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Locked on 10/02/2007 7:20:00 PM PDT by Lead Moderator, reason:
New Thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1905661/posts |
Posted on 09/01/2007 6:24:54 PM PDT by nwctwx
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“Terrorists are laughing today!”
OPINION:
They may or may not be laughing, but the terrorists probably learned something today if this was a probe.
Let’s hope the parents and the school think about what could have happened.
Maybe they will revamp their procedures.
‘Dozens died in Syrian-Iranian chemical weapons experiment’
Proof of cooperation between Iran and Syria in the proliferation and development of weapons of mass destruction was brought to light Monday in a Jane’s Defence Weekly report that dozens of Iranian engineers and 15 Syrian officers were killed in a July 23 accident in Syria.
Syrian and Iranian Presidents, Bashar Assad, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, listen to national anthems at the Ash-Shaeb presidential palace in Damascus, Thursday.
According to the report, cited by Channel 10, the joint Syrian-Iranian team was attempting to mount a chemical warhead on a Scud missile when the explosion occurred, spreading lethal chemical agents, including sarin nerve gas. (snip)
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1189411428847&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Thank you Velveeta.
Those links are keepers.
Did you hear about this?
Cab explodes in fireball outside Rockefeller Center
A yellow cab burst into flames outside NBC’s midtown studios this afternoon, sending some pedestrians running and others reaching for their cameras.
The taxi ignited shortly before 1 p.m. outside the West 50th St. building. A pair of explosions sent flames shooting into the air and smoke billowing into nearby buildings, witnesses said. No one was injured, according to police.
(snip)
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/09/18/2007-09-18_cab_explodes_in_fireball_outside_rockefe.html
633379
Sep 18, 10:14 PM EDT
Muslim Groups Sue FBI Over Records
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press Writer
SantA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Advocacy groups sued the FBI and the Department of Justice on Tuesday for failing to turn over records they requested on surveillance in the Muslim-American community.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Muslim groups, alleges that the FBI has turned over only four pages of documents to community leaders, despite a Freedom of Information Act request filed more than a year ago. The documents were not related to surveillance.
The request sought records that described FBI guidelines and policies for surveillance and investigation of Muslim religious organizations, as well as specific information about FBI inquiries targeting 11 groups or people.
The lawsuit states that all the plaintiffs - who include some of the most prominent Muslim leaders in California - have reason to believe they have been investigated by the FBI since January 2001.
“It sends a message that Muslim-Americans have been, and continue to be, cooperating with law enforcement, but they’re concerned there might be a disproportionate focus ... on their religious practices,” said ACLU attorney Ranjana Natarajan.
One plaintiff, Shakeel Syed, said that his organization and others have spent three years building a relationship with the FBI but that the agency’s resistance to the request was troubling.
“I think it is in the best interests of the government to come clean and be transparent and forthright,” said Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California. “This is a credibility issue.”
FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said she could not comment on pending litigation but released a statement from J. Stephen Tidwell, the FBI’s assistant director in charge for Los Angeles.
“The FBI does not investigate individuals or groups based on their lawful activities, religious or political beliefs,” Tidwell said.
A message left for the Department of Justice after business hours was not returned.
The groups filed an initial FOIA request in May 2006, several months after federal law enforcement officials confirmed the existence of a classified radiation monitoring program used in surveillance at mosques, homes and businesses. At its peak, the secret program tested the air around 120 sites a day for signs of radiation that could be linked to terrorism.
The FBI responded to the request first by saying it couldn’t identify any records that met the criteria requested. After an appeal, the agency turned over four pages that dealt with the Council of American-Islamic Relations and Hussam Ayloush, the council’s executive director for Southern California.
Those documents dealt with a suspected hate crime at a mosque that the council had reported to the FBI and a conversation Ayloush had with an FBI agent about cooperating with federal law enforcers, Natarajan said.
She said she believes there are many more records because each plaintiff has been interviewed by the FBI or stopped at airports for questioning. The FBI, in its responses, indicted it searched only files that hold information on active criminal investigations instead of more general files that could encompass surveillance activities, she said.
