Tag Archive for: Oklahoma

Big Wind Closes Out The Year With One Of Its Biggest Defeats Ever

A federal judge sided with a Native American tribe in a dispute with a major wind developer on Wednesday, handing a massive defeat to the wind industry to end 2023.

U.S. Court of International Trade Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves ordered Enel, a major green energy company based in Rome with an American presence, to tear down an enormous wind farm that the firm had constructed in Osage County, Oklahoma, over the consistent protest of the Osage tribe who live in the area, according to the Tulsa World. The ruling is a huge victory for the Osage tribe, who opposed the project because of its location relative to burial sites and the ecological damage inflicted upon eagles by the massive turbines, and a stark defeat for Enel, which is now staring down hundreds of millions of dollars in decommissioning charges.

The wind farm had been the subject of a lengthy legal battle between the Osage Nation and the developer, spanning back to 2011, when the tribe filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that the development illegally deprived the tribe of access to the mineral deposits beneath the site of the project, according to the Tulsa World. The project featured 84 turbines, as well as required equipment like transmission lines and weather towers, spread over 8,400 acres of land that Choe-Groves asserted was leased illegally and to the detriment of the tribe’s sovereignty.

There will be a trial for damages following Choe-Groves’ ruling, according to the Tulsa World.

Notably, Enel states on its website that it exhibits “an unmatched commitment to sustainability and a just and inclusive energy transition for all.” Paolo Romanacci, who is the head of Enel Green Power North America, also serves as the director for the American Clean Power Association, a green energy trade group that has spent millions of dollars lobbying the federal government to advance the interests of the green energy industry, according to data from Open Secrets.

The ordered deconstruction of 84 wind turbines is “unprecedented,” according to Robert Bryce, an energy sector expert who also keeps track of local rejections of major renewable energy projects across the country. Bryce estimates that the company stood to reap tens of millions of taxpayer dollars in subsidies for the project, a dynamic which he considers at least partially responsible for the firm’s insistence to continue building and operating the project despite the persistent objections of the tribe.

“I hope no other tribe has to do what we had to do,” Osage Minerals Council Chairman Everett Waller told the Tulsa World, referencing the tribe’s long legal battle against the project. “This is a win not only for the Osage Minerals Council; this is a win for Indian Country. There are a lot of smaller tribes that couldn’t have battled this long, but that’s why we’re Osages. We’re here, and this is our homeland, and we are going to protect it at all costs.”

Enel did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

AUTHOR

NICK POPE

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘Green Colonialism’: Biden Admin Clashes With Native American Activists Over Lithium Mine

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


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Republican Cracks Down on Trans Bathroom Policies After High School Restroom Assault

The top education official in a heavily Republican state is cleaning house, demanding that all public school districts and charter school have policies respecting the privacy of female students, after a male who identifies as female allegedly beat up two teenage girls in a high school restroom.

No media outlet covered the altercation, which took place on October 26, until the website Reduxx got a copy of the police report on December 12. According to police, a teenage boy became enraged when a teenage girl ignored him when he initiated conversation inside the girl’s restroom of Edmond Memorial High School in Edmond, Oklahoma. The boy then asked if she “wanted to fight” and came at her with clenched fists, pulled her hair, and threw her to the ground. the police report says. The girl said she was too weak to fight back. An eyewitness said the boy then “kicked her in the head and the back 2 times,” then punched her repeatedly. Another female said she intervened to stop the fight, because the attacker “is a man,” but said the boy punched her in the face twice; the police report described the second girl as having sustained a “possible concussion.”

“This is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in the state of Oklahoma,” said Oklahoma Secretary of Education Ryan Walters (R) in an online video. Walters said he would launch a state-level investigation into Edmond Public Schools — but he would also require all Oklahoma public school districts to notify parents of their restroom policies and submit them to Walters for review. “Our legislature and governor passed and signed a bill that says boys cannot go into girls’ restrooms for this precise reason,” said Walters. “We will not allow the radical Left’s Woke ideology to endanger our girls by having boys in the girls’ restrooms, where assaults like this can happen.”

Walters previously critiqued public schools in Stillwater after outraged parents complained that administrators opened restrooms to teenagers of both sexes. “You have chosen radicals over your students, ideology over biology, and ‘wokeness’ over safety,” Walters wrote to Stillwater education officials on April 8. “Today I am asking you to work with your fellow board members to make it so that your students only use the bathroom of their God-given natural sex. Biological males should not receive unrestricted access to women’s restrooms, leaving our young girls uncomfortable and afraid to enter them during school.”

“It’s wonderful to see Oklahoma’s Education Secretary Ryan Walters prioritizing the safety of girls over the desires of boys to be accepted as girls,” Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for Education Studies at Family Research Council, told The Washington Stand.

A month after Walters’s letter to Stillwater, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) signed S.B. 615, which requires schools to designate all restrooms or changing areas used by more than one person for the “exclusive use” of one sex. Schools must make a “reasonable accommodation” by providing a single-use restroom or changing area to students who do not wish to comply. Any school district that refuses to implement this policy would lose 5% of state funding in the next year, and parents would have a “cause of action” to sue noncompliant schools.

