Monthly Archives: January 2016

Link Between San Bernardino Attack, Prior Terror Plot

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If you don’t think the FBI is doing enough when it comes to investigating terrorists or plots across the homeland, the text below will give you reasons to change your mind. When we consider the major adjustments that Usama bin Ladin made when it came to communicating throughout the entire al Qaeda organization and with the matter of Edward Snowden releasing intelligence collection methods, we begin to understand the daunting task of the FBI.

Feds release new evidence, seek link between San Bernardino attack, prior terror plot

FNC: The couple behind the San Bernardino attack and a jihadist group that earlier plotted to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan operated so close to one another in a tight-knit Southern California community that investigators believe there may be a connection, but newly released evidence shows any missing link remains elusive.

Sohiel Omar Kabir, the ringleader of an Islamist terror cell whose Afghanistan plot was disrupted in November, 2012, shared the same violent objectives and lived in the same California community known as The Inland Empire as Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the pair who killed 14 and wounded 22 in a Dec. 2 attack at an Inland, Calif., social services building. But the FBI remains unable to say if the two terror cells were independent, or if there is an as-yet invisible hand responsible for radicalizing them and potentially organizing another attack.

“Because these cells operated in such close proximity to one another during the same time period, it seems very likely they crossed paths.”

– Veryan Khan, TRAC

“The focus should be on whether these two terror cells and their members are connected to each other and to other self-starter cells or other lone wolf operatives,” said Veryan Khan, editorial director of the U.S.-based Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium. “Because these cells operated in such close proximity to one another during the same time period, it seems very likely they crossed paths.”

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Deleon, shown here on surveillance video at a paintball facility, intended to kill U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan. (US Department of Justice)

This week, prosecutors made public evidence from the 2012 plot, including 15 hours of audio and video recordings made through wiretaps and an FBI confidential informant, and photographs, as well as hundreds of court records, and transcripts and other documents. But nothing so far establishes a direct connection between Kabir, who last year was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison, and the jihadist couple behind the worst terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.

Farook, 28, a restaurant inspector born in the U.S. to a family from Pakistani, and Malik, 29, an immigrant from Pakistan, who entered the U.S. on a fiancé visa, were slain during a gunfight with law enforcement several hours after their initial assault at the holiday party. A computer hard drive belonging to the pair remains missing, and their cell phones were damaged to the point that investigators have been unable to recover potentially revealing information.  A third person who authorities say previously plotted with Farook, Enrique Marquez, has been charged with providing the rifles the pair used in the massacre.

Before the San Bernardino attack, Marquez reportedly told associates there were terror cells in the area awaiting orders.

“He would say stuff like: ‘There’s so much going on. There’s so many sleeper cells, so many people just waiting. When it happens, it’s going to be big. Watch,’ ” Nick Rodriguez, who frequented a Riverside bar where Marquez drank.

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Members of the Inland Empire terror cell posted jihadist propaganda on their social media pages. (US Department of Justice)

Finding other cells poised to attack could depend on establishing that a common handler is calling the shots. But compartmentalization is a hallmark of terrorist groups’ command and control structure, which, according to experts, means the two cells could have received their orders from the same source without ever knowing they were on the same team.

Kabir, 37, a naturalized citizen who was born in Afghanistan, and Ralph Deleon, 26, a permanent resident and citizen of the Philippines, were sentenced to identical terms for conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, conspiring to murder U.S. military and government personnel, and in Kabir’s case, also for conspiring to provide material support to Al Qaeda. Two other members of the cell pleaded guilty and cooperated with authorities.

Kabir’s group, dubbed by prosecutors the “Inland Empire Cell,” allegedly received guidance from a local radical imam, who remains unnamed in court records, and encouragement from a brother of one of the men.

Ironically, federal court documents tied to Marquez’s case show both he and Farook abruptly halted plans for a dual terror attack in 2012 after Kabir’s cabal was arrested. In that assault, Marquez and Farook planned to use pipe bombs and two AR-15 rifles “to maximize the number of casualties” at Riverside City College, a nearby institution they attended, and on state Route 91, a busy freeway with few exits where motorists are frequently stuck in heavy gridlock.

