FBI: Jihad threat in Ohio is “scary,” public doesn’t get “the gravity of it”

There is no reason to believe that Ohio is special or unique in this. It just happens that a couple of jihadis in Ohio have recently been caught. They are elsewhere as well, but most Americans have no clue about that, and even the FBI, with its official policy of ignoring and denying the ideology that gives rise to this, is not doing nearly enough to prepare citizens for what is coming.

“New FBI official: Terror threat in Ohio is surprising,” by Dan Sewell, Associated Press, May 30, 2015:

CINCINNATI – The new head of the FBI’s wide-ranging Cincinnati division says the threat of homegrown terrorists in her native state is surprising and scary.

Angela Byers became special agent in charge of the office that covers 48 of Ohio’s 88 counties in late February, just after back-to-back arrests of young men in Cincinnati and Columbus in separate cases alleging they were plotting attacks in the United States. Both have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Byers told The Associated Press in an interview she was surprised at the threat level in Ohio, and she suspects many people in the Midwest don’t realize that “violent extremists” can pop up anywhere.

“It’s scary. And it’s scary to us. I’m not sure the general public quite gets the gravity of it,” she said.

She said counterterrorism efforts are ongoing in her office, although she couldn’t comment on any possible other cases.

“It seems like once we get one guy, another guy pops up high on the radar,” she said. “We just keep moving from one to the next.”

The cases that broke this year in her division were the arrests of Christopher Lee Cornell, of suburban Cincinnati, on charges he planned to attack the U.S. Capitol, and Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, 23, of Columbus, accused of planning to attack a military base or prison after returning from terrorist training in Syria.

Mark Ensalaco, the director of human rights research at the University of Dayton, who has written about Middle East terrorism and the Sept. 11 attacks, said trying to detect homegrown “lone wolves” before they act is “a nightmare for national security.” But he said use of confidential informants and federal electronic surveillance can raise concerns about protecting citizens’ rights.

Byers said she knows people are worried about privacy, but said the FBI has legal parameters to meet before it would monitor suspected “bad guys.” Electronic surveillance also has limitations because of the extremists’ use of secure and encrypted communication channels.

“So it’s more important than ever now for us to get cooperation from the public,” she said, adding that family and friends are more able to recognize changes in behavior, adopting of radical views and support for terrorist groups and acts….

Good luck with that.

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Five Reasons to Move Out of the City Before Fall

1. Fear of loss, especially financial loss is considered by many as the greatest human motivator. You could lose your home and it’s contents by failure to act ahead of “economic collapse, 2015,”if the 36 million results on Google mean anything. When it comes to such events, a year early is better than a day late. So how do we protect ourselves?

Sell what you have. Putting it up for sale does not guarantee it will sell, but give it as low a price as you can get along with. I’ve lived to regret loss from two homes in which an offer was below what I invested—in one case I lost it all when the bank wouldn’t refinance an out-of-state balloon payment.

If September is approaching and you haven’t sold your property, consider refinancing or a bank loan for its equity, so that you’ll have cash to move and rent a place for the winter or longer. Alternatives might include buying a camper, van or even a small pickup with shell that would allow pad and sleeping bag in southern states.

It may be equally important to have family, friends or connections with someone who is rural where you plan to go. It could be a friend of a friend at church or someone you have exchanged emails with for some time and have talked by phone. You might consider a weekend drive to the area or a visit to a church in order to ask questions and share what’s on  your mind to learn what you can.

Moving out of the city may mean the loss of job if you aren’t self-employed, but you might still be able to commute to work if  the economy doesn’t crash as expected. If it does, you will probably lose your job anyway. So why not go on your terms, selling what you have in the city and taking what you need?

2. Health is wealth and living in the country is more conducive to health and true healthcare. Planting a garden involves a variety of practical exercise in the fresh air and sunlight with no need of a sweaty gym memberships, and the rewards of gardening also include nutrition, good mental attitudes and security v future food shortage. True healthcare is about what we eat and do (exercise), and how well we avoid MD’s and Rx drugs, a leading cause of illness and death.

3. Education. Move before fall and consider not registering your child in a public school. While “Goals 2000” admittedly dumbed them down, the agenda now is to strip our children of moral restraint and teaching that would handicap them in a depraved New World Order where “anything goes.”

Consider the dating question that teenage boys might ask, “Is it okay if I take off my pants?” or a recent student survey asking how many different forms of sex have they tried? Parents are sacrificing their children to the idol of “education,” falsely so-called as Israel did to pagan idols of surrounding nations. It was an abomination then  it’s an Obama nation now.

4. Spiritual reasons for moving include Bible teachings. Cain, the first murderer also built the first city. The greatest personages throughout Bible history came from a rural settings. The law given by God to Moses says, “You shall teach them,” speaking of your children. Moses delivered a million plus from the bondage in Egypt that had many similarities to the US today, including our aborting infants, etc. The Exodus is included as an example for us at the end of the world, 1Corinthians 10:1,11. Cities are a focus of crime, sex, violence. Leave your TV behind when you take your necessities with you.

5. Freedom. You don’t have to be religious to appreciate this. Who needs a government telling you to buy mercury light bulbs because they use less electricity? (Never mind the huge risk if you break one.) Who needs a government that ignores 2nd Amendment rights that have protected its citizens against tyranny for hundreds of years, as it ignores countries like Switzerland where everyone is taught to use a gun, and they have far less crime than U.S. with “gun control” which is failing in Chicago, etc.

The Great Teacher who divided BC from AD warned his followers, “When you see the abomination (that  early believers understood as military) “standing where it ought not, flee…” Mark 13:14. When Roman military came, those disciples fled and were spared the siege and death by Titus in 70 AD, but Christ’s warning were also about the end of the world, Matt 24:3,15.

So do we see military “standing where it ought not”? If you haven’t seen it yet on YouTube, type in JADE HELM, (HELM means Homeland Eradication of Local Militants), a euphemism for grab guns that are supposed to be legal according to the 2nd Amendment. If guns are outlawed, only the outlaws will have guns.

I am not saying we should shoot them at the door, but this government has been spying on us, monitoring our phone and internet, erecting FEMA camps for dissidents and has plans to re-educate you if you don’t want the coming global government. Free speech is going or gone along with freed of press and assembly. They have plans to even take your food if they think you have more than you need.

We can “thank” our leaders in Washington for selling out to a New World Order that’s also the pope’s agenda from the days of Lincoln when

  1. 3 December 1863. Pius’s “letter to Jefferson Davis was accompanied by an autographed picture of the pope” in which Pius IX addressed the Confederate President as “the “Honorable President of the Confederate States of America.” Robert E. Lee said he was “the only sovereign… in Europe who recognized our poor Confederacy.”
  2. Roman Catholic U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney said that black people “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect” in the Dred Scott case, 1857.
  3. Lincoln was assassinated, probably by the same force as behind JF Kennedy’s assassination when he chose against the Vatican agenda for America, seen also in a revealing online source, The Godfathers.

In sharp contrast, those who are willingly sold out to a UN/papal agenda amaze us with the scandals they are able to survive and still hold leading positions:

This is not a condemnation of sincere Catholic Christians; it’s about where church leaders are taking us and by their silence or failure to address the issues, aiding. The Bible teaches if we see trouble we are to give a warning or God holds us accountable for their loss, Ezekiel 33:6. It’s wake-up time!

Summary: Do your homework! Type JADE HELM or Martial Law into YouTube and if you can see military, “standing where it ought not,” (Mark 13:14), put your place up for sale and get out before fall. Four verses later, Christ said to pray that your flight be not in the winter. That prayer is not likely to change God’s mind about what’s going to happen, but it could change your willingness and readiness.

Moving to the country is just the first step in survival and the second step is not a rapture to heaven. Please give Apocalypse 2015 a look on Amazon for Kindle, or a cheaper PDF at http://TheBridegroomComes.com right column. Another website with more information is http://IslamUSinProphecy.wordpress.com

Federal Refugee Program Brings Jihadi Threat to America

According to the Pew Research Religion and Public Life Project (Pew Research) there are an estimated 2.7 million Muslims in America. Pew Research reported in 2013 over I million legal immigrants entered the U.S. of which 100,000 were Muslim. More than 1.3 million Muslims have been brought into the U.S. via the billion dollar U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (U.S. RAP). Annually the U.S. RAP brings in 70,000 refugees allotted by the UN High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR). These annual USRAP allotments are virtually controlled by the UNHCR, which designates refugee populations most at risk. The current USRAP allotment exceeds that of all other countries combined. Separate from the U.S. RAP are other legal avenues for Muslim immigration that include the asylum program that converts illegal border crossers into legal immigrants with benefits equivalent to refugees, the Diversity “Green Card” Lottery and the investor EB-5 Visa Program.