Three students, represented by the ACLU and Lambda Legal, sued the state Department of Education this fall, alleging in court filings that people who identify as transgender are “being singled out for discriminatory unequal treatment.”

“Education officials in school districts across the country have been pressured by outside agitators like the ACLU, SPLC, GLSEN, and the Human Rights Campaign to adopt progressive and dangerous policies that undermine children’s safety and learning. In the face of this relentless pressure, it takes leadership to restate the commonsense values that parents expect and under which all children can thrive,” Kilgannon told TWS.

Walters also criticized the legacy media for refusing to cover the story of the alleged transgender physical assault for nearly two months. A Google search found that, as of this writing, the Edmond transgender restroom assault had not been reported by The New York TimesThe Washington PostThe Wall Street Journal, the Associated PressNBC NewsABC NewsCBS NewsReutersAxios, or Vice News.

Local media also suppressed the story of the transgender restroom attack. “I don’t think it meets the threshold to be ‘news,’” wrote Wendy Suares, a reporter for the area’s Fox affiliate, KOKH. The incident came as Virginia’s Loudoun County public school officials found themselves embroiled in controversy — and ultimately indicted — for denying that a male student who identifies as “gender fluid” sexually assaulted a teenage girl in a school restroom. Instead, officials had the girl’s outraged father arrested at a school board meeting, after quietly transferring the student to another school, where he reportedly molested another female student.

“Schools are for educating children, not ‘fixing them,’ promoting politics, or virtue signaling,” Kilgannon told TWS. “Thanks to Secretary Walters for this effort.”

Edmond Public School Superintendent Angela Grunewald responded in an oddly upbeat video that the school did not know the alleged perpetrator was a male, because his birth certificate did not mark his gender. Grunewald said her school district follows all applicable state laws and punished the male for fighting, as well as using the restroom facilities of the opposite sex.

Walters, who is running to become State Superintendent for Education, has promised to thoroughly review all state schools for compliance with the law — and, most importantly, to protect the safety and privacy of underage girls.

Walters’s “review of school policies just might reveal additional work to be done in 2023,” Kilgannon told TWS. “Something tells me he’s ready to do whatever it takes to protect all the children in his charge.”

AUTHOR

Ben Johnson

Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: Trans-Identifying HHS Official Admits Gender Transition Procedures Can Cause Sterility

EDITORS NOTE: This The Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

Saudi Graduate of al Qaeda Terror Camp Arrested in Oklahoma

On February 6, The New York Times published a chilling report on the arrest in Oklahoma of a foreign national who had attended an al Qaeda training camp. The defendant in this case is Naif Abdulaziz M. Alfallaj, a 34-year-old citizen of Saudi Arabia who has been residing in the U.S. since 2011. Allegedly he attended a terror training camp in Afghanistan in 2000 when four of the 9/11 hijacker/terrorists also attended training sessions at that very same camp.

Here is an excerpt from the Justice Department’s press release on the arrest:

According to the (criminal) complaint, the FBI found 15 of Alfallaj’s fingerprints on an application to an al Qaeda training camp, known as al Farooq, which was one of al Qaeda’s key training sites in Afghanistan.  The document was recovered by the U.S. military from an al Qaeda safe house in Afghanistan.  The document is also alleged to include an emergency contact number associated with Alfallaj’s father in Saudi Arabia.  Alfallaj is alleged to have first entered the U.S. in late 2011 on a nonimmigrant visa based on his wife’s status as a foreign student.  According to the complaint, he answered several questions on his visa application falsely, including whether he had ever supported terrorists or terrorist organizations.

The indictment returned today charges two counts of visa fraud.  Count One alleges that from March 2012 to the present, Alfallaj possessed a visa obtained by fraud.  Count Two alleges he used that visa in October 2016 to apply for lessons at a private flight school in Oklahoma.  The third count in the indictment charges Alfallaj with making a false statement to the FBI during a terrorism investigation when he was interviewed and denied ever having associated with anyone from a foreign terrorist group.

This is a “good news/bad news” story.

It is certainly impressive that our government was able to uncover the evidence upon which this criminal case is based, however, he was lawfully admitted into the United States in 2011, more than a decade after he received terror training.  He has been in the United States for about seven years and his presence in the United States only came to the attention of the FBI when he sought pilot training in October 2016.

It was discovered that he had lied when he applied for his visa to enter the United States by concealing his connection to terrorism.

This case causes me to have a sort of flashback to the congressional hearing at which I testified on March 19, 2002. The title of the hearing was the “INS’s Notification of Approval of Change of Status for Pilot Training for Terrorist Hijackers Mohammed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi.”

The C-SPAN video of that hearing is one that every member of Congress and the leadership of DHS, the State Department and other agencies of the Trump administration should be required to watch, especially as they contemplate calling into action a bureaucracy that continues to demonstrate its ineptitude in effectively screening aliens applicants for immigration benefits.

I have frequently noted in many of my articles and in my testimony before congressional hearings that the 9/11 Commission identified immigration fraud as the key entry and embedding tactic of terrorists.  This is why the second largest contingent of law enforcement personnel assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) are ICE agents.

As a former INS agent I don’t like to speculate, I certainly prefer to deal with facts, however, there are some very serious and obvious questions that the Alfallaj case raises.

