Fats Waller
Ain't Misbehavin'
Honeysuckle Rose
Showing posts with label MR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MR. Show all posts
Saturday, 14 September 2013
Friday, 13 September 2013
The Blaze:
Al Qaeda Leader Calls for ‘Sporadic’ Strikes in U.S. to Destroy Economy
Al Qaeda Leader Calls for ‘Sporadic’ Strikes in U.S. to Destroy Economy
Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is calling for “sporadic” strikes inside the United States with the hopes of collapsing what he says is an already weakened economy due to war and security measures necessary to fight terrorism.
Al-Zawahiri — who became Al Qaeda’s top leader after the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team 6 took out Osama bin Laden in 2011 — released a one-hour audio tape a day after the 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, in which Al Qaeda attacked the World Trade Center, Pentagon and airlines, killing nearly 3,000.
AP
In the audio, put out on jihadi forums by Al Qaeda’s media arm Al-Sahab, al-Zawahiri calls on Muslims to adopt an approach of “sporadic blows” inside the U.S. in order to increase the burden on the American economy. The translation was made available to TheBlaze through the Middle East Media Research Institute, a nonprofit group that provides translations and research from the Middle East.
“Such an approach will keep the U.S. in a constant state of heightened security,” al-Zawahiri said. “Still, Muslims should await every chance to deliver a major attack against the U.S., even if they had to wait years for such an attack.”
Al-Zawahiri also called on Muslims to boycott U.S. and its allies’ products in order to further hurt their economies, and said the U.S. should know by now that it does not face individuals or groups, “but an entire ummah that rose to defend its honor and pride.”
A U.S. official who spoke to TheBlaze on condition of anonymity said that “any threat from Al Qaeda is taken seriously.”
“People need to remain vigilant,” the official said.”The concern is more about lone wolf actors, people who would act on their on accord without direction from Al Qaeda.”
He said the ousting of Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi “and the subsequent deadly confrontations between Morsi’s supporters and the Egyptian army…are only a continuation of the same grim policy of the Egyptian military and the secularists in the country that was adopted throughout the past several decades.”
Al-Zawahiri also said that the deadly attacks against Morsi’s supporters were “not directed against the Muslim Brotherhood per se, but against all Islamic tendencies in the country.”
Regarding Syria, Al-Zawahiri warned the mujahideen in Syria that “the U.S. will attempt to bring them closer to secularist elements in the country” and he urged them not to fall for it.
“We should bleed America economically by provoking it to continue in its massive expenditure on its security, for the weak point of America is its economy, which has already begun to stagger due to the military and security expenditure,” Zawahiri said according to the SITE translation.
“And keeping America in tension and anticipation only costs a few disparate attacks here and there, meaning as we defeated it in the gang warfare in Somalia, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan, so we should follow it with that war on its own land,” he said.
Thursday, 12 September 2013
(a bit of caution -- part of this story is from RT so some skepticism may be in order. mr)
The Blaze:
These Two Men Allegedly Overheard Incredibly Explosive Skype Conversation While Being Held Hostage in Syria
The Blaze:
These Two Men Allegedly Overheard Incredibly Explosive Skype Conversation While Being Held Hostage in Syria
• In April, Belgian teacher Pierre Piccinin and Italian journalist Domenico Quiric were reportedly abducted in Syria by armed men in pickup trucks, possibly with the Free Syrian Army.
• The men were released on Sunday and have been speaking out about their horrific experience.
• Both men claim they overheard an English-language Skype conversation suggesting Syrian rebels are behind chemical attack.
• 62-year-old journalist Domenico Quiric says radical Islamists want to topple Assad and extend global caliphate.
–
Two Europeans who were allegedly abducted and held hostage for several months in Syria claim they overheard a conversation between their captors suggesting the Syrian rebels were behind the deadly chemical attack in Damascus. The men were released on Sunday.
Belgian teacher Pierre Piccinin and Italian journalist Domenico Quiric both say they were able to eavesdrop on an English-language Skype session between their abductors in which they allegedly revealed that it was the Syrian rebels who perpetrated the attack so that the West would intervene.