According to Ann Corcoran, editor of the Refugee Resettlement Watch  (RRW) blog,  this UN refugee agency “virtually calls the shots”  for the U.S. RAP that provides legal refugee immigrants with a veritable smorgasbord of cash welfare, Social Security benefits for elderly refugees, Medicaid, educational  assistance and a pathway to ultimate citizenship. Including both federal and state level benefits; some experts estimate that the annual total cost of the U.S. RAP could be upwards of $12 to $20 billion annually.

The tripartite US RAP is administered by: the US Department of State, Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration (BPRM) that admits and contracts with voluntary agencies to process refugees; the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that allegedly screens refugees abroad; and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) of the US Department of Health and Human Services that funds grants to program contractors and refugee ethnic groups for community absorption. The President, upon advice from the State Department BPRM, sends Congress an annual directive conveying these UNHCR refugee allotments that are virtually “rubber stamped” by immigration and border security subcommittees of Congress. A network of 9 major religious and secular voluntary agencies (VOLAG), supported by 350 subcontractors places refugees in more than 190 cities, often without any opportunity for review by localities. These contractors include:

  • Church World Services (CWS)
  • Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC)
  • Episcopal Migration Ministries
  • Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
  • International Rescue Committee (IRC)
  • U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
  • Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS)
  • United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
  • World Relief Corporation (WR).

Based on 2012 IRS Form 990 submissions, the top U.S. RAP funded Volag was the IRC that received more than $332 millions in federal grants and contracts accounting for more than 73% of annual revenue. Next in rank was the USCCB that received $71 million in federal grants and contracts accounting for 98% of their annual revenue.

The Congress has never exercised effective oversight of the Refugee Admissions Program through hearings and recommendations. The U.S. RAP has been used punitively against political critics. One example is the assignment of large numbers of Somali refugees to the Congressional District of former US Rep. Michelle Bachmann in St. Cloud, Minnesota

The U.S. RAP has been fraught with fraud facilitating the entry of Muslim Jihadis from countries that hate us; Somalia, Iraq, Bosnia and Kosovo. Rampant fraud was detected from DHS DNA samples taken among Somali applicants for screening under the State Department Family Reunification P-3 Visa Program resulting in the shutdown of the program for three years. 20,000 fraudulently admitted Somali refugees were never pursued or ejected. Given the world’s attention on the problem of illegal migrants crossing the Mediterranean, the State Department refugee program let in to the US hundreds of Somalis who fled to the Island of Malta without any clearances.

Poised to add to this troubling mix is a stream of 17,000 Syrian refugees, who are predominately Muslim, discriminating against admissions of endangered Middle East Christians. Doubtless they and growing number of Muslim refugees from elsewhere in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia will be “seeded” in American cities under the Fostering Community Engagement and Welcoming Communities Project of theORR with the Soros-backed NGO, “Welcoming America.“

There are rising concerns over Muslim refugee resettlement under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program that has operated for 35 years. These concerns have arisen since the Refugee Act of 1980 was passed and signed into law by former President Jimmy Carter. The law was introduced by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy and then Senator, and now Obama Vice President, Joe Biden. Corcoran of RRW believes that it is overdue for a major overhaul and reform. By virtue of admitting hundreds of potential Jihadis among refugees from Muslims lands, the program constitutes a significant national security risk.

Now there is pushback by American cities, as witnessed by concerns expressed in letters to Secretary of State Kerry by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), chairman of the House Judiciary Sub Committee on Immigration and Border Security. Both The House Subcommittee and the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, chaired by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) hold annual hearings over refugee allotments. Gowdy’s letter of April 13, 2015 was prompted by constituent complaints in Spartanburg, South Carolina over the establishment of a VOLAG office dedicated to the processing of Syrian refugees. He wrote Secretary Kerry seeking answers as to why the office was being established and had not been reviewed with state and local agencies.

The US RAP is a virtual Trojan Horse facilitating immigration under the Islamic doctrine of Dar al Hijra- immigration that constitutes civilizational jihad. This is the subject of a book by former Islamic jurist and convert to Christianity, Sam Solomon, and co-author E Al MaqdisiModern Day Trojan Horse; The Islamic Doctrine of Immigration – accepting Freedom or Imposing Islam?  The authors drew attention to the Islamic imperative behind migration allegedly attributed to the prophet Mohammed:

Migration cannot be ended as long as there is kufr (unbelief) or as long as there is an enemy that resists (kenz al Umak 4627). In other words, as long as there are communities out there that are non-Muslim, where Islam is not regarded as a supreme system, then jihad must continue.

Hence, Mohammed made it clear that migration is a duty that needs to be upheld forever or until the earth has submitted to the Islamic hegemony.

The authors note that the hadith (alleged sayings of Mohammed) demand that Muslim migrants not assimilate and remain separate adhering to Sharia “advancing the cause of Islam”:

In other words: “no integration with the host country.” Now if one’s entry visa or livelihood is based on showing some kind of integration … then it must be in appearance only and temporary until the Islamization objective is achieved.

Corcoran is featured in a brief video on the problematic Muslim refugee resettlement in the US produced by the Center for Security Policy. It has gone viral since posted on YouTube April 20, 2015. As of May 29, 2015 the Corcoran video had more than 537,122 hits which continue to climb every day. Clearly, Corcoran’s message has resonated among concerned Americans. Watch it on YouTube:

The CSP YouTube video is a complement to her recently published book on the problems confronting America over the threat of Muslim migration that has transformed Europe and now troubles grass roots America, Refugee Resettlement and the Hijra to America.”

Corcoran and her RRW team of activists chronicle news and developments about this issue on the blog where she is editor, Refugee Resettlement Watch. In our May 2015 NER interview with Erick Stakelbeck ofCBN’s The Watchman program, ISIS Threat to America, he drew attention to the Somali refugee communities in the American heartland sending jihadi terrorists to Somalia and Syria. He spoke of young Somali émigré men who have joined up with Al Shabaab in Somalia, and now the Islamic State. We have drawn attention to the problems of Somali Refugee Resettlement in NER articles and Iconoclast posts over the past eight years. They have covered severe cultural and integration problems in the American heartland in places like Shelbyville, TennesseeEmporia, KansasGreeley , ColoradoMinneapolis, MinnesotaColumbus, Ohio, and Lewiston, Maine.

The Somali émigré jihadis aren’t the only terrorists among admitted refugees. Six Bosnian refugees were arrested in January 2015 and charged with providing material support to the Islamic State. Think of the brothers Tsarnaev who perpetrated the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. See our NER article, “Refugee Jihad Terror in Boston.” An ABC investigation reported that dozens of terrorists have been admitted fraudulently under the U.S. RAP.

Another example was two Iraqi refugees, al Qaeda operatives, arrested in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 2011 and convicted in 2013. They were charged with sending weapons and cash to Al Qaeda. They lied on their Federal Refugee Admission forms about their prior terrorist involvements in Iraq. One had constructed IEDs, involved in killing four members of a Pennsylvania National Guard unit in 2006 in Iraq. A check of fingerprints on the shards of the IED caught the perpetrator. Watch this 2013 ABC Report. Recently, one of those convicted, Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, filed a motion seeking to overturn his conviction because his counsel said he wouldn’t get life. That episode briefly raised the ire of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).

In late May 2015 Democrat Senators Durbin of Illinois, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and 12 others have signed a letter calling for the Obama Administration to admit a flood of 65,000 Syrian Muslim Refugees “suggested” by UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):

The group letter noted the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) wants to resettle 130,000 Syrian refugees over the next two years and has thus far submitted more than 12,000 resettlement cases to the United States for consideration.

On the same day, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) called the resettlement effort a “serious mistake” because of the security risks it poses.

Adam Kredo of The Washington Free Beacon reported May 23, 2015 that the DHS admitted that several hundred terrorist supporters entered the U.S. illegally, and subsequently were admitted as refugees giving rise to Congressional demands for information and a likely hearing:

Congress is demanding that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) release documents detailing how many foreigners seeking asylum in the United States have been found to have ties to terror groups, according to a recent letter sent to the agency by leading lawmakers.

The letter comes on the heels of revelations by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that at least 638 aliens seeking asylum in America have been found to have connections to terrorists.

Against this background, we arranged to interview Ann Corcoran of RRW.

Mike Bates

Mike Bates:  Good afternoon and welcome back to Your Turn. This is Mike Bates. This half hour is a special conversation about a topic that I think is safe to say almost no one in America is aware of. Certainly the percentage of people who are aware is in single digits. Joining me, Jerry Gordon, Senior Editor of the New English Review and its blog, The Iconoclast. Welcome, Jerry.