While it may be that Alfallaj had no nefarious purposes for taking pilot training, it is impossible to not consider the that Alfallaj is a “sleeper agent,” that is to say, an enemy combatant who entered the United States with the ultimate goal of participating in a deadly attack.  If so, was he planning to participate in a hijacking of an airliner with others who perhaps have yet to be identified? Or was he perhaps planning to complete his flight training and then use a rented airplane as a weapon?

Having considered the case of Alfallaj, we must contemplate President Trump’s offer to provide 1.6 million DACA aliens with lawful status and pathway to citizenship.

Purportedly these illegal aliens entered the United States as children and hence had no control over their situation.  However, because they may be in their mid 30’s it is entirely possible that a significant number of them may lie about their actual dates of entry and that, although they claimed that they entered as children, they may well have entered relatively recently as adults.

Furthermore, these aliens are citizens from countries around the world, as reported by the DHS.

I addressed my misgivings about the the president’s plans in a recent articleDACA Solution Must Heed 9/11 Commission Findings. In conducting their deliberations about President Trump’s solution for DACA illegal aliens, members of Congress must take into account that the adjudications process would be conducted by a division of the DHS, along with other agencies that have failed, time and again, to properly vet aliens who have turned out to be terrorists and/or criminals.

President Trump ignited a firestorm, awhile back, when he issued executive orders to prevent the entry of aliens from countries that sponsor terrorism who could not be effectively vetted by our officials. President Trump’s stand on this issue was entirely proper and prudent, given the totality of circumstances. As I noted in an article back then, a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, Title 8 U.S. Code § 1182, provides the President of the United States with the discretionary authority to imposed such restrictions even though he was enjoined by judges from implementing his orders.

The President is still very much concerned about the vetting process for aliens seeking entry into the United States to prevent the entry of terrorists and criminals. Indeed, during his State of the Union Address, when he discussed the second of his “four pillars” for reforming the immigration system, he referred to the “loopholes” by which criminals and terrorists enter the United States.  In reality, there are no “loopholes” but fraud that goes undetected and a lack of integrity of the immigration system.

Nevertheless the President is willing to rely on that same system to legalize 1.8 million DACA aliens.  It is likely that even more aliens would file applications, many laden with fraud information and claims.

After the attacks of 9/11 we were frequently told that for America to be safe, our officials had to “get it right 100% of the time” while in order for the terrorists to succeed, they only had to “get it right once.”  Every application filed by an alien for a visa or for lawful status provides terrorists with that opportunity of “getting it right.”

Consider this excerpt from Chapter 12 of the 9/11 Commission Report:

Before 9/11, no agency of the U.S. government systematically analyzed terrorists’ travel strategies. Had they done so, they could have discovered the ways in which the terrorist predecessors to al Qaeda had been systematically but detectably exploiting weaknesses in our border security since the early 1990s.

We found that as many as 15 of the 19 hijackers were potentially vulnerable to interception by border authorities. Analyzing their characteristic travel documents and travel patterns could have allowed authorities to intercept 4 to 15 hijackers and more effective use of information available in U.S. government databases could have identified up to 3 hijackers.

Looking back, we can also see that the routine operations of our immigration laws-that is, aspects of those laws not specifically aimed at protecting against terrorism-inevitably shaped al Qaeda’s planning and opportunities. Because they were deemed not to be bona fide tourists or students as they claimed, five conspirators that we know of tried to get visas and failed, and one was denied entry by an inspector. We also found that had the immigration system set a higher bar for determining whether individuals are who or what they claim to be-and ensuring routine consequences for violations-it could potentially have excluded, removed, or come into further contact with several hijackers who did not appear to meet the terms for admitting short-term visitors.

Our investigation showed that two systemic weaknesses came together in our border system’s inability to contribute to an effective defense against the 9/11 attacks: a lack of well-developed counterterrorism measures as a part of border security and an immigration system not able to deliver on its basic commitments, much less support counterterrorism.

The succession of terror attacks carried out by aliens who gamed the immigration system and acquired political asylum, lawful immigrant status and even citizenship, prove just how incapable that system is to deal with its current workload of 6 million applications annually, sounding alarms the President must hear.

False security is worse — far, far worse — than no security, particularly where terrorists are concerned.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Missouri: Muslim diversity visa recipient sent $1M to terrorist in Jordan

Just like the 9/11 hijackers, possible Saudi terrorist arrested by the FBI told his flight instructors he wanted to be a commercial pilot

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in FrontPage Magazine.

Challenge to Hillary Clinton: ‘Walk in the shoes of a police officer!’

TULSA, Okla. /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Fit First Responders Foundation Founder, Coach Jonathan “JC” Conneely, is inviting Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton to come to Tulsa, Oklahoma and “walk in the shoes of a police officer.”

Hillary Clinton recently made this statement,

“White Americans need to do a better job listening when African Americans talk … about the seen and unseen barriers you face every day,” she said. “We need to try as best we can to walk in one another’s shoes, to imagine what it would feel like if people followed us around stores or locked their car doors when we walked past.”

Coach JC challenges Clinton to do just that – come experience one on one force training and then visit the Fit First Responders training facility so she may experience first hand what police officers across the country experience every day. Coach JC invites Clinton to experience what Reverend Moffett experienced in Phoenix.