Belgian teacher Pierre Piccinin poses for a portrait outside RTBF Television in Brussels on September 9, 2013. Credit: AFP/Getty Images
Italian journalist Domenico Quirico (C), who was kidnapped in Syria in early April, answers to journalists after disembark from the airplane on September 9, 2013 at Ciampino military airport in Rome. Credit: AFP/Getty Images
“In this conversation, they said that the gas attack on two neighborhoods of Damascus was launched by the rebels as a provocation to lead the West to intervene militarily,” Quirico told the Italian daily newspaper La Stampa. “We were unaware of everything that was going on during our detention in Syria, and therefore also with the gas attack in Damascus.”
Piccinin said he has a “moral duty” to share what he heard. He also stressed that he and his fellow hostage were completely cut-off from the outside world and didn’t even know chemical weapons had been used in the first place.
“The government of Bashar al-Assad did not use sarin gas or other types of gas in the outskirts of Damascus,” Piccinin reportedly told Belgium’s RTL radio station.
Quirico, a journalist, correctly acknowledged that there is no proof that the conversation he overheard was based on irrefutable facts. He was sure to point out that he “cannot say for sure that it is true because I have no means of confirming the truth of what was said.” However, he also revealed that one of the three people he overheard in the alleged conversation identified himself as a Free Syrian Army general, according to the La Stampa report.
Italy’s Quotidiano Nazionale reports Quirico as saying: “I am extremely surprised that the United States could think about intervening, knowing very well how the Syrian revolution has become international jihadism – in other words Al-Qaeda.”
The 62-year-old journalist was highly critical of the opposition in Syria in another interview, claiming that radical Islamic groups operating in Syria want to take down Assad and “create a caliphate and extend it to the entire Middle East and North Africa,” the Russia-friendly RT reports.
Peccinin agreed with Quirico, telling RTL that it would be “insane and suicidal for the West to support these people.”
Watch video of Piccinin’s appearance on RTL below:
The two men were reportedly kidnapped in Syria last April by a group of heavily armed men in pickup trucks. They were believed to be with the Free Syrian Army, though that has not been verified.
Their experiences in captivity were apparently as horrible as one might imagine.
“There was sometimes real violence…humiliation, bullying, mock executions…Domenico faced two mock executions, with a revolver,” Piccinin told RTL.
“These have been very tough months. We were beaten on a daily basis, we suffered two mock executions,” Quirico told reporters, according to AFP.
“Scant detail has emerged as to how they were released, but Quirico’s newspaper La Stampa said Italy’s secret services had stepped up efforts to secure their freedom ahead of feared US military strikes,” AFP reports.
Still, questions remain about the alleged Skype conversation on the chemical weapon attack. Firstly, why were the kidnappers speaking English? Why would the kidnappers have such a sensitive conversation on Skype near prisoners?
It should also be reiterated that, even though one of the men allegedly identified himself as a Free Syrian Army general, the conversation occurred between “three people whose identities I do not know, Quirico said.
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
It was a beautiful fall day, wasn't it? That's what everyone says. The crisp air that morning. Clear mile high blue skies.
I was still dealing with Lyme disease and my course of doxycycline so maybe I didn't appreciate the day as much as usual. or maybe it was just another day at work. We had been having a small yet particularly irksome and persistent problem within the call center ACD. The Williams tech was on site working with me to resolve it.
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race [is] not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
American Airlines Flight 11 North Tower 8:46 a.m.
I got the first phone call from my mom. The news was reporting a small light aircraft had crashed into one of the World Trade Center Towers.
Well, that's weird, I thought. I did a quick check of the internet news sites (CNN, MSNBC and ABC) but found nothing. I walked in and told my boss then went back to fixing my irksome little problem.
United Airlines Flight 175 South Tower 9:03 a.m.
My mom called again. She said a second plane had hit the other tower.
"Where did you hear that?"
"I was watching the news and saw it happen!" A little panic in her voice.
What the hell is going on. It can't be a second accident because of smoke from the first. Are we being attacked? Still not able to find much on the internet and not much time to look at the moment.
Walked in and told my boss this as well. Then back to the irksome problem.
American Airlines Flight 77 The Pentagon 9:37 a.m.