Jerry Gordon

Jerry Gordon:  Good to be here, Mike.

Bates:  And joining us by telephone is Ann Corcoran. She’s editor of Refugee Resettlement Watch, and the author of the book Refugee Resettlement and the Hijra to America. Ann. Welcome.

Ann Corcoran:  Thank you so much for having me.

Bates:  Ann, I’d like to build this pyramid from the ground up with a very broad based question. What refugee resettlement are you watching?

Corcoran:  I’m watching a very complicated, secretive program, where we bring in approximately 70,000 refugees a year from various countries around the world, and the U.N. is basically calling the shots as to who gets into the country.

Bates:  Are you concerned about refugees from the entire planet, or a specific segment that is of greater concern?

Corcoran:  I can tell you the truth; it’s quite shocking for most people to realize that we are bringing in tens of thousands of refugees every year from countries where people hate us; Somalia, Iraq and soon Syria will be on the list. It is those refugees that I’m most concerned about.

There are also economic reasons why we should cut the numbers of refugees, generally.

Gordon:  Ann, I want to read you a quotation from Mo, our friend, the Prophet Mohammed.

Bates:  May peace be upon him.

Gordon:  This is courtesy of one of the more reliable commentators, Bukhari. “Accordingly, there can be no Hijra – which means migration – after the conquest, but Jihad and a desire or an intention, and if you settle, then spread out.”

How important is this Islamic doctrine behind the mushrooming effect of Muslim immigration to America?  There have been roughly 350,000 to 400,000 Muslims who have come to the U.S. as refugees from some of these countries you just enumerated that hate us; 100,000, for example, originally from Somalia; another 100,000 from Iraq, and another 100,000 from Bosnia.

Out of these groups have emerged “known or lone wolves or terrorists against us.” We saw that in the case of the Chechen refugees, the Tsarnaev brothers who perpetrated the Boston Marathon bombing. Then in Bowling Green, Kentucky, you had not one, but two Iraqis who came in as refugees lying on their admission forms who were actually Al Qaeda operatives. They were trying to ship weapons and money to Al Qaeda.

One of them, amazingly, got fingered, literally, because his prints were on the shards of IED’s that he made in Iraq. Are there hundreds if not thousands of these folks among these “refugees from countries that hate us”?

Corcoran:  Well there certainly could be. One of my larger concerns, aside from the terrorists who are getting in here, is we can’t properly screen them. Recently the FBI testified in the House Homeland Security Committee that they can’t screen the Syrians because they are coming from a failed state. Which is only common sense as you wouldn’t be able to screen people from countries that don’t have records of them; particularly countries like Somalia. I’m also concerned about the civilizational Jihad; the pressure that comes on our western societies when Islamic population reaches certain levels. It doesn’t even have to reach high levels for the pressure to be put on for us to accommodate Sharia, Islamic law and the Islamic way of life.

Bates:  Jerry cited the instruction from the Prophet Mohammed – may peace be upon him – so I completely understand why the Muslims’ wish to immigrate to the United States. But why are we taking them? Is this something that we’re doing voluntarily? Is this a policy of this administration? Is this a long standing policy of the United States? Why are we allowing so many refugees into the U.S.?

Corcoran:  This is a program that has been in place for 35 years; most people are surprised to find that out.  The Refugee Act of 1980 was the brain child of -this won’t surprise you – the late Senator Ted Kennedy and former Senator, now Vice President Joe Biden. Jimmy Carter signed it into law.

This has been going on as I said for 35 years, with the United Nations calling the shots more and more. In recent years, we are seeing more refugees being taken from countries in the Middle East – of course, that’s where much of the turmoil is – and from Africa.

We all know there are millions of refugees in the world. We could be taking them from other places if we so chose. However, we are taking a large number now from Iraq, Somalia and soon Syria.

Bates:  I know that the Refugee Act of 1980 allows the United Nations to designate the number of refugees to be resettled in certain countries – they get to call the shots. But do we as a sovereign nation have the ability to say no to what the U.N. says we have to do?

Corcoran:  We absolutely do. However, I’m afraid to say the United States and the U.S. State Department does whatever the U.N. tells it to do. This is not just something that occurred in the Obama administration. This was going on during the Bush administration as well.

I have only been following the refugee program since 2007. That was triggered when refugees landed in my rural county in Maryland and I wanted to understand how this worked. Each year the President sends a determination letter to Congress and designates how many refugees from each part of the world we are going to receive.

Congress could come back and say, “No we aren’t.” However, they never do. They just rubber stamp it and the President concurs on how many come from which parts of the world based on what the United Nations is pressuring us to do.

Gordon:  Recently we had an outburst of concern about the acceptance of Syrian refugees that triggered a series of letters between US Rep. Trey Gowdy to Secretary of State Kerry. We know Gowdy because of his involvement with the Benghazi affair and other matters. What role does he play in the House in terms of reviewing these determinations about how many refugees enter this country, and what was the concern?

Corcoran:  Trey Gowdy is Chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security of the House Judiciary Committee. His Subcommittee has jurisdiction over the Refugee Act of 1980 and how it is administered; and they could be holding oversight hearings.

In my years of following this, I’ve never seen Congress lift a finger to examine this program. Now Gowdy is involved because refugees were – surprise, surprise – being planned to enter his Congressional district.

We saw the U.S. State Department do this in other Congressional Districts; most notably Michele Bachmann’s district in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Now, they are planning to, bring in refugees to Gowdy’s district and so he is now involved, thank goodness.

So, we would love for him to hold hearings. I think that is what needs to be done now for this program.

Bates:  Is there a concern in Congress beyond just Trey Gowdy?

Corcoran:  Is anybody concerned in Congress? Anyone else besides Trey Gowdy? No.

Bates:  We don’t hear much about it. I don’t hear very many people complaining about it. I think most of the country is ignorant about it. Are most Congressmen ignorant about it?

Corcoran:  Yes, they are frankly ignorant about it. I had one of my activists, contact Senator Enzi from Wyoming. One of Enzi’s staff wrote back about a completely different immigration program. They didn’t even understand what the refugee program is. I found that to be the case all over the place. There has been a virtual silence out of Congress on this program.

Gordon:  Ann, who is placing these refugees that we just talked about in communities like Spartanburg, South Carolina, Shelbyville, Tennessee, Minneapolis, Minnesota or Greeley, Colorado? Which groups are actually involved with setting up offices, screening and processing them and making money out of it?

Corcoran:  That is the part that shocks the public the most when they learn this. The U.S. State Department brings in the refugees that the U.N. has largely chosen for us, and Homeland Security are supposed to screen them. I mean, how do you screen somebody from a failed state when you don’t even know who they are? Then, these are divvied up, literally, between nine major contractors that include groups such as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, World Lutheran Service and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. There are six of them that are supposedly religious charities, exclusively funded by the U.S. taxpayer. They then divide up their allotment of refugees among 350 subcontractors in 190 U.S. cities. They literally compete with each other for these refugees, because money comes along with each refugee.

Gordon:  Ann there is a new wrinkle in the seeding of refugees in these communities. It has to do with a group out of Atlanta called “Welcoming America,” which has been, funded in part by none other than George Soros.  What is their angle and who are they contracted with?

Corcoran:  I first came across “Welcoming America” in 2013 when I went to an Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) stakeholder meeting. Now stakeholders are everybody who has a piece of this refugee resettlement program. It doesn’t mean the average citizen can normally go to these events held in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

When I first heard about “Welcoming America” at the ORR stakeholder meeting and I heard the phrase used by the federal program presenter about “pockets of resistance forming in America.” To deal with these “pockets of resistance” the Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) funded “Welcoming America” with a grant to go around the country and make sure these pockets of resistance were straightened out.

Gordon:  Ann, what kind of benefits are these refugees receiving, and are they on some sort of fast track towards citizenship?

Corcoran:  Refugees are the only category of legal immigrants that can come right into the country and be signed up for various social service programs. I’m talking about food stamps, subsidized housing, education for the kids, and health insurance right from the start.

Most legal immigrants have to be here for a number of years before they can access those welfare benefits. Even elderly refugees receive Supplementary Security Income (SSI) from Social Security as well. On the matter of fast track for citizenship, within a year following their entry into the US, they are given green card like permanent resident aliens. That allows them to be processed for citizenship. These same contractors that I’m talking about, the nine voluntary agencies and their 350 subcontractors receive grant money from the federal government to help them guide refugee clients through the citizenship process, literally holding their hands.