“I want to personally invite you, Hillary Clinton, to come walk in the shoes of our police officers to experience what they endure mentally and physically to be prepared on the job. If you are not willing to practice what you are preaching, I am respectfully asking you to not use our police officers for your political gain without actually walking in their shoes, as you have suggested in previous speeches,” says Fit First Responders Founder Coach JC.

Fit First Responders Founder, Jonathan Conneely (PRNewsFoto/Fit First Responders)

Fit First Responders Founder, Jonathan Conneely (PRNewsFoto/Fit First Responders)

ABOUT FIT FIRST RESPONDERS

Fit First Responders, a nonprofit foundation that empowers police officers, firefighters, EMSA medics, and National Guard to win in their fitness, nutrition, and in life by offering physical and mental conditioning, nutrition workshops, and life coaching. The foundation currently serves over 500 first responders in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area and will be in cities across America in late 2016.

Fit First Responders Foundation was created to improve the mental and physical health of Tulsa police officers helping them be their best. As a result, officers lost weight, got off medications, restored their marriages, prevented suicides, lowered workers comp and insurance costs for the city. Learn more here.

U.S. Senator Lankford (R-OK) wants assurances no terrorists will get in with Syrian Muslim migrants

And, once again we have the local CAIR chapter assuring us that Syrian Muslim refugees won’t be terrorists!  However, the FBI Director testified in Congress recently that the US cannot properly screen Syrian refugees. CAIR and the Catholics (and Jews) know better!

Richard Klinge

Richard Klinge of Catholic Charities in Oklahoma City is an attorney/advocat and here he is promoting the infamous ‘Gang of Eight’ amnesty bill. (Catholic charities is paid by the head to resettle Muslims in Oklahoma.)

From NewsOK:

An Oklahoma congressman [they must mean Senator—ed] is urging the federal government to maintain “rigorous security vetting” of all refugees as it prepares to increase the number of displaced individuals allowed into the U.S in response to the Syrian refugee crisis.

U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, said he, along with Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., sent a letter Wednesday to Secretary of State John Kerry and Jeh Johnson, Department of Homeland Security secretary, asking them to ensure that national security is not compromised in the refugee resettlement process.

In his letter and in a telephone interview with The Oklahoman, Lankford said he is concerned that the U.S. remain vigilant in rooting out Islamic State or ISIS terrorists seeking to enter America under the guise of refugees.

Just a reminder here that it does matter when you contact your Washington representatives:

In his interview, Lankford said some of his constituents have voiced concerns, particularly after reading news reports of ISIS terrorists killing Christians in the Middle East.

Catholic Charities, which is paid by the head to resettle refugees, assures Oklahomans that every one will be safe!

CAIR OK

Adam Soltani of CAIR: No terrorists will get in with Syrian Muslim flow to Oklahoma. Photo: New York Daily News.

Richard Klinge, senior director of advocacy and legal services for Charities of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, called the State Department’s security process for refugees “robust” with “stringent guidelines.” [WTH is “robust”—ed]

Klinge said he is very familiar with the government’s security measures because Catholic Charities has had a large refugee resettlement program in Oklahoma for many years.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations echoes Catholic Charities in assuring us there will be no terrorists getting in!  (Ditto the local Jews!)

Adam Soltani, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, shared similar sentiments, saying that the U.S. had done a good job of vetting displaced individuals seeking a new life in America.

Soltani did say that his one concern about the Oklahoma congressman’s letter to federal officials is that it is in keeping with stereotypes of Muslims and people coming from the Middle East. [Stereotypes?  Gee I wonder why—ed]

Rabbi Vered Harris, spiritual leader of Temple B’nai Israel, recently urged members of her congregation to sign a petition asking the federal government to allow more refugees into the U.S. in response to the Syrian refugee crisis.

Friday, she said she trusts in the government’s procedures to ensure the safety of all Americans.

More here at NewsOK.

As we have reported previously on several occasions, across the country CAIR is weighing in on Syrian resettlement to the US which is only further confirmation that the vast majority of Syrians that the UN is choosing for us are Sunni Muslims.  Surely CAIR isn’t advocating for the persecuted Christians.  LOL! The big question is why are the Oklahoma Catholics and Jews pushing for more Muslims?

Here CAIR goes to the White House to lobby for more Syrian Muslim refugee admissions.  I don’t think they are hiding the Hijra any more!

RELATED ARTICLES:

Canada ramping-up for challenge of extensive mental health needs of Syrian refugees

Netherlands: Asylum seekers to be tested for skin disease MRSA as cases are diagnosed in three provinces

Why is Bill Kristol’s mag pimping for Hebrew refugee contractor’s lobbying campaign?

Libertarian/Muslim groups urge private sponsorship of Syrian refugees in U.S.

Washington, DC thinker: Bring Muslim Syrians to US so they will love us in the Middle East

Invasion of Europe news: Poland moves further right, opposes EU on Muslim migration/refugees

VIDEO EXPOSE: Stealth Jihad at a Oklahoma City Mosque

Today’s show is an expose’ on the “Stealth Jihad” operations of the Masjid An-Nasr, the mosque of beheader Jah’keem Yisrael.