An FBI spokesman said the agency continues to investigate possible ties between the groups, who practiced shooting at local gun ranges, worshiped at area mosques and boasted of their plans on social media.

“I’d take C-4 number one but I want to enjoy my targets,” DeLeon wrote in one post revealed this week by investigators. “That’s why I want to go to the front line.”

Another common interest of cells operating in The Inland Empire was their devotion to teachings of the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s “leader of external operations” until he was killed in 2011 by a U.S. drone strike. Kabir and his followers listened to many hours of videos and audio recordings from al-Awlaki, according to audio and videotapes obtained by FoxNews.com.

“Even from the grave, the power of Anwar al-Awlaki cannot be underestimated,” Khan said.

Court records show Kabir was effective at recruiting others, according to his conspirator, Deleon, who compared Kabir to a “Mujahideen walking the streets of LA.” Deleon spoke of recruiting others into their cell, boasting he had four people who were “potentials” and was up for recruiting “Everyone!”

Deleon also claimed Kabir recruited many others before he left for Afghanistan, while Kabir himself boasted contacts within terrorist organizations including “the Students” – code for Taliban – and “the Professors” – meaning Al Qaeda.

Major Gang Arrests in Boston, Immigrant MS-13

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El Salvador:

Gangs like the MS13 and Barrio 18 in El Salvador are rigid about enforcing the boundaries of their territory. This has dramatic repercussions for both the bus drivers who drive and the students who walk across these borders.

“This street is the limit — look. The frontline of the war is right here. Here there are gunshots every so often. Down there are MS13. Up there are Barrio 18 Revolucionarios. It is an L. And we are in the middle.”

So says a middle-aged man. He is the extortion negotiator for a bus and minibus route. That is his job. In a country where even Coca Cola or Tigo pay extortion, in El Salvador there are architects, street vendors, shoemakers, teachers, and extortion negotiators. The country’s reality creates jobs.  More details here.

Dozens said to be linked to El Salvador gang indicted in Boston area

Reuters:

Dozens of Boston-area residents linked to the Central American-based MS-13 street gang were being rounded up by law enforcement authorities on Friday after their indictments on racketeering conspiracy charges related to murders and other crimes, federal prosecutors said.

The indictment of 56 members, leaders and associates of “one of the largest criminal organizations in the United States” alleges that several of the accused played a role in the murders of at least five people since 2014 in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and East Boston, as well as at least 14 attempted murders.

In Massachusetts, MS-13 is largely composed of immigrants and descendants of immigrants from El Salvador, recruited through intimidation in local high schools in towns with heavy concentrations of residents with ties to Central America, prosecutors said.

“Violence is a central tenet of MS-13, as evidenced by its core motto – ‘mata, viola, control,’ translated as, ‘kill, rape, control,'” the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Massachusetts said in a statement.

The indictment also accuses Massachusetts-based members of MS-13, also known as “La Mara Salvatrucha,” of selling narcotics and committing robberies to raise money to send to leaders of the gang jailed in El Salvador.

It was not immediately clear how many of the 56 people indicted were under arrest on Friday afternoon. The statement said that 15 of the accused were already in custody on federal, state or immigration charges.

A representative of the U.S. attorney’s office could not be reached immediately for comment.

The racketeering conspiracy charge – under the federal law known as RICO – alone carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, or even life if the underlying criminal activity carries the maximum penalty of life imprisonment, prosecutors said.

***

There is more to the story and here are some other chilling facts:

CIS.org: Since the recent surge in Central American immigrants crossing the southern border illegally, many have had questions about the Central American community in the United States. News accounts indicate that, in recent months, some 290,000 illegal immigrants (primarily from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador) have been settled, or will soon be settled, by the federal government.1 Listed below are some basic socio-demographic statistics for immigrants in the United States from these countries.

The figures below are for both legal and illegal immigrants from the public-use files of the 2012 American Community Survey, collected by the Census Bureau:

  • Population Totals: In 2