Ayloush, who said he is questioned by federal agents every time he flies internationally, said he had hoped the FOIA request would help him determine why he is stopped.
“Either ... we’re being stopped because we’re Muslims - which is morally wrong - or that the government must have some erroneous info linked to me that I need to be able to clear,” he said.
The government has 60 days to respond to the lawsuit.
KABUL — Twelve Taliban militants were killed in airstrikes by U.S.-led coalition forces in southern Afghanistan's Ghazni Province, the provincial security commander said Tuesday.
Abdullah Jan, the Taliban commander in Ghazni's Qarabagh district, and four other Taliban commanders were among those killed in the overnight airstrikes on their compound in Qarabagh, according to Ali Shah Ahmadzai.
Updates appreciated on this Velveeta.
Thank you.
Thank you Deacon Benjamin.
The good news does outweigh the bad lately.
Terrorists may run, but they can’t hide — permanently.
ACLU and CAIR mentioned in the same article.
It’s like hands and gloves...what a pair...what a match.
ADDING to post no. 1664:
Ok, I picked up some more articles and photos on that taxi cab, Velveeta.
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http://gothamist.com/2007/09/18/taxi_explodes_o.php
http://gothamist.com/attachments/jen/2007_09_taxifire.JPG
September 18, 2007
“Taxi Inferno Outside Rockefeller Center”
#
http://www.nysun.com/article/62897
http://www.nysun.com/pics/62897_main_large.jpg
“Taxi Goes up in Flames in Front of NBC Studios”
By CHRISTOPHER FAHERTY
Special to the Sun
September 18, 2007 posted 3:12 pm EDT
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Nobody was injured in the large fire, including the driver of the cab who was able to escape the flames, fire officials said.
Fire marshals are investigating the cause of the blaze. So far there are no indications that criminality was involved, fire officials said.”
Re September 25, 2007...
Let’s see if anything else has happened/is happening on September 25.
First, I see it’s a TUESDAY this year.
Ok.
Next...
Here’s what happened on This Day In History:
http://www.history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&displayDate=09/25&categoryId=leadstory
and Events In History:
http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/september_25.html
#
September 25th in the news:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=%22September+25%22&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=in
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September 25th in the blogs:
####
####
Previously...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1890027/posts?page=1655#1655
Caddo school system, police investigate ‘threat’ at Caddo Magnet (Louisiana)
The Caddo School Board and Shreveport police are investigating a message found at Caddo Magnet High School perceived as a threat.
School administration sent letters home with students Monday to notify parents.
“Today, the administration at Caddo Magnet High School has received information that an incident could happen on our campus on Tuesday, September 25, 2007,” said the letter from Assistant Principal Bryan Gallant.
(snip) http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070918/BREAKINGNEWS/70918050
1,655 posted on 09/18/2007 6:05:31 PM PDT by Velveeta
Glenn Beck has been talking about this all week.
He calls it “The Perfect Day”. Check out www.glennbeck.com and read all about it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=borderpatrol
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=montana
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Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1898784/posts
Border Patrol agents arrest 11
Billings Gazette ^ | 16 September 2007 | LANCE BENZEL
Posted on 09/18/2007 11:50:51 PM PDT by fella
Border Patrol agents arrest 11 By LANCE BENZEL Of The Gazette Staff
U.S. Border Patrol agents in Billings on Thursday netted 11 Mexican nationals suspected of working illegally in Montana, federal officials said.
The group was arrested about 2 p.m. outside Golden Corral, 570 S. 24th St. W., as agents from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Billings station were on patrol, said Alex Harrington, a spokesman for the agency based in Havre.
The men - ranging in age from 18 to 33 - are being held at the county jail pending deportation.
The agents stopped to investigate after seeing a group of seven Hispanic men getting out of a minivan with out-of-state plates, Harrington said. The men identified themselves as Mexican nationals and said they were members of a construction crew working on a new medical facility in the area.