Special guests include subject matter expert Robert Spencer of JihadWatch.org, Dr. Andy Bostom, author of “Legacy of Jihad“, and former Muslim, “Noor”, who attended the Oklahoma City, OK mosque and studied under Imam Suhaib Webb.

Beheading in the U.S.: Will we see more ‘work place Islam’?

I interview Robert Spencer on the Oklahoma beheading and all the implications for increased violent activity coming from jihad mosques here in the United States.

Do not miss this amazing analysis by Robert Spencer, one of the world’s top experts on Islamic jihad.

RELATED ARTICLES:

White House official flies to Oklahoma City to read special thank-you note from Obama to beheader’s mosque

Boko Haram top dog: “We follow the Koran…in the land of Allah”

“Love”: The Islamic State’s Source of Strength

Raymond Ibrahim: Is the Islamic State a Good Thing?

Oklahoma beheader’s city: Man with “thick Arabic accent” enters high school unauthorized, asks “suspicious questions”

Oklahoma beheadings: An Independent Investigation of Local Mosques Needed

I am not a gambler, but I would take odds with anyone about the outcome of the beheading in Oklahoma City, OK. I mean about the motive for the murder of an innocent woman in the name of Islam by Alton Alexander Nolen (a.k.a. Jah’Keem Yisrael) that the FBI is investigating.

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James Finch, FBI Special Agent in Charge (SA), Oklahoma City.

James E. Finch, FBI Special Agent in Charge (SA), Oklahoma City office, will conclude the beheading had nothing to do with Islam and Sharia law. It will be labeled another workplace violence incident.

Why would Finch do this?

The FBI is no longer a politically independent agency conducting neutral investigations. The FBI is now a political machine working under the watchful eyes of outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama. The FBI conclusions on any national level, and media hyped, cases will be driven by the political agenda of Obama and Holder.

A first grader could call this case correctly. SA Finch, according to his resume, has the background to call it as he sees it. But will he? When any federal agent or investigative agency is no longer neutral and working for the best interest of a community or the country, they have become null and void.

The FBI has approximately 35,000 personnel, 13,000 federal agents, and a budget from U.S. taxpayers of over $8 billion annually. Perhaps it is time that the FBI be reduced in size, and the money saved be provided to local and state investigative agencies?

America no longer needs another political acronym (like the IRS and DOJ) fraudulently using tax dollars to further any political agenda.

The murder committed by Nolen may have been sparked by his firing, but the manner in which he carried it out, and most importantly the reason he turned into an Islamic terrorist is because of the Islamic ideology in it’s purest form. Islamic terrorists commit all types of violent acts in the name of Islam.

The mosques in Oklahoma City, OK, will never be adequately investigated by federal authorities. President Obama and Attorney General Holder have made it very clear that terrorism ‘never’ generates from a mosque or anything Islamic.

I have conducted firsthand counter-terrorism research in over 275 mosques in America. Over 75% of the mosques have very violent materials inside their facilities and the other 25% are very effective in hiding what they teach their worshipers.

If a Muslim practices peace in America, they are not being taught peace in the Islamic Centers and mosques. Murderers like Nolen do not have to use the internet, travel to Syria, or study under violent terrorists, they simply have to go to any one of the 2,300 mosques located throughout America (of which there are four listed in Oklahoma City).

I firmly believe that a professional independent research project for the Oklahoma City mosques is needed. My team and I can spend three days in the area and provide an accurate picture of what exactly is being taught. The results of our research will be provided to the American public, local and state authorities.

If you have the means to donate please do. If not I fully understand. Our economy and national security are at it’s lowest level since we became America.

RELATED VIDEO: Details From Beheader’s Oklahoma Mosque. An interview with Noor, who attended the same mosque as did Alton Nolen.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Analyzing the Oklahoma Beheading Crime Scene

Pentagon Official: The President Is Lying To America — About Us, And About ISIS

Why America Won’t Have Enough Money to Battle ISIS

Work Place Islam

When a Muslim co-worker tries to convert you to Islam, it is not just an invitation. It may also be a death threat.

Was the Oklahoma beheading America’s First ISIS-Inspired Attack?

Was Muslim convert Alton Nolen, who allegedly beheaded co-worker Colleen Hufford and stabbed another woman in Oklahoma on Sept. 25, inspired by ISIS, the Islamist group that rules large parts of Syria and Iraq? (ISIS is also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIL, Islamic State, and Da`esh.)

Law enforcement and the media have, as usual, distanced the attack from Islam and terrorism, implying the alleged crime is an example of “workplace violence” due to Nolen’s recent firing from Vaughan Foods.

But co-workers report Nolen had a history of attempting to convert them to the Muslim faith. Law enforcement officials have not yet revealed if this was a contributing factor in Nolen’s termination. In addition, Robin Marsh of KWTV-9 reports that Nolen was “shouting Islamic phrases” while attacking his victims.

It is Nolen himself, however, who provides the best initial evidence that radical Islam in general and ISIS in particular motivated his alleged murder a fellow worker, evidence worth documenting in some detail. Though limited information is currently available, we are able to learn about Nolen in his own words and posted photographs on social media and use these as a basis to understand his beliefs and speculate about his motives.