Gordon:  When you and I were first writing about this “secret program,” there was an event that occurred that shut down the Family Reunification Visa Program for nearly three years. It concerned fraud in Somali refugee camps prior to coming here. Can you tell us about that?

Corcoran:  In 2008, the U.S. State Department discovered – surprise surprise – that Somalis applying to enter the U.S. to reunite with their families here were not related to the families here in the first place.

The U.S. State Department had to shut down the whole P-3 Visa program for Family Reunification for about three or four years to try to get this straightened out. Teams from the DHS did sample DNA tests and discovered the massive amount of fraud that was going on.

At one point the U.S. State Department was saying 20,000 Somalis got into the United States illegally and nothing was ever done to find them and remove them.

Now, the P-3 Visa program is back up and running and we’re bringing Somalis into the United States at the rate of 700 to 800 a month. I’d like you to consider why we are bringing any Somalis into the United States at all. We are bringing them in at a rate almost on par with the Bush Administration, which saw the highest rates of Somalis entering the US.

Bates:  They’re not just coming into the country for temporary refugee status. This is permanent relocation. Given that we do not have any clue where these people are coming from? Are they terrorists? Does this pose a national security problem for the United States?

Corcoran:  It absolutely does pose a national security problem. Who are these people that we are bringing in? They say they screen them, but how can they screen them? One of the great shocks that I discovered a few years ago was illegal migrants coming across the Mediterranean that we are now reading about in our news.

Many illegal Somali migrants got to the tiny island nation of Malta in the Mediterranean. Starting in the Bush administration we were bringing in 700 to 1,000 of those illegal Somali migrants who got to Malta to the United States as refugees.

How on earth do we know who these people are who got on boats and came across the Mediterranean and then we brought from Malta to the US? It makes absolutely no sense.

Gordon:  Ann, prior to this interview we were speaking about why countries in the Gulf region, the wealthy Emirates, Saudi Arabia, aren’t backing this refugee program setting up camps in their locale. You mentioned what happened to a group of Somalis who made it to Saudi Arabia. What happened in that case?

Corcoran:  Actually, there was more than one case. Any Somalis who have entered illegally into Saudi Arabia are immediately put on a plane and sent back to Mogadishu, and the United Nations hasn’t said a word about this.

You can just imagine what ruckus would be made in the media if the United States decided to start rounding up Somalis putting them on a plane and sending them back to the failed state of Somalia. But Saudi Arabia can do it and there’s not a word out of anyone, whether at the UN or here in the US.

Bates:  What I find so disconcerting about this is twofold: one, are they terrorists because so many in the Muslim world are, and the other aspect of it is culturally. It used to be that immigrants would come to America and they would assimilate into the culture, but most of these refugees are not assimilating into the culture.

They are just forming their own distinct neighborhoods living very deliberately separate from the American culture. Is that not a problem?

Corcoran:  Yes, it’s definitely a problem. By the way, assimilate is a dirty word now. The Obama administration has basically banned the word. It is not allowed. The Obama administration has a taskforce on new Americans where they literally discuss seeding American towns with immigrants, but the word assimilation is verboten.

It is only, the soil or the community that must change to accommodate the seedling. So, the term assimilation is not allowed any longer.

Bates:  This is incredibly foolish. It is a Trojan horse of the worst kind, given the problems with mass Muslim immigration and the lack of assimilation of Muslim communities in Europe that are, in many cases, violent.

I don’t just mean Charlie Hebdo and the Jewish bakery in Paris attacks, but even the protests and other kinds of violence that is occurring there. Of course it’s always reported as youth but never Muslim youth.

It’s not like we don’t know where this is going. Europe has done this to its own detriment. Why do we follow in the footsteps of this foolishness?

Corcoran:  I wish I had an answer to that question because, it blows my mind. All you have to do is to look to Europe to see what might be our future. Why? Probably, because we have no leadership that is able to stand up to this. They’re all so afraid of being called racist xenophobes or Islamophobes.

To be frank, we have no leadership in Congress. We have no one who is going to stand up to this, speak about what’s happened in Europe and say, “Let’s not have it happen here.” Let me say what one of the other things that I am annoyed about with this program. That is the secrecy behind which communities in America are being slated to receive refugees and yet they are not included in the process at all.

I contend that if this was such a fabulous program, put all the cards on the table in every community the State Department and ORR is targeting for refugees. Explain where they will be living, going to school, working and what impacts and costs are involved. But the federal and voluntary agencies involved with the refugee programs appear not to be able to resolve the problems without being secretive about it.

Gordon:  Ann, one of the most disturbing parts of this U.N. controlled program is the patent discrimination against endangered Christian refugees, legitimately, from places like Syria, Iraq and other locations. What is the evidence of that?

Corcoran:  Let’s just take the Syrian refugee issue. So far the State Department has brought in a small number of Syrians, relatively speaking, into the country. One would think that we would be choosing first and foremost the Christians who are in real danger. But we are bringing mostly Sunni Muslims. There were about 800 Syrians who have been brought into the country in the last few years. Now the State Department and the U.N. have 11,000 in the pipeline waiting to come into the U.S.

But of the 800 that have come in so far, approximately 700 are Sunni Muslims, there were only 43 Christians among the Syrian refugees that have come in so far. That translates to approximately 92 percent of refugees coming in from Syria are Muslims.

I’m told that that is mostly because we are bringing them in from U.N. camps, where the Muslims are found.  Christians do not go to the U.N. camps, but to Turkey if they get out of Syria at all, where they’re taken care of by the Syriac church.

Gordon:  You talked about possible options for reform of this secretive program administered by the State Department and Department of Health and Human Services. What are the top of the list alternatives that we could possibly consider to rein in this program?

Corcoran:  You mean if I were queen for a day and I could wipe out the whole program? That would be one way to start. Clearly the refugee program has to be completely revamped. This whole system of turning these refugees over to these non-governmental organizations that are calling the shots is just outrageous.

I would go back to a day when we resettled refugees, with the help of individual churches and other civic groups. Where a civic group or a church would have to take a refugee family under its wing for a year or two, get them assimilated and settled, and without tapping into taxpayer funds to accomplish it.

That is what I would like to see if, we were going to continue the refugee program. There are serious questions about whether the numbers of refugees are too high from countries that hate us. Perhaps the first thing one could do is to limit the countries from which refugees could come.

There is a lot that could be done to reform this program if there was leadership brave enough to do it.

Bates:  Much more to discuss, Ann, but not much more time. We’ve barely scratched the surface, so I would encourage our listeners to go to your website which is www.refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com. Ann Corcoran. Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you Jerry for arranging this important interview.

Listen to the 1330am WEBY interview with Ann Corcoran, here and here.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review.

Jihadis don’t show up at Phoenix mosque protest, so no one gets hurt

The Islamic State had threatened to show up and commit mass murder, and specifically threatened the event organizer, but didn’t appear at the event, and so no one was hurt — despite the mainstream media hysteria over “heavily armed protesters” supposedly menacing people at the mosque.

Speaking for myself, I wouldn’t have held a protest at a mosque, as there are people there just going about their business who have nothing to do with whatever jihad activity may have been taking place there. The coverage has, predictably enough, ignored the fact that the protesters were only heavily armed because the jihadis had threatened to show up and kill. No one was going to get killed if the jihadis didn’t show up, and no one did.

Yesterday evening I was amused by the hysteria of Islamic supremacists such as Linda Sarsour and Zahra Billoo on Twitter — many were saying, “Imagine if armed Muslim protesters had shown up at a church!,” as if this were something that never, ever happened. The irony was thick, as most of yesterday, these stories were on the front page of Jihad Watch:

Pakistan: Muslims open fire on Faisalabad church

Islamic State demolishes Christian church in Syria

Egypt: Explosive goes off next to church

And that’s just yesterday. Of course, even to make the comparison suggests that the protesters outside the mosque yesterday were out to do something similar to the mosque, and they weren’t.

Lost in all the coverage, not surprisingly, was the obvious import of this event: when you demonize and marginalize legitimate concerns about jihad terror, including jihad plotting in mosques, you’re not going to bottle people up and make the concerns go away. You’re just going to get more radical protests. Americans are going to defend freedom and stand for the freedom of speech. Whether the authorities and the media elites are going to allow for a free and honest discussion and debate on this is another question.

The mainstream media’s avidity to link Pamela Geller and me to this protest revealed its determination to ignore the reasons why the protest was held at the Phoenix mosque in the first place. Sharon Bernstein of Reuters emailed me and we had this exchange:

1. Bernstein to Spencer:

…We are wondering among other questions whether you or Pamela Geller are involved with this demonstration and what you think of it….

