Hmmmmm. no mention of air travel or frequent flyer mileage (prepping those camels.....)! sarc.
Snippets: Explosion destroys Grand Rapids building, injures 7
Austerberry wasn't sure what caused the leak or explosion. The building housed several businesses in an area of older homes and shops in the Eastown neighborhood just east of downtown.
Analyst warns of third Islamic terrorist wave enabled by internet
The latest terrorist wave is largely a self-limiting threat, Sageman said, because it's made up mostly of bored, unemployed young people with fantasies of glory and thrills. That profile lacks the ideological commitment to jihad that is typical of the older al Qaeda generation. Feeling shut out of the local labor market, they turn to crime and, in many cases, join gangs. They typically lead a life of crime for about a decade and then turn to religion as a salvation, he added, proceeding down a path of radicalization and violence sparked by moral outrage.
In the United States, the idea of a national melting pot and the American dream tend to weaken the appeal of jihadism among Muslim Americans. The ones who migrate to the United States typically are university professors, engineers, physicians and business professionals who more easily enter the labor force. The average Muslim family in America makes about $70,000 per year, compared with the national average of $48,000, Sageman said.
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FBI Raids Memphis Truck Driving Schools
Memphis, TN - Federal and state agents raided two Mid-South truck driving schools and a Memphis driver's license center on February 25, 2008. Both schools, one on Brooks Road in Memphis, and the other on Veterans Parkway in Millington, are operated by Swift Transportation. The state run license center on Shelby Drive in Whitehaven was also targeted in the investigation.
The FBI confirms that documents were seized during the raids but a spokesperson says no arrests were made. Sources say the feds are looking for information about truck drivers who illegally obtained their commercial drivers licenses. While the investigation continues, the Tennessee Department of Safety announced that the licensing centers inside the schools and the one on Shelby Drive aren't allowed to issue any new Commercial Driver’s Licenses.
"That's messed up," says Memphian Dewayne Matlock, who was stunned when troopers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol turned him and dozens of others away from the licensing station on Shelby Drive. When told why Memphis drivers couldn't take care of their business at that drivers license station Monday, February 25, 2008, Matlock responded, "If that's what it takes to keep us safe, it's worth it." David Turner, whose beer distribution company employs truckers, says if the investigation revolves around the issuing of fraudulent commercial drivers licenses, that means there are truck drivers on the road who don't have the training needed to drive safely.
"That's very scary," says Turner. "I hope that's not what's going on. But that's part of what the Department of Transportation's job is and part of the FBI's job. That's why they're here. So there must be problems." At the West Memphis Pilot truck stop, long-haul trucker Daimond Blackmon says inexperienced drivers give the trucking industry a bad name when it's already getting criticized. "I mean, this is real serious," says Blackmon.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, large trucks make up just 4-percent of all registered vehicles in the U.S. Yet big rigs are involved in 11-percent of all fatal crashes. And when a tractor trailer collides with a car, statistics provided by RoadSafeAmerica.org, say 98-percent of deaths occur in the car.
That's why Daimond Blackmon says a poorly trained trucker doesn't belong on the road. "Oh, Lord no," says Blackmon. "With a fraudulent license you don't get to learn what it really takes to drive." Blackmon says the government should definitely put the brakes on phony CDL's. "I think the U.S. needs to come down on that and do something to prevent that from happening," says Blackmon. "Because if they don't, there's going to be a lot more accidents out here with truckers."
Swift Transportation employs 21,000 drivers in more than 40 locations around the country. A company spokesperson says Swift is cooperating fully with law enforcement and that they have been advised Swift is not the target of the investigation. The raids were headed by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. Other agencies include the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the A-T-F, the United States Secret Service and federal immigration officials.