After his conversion to Islam, Nolen posted on Facebook (under the name Jah’Keem Yisrael) his support for Islamist causes, including images celebrating Osama bin Laden and the attack on the World Trade Center. He also specifically promoted ISIS.

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For a larger view click on the image.

In February 2014, Nolen enthused about “Some of my Muslim Brothers!!!!!” and posted a time-stamped picture showing ISIS terrorists, above. The relatively obscure photograph is dated February 16, was shared on ISIS Internet forums on February 16, and was posted by Nolen on the very same day, implying he closely followed ISIS online. The picture features Omar al-Shishani, the red-bearded Chechen thought to be the terror group’s “military” chief, on his arrival to the A’zaz District of Aleppo in Syria.

Of particular interest in the photo is the prominent display of the ISIS hand signal – the index finger held up on the right hand. This appears to be the first time Nolen posted a photograph including the ISIS hand signal and it quickly becomes a recurring theme which Nolen, himself, emulates.

Some background: this hand gesture was originally created by Islamists to represent tawhid, the belief in monotheism as it pertains to Islam. ISIS adopted the gesture as the symbol of its group, and uses it to indicate solidarity with ISIS in a fashion similar to the way that criminal street gangs utilize hand signals to communicate gang affiliation.

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Islamic State salute on Alton Nolen’s (a.k.a. Jah’Keem Yisrael) Facebook page. For a larger view click on the image.

In Foreign Affairs, Nathaniel Zalinsky explores the significance of the ISIS hand signal:

[T]he concept of tawhid is central to ISIS’ violent and uncompromising posture toward its opponents, both in the Middle East and in the West… When ISIS militants display the sign, to one another or to a photographer, they are actively reaffirming their dedication to that ideology, whose underlying principle demands the destruction of the West …

The gesture is equally important for what it means to Westerners, most of whom cannot read Arabic. By raising their index fingers, militants send an easy-to-understand message of the group’s goals of theological supremacy and military hegemony… those who underestimate the dangers posed by the Islamic State need look no further than the index finger, which makes ISIS’ ambitions all too clear.

Nolen himself publicly communicated this message for the first time on April 21, 2014. He posted a photograph of what appears to be himself using the right-handed index-finger signal against the backdrop of a Muslim prayer rug that depicts the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. (The Dome of the Rock has become a symbol for Muslims worldwide to conjure images of conquest and dominance over Israel and its capital.)

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For a larger view click on the image.

Nolen posted a photograph [left]on May 30, 2014, of a young man giving the index-finger signal along with the caption, “One whom was guided to Islam 2day I offered him Dawah and he took shahada!” Dawah means to proselytize Islam and shahada is the Muslim declaration of faith. In other words, Nolen wrote that the young man converted to Islam that day. The photograph indicates Nolen was not only proselytizing the Muslim faith but also ISIS ideology.

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Photo series with Alton Nolen giving the Islamic State salute at an Islamic mosque in Oklahoma City, OK. For a larger view click on the image.

In a photo series [right] posted on August 7, 2014, the Facebook status reads, “A night at the Islamic Mosque in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with two of my brothers from Morocco!” and shows Nolen himself giving the ISIS index-finger hand signal.

Nolen’s support of radical Islam transcended hand signals, however, and his own fascination with beheadings dates back at least to March 7, 2014, when he posted an Islamist propaganda photograph of a severed head along with the following caption:

“I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them.” Qur’an 8:9-13

The information Nolen shared on Facebook clearly indicates his Islamist orientation. It also reveals that Nolen posted messages supportive of ISIS and adopted the group’s popular hand signals, and it suggests, he closely followed ISIS on jihadi forums. On Sept. 22, these forums broadcast a renewed ISIS call for “lone-wolf” attacks. One of its sheikhs, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, pleaded: “If you can kill an American or European infidel… put your trust in Allah and kill him in any way or manner whatsoever.” Days later, Nolen stands accused of beheading his co-worker.

Regardless if Alton Nolen answered this specific call to violence, he clearly admired his “Muslim brothers” in ISIS and their ideology. This leads one to conclude that the gruesome beheading in Oklahoma could be the first case of an ISIS-inspired terror attack on US soil. In all likelihood, it will not be the last.

© 2014 Danielle Avel

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Officials with the Moore Oklahoma Police Department say the FBI is now involved in the investigation related to a brutal attack of workers at the Vaughn Food South distribution plant. KFOR News Channel 4 reports:

Sgt. Jeremy Lewis says the alleged suspect, 30-year-old Alton Nolen [pictured above] had just been fired when he drove to the front of the business, hit a vehicle and walked inside.

Sgt. Lewis confirms the type of knife used in the attack is the same kind used at the plant. Lewis confirms that Hufford was stabbed several times and that Nolen “severed her head.” At that point, Lewis claims Nolen met 43-year-old Traci Johnson and began attacking her with the same knife.

Officials say at that point, Mark Vaughan, an Oklahoma County reserve deputy and a former CEO of the business, shot him as he was actively stabbing Johnson.

Read more.

Alton A. Nolen has a history of run ins with the law with multiple incarcerations in 2011. It is possible that Nolen converted to Islam while in prison.