(Excerpt) Read more at billingsgazette.net ...
http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/070912washington.htm
September 12, 2007
“Salvadoran Man Pleads Guilty For His Role in Conspiracy to Smuggle Scores of Migrants Into The United States”
WASHINGTON
http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/070913omaha.htm
September 13, 2007
“ICE arrests 15 illegal alien fugitives in Lexington, Neb.”
Thanks
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1898785/posts
#
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/09/20070918-2.html
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 18, 2007
Statement by the Press Secretary
White House News
Today, the President accepted the recommendation of the Department of Defense to end procurement of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites that have the capability to intentionally degrade the accuracy of civil signals. This decision reflects the United States strong commitment to users of GPS that this free global utility can be counted on to support peaceful civil activities around the world.
This degradation capability, known as Selective Availability (SA), will no longer be present in GPS III satellites. Although the United States stopped the intentional degradation of GPS satellite signals in May 2000, this new action will result in the removal of SA capabilities, thereby eliminating a source of uncertainty in GPS performance that has been of concern to civil GPS users worldwide.
GPS benefits users around the world in many different ways, including aviation, road, marine and rail navigation, telecommunications, emergency response, resource exploration, mining and construction, financial transactions, and many more. All users, and their governments, have a stake in the future of GPS. The United States promotes international cooperation in the operation of civil global navigation satellite systems and continues to work to build international support for the protection of these signals from intentional interference and disruption.
# # #
Note the following text is a quote:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/09/20070918-1.html
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 18, 2007
Myth/Fact: Key Myths About FISA Amendments in the Protect America Act
Provisions Of Protect America Act Of 2007 Must Be Made Permanent To Prevent Gaps In Our Ability To Collect Vital Foreign Intelligence Information
White House News
In Focus: National Security
In August, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Protect America Act of 2007, which modified the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to give our intelligence community necessary tools to acquire important information about our enemies. Passed with bipartisan support in the House and the Senate, the Act restores FISA to its original focus of protecting the civil liberties of Americans, while not acting as an obstacle to conducting foreign intelligence surveillance on targets located in foreign countries. But this new statute is a temporary and narrowly focused measure to deal with the most immediate shortcomings in the law. It is essential that Congress make the Protect America Act permanent and pass legislation to provide meaningful liability protection to those alleged to have assisted our Nation following the 9/11 attacks. Today, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on FISA. The following are key myths about FISA amendments in the Protect America Act, and the facts that refute them:
1. MYTH: The Protect America Act of 2007 eliminates civil liberty protections under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
FACT: The new law simply makes clear – consistent with the intent of the Congress that enacted FISA in 1978 – that our intelligence community should not have to get bogged down in a court approval process to gather foreign intelligence on targets located in foreign countries. It does not change the strong protections FISA provides to Americans in the United States – surveillance directed at people in the United States continues to require court approval as it did before.
FACT: When FISA was enacted 30 years ago, the law did not generally require a court order to obtain foreign intelligence information from a target located outside the United States.
The mechanism Congress used to identify which government activities required a court order under FISA was a careful and complex definition of the term “electronic surveillance,” framed in reference to the specific communications technologies used when the law was enacted in 1978.
Telecommunications technologies have changed radically since 1978, and those changes have upset the careful balance established by Congress. As a result, prior to the Protect America Act of 2007, the government was often required to obtain a court order before collecting foreign intelligence on targets in foreign countries.
FACT: The Protect America Act restores FISA to its original focus of protecting the rights of Americans within the United States while clarifying the definition of “electronic surveillance” to make clear that – as was the intent when Congress drafted the law – a court order is not required to target persons located overseas.
2. MYTH: The Protect America Act gives the Federal government new powers to target people in the United States for warrantless surveillance.
FACT: The Protect America Act leaves untouched the strong protections FISA provides to Americans in the United States – electronic surveillance targeting a person in the U.S. required a court order before the Protect America Act, and that requirement remains in place today.