Thanks very much,

Sharon Bernstein
Correspondent
California Politics and Policy
Sacramento, California
Reuters News

2. Spencer to Bernstein:

No, we are not involved in this demonstration.

3. Bernstein to Spencer:

What is your opinion of the event planned? What do you know about the organizer?

4. Spencer to Bernstein:

I am much more interested in the fact that this Phoenix mosque was attended by one of the Garland jihadis for ten years than I am in this rally. Has this mosque been investigated, even after the Garland jihad attack? Did Reuters ask its imam searching questions? If not, why not?

I don’t know anything about the organizer.

Here is Bernstein’s story — she didn’t see fit to mention any of this, but more importantly, has nothing about the mosque, from which not only Ibrahim Simpson, to whom I was referring above, came, but his partner in jihad Nadir Soofi and two other jihadis as well. People are fed up with the authorities turning a blind eye to this problem, when survey after survey shows that 80% of mosques in the U.S. teach warfare against unbelievers and the supremacy of Sharia. The more such concerns are dismissed as “bigotry” and “Islamophobia,” the more there will be protests like this one.

“Tempers flare as protesters spar over Islam at Arizona mosque,” by Ryan Van Velzer, Associated Press, May 30, 2015:

PHOENIX (AP) – About 500 protesters gathered outside a Phoenix mosque on Friday as police kept two groups sparring about Islam on separate sides of the street.

The rally initially was organized by a Phoenix man who says he is a former Marine who fought in the Iraq War and believes Islam is a violent religion. About 250 people who carried pistols, assault rifles, American flags and drawings of the Prophet Muhammad rallied on one side of the street outside the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix.

On the opposite side of the street was another equally sized group of protesters, some holding signs promoting love and peace, who came to show their support for the mosque and Muslim community.

As the two sides argued and yelled, dozens of police officers formed a line between them and kept them separated. There were no reports of injuries or arrests at the protest, which lasted several hours and gained attention around the country on social media. Phoenix police estimated about 500 protesters showed up, roughly 250 on each side.

The protest came about month after a shootout outside a Prophet Muhammad cartoon-drawing contest in a Dallas suburb. Two Phoenix men showed up at the event with assault rifles and were killed by police. The men formerly worshipped at the Phoenix mosque where Friday’s protest took place.

Drawings of the Prophet Muhammad are deemed insulting to many followers of Islam and have sparked violence around the world.

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Rubio: Obama’s Strategy for the Middle East has Backfired

In a Washington Post op-ed piece Florida Senator Marco Rubio wrote:

The fall of the Iraqi city of Ramadi to the Islamic State and recent gains by the group in Syria are the latest signs that President Obama’s strategy to defeat this brutal terrorist group is failing. But the problem is far bigger than that. The president’s entire approach to the Middle East has backfired.

The Middle East is more dangerous and unstable than when Obama came into office — a time when Iraq and Syria were more stable, the Iranian nuclear program was considerably less advanced and the Islamic State did not yet exist.

Much of this instability is a result of Obama’s disengagement from the region, best symbolized by the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq in 2011. The vacuum created by America’s pullback has been filled by bad actors, including terrorist extremists, both Sunni and Shiite, who have flourished in the absence of U.S. leadership.

On one side are the radical Sunni extremists of al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and affiliated groups. The Islamic State has capitalized on the political grievances many Iraqi Sunnis have with their sectarian Shiite leaders, as well as the divisions between Syrian Sunnis and the brutal Alawite-dominated Assad regime, which is supported by Iran. The Islamic State’s black banner is now spreading as far afield as Libya and Afghanistan.

On the other side is Iran, a country run by a militant Shiite clerical regime that is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and has as its primary goal regional domination and the export of the Iranian revolution. As the Obama administration has focused on negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran, Tehran has exploited U.S. weakness and expanded its reach into Syria, Iraq and Yemen, among other countries.

To begin to deal with the challenges we face, we need a reassertion of U.S. leadership in the region and specifically in the fight against the Islamic State.

Keep reading here.

The Victory of Names

We have won a national skirmish. The Christian Democrats of the Czech Republic have made a statement rejecting political Islam as being incompatible with Western (Kafir) civilizational values. (See article below)

To defeat political Islam, we must have the right naming. Names shape the argument. For instance, once you accept the name of “undocumented worker” instead of “illegal alien” you will never win the argument. The Left and Islam are brilliant at naming. We will never defeat the religion of Islam, but we can defeat a political ideology. The Christian Democrats have taken the first step towards victory by calling Islam by the right name, political Islam. .

Note: this naming in the Czech Republic is not an accident. I have been active in this country and my books on the Sharia and the Sira have been translated into the Czech language.


 

KDU-ČSL: Political Islam incompatible with democracy

Prague Post, May 24, 2015

Christian Democrats says Europe should not allow ‘manifestations of hatred toward its fundamental values’ Zlín, South Moravia, May 24 (CTK) — The Czech junior government Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) stood up against political Islam at their congress this weekend, saying it includes elements incompatible with democracy, it ensues from a resolution the congress passed today.

“The KDU-CSL makes difference between Islam as a religion and political Islam as an ideology including some elements that are incompatible with democracy and human rights,” the resolution says. “The European non-Muslim majority must conduct a permanent dialogue with the Muslim minority, based on emphasizing European values,” the resolution says and adds that within the dialogue, too, a clear difference must be made between Islam as a religion and political Islam as a state ideology.

According to the KDU-CSL, Europe must not tolerate manifestations of hatred toward its fundamental values. “Self-confident Europe must require that in Muslim countries, too, the freedom of religion be respected as is respected by us, Europeans,” the KDU-CSL’s resolution says.

The resolution was read at the congress by MEP Pavel Svoboda (KDU-CSL ).

He said many migrants have established themselves smoothly in Europe, have families and are full-fledged members of the European community. “Unfortunately, religious habits tend to be mixed together with the approach to the ideas of the state and law,” Svoboda said, adding that the CzechRepublic has not been faced with this problem so far. The West has been turning a blind eye to the problem for a long time, Svoboda said.

“For many Muslims, our view of democracy and human rights is sinful because it contradicts the Sharia law. Since the mainstream parties in Europe failed to deal with the problem, it was unfortunately taken up by the extreme right with all the infamous stuff attached to it, which is swelling nationalism and populism,” Svoboda said.

“It is necessary to say a clear no to populism and hatred, and yes to the protection of culture, democracy and fundamental human freedoms. Multinational Europe – yes, challenging of the basic European civilization — no,” Svoboda said.

The delegates to the KDU-CSL congress today rejected the European Commission’s plan to introduce quotas for the distribution of the refugees flowing to Europe.

The decision making on the number of accepted refugees should remain in power of individual EU countries, the delegates agreed. Simultaneously, they called for aid to be provided to the refugees.
“We have to distinguish between various migrants,” KDU-CSL deputy head Ondrej Benešík told the congress, referring to economically-motivated migrants from Africa and the war refugees coming from the Middle East.

As for the former group, it is the business of the people-traffickers, who smuggle the migrants to Europe across the Mediterranean, that should be suppressed above all, Benesik said.
The KDU-CSL congress also condemned the persecution of Christians in the world, mainly in the Middle East and in North Korea. Up to 100,000 Christians die as a result of persecution annually in the world. The number of the persecuted reaches tens of millions, said Svoboda.

Read more.

VIDEO: Minneapolis Muslims prefer Sharia, want blasphemy laws in U.S.

Note the unanimous opposition to the freedom of speech and support for criminalizing criticism of Islam — and even for murdering those who insult Muhammad. All freely and openly expressed on a sunny day in Minneapolis.

Video thanks to Ami Horowitz.

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Islamic State has 30,000 foreign jihadis from over 100 countries

Islamic State has 30,000 foreign jihadis from over 100 countries

30,000: that’s an awful lot of Muslims who fell for this Nothing-To-Do-With-Islam form of Islam. How to explain so many misunderstanders? After all, none of them existed in a vacuum before they joined the Islamic State. They learned their Islam somewhere. Are we to believe that the slickness of the Islamic State’s video presentations alone was enough to induce this throng to throw over the true, peaceful Islam it learned down at the corner mosque and join up with the hijackers of their religion? We live in an age of infantile analysis.

“ISIS has 30,000 foreign fighters from more than 100 countries,” by Abdelhak Mamoun, Iraqi News, May 29, 2015:

(IraqiNews.com) According to a report to the UN Security Council, nearly 30 thousand foreign fighters were recruited currently in the ISIS ranks. They came from 100 countries around the world including countries that had been untouched by the activity of terrorist groups such as Chile and Finland.

