.
At least three such incidents have been reported since April 30, the latest on Sunday, according to a Texas Department of Public Safety warning issued Tuesday that linked the muggings to northern Mexico’s increasing lawlessness.
According to descriptions of the incidents, the robbers — in at least one case posing as Mexican federal law enforcement officers — searched fishermen’s boats for guns and drugs, then demanded cash at gunpoint.
One of the incidents reportedly occurred on the U.S. side of the lake.
“The robbers are believed to be members of a drug trafficking organization or members of an enforcer group linked to a drug trafficking organization who are … using AK-47s or AR-15 rifles to threaten their victims,” the DPS statement said. “They appear to be using local Mexican fishermen to operate the boats to get close to American fishermen.”
And the king of pork is … Sen. Thad Cochran. The Mississippi Republican ranks at the top this year of the Citizens Against Government Waste’s list of congressional earmarkers.
Cochran, the ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, is typically a leading pork-seeker and in 2010 had his name on 240 projects worth $490.2 million The runner-up was Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, with 151 projects worth $387.5 million.
Taken together, earmarked projects in fiscal year 2010 accounted for $16.5 billion of the federal budget. Leading the the 50 states was Hawaii, which enjoyed $251 per capita, thanks in large part to the help of Inouye. On the House side, Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., took home the gold with 50 projects worth $148.4 million.
Citizens Against Government Waste President Tom Schatz said Cochran has earned the nickname of “Thad the Impaler” for his persistent earmarking.
“Senator Cochran has been number one for three years in a row and his total exceeds $2 billion during that three-year period of time,” he said.
The good news was the number of earmarks declined — the 9,129 projects listed marked about a 10 percent decline from last year. But that’s still more than 15 times the number of projects when Citizens Against Government Waste first started tracking in 1991.
And according to the annual “Congressional Pig Book” released Wednesday by the watchdog group, some oddball projects were on the receiving end. Shrimp research, local museums and military projects that even the Pentagon didn’t want were among the beneficiaries this year of billions of dollars in pork-barrel spending, according to the guide.
Here’s a look at some of the more peculiar projects on the extensive “Pig Book” list:
– Shrimp must be in vogue this year. The budget set aside $2.9 million in seven states for shrimp aquaculture research. Elsewhere in the budget was $700,000 requested by several senators and representatives for fishing research by the Southern Shrimp Alliance.
– Five senators and four representatives across four states requested $2.6 million for potato research. Along those lines, several lawmakers also set aside $775,000 for the Institute for Food Science and Engineering, which, as CAGW notes, has a program for researching “Pickle Science and Technology.”
– The wool industry has attracted millions in funding over the past decade and 2010 was no different. Montana, Texas and Wyoming were the recipients of $206,000 for wool research.
– Talk about a war on drugs. Among the projects requested by Cochran was $500,000 for the University of Southern Mississippi for a cannabis eradication program.
– The Camden Police Department, which reportedly was not eligible for stimulus funding because of prior grant violations, was awarded $200,000 in earmarks from New Jersey’s two senators, Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, for a Mobile Communications Center.
– The Pentagon was awarded billions for programs Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke out against as unnecessary. One earmark worth $2.5 billion was for 10 C-17 cargo jets. Another was worth $465,000 for development of a Joint Strike Fighter alternative engine. Lawmakers fought administration attempts to cut those programs out of concern over lost jobs.
– Somehow, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate also made its way into the defense budget. The institute is expected to include exhibits, classrooms and a replica of the U.S. Senate chambers — at a price of $18.9 million.
– Local museum and educational center funding was also popular this past year. The budget included $100,000 for the Cabot’s Pueblo Museum in Desert Hot Springs; $250,000 for the Wistariahurst Museum in Massachusetts; $500,000 for the Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and another $500,000 for the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa.
– Several educational campaigns also received funding. Among them was $250,000 for an anti-steroids awareness program at the I Won’t Cheat Foundation in Salt Lake City.
And that’s just the tip of the pork iceberg. Read The 2010 Pig Book for yourself and pick out your own favorite nauseating examples of tax money wasted on hog[expletive deleted].
The Congressional Pig Book is CAGW’s annual compilation of the pork-barrel projects in the federal budget. The 2010 Pig Book identified 9,129 projects at a cost of $16.5 billion in the 12 Appropriations Acts for fiscal 2009. A “pork” project is a line-item in an appropriations bill that designates tax dollars for a specific purpose in circumvention of established budgetary procedures. To qualify as pork, a project must meet one of seven criteria that were developed in 1991 by CAGW and the Congressional Porkbusters Coalition.
Complete Pork Database: Search all 9,129 projects by keyword, member, state, party or appropriations bill.
Okay, so $16.5 billion is hardly a drop in the overall budget bucket and it’s good that the Congressional hogs pigged out on fewer earmarks than last year. But damn it, $16.5 BILLION IS REAL MONEY, IT’S YOUR HARD EARNED TAX MONEY, OR BORROWED FROM THE CHINESE, AND THESE CORRUPT MORONIC BASTARDS ARE SPENDING IT ON RIDICULOUS, UNNECESSARY BULL[EXPLETIVE DELETED]!
/inform yourself, pay attention to who’s wastefully spending America into economic oblivion, and vote accordingly in November