FACT: The Protect America Act does not authorize “domestic wiretapping,” and our intelligence professionals are not using the new law either to acquire domestic-to-domestic communications or to target the communications of persons in the United States.
FACT: If a foreign target communicates with someone in the United States and the communication involves terrorism or foreign intelligence, the new law remains consistent with the intent of the old law – intelligence professionals can intercept that communication without a court order. As the President has said, “If there are people inside our country who are talking with al Qaeda, we want to know about it.”
FACT: FISA has always been designed to allow the executive branch to monitor the communications of those in foreign countries planning to harm our Nation, and the Protect America Act merely restores the law to its original intent by accounting for changes in technology.
3. MYTH: The Protect America Act allows the government to target Americans in the United States under the guise of surveilling a person located overseas – a practice known as “reverse targeting.”
FACT: “Reverse targeting” was, and remains, prohibited by law.
FACT: The provisions of FISA that protect against this practice remain unchanged by the Protect America Act. The law excludes from the category of “electronic surveillance,” and thus from the FISA warrant requirement, only surveillance directed at individuals reasonably believed to be in foreign countries.
FACT: “Reverse targeting” constitutes electronic surveillance and thus generally requires a court order under FISA. Nothing in the Protect America Act changes this.
FACT: “Reverse targeting” makes little sense as a matter of intelligence tradecraft. If the government believes a person in the United States is a terrorist, it is more useful to obtain a court order to collect all of the person’s communications than to conduct surveillance on that person by listening only to a fragment of the person’s calls to individuals overseas.
4. MYTH: Requiring intelligence operatives to get a court order before collecting foreign intelligence on overseas targets will not hinder the government’s ability to collect intelligence.
FACT: According to Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell, the delays caused by applying for warrants before collecting foreign intelligence from overseas targets meant our intelligence community was “missing a significant amount of foreign intelligence that we should be collecting to protect our country.”
FACT: Requiring intelligence professionals to apply for and wait on a court order before gathering vital intelligence from overseas targets can prevent the swift gathering of intelligence necessary to identify and provide warning of threats to our country.
FACT: A mandatory court-approval process also requires the intelligence community to divert scarce intelligence experts to the time-consuming process of compiling court submissions.
5. MYTH: The Protect America Act authorizes the executive branch to conduct physical searches of domestic mail, computers, or the homes of Americans without a warrant.
FACT: The Protect America Act does not authorize physical searches of the homes, personal belongings, or computers of individuals in the United States, or the opening of domestic mail without a court order, and our intelligence professionals are not using the Act to conduct such searches.
FACT: Critics are misreading provisions of the law that allow the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General to direct communications service providers and similar private entities to assist in authorized foreign intelligence activities targeting individuals located outside the United States. The Act safeguards against abuse of this provision by allowing these private entities to challenge any such directive in the FISA Court.
6. MYTH: The Protect America Act would allow the government to obtain, without a warrant or any court approval, the business records of Americans in the United States.
FACT: The Protect America Act does not authorize the collection of most business records, such as medical or library records.
FACT: The Executive Branch will not use the Act to acquire any business records of Americans in the United States.
7. MYTH: The Protect America Act allows the intelligence community to intercept communications without any oversight.
FACT: Under the Protect America Act, the Attorney General is required to submit for review to the FISA Court the procedures by which the Federal government determines that the authorized acquisitions of foreign intelligence do not constitute electronic surveillance requiring court approval under FISA.
FACT: Congress will be able to see for itself that the law is being implemented responsibly and as intended. The Administration has committed to informing the full membership of the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees of acquisitions authorized under the Protect America Act, and of the reviews the Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will conduct to assess compliance by the implementing agencies.