The members of the Security Council will meet on Friday to discuss a report on “foreign terrorist fighters” and consider possible measures to combat this threat.

This is the first report of its kind in the United Nations, which addresses the issue of “foreign fighters”, and includes countries such as Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, in addition to North African countries such as Libya.

The report indicated that the number of recruits in ISIS ranks has increased by about 70% during the past nine months.

This sudden rise poses concern about the spread of extremism phenomenon globally, and breadth of its geographical scope to include several countries experiencing the stability, including European countries.

The report indicates that the flow rate of foreign fighters into Iraq and Syria is currently higher than ever before, with the emergence of signs of an accelerating growth of ISIS organization in Libya.

US officials said earlier this year that 3,400 people from Western countries, including 150 from the United States have traveled to Iraq and Syria to join militant groups.

British officials have estimated that more than 700 British have traveled to Syria during the past three years, nearly half of them returned to their country.

The report describes Iraq, Syria and Libya as “real finishing school” for terrorists, pointing out that Tunisia, Morocco, France and Russia, in particular, may contribute in terrorist attacks in the future due to the number of fighters from these countries.

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The President’s Real Concerns

Once again, President Obama proves he is more concerned about appeasing terrorists and illegal immigrants than protecting our republic from enemies, both foreign and domestic.  The United States has certainly endured past presidents who were not fully up to the task of defeating our enemies.  They have also often failed when it comes to protecting our porous borders.  But I must say, that no prior commander and chief comes close to the abysmal blatant disregard for protecting our republic in any regard.  He has basically turned his back against any allied nation (like Israel) who may need our help against those seeking to kill steal and destroy.

To this day, the White House occupier has not approved, seriously proposed, or even considered one single measure that would benefit or strengthen the United States in any way.  For example, even before the Obama regime, the federal government already has an abysmal record, when it comes to negotiating and participating in so-called “Free Trade” agreements.  NAFTA and GATT quickly come to mind.  In fact, every single trade agreement officially sanctioned has led to even greater U.S. deficits with our trading partners.  There have been a very few cases where America had no trade deficit with a particular nation, but after government negotiations a huge deficit loomed on the horizon.

I would like to propose reductions in trade barriers even within our own nation. For example, Insurance companies would be free to ply their trade as far as the free market and success allows them.  The government is not a friend of free enterprise or the general growing of businesses.  The Founding Fathers understood the nature of government which is to usually be an impediment to such things as authentic free trade.

Secondly, I would propose that American based companies would be free to engage in economic activities with individuals and other companies located within any allied nation.  Trade is trade and those involved know what’s most advantageous for their bottom line and the sale of their goods and services.  Of course the government should have the resolve and power to protect the interest of American companies.  For example from nationalization and seizure threats.

I believe that the federal government must be dissuaded from negotiating, so-called Free Trade agreements.  I cannot recall any government negotiated Free Trade agreement that has benefited the United States.  Again those government agreements have almost always increased or produced American deficits with foreign trading and or business partners.

Let us now review the important issue of securing our borders.  For years, before the current disaster in the White House, America had failed to adequately secure our borders.  Thus the tide of illegal and unappreciative immigrants has been a rising tide of trauma at taxpayer expense.  Some estimates, including mine puts the possible number of illegal immigrants living off the fat of the land, at thirty million or more.

Within their ranks are possibly a substantial number of muslim terrorists who are awaiting orders to do major damage.  It is believed that between one and three major American cities could soon be ill affected by some type of terrorist activity.   Isis terrorists have already threatened to wreak havoc in the United States and to harm president Obama.  Yet the commander in Chief has done everything imaginable to reduce and weaken our beloved military.  He has refused to upgrade needed weapons systems and has drastically reduced troop numbers way too much.  In fact our troop numbers are now so small that America no longer has the capability to fight two major conflicts simultaneously.  This horrible side note, our military is damaged beyond recognition thanks or no thanks to Mr. Obama’s social engineering.  Lowering physical requirements to appease weaker women and open homosexuality come to mind as two primary examples.

So now, Russia, China and muslim terrorist groups no longer fear or respect U.S. military might.  In fact, China now has more influence in South America than the United States, because the obamanomics economy and policies inhibit a powerful forward thrust of American influence.  Combine that with President Obama’s disdain for our republic’s power and influence in the world and you have a recipe for utter disaster.

The late president Ronald Reagan said it best concerning world peace. “We can have peace through strength.”   Have you noticed that as America weakens and diminishes, the world continues to seemingly unravel politically, economically and relationally amongst many of the world’s nations?  To sum it up, we must not only change directions politically and morally in the upcoming days, years and elections ahead.  Unfortunately, republicans in the legislative branch have not been holding up their end of the bargain when it comes to governing.  Often they have allowed the activist in chief to continue almost unchallenged in his quest to drastically diminish the United States on all fronts.  If America is to be rescued from utter demotion to the lower ranks amongst nations, the current state of affairs will have to be dramatically reversed.  The status quo will not suffice for our survival as a constitutionally limited republic.

There must a spiritual rebirth and a recognition with a recognition of the presence of God.

The True Cost of the Snowden Revelations

More words have been spilled about the Snowden affair than almost any other story of recent years. The fall-out may disappear from the daily papers for weeks at a time, but on the internet in particular debates on ‘government spying’ and the leaking of government secrets, it has probably exceeded any other story of our time.

One reason is that the idea of being “spied upon” by the government is not only a subject which seems plausible to people who spend their life on the internet, but is an idea that flatters them. The idea that the U.S. or British government is specifically trying to find out what you have written in an email to your mother is a trend which plays not just into the conspiratorial trends of our time but also into its narcissism. Here, just maybe, is a story that can plausibly be said to be all about “me, me, me.”

It is also a subject which in a misreported form has united opinion on the political right and left. Libertarian right-wingers among others have seen the Snowden revelations as a demonstration of government over-reach, and many seem intent on destroying the national security infrastructure of the world’s leading democracies in order to win their arguments.

In fact, as Surveillance After Snowden: Effective Espionage in an Age of Transparency (released this week by The Henry Jackson Society) shows, there has been a massive amount of public misunderstanding about what the Snowden revelations actually contained. And more significantly – as our report shows for the first time – the whole affair has comprised a colossal own-goal at a critically important juncture.

The advantage in signals intelligence enjoyed by the “five eyes” has been severely damaged by this affair. Many observers have commented that the Snowden affair could have a deleterious effect on our critical security infrastructure, but this week’s new HJS report demonstrates for the first time just how serious it is, with specific examples and case studies. The analysis, which is based partly on interviews with leading practitioners, reveals how terrorist groups, in the wake of the Snowden revelations, have changed their behaviour including their communication methods. It shows how the affair has damaged British and American security capabilities overseas. And it shows how the leaks have perhaps irrevocably damaged the hitherto vital relationship between communication service providers and the state.

All these relations, and all these capabilities, are vital for ensuring the safety and security of citizens in our countries. There are debates to be had about privacy and excessive surveillance and we have had that debate feverishly, and fairly un-informatively, over the last several years. But a more useful debate to now have is over what citizens ought to accept needs to be done in order not just to ensure their own security but to ensure the ongoing security of our societies in an increasingly dangerous era.


 

mendozahjsFROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK 

If there is one thing we can all agree about in the Middle East, it’s that the so-called war against the Islamic State (IS) is not going well.

Limited international coalition airstrikes have produced very limited results. IS may well have been pinned back in certain areas, but as the twin captures of Palmyra in Syria and Ramadi in Iraq have shown, the terrorists remain a potent force still capable of taking the offensive. This is bad news for those Syrians and Iraqis already chafing under the burden of brutal IS rule, as well as for those of us in the West worried about how a ragtag band of criminals fending off our military might may well inspire more Western jihadists to join their ranks.

I cite military might, but the reality is vastly different. For we are treating the war against IS as nothing more than a minor distraction from the running down of our armed forces and intent to use them. Britain has the unenviable record of participating in an average of under one air strike a day in Iraq. We are not even allowed to be engaged in Syria, so fearful are we of isolationist attitudes among our Members of Parliament. The new intake of MPs has yet to be tested on this issue, but it is safe to say there is no clamour for increased intervention against this menace. Meanwhile, we hear rumours of further cuts to our already diminished armed forces.

The U.S. is in no better a situation. In the midst of its own armed forces reduction, President Obama was reportedly agonising this week over whether to introduce the very modest element of US ground target spotters to assist in air softies against the enemy. Target spotters are rather useful in situations where the terrain means that enemies can hide and correspondingly avoid being engaged. Yet even this basic requirement for limited air warfare seems beyond the desire of the US President to accede to, so transfixed he is with terror at the idea of ground troops returning to Iraq.