JahKeemYisrael3-300x136Jihad Watch’s Robert Spencer reports:

The Oklahoma beheader’s Muslim name is Jah’Keem Yisrael. His Facebook page (thanks to Pamela Geller) is all about Islam. It is not only full of Qur’anic and moral exhortations, but also several pictures of Yisrael at a local mosque. Watch for mosque officials to say they hardly knew him and to complain about “Islamophobia” and “backlash.”

In Jah’Keem Yisrael we once again have a convert to Islam who became quite devout and became violent. In the wake of the murder he committed today, watch for more assurances that the murder had nothing to do with the religion that exhorts believers in its holy book, “When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks.”

In case the Facebook page gets taken down, Pamela Geller has a great deal of it here.

Nolen was a drug user (marijuana), drug pusher (cocaine) and had multiple arrests for assaults against the police. He had a number of tattoos on his body including one on his abdomen reading “As-salamu alaykum” (Arabic السلام عليكم) used by Muslims. It translates to “peace be upon you”. Below is the Oklahoma Department of Corrections list of offenses courtesy of Heavy.com.

alton-nolan wrap sheet

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EDITORS NOTE: The featured photo of Alton Nolen is courtesy of KFOR News Channel 4. Following is the full text of the 911 call released by the Moore police:

911 Caller: “Shut the door, shut the door!”

Dispatcher: “Moore 911, where is your emergency?”

911 Caller: “Vaughan Foods, Moore, Oklahoma, 216 N.E. 12th St. We have..”

Dispatcher: “What’s going on there?”

911 Caller: “We have someone attacking someone in the building. I was just informed. I’m in the..”

Dispatcher: “Okay, where are they at?”

911 Caller: “Inside, are they in the office? They’re in the office, front office of the building. Yeah, we can hear a lot of screaming. We’re actually in a different office but someone just came in here yelling.”

Dispatcher: “315. Okay, do you know where they’re at in the building?”

911 Caller: “In the front of the building, there’s our main entrance.”

Dispatcher: “Okay, do you know where he is at in the plant?”

911 Caller: “We know that he’s loose. He has stabbed someone.”

Dispatcher: “Yeah, we’ve got medical en route for them.

911 Caller: “Okay.”

Dispatcher: “Is anybody with him or do you know?”

911 Caller: “Hold on, my (garbled.)

Dispatcher: “Respond on lacerations. Vaughan Foods, 216, go ahead sir, N.E. 12th.”

911 Caller: “I’m going to put you on speakerphone for one second, okay?”

Dispatcher: “Standby on a map. Page 1608, time out.”

911 Caller:  “Okay, so we don’t know where the person went and he went through our front office, went through the shipping office and stabbed a woman in our customer service department.”

Dispatcher: “Okay, did he know her? Do you know, is that who he was arguing with? Is she an employee?”

911 Caller: “She is an employee, yeah.”

Dispatcher: “Okay, thank you.”

911 Caller: “Lock that door.”

Dispatcher: “Yeah, go ahead lock everybody in there if you can.”

911 Caller: “Yeah, we’re trying. Okay, can you hear this in the background?”

(yelling)

Dispatcher: “Is that him? He’s back?”

911 Caller: “Yeah, it sounds like he’s running around out here.”

(loud bangs)

911 Caller: “And that, that’s a gun shot.”

Dispatcher: “Got a gun shot. Units responding to Vaughan Foods, be advised we do now have gunshots. Okay, do you know where he’s at now?”

911 Caller: “He’s in the hallway, outside of the center of the building.”

Dispatcher: “Maybe in the hallway in the center of the building. And how many more shots have you heard?”

911 Caller: “We’ve heard three.”

Dispatcher: “Three shots?”

911 Caller: “Now I’m hearing somebody yelling in the hallway, stay down.”

Dispatcher: “There’s another subject yelling in the hallway. Units be advised that there’s another subject yelling in the hallway. Still same amount of injuries.”

911 Caller: “Stay down, stay down.”

Oklahoma Could Be First to Really Dump Common Core

On May 23, 2014, both the Oklahoma House (71-18) and Senate (31-10) voted to dump the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

All that is left is for Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin to sign the legislation, HB 3399, into law. (Fallin was not governor when Oklahoma signed on for CCSS as part of Race to the Top {RTTT} in 2010.)

In December 2013, Fallin issued an executive order that included absorbing the term Common Core into the broader term, Oklahoma Academic Standards.

Fallin also noted that the Oklahoma legislature aligned its education legislation with CCSS and even included the language to align Oklahoma’s English Language Arts (ELA) and math standards “with the K-12 Common Core State Standards developed by the Common Core State Standards Initiative.”

The Oklahoma legislature might have approved CCSS effective August 1, 2010, but it has apparently reversed its decision on May 23, 2014.

This is no “rebrand,” folks. HB 3399 appears to be a genuine rejection of CCSS.

Here is some of the language from the bill:

Section 11-103.6a B.1. …To be considered college- and career-ready, the standards shall be evaluated by the State Department of Education, the State Regents for Higher Education, the State Board of Career and Technology Education and the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and be determined to be such that the standards will address the goals of reducing the need for remedial coursework at the postsecondary level and increasing successful completion of postsecondary education. The subject matter standards and corresponding student assessments for English Language Arts and Mathematics shall be solely approved and controlled by the state through the State Board of Education.