# # #
DEA.GOV
http://www.dea.gov
#
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/09/20070917-1.html
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 17, 2007
“Memorandum for the Secretary of State”
SNIPPET: “SUBJECT: Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries for Fiscal Year 2008”
#
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/09/20070917-2.html
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 17, 2007
Statement by the Press Secretary
White House News
On September 14, 2007, President Bush authorized the Secretary of State to transmit to Congress the annual report listing major illicit drug transit and drug producing countries (known as the “Majors List”). The report contains Presidential Determinations of the countries that have “failed demonstrably” to make substantial efforts during the previous 12 months to adhere to international counternarcotics agreements and to take measures specified in U.S. law.
In his report, the President identified as major drug-transit
or major illicit drug-producing countries: Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela.
The President also reported to Congress his determination that Burma and Venezuela have “failed demonstrably” during the previous 12 months to adhere to their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements and take the measures set forth in U.S. law. However, the President determined to maintain U.S. programs that aid Venezuela’s democratic institutions.
The President determined that Guinea-Bissau is becoming a refuge and transit hub for cocaine traffickers from Latin America. International efforts should be supported and advanced to help Guinea-Bissau confront these illicit drug activities.
The President further determined that Bolivia is on track to eradicate 5,600 hectares of coca this year. However, these measures have been outstripped by coca replanting and expanded coca cultivation. The President expressed his concern about Bolivia’s need to improve its counternarcotic results. Further, Bolivia should revamp its national drug policy to make its top priority the reduction and eventual elimination of excess coca crops.
These Determinations required the President to consider each country’s performance in areas such as reducing illicit cultivation, interdiction, law enforcement cooperation, extradition, and measures to prevent and punish public corruption that facilitates drug trafficking or impedes drug-related prosecutions. The President also considered these countries’ efforts to stop production and export of, and reduce the domestic demand for, illegal drugs.
# # #
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1898788/posts?page=3#3
http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html
http://memritv.org/subject/en/121.htm
http://www.memri.org/iran.html
http://www.jihadwatch.org/cgi-bin/jwsearch.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=ahmadinejad
#
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=countries&Area=iran&ID=SP171607
Special Dispatch Series - No. 1716
September 19, 2007 No.1716
“New IRGC Commander: Asymmetrical Warfare Is Our Strategy for Dealing with Enemy’s Considerable Capabilities; We Aspire to Ballistic Missile Superiority”
SNIPPET: “Introduction
On September 1, 2007, in a surprise move, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appointed Mohammad Ali Aziz Jafari as top commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). [1] His predecessor, Yahya Rahim Safavi, who had held the position for a decade, is now special military advisor to Khamenei. (To view the MEMRITV webpage on Yahya Rahim Safavi, visit: http://memritv.org/subject/en/355.htm )”
#
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=countries&Area=iran&ID=SP171507
Special Dispatch Series - No. 1715
September 19, 2007 No.1715
“Iranian TV Drama ‘Zero Degree Orbit’(Episode 1) - Zionist Agents Assassinate Rabbi of Tehran, Attempt to Intimidate Iranian Jews into Emigrating to Palestine”
SNIPPET: “”Zero Degree Orbit,” a drama series produced by Iranian state TV and directed by Hassan Fathi, is an Iranian, Hungarian, Lebanese, Polish, and French collaborative effort.
The series is set in the 1930s, Iran under Shah Reza [1] and in Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion. (The Paris scenes were shot in Hungary.)
With this series, Iran is hoping to dispel allegations that it denies that Jews were persecuted during World War II, and to shed its image as a Holocaust denier. The series is presented as an historical drama aimed at showing the suffering of the Jews during World War II, and even at educating Jews about their own history. Several Iranian newspapers stated that the series sheds light on how the Jews fled from several countries and thus became refugees.
At the same time, the series presents the “Zionist lie”, i.e. that the Jewish state is a Zionist invention - the result of collaboration between the Zionists and the Nazis to coerce Jews to emigrate to Palestine.”
#
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=293D106D-F66D-4DA9-8B8D-679921680815
“Tehran’s Campus Crackdown”
By Amir Taheri
New York Post | Wednesday, September 19, 2007
#
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070919/FOREIGN/109190041/1003
“Arabs urged to join forces against Iran”
By Brian Murphy
September 19, 2007
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