As long as this sad state of affairs continues, IS will have free reign to maraud and murder. We still have the power to change this horrific equation. Can we muster the will to use it?

Dr Alan Mendoza is Executive Director of The Henry Jackson Society

Follow Alan on Twitter: @AlanMendoza

Boston Freedom — Orlando Jihad

Get ready for a very full Jump’in Jumm’ah Freaky Friday that takes us from Boston, to Israel to Orlando as we look at the insanity of Islamic jihad and the need to counter it with basic Judeo-Christian principles.

Our live guests include, Rabbi Jon Hausman, Jerusalem Jane and Alan Kornman.

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Real Hero Peter Fechter: The Berlin Wall and Those Who Refused to Be Caged by Lawrence W. Reed

For the 28 years from 1961 to 1989, the ghastly palisade known as the Berlin Wall divided the German city of Berlin. It sealed off the only escape hatch for people in the communist East who wanted freedom in the West.

No warning was given before August 13 when East German soldiers and police first stretched barbed wire and then began erecting the infamous wall, not to mention guard towers, dog runs, and explosive devices behind it.

By one estimate, 254 people died there during those 28 years — shot by police, ensnared by the barbed wire, mauled by dogs, or blown to bits by land mines — most of them in the infamous “death strip” that immediately paralleled the main barrier. The communist regime cynically referred to it as the “Anti-Fascist Protection Wall.”

In my home hangs a large, framed copy of a famous photo of a poignant moment from that sad day in 1961. It shows a young, apprehensive East German soldier glancing about as he prepares to let a small boy pass through the emerging barrier. No doubt the boy spent the night with friends and found himself the next morning on the opposite side of the wall from his family. But the communist government ordered its men to let no one pass. The inscription below the photo explains that, at this very moment, the soldier was seen by a superior officer who immediately detached him from his unit. “No one,” reads the inscription, “knows what became of him.” Only the most despicable tyrants could punish a man for letting a child get to his loved ones, but in the Evil Empire, that and much worse happened all the time.

Like millions of others, a strapping 18-year-old bricklayer named Peter Fechter yearned for so much more than the stifling dreariness of socialism. He hatched a plan with a friend, Helmut Kulbeik, to conceal themselves in a carpenter’s woodshop near the wall and watch for an opportune moment to jump from a second-story window into the death strip. They would then run to and climb over the 6½ foot high concrete barrier, laced with barbed wire, and emerge in freedom on the other side.

It was August 17, 1962, barely a year since the Berlin Wall went up, but Fechter and Kulbeik were ready to risk everything. When the moment came that guards were looking the other way, they jumped. Seconds later, during their mad dash to the wall, guards began firing. Amazingly, Kulbeik made it to freedom. Fechter was not so lucky. In the plain view of witnesses numbering in the hundreds, he was hit in the pelvis. He fell, screaming in pain, to the ground.

No one on the East side, soldiers included, came to his aid. Westerners threw bandages over the wall but Fechter couldn’t reach them. Bleeding profusely, he died alone, an hour later. Demonstrators in West Berlin shouted, “Murderers!” at the East Berlin border guards, who eventually retrieved his lifeless body.

Christine Brecht, writing on the Berlin Wall Memorial website, reveals subsequent events involving the Fechter family:

In addition to the painful loss of their only son, the family of the deceased was subjected to reprisals from the East German government for decades. In July 1990 Peter Fechter’s sister pressed charges that opened preliminary proceedings and that ultimately ended in the conviction of two guards. Found guilty of manslaughter, they were sentenced to 20 and 21 months in prison, a sentence that was commuted to probation. During the main proceedings, Ruth Fechter, the victim’s younger sister who served as a joint plaintiff in the trial, expressed herself through her attorneys. They explained that she thought it important to speak out, to no longer be “damned by passivity and inactivity” and to get out of “the objectified role that she had been put in until then.” She movingly described how she and her family experienced the tragic death of her brother and had felt powerless to act against his public defamation. They had been sworn to secrecy, an involuntary obligation that put the family under tremendous pressure. “We were ostracized and experienced hostile encounters daily. They were not born of our personal desire, but were instead imposed on us by others, becoming a central element in the life of the Fechter Family.” After all those years, participating in the trial as a joint plaintiff offered Ruth Fechter an opportunity to participate in the effort to explain, research and evaluate the circumstances of her brother’s death. And she added that the legal perspective occasionally overlooks the fact that in this case “world history fatally intersected with the fate of a single individual.”

The world must never forget this awful chapter in history. Nor should we ever forget that it was done in the name of a vicious system that declared its “solidarity with the working class” and professed its devotion to “the people.”

We who embrace liberty don’t believe in shooting people because they don’t conform, and that is ultimately what socialism and communism are all about. We don’t plan other people’s lives because we’re too busy at the full-time job of reforming and improving our own. We believe in persuasion, not coercion. We solve problems at penpoint, not gunpoint. We’re never so smugly self-righteous in our beliefs that we’re ready at the drop of a hat to dragoon the rest of society into our schemes.

All this is why so many of us get a rush every time we think of Ronald Reagan standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate in 1987 and demanding, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” This is why we were brought to tears in the heady days of 1989 when thousands of Berliners scaled the Wall with their hammers, picks, and fists and pummeled that terrible edifice and the Marxist vision that fostered it.

Peter Fechter and the 253 others who died at the Berlin Wall are real heroes. They deserve to be remembered.

For further information, see:


Lawrence W. Reed

Lawrence W. (“Larry”) Reed became president of FEE in 2008 after serving as chairman of its board of trustees in the 1990s and both writing and speaking for FEE since the late 1970s.

EDITORS NOTE: Each week, Mr. Reed will relate the stories of people whose choices and actions make them heroes. See the table of contents for previous installments.

Is the U.S. State Department Taking Reports of North Korea-Iranian Nuclear Cooperation Seriously?

At today’s State Department Daily Press Briefing, spokesperson Jeff Rathke was asked by Matt Lee, AP White House correspondent about reports by the Paris-based Iranian dissident group, the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI) about alleged North Korean meetings in Iran alleging discussions over nuclear program cooperation an ICBM developments.  Reuters reported the NCRI group allegation that:

Citing information from sources inside Iran, including within Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, the Paris-based NCRI said a seven-person North Korean Defense Ministry team was in Iran during the last week of April. This was the third time in 2015 that North Koreans had been to Iran and a nine-person delegation was due to return in June, it said.

“The delegates included nuclear experts, nuclear warhead experts and experts in various elements of ballistic missiles including guidance systems,” the NCRI said.

In response to AP’s Lee question Rathke said, “We are taking these allegations very seriously” citing various UN Security Council Resolutions sanctioning the proliferation behavior of the DPRK. That led Lee and other correspondents to inquire whether this would impact the current P5+1 negotiations in Vienna seeking to conclude a comprehensive Joint Plan of Action by June 30th.  We posted  yesterday that France’s Foreign Minister demanding that Iran agree to  UN IAEA inspectors be  given  full access to military facilities for verification of prior developments.

Watch this C-SPAN video clip on the exchanges between State Department Jeff Rathke and AP’s Lee and other reporters at today’s Press Briefing:

Satellite Image of the Sohae Launch Facility, North Korea

North Korean Sohae Missile Launch site, November 2012. Source: Space.com

The Reuters report gave indications of previous unverified reports about such cooperation between the DPRK and Iran:

The NCRI said the North Korean delegation was taken secretly to the Imam Khomenei complex, a site east of Tehran controlled by the Defense Ministry. It gave detailed accounts of locations and who the officials met.

It said the delegation dealt with the Center for Research and Design of New Aerospace Technology, a unit of nuclear weaponization research, and a planning center called the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, which is under U.S. sanctions.

Reuters could not independently verify the allegations.

“Tehran has shown no interest in giving up its drive to nuclear weapons. The weaponization program is continuing and they have not slowed down the process,” NCRI spokesman Shahin Gobadi said.

U.N. watchdog the IAEA, which for years has investigated alleged nuclear arms research by Tehran, declined to comment. North Korean officials were not available for comment.

Several Western officials said they were not aware of a North Korean delegation traveling to Iran recently.

A Western diplomat said there had been proven military cooperation between Iran and North Korea in the past.

North Korean and Iranian officials meet in the course of general diplomacy. On April 23, Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s ceremonial head of state and Iran’s president held a rare meeting on the sidelines of the Asian-African summit in Jakarta.