2. Upon the effective date of this act, the State Board of Education shall begin the process of adopting the English Language Arts and Mathematics standards and shall provide reasonable opportunity, consistent with best practices, for public comment on the revision of the standards, including but not limited to comments from students, parents, educators, organizations representing students with disabilities and English language learners, higher education representatives, career technology education representatives, subject matter experts, community-based organizations, Native American tribal representatives and businesscommunity representatives.

3. Until the statewide student assessments for English Language 
Arts and Mathematics are implemented… the State Board of Education shallimplement the subject matter standards for English Language Arts andMathematics which were in place prior to the revisions adopted by the Board in June 2010.  [Emphasis added.]

In short, until the new Oklahoma standards and associated assessments are ready (“on or before the 2017-18 school year”), Oklahoma will return to the math and English Language Arts (ELA) standards in place prior to CCSS completion in June 2010.

(An aside: Oklahoma’s appendices for its Phase 1 RTTT application shows impressive effort to establish its case for both national and international benchmarking of the College and Career Readiness Standards {CCRS} in math– the “anchor” math standards that were never finalized and just disappeared.  Oklahoma also tried to show that CCRS math fit in with CCSS precursor, the American Diploma Project. Furthermore, RTTT Phase 1 reviewer comments indicate that Oklahoma submitted a CCSS MOU though I could not find it in the 900-page RTTT appendices and that Oklahoma “has initiated procedures for adoption of Common Core Standards well before August, 2010.” Oklahoma’s Phase 2 appendices clearly states the intention of CCSS adoption later effected by Oklahoma 2010 SB 2033.)

On May 23, 2014, the Oklahoma legislature clarifies that there are to be no more memoranda of understanding (MOUs) between Oklahoma and federal government, indicating that the Oklahoma legislature intends to be the legal authority over Oklahoma public education:

D. 1. The State Board of Education shall not enter into any 
agreement, memorandum of understanding or contract with any federal agency or private entity which in any way cedes or limits state discretion or control over the process of development, adoption or revision of subject matter standards and corresponding student assessments in the public school system, including, but not limited to, agreements, memoranda of understanding and contracts in exchange for funding for public schools and programs. If the State Board ofEducation is a party to such an agreement, memorandum of understanding or contract on the effective date of this act, the State Board of Education shall initiate necessary efforts to amend the agreement, memorandum of understanding or contract to comply with the requirements of this subsection. [Emphasis added.]

For all of its efforts to meet federal, RTTT criteria (and it did try– reading the RTTT docs shows OK’s willingness to bend), Oklahoma did not receive RTTT funding.

However, it seems that in drafting the CCSS-exit legislation, 2014 Oklahoma lawmakers are taking no chances.

The newly-approved bill continues with stating that the state board of education can still seek waivers (presumably from No Child Left Behind {NCLB}) provided such waivers do not limit state authority over education standards or assessments. Furthermore, the bill does not prohibit benchmarking Oklahoma standards with other states or nations, but it does require the Oklahoma State Board of Education to “maintain independence” and not “relinquish authority.”

HB 3399 states that Oklahoma school districts will “exclusively determine… instruction… and curriculum.”

Also, the Oklahoma State Board of Education may participate in a testing consortium “but shall not bind the state, contractually or otherwise, to the authority of any other state, organization or entity which may supersede the authority of the Board….” In other words, Oklahoma must be free to exit any testing consortium if it wishes.

Another interesting component of HB 3399 concerns both academic standard content and related standardized testing content, thereby guarding against testing companies such as Pearson sneaking questions that have nothing to do with a given subject area into its subject-area tests. To such shady practices, Oklahoma lawmakers say “no”:

H.1. All subject matter standards and corresponding statewide student assessments adopted by the State Board of Education shall be carefully circumscribed to reflect direct application to subject matter proficiency and shall not include standards or assessment questions that are designed to collect or measure noncognitive, emotional or psychological characteristics, attributes or skills of students.

As for the creation of a new set of Oklahoma standards for math and ELA, HB 3399 includes the following stipulations:

Section 11-103.6 A.6. The subject matter standards for English Language Arts shall give Classic Literature and nonfiction literature equal consideration to other literature. In addition, emphasis shall be given to the study of complete works of literature.

7. At a minimum, the subject matter standards for mathematics shall require mastery of the standard algorithms in mathematics, which is the most logical, efficient way of solving a problem that consistently works, and for students to attain fluency in Euclidian geometry. [Emphasis added.]

At the end of two years, the new Oklahoma standards are to be compared to the “previous” CCSS across numerous criteria, including subject matter content, sequencing, developmental appropriateness, measurability, and development of critical thinking.

If this were merely an effort at “rebranding,” the turn-around would certainly be faster than three years and three months, and there would be no return to previous, state standards in the interim.

Now Oklahoma only needs a signature from its governor– a governor willing in December 2013 to try for a CCSS “rebrand.”

Fallin has until June 2, 2014– fifteen days following the may 23, 2014, adjournment of the Oklahoma legislative session– to sign the bill. Otherwise, her not signing is know as a pocket veto– the decision to take no action. The bill would die unless the Oklahoma legislature calls a special session.

This will certainly be one to watch.

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