"Okay, they can stop this now." The third call from my mom.
"Stop what?"
"There's just been an explosion at the Pentagon. They don't know if it was a plane or a missile or a bomb."
Back in to my boss.
"Holy shit!"
He needs to contact some honchos. We're a gas utility and we now have security concerns on our hands.
Jumpers
"Oh my god you can see people jumping out of the towers."
"Make sure (my 3 year old) isn't watching any of this."
South Tower Collapses 9:59 a.m.
"One of the towers collapsed!" mom said.
"What do you mean, part of it came off?"
"No, the whole thing just collapsed like an accordion."
Outside to have a smoke with the Area VP and some others.
"How many do you think were killed" asks someone.
"Could be as high as 50,000 depending on how many were able to get out, right?"
"oh my god"
"Jesus"
"Holy shit"
United Flight 93 Shanksville, Pa. 10:03 a.m.
Reports are coming in on the internet and radio and now TV set up in dispatch. Several planes in the air still. One headed toward Camp David. One hit Camp David. One headed toward the White House or Capitol. The Capitol is on fire. Etc.
My boss tells me the decision is for now to leave the phone lines open for all calls but if things get too crazy then we need to be ready to switch to gas leaks and other emergency calls only.
It didn't matter. By now the phones had gone eerily silent. America was too busy watching events unfold and talking to or trying to contact their loved ones.
Another call from my mom. No one could contact my cousin's fiance. She was supposed to be staying at the hotel between the towers for a conference there.
My aunt was trying to reach my uncle. He had a business appointment in D.C.
North Tower Collapses 10:28 a.m.
"THIS IS WAR!" our radio communications tech.
We watched it live on the TV in dispatching.
I turned to the Williams Tech. He told me they had just ordered all their techs out of Harrisburg an hour west of us and no one was to go in until further notice.
We watched it live on the TV in dispatching.
I turned to the Williams Tech. He told me they had just ordered all their techs out of Harrisburg an hour west of us and no one was to go in until further notice.
Later that day we found out my aunt had reached my uncle. He was on the D.C. beltway when she reached him, he was unaware of what was happening. When she told him he turned around and headed straight home to Allentown.
It wasn't until the next day that my cousin reached his fiancé. As it turns out when she tried to check into the hotel they didn't have her registration and she wound up staying at another about a mile away. Watched events unfold from there unable to contact anyone because of the phone lines being down.
When I got home from work my 3 year old said
"Daddy! They knocked the towers down!"
For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so [are] the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them. -- Ecclesiastes 9:11,12 --
Tuesday, 10 September 2013
Monday, 9 September 2013
Sunday, 8 September 2013
Saturday, 7 September 2013
Friday, 6 September 2013
Thursday, 5 September 2013
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
The Blaze
Matt Drudge Goes Off on Republican Party: ‘WHO ARE THEY?!’
Matt Drudge Goes Off on Republican Party: ‘WHO ARE THEY?!’
Matt Drudge, founder and editor of the influential Drudge Report, is a conservative by all accounts. But at least for Tuesday, he was anti-Republican Party.
“Why would anyone vote Republican?” Drudge tweeted. “Please give reason. Raised taxes; marching us off to war again; approved more NSA snooping. WHO ARE THEY?!”
The tweet came after another that was also critical of the GOP. “It’s now Authoritarian vs. Libertarian,” Drudge wrote. “Since Democrats vs. Republicans has been obliterated, no real difference between parties.”
It’s unclear what specific policies Drudge was referring to in his critique. Republicans did, however, vote to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff” in January, a vote that included an increase in taxes on upper-income earners. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) also said Tuesday he supports President Obama’s position on a limited military intervention in Syria. And scores of Republicans, such as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, came out in support of government spying techniques meant to thwart terrorism.
It's now Authoritarian vs. Libertarian. Since Democrats vs. Republicans has been obliterated, no real difference between parties...
Why would anyone vote Republican? Please give reason. Raised taxes; marching us off to war again; approved more NSA snooping. WHO ARE THEY?!
Chicago Tribune:
DEA using vast AT&T database: New York Times report
(Reuters) - U.S. law enforcement officials investigating drug crimes have had access, using subpoenas, to a large AT&T Inc database that contains the records of phone calls dating back to 1987, according to a New York Times report.
The report, published on Sunday, said under the 6-year-old program, the government pays telecommunications giant AT&T to place employees in drug-fighting units around the country. The employees sit with Drug Enforcement Administration agents and local detectives and supply them with the phone data, it said.
The "Hemisphere Project" covers call data for any carrier that uses an AT&T switch, the newspaper reported, citing training slides with the logo of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Federal authorities told the newspaper that the project, which has been useful in finding criminals who frequently discard cellphones to avoid detection, used investigative techniques that have been employed in criminal cases for decades and created no new privacy issues.
A representative for the Justice Department was not immediately available for comment.
Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T, said on Monday that while the company cannot comment on any particular matter, "we, like all other companies, must respond to valid subpoenas issued by law enforcement."
American Civil Liberties Union attorney Alex Abdo said on Monday the program is "very troubling from a privacy perspective."
"The government has easy access to decades' worth of information on millions of Americans," said Abdo, who is with the ACLU's national security project.
Reuters reported last month that the National Security Agency supplies the DEA with intelligence information used to make non-terrorism cases against American citizens.
Reuters cited internal documents that show how DEA's Special Operations Division funnels information from overseas NSA intercepts, domestic wiretaps, informants and a large DEA database of telephone records to authorities nationwide to help them launch criminal investigations of Americans.
DEA using vast AT&T database: New York Times report
(Reuters) - U.S. law enforcement officials investigating drug crimes have had access, using subpoenas, to a large AT&T Inc database that contains the records of phone calls dating back to 1987, according to a New York Times report.
The report, published on Sunday, said under the 6-year-old program, the government pays telecommunications giant AT&T to place employees in drug-fighting units around the country. The employees sit with Drug Enforcement Administration agents and local detectives and supply them with the phone data, it said.
The "Hemisphere Project" covers call data for any carrier that uses an AT&T switch, the newspaper reported, citing training slides with the logo of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Federal authorities told the newspaper that the project, which has been useful in finding criminals who frequently discard cellphones to avoid detection, used investigative techniques that have been employed in criminal cases for decades and created no new privacy issues.
A representative for the Justice Department was not immediately available for comment.
Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T, said on Monday that while the company cannot comment on any particular matter, "we, like all other companies, must respond to valid subpoenas issued by law enforcement."
American Civil Liberties Union attorney Alex Abdo said on Monday the program is "very troubling from a privacy perspective."
"The government has easy access to decades' worth of information on millions of Americans," said Abdo, who is with the ACLU's national security project.
Reuters reported last month that the National Security Agency supplies the DEA with intelligence information used to make non-terrorism cases against American citizens.
Reuters cited internal documents that show how DEA's Special Operations Division funnels information from overseas NSA intercepts, domestic wiretaps, informants and a large DEA database of telephone records to authorities nationwide to help them launch criminal investigations of Americans.
Senator John McCain plays poker on his IPhone during a U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing where Secretary of State JohnKerry, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey testify concerning the use of force in Syria, on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, Tuesday, September 3, 2013. (Photo by Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
Update 6:38 p.m.: After the photo made the rounds on Twitter, McCain tweeted the following in response:
Scandal! Caught playing iPhone game at 3+ hour Senate hearing - worst of all I lost!
McCain: Shouting 'Allahu Akhbar!' Same as Christians Shouting 'Thank God!'
On Tuesday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) suggested that Fox News host Brian Kilmeade was Islamaphobic because he said that Syrian opposition groups shouting “Allahu Akhbar! Allahu Akhbar!” as rockets hit government offices demonstrated Islamist influence among the opposition.
“I have a problem helping those people screaming that after a hit,” Kilmeade said. McCain responded: “Would you have a problem with an American or Christians saying ‘thank God? Thank God?’” He added, “That’s what they’re saying. Come on! Of course they’re Muslims, but they’re moderates and I guarantee you they are moderates.” McCain provided no evidence to suggest that Syrian opposition groups are moderate, as opposed to the wide swath of evidence suggesting that the opposition is heavily infested with al Qaeda.
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