My colleague Ilana Freedman and this writer have reported on Iranian and DPRK on both nuclear and ICBM developments and nuclear tests in NER and Iconoclast posts.  In a March 2014, NER, article, “Has Iran Developed Nuclear Weapons in North Korea”, we cited Freedman reporting:

According to my sources, Iran began moving its bomb manufacturing operations from Iran to North Korea in December 2012. Two facilities near Nyongbyon in North Pyongan province, some 50 miles north of Pyongyang, have become a new center for Iran’s nuclear arms program.

Over the last year, Iran has been secretly supplying raw materials to the reactor at Nyongbyon for the production of plutonium. At a second facility, located about fifteen miles north and with a code name that translates to ‘Thunder God Mountain’, nuclear warheads are being assembled and integrated with MIRV platforms. MIRVs are offensive ballistic missile systems that can support multiple warheads, each of which can be aimed at an independent target, but are all launched by a single booster rocket. Approximately 250-300 Iranian scientists are now reported to be in North Korea, along with a small cadre of IRGC personnel to provide for their security.

According to the reports, the Iranian-North Korean collaboration has already produced the first batch of fourteen nuclear warheads. A dedicated fleet of Iranian cargo aircraft, a combination of 747′s and Antonov heavy-lifters, which has been ferrying personnel and materials back and forth between Iran and North Korea, is in place to bring the assembled warheads back to Iran.

In a June 2014, Iconoclast post, “Does Iran/ North Korean Nuclear & ICBM Development Preclude A P5+1 Agreement?” we cited a Wall Street Journal report by  Claudia Rosett, journalist in residence at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Iran Could Outsource Its Nuclear –Weapons Program to North Korea. Rosett commented:

The pieces have long been in place for nuclear collaboration between the two countries. North Korea and Iran are close allies, drawn together by decades of weapons deals and mutual hatred of America and its freedoms. Weapons-hungry Iran has oil; oil-hungry North Korea makes weapons. North Korea has been supplying increasingly sophisticated missiles and missile technology to Iran since the 1980s, when North Korea hosted visits by Hasan Rouhani (now Iran’s president) and Ali Khamenei (Iran’s supreme leader since the death of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989).

Rosett in the WSJ oped lays out the case for what the NER article demonstrated was a plausible means of evading sanctions. The evidence for that we noted was North Korean/ Iranian cooperation with Assad’s Syria creating a plutonium reactor on the Euphrates at Al Kibar destroyed by Israel’s Air Force in September 2007. We drew attention to Iranian/ North Korean joint development of large rocket boosters sufficient to loft nuclear MIRV warheads and the likelihood that Iran might have that capability within a few years. In June 2014, The Algemeiner reported an Iranian official announcing that it possessed a 5,000 kilometer (approximately 3,125 miles) range missile that could hit the strategic base of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean:

“In the event of a mistake on the part of the United States, their bases in Bahrain and (Diego) Garcia will not be safe from Iranian missiles,” said an Iranian Revolutionary Guard adviser to Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Majatba Dhualnuri.

In an April 15, 2015, Iconoclast post, “Obama Administration Knew of Illegal North Korea Missile Technology Transfers to Iran During Talks” we reported:

Bill Gertz has a blockbuster expose in today’s Washington Free Beacon of something we have been hammering away for years: the technology transfer of missile and nuclear technology between North Korea and the Iran, “North Korea Transfers Missile Goods to Iran During Nuclear Talks.”  The stunning disclosure was that U.S. intelligence has known about the illegal transfer in violation of UN arms sanctions, as apparently did the Obama Administration. You recall the statement that Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman made before a Senate hearing in early 2014. Sherman said, “that if Iran can’t get the bomb then its ballistic missiles would be irrelevant.”

Gertz went on to report:

Since September more than two shipments of missile parts have been monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies as they transited from North Korea to Iran, said officials familiar with intelligence reports who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Details of the arms shipments were included in President Obama’s daily intelligence briefings and officials suggested information about the transfers was kept secret from the United Nations, which is in charge of monitoring sanctions violations.

While the CIA declined to comment on these allegations claiming classified information, others, Gertz queried said that “such transfers were covered by the Missile Technology Control Regime, a voluntary agreement among 34 nations that limits transfers of missiles and components of systems with ranges of greater than 186 miles.”

One official said the transfers between North Korea and Iran included large diameter engines, which could be used for a future Iranian long-range missile system.

The compilation of these reports and today’s exchange at the State Department Press Briefing clearly raises the ante as to why in one reporter’s query, ‘our negotiators” haven’t simply asked  Foreign Minister Zarif in Vienna  is there such cooperation going on, backed up by the intelligence reports cited by Gertz and others?  Our suspicion is that French Foreign Minister Fabius has better feed on Iranian nuclear and ICBM developments than our CIA.  Or more likely is the Obama West Wing suggesting not to believe those lying reports in the President’s  Daily Intelligence Briefing? After all, President Obama, Secretary Kerry and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman want nothing to stand in the way of an agreement with Iran, even it means evading the truth. Stay tuned for developments.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review. The featured image is from the official site of the President of The Islamic Republic of Iran.

HAMAS Missiles, Israel and the Islamic Mind

Really, how stupid do you have to be to fire missiles from the Gaza strip into southern Israel? Well, stupid enough to be HAMAS and that’s exactly what they did the other day. So what did Israel do, oh, simply flatten a significant number of “terror” centers, thus smashing the HAMAS once again.

To fully understand this insanity we have Arie Egozie in Israel explaining the whys and who’s behind these deadly missiles. In part two Tom explains why members of Islam, Muslims, are NOT allowed to think critically about their beliefs and must just accept them, or else!

Don’t miss this interesting insight into the Islamic mind.

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Biker’s Demonstration at Phoenix Mosque

The information contained in this report is tentative and still evolving. Some aspects already aired on social and conventional media are sensationalized. The coordinators of this rally have openly discussed with media that they, and at least 160 others, are coming together outside the same mosque in Phoenix that launched the two shooters in the Garland, Texas incident on May 3rd simply because they are sick and tired of Islamic elements pushing their beliefs, codes, and general way of life onto Americans without any respect for the American culture, Constitution and Rule of Law, and values.

There is a developing belief among citizens responding to this rally cry that Americans better begin to stand for their rights and way of life, or lose them altogether! There is vocal palpable anger from citizens directed toward the growing aggressive Muslim behavior to instill Sharia Law onto Americans doing away with our judicial system. A separate national group with an Arizona Chapter, “Banners across America” has sent communications within Arizona looking to join this rally. Additional information is mentioned below:

Two organizers — Jon Ritzheimer and Flash Nelson — are the organizers of what’s billed as a peaceful demonstration outside the Islamic Community Center in Phoenix. This is the former site of worship for Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, who were killed after opening fire outside a May 3 contest featuring cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in suburban Dallas. Many Muslims consider depictions of Mohammed blaspheme. This event, scheduled for 6:15 p.m. Friday, has urged attendees to take full advantage of their Second Amendment right to carry weapons.

Here’s the Facebook post in full, verbatim:

ROUND 2!!!!!!! This will be a PEACEFUL protest in front of the Islamic Community Center in Phoenix AZ. This is in response to the recent attack in Texas where 2 armed terrorist, with ties to ISIS, attempted Jihad. Everyone is encouraged to bring American Flags and any message that you would like to send to the known acquaintances of the 2 gunmen. This Islamic Community Center is a known place that the 2 terrorist frequented. People are also encouraged to utilize there [sic] second amendment right at this event just incase [sic] our first amendment comes under the much anticipated attack.

1. Date will be Friday May 29th @ 6:15pm. This is when they normally host a large prayer.

2. Bikers wil [sic] meet at the Denny’s located at 9030 N Black Canyon Hwy Phoenix, AZ 85051@ 5:00pm. Kick stands up at 6pm.

3. There will be a Muhammad Cartoon Contest and the winner will be announced at the After Party. Participants must show cartoon at the Rally.

4. We will not have food vendors at this event because we don’t want this to turn into a carnival. People can bring snacks and water but please keep the neighborhood clean.

5. There will be an after party starting at 8:30pm at Wild Bills located at 6840 N. 27th Ave Phx, AZ.

Thank you all for your Support.

The rally is a follow-up to one earlier this month, which drew little attention. Facebook reveals little about Nelson, but Ritzheimer’s posts show him to be virulently anti-Muslim. On his personal page, Ritzheimer has photos of him waving an American flag while wearing a “Fuck Islam” T-shirt. He identifies himself as a former Marine and states he works with Dysfunctional Veterans, a group that appears to be a community for former soldiers. He told media in Arizona, “I’m a Marine, and I am far from politically correct.… I’m outspoken, and I’ve just had it.”

RELATED ARTICLE: Armed Bikers Plan to Draw Cartoons of Mohammed Outside a Mosque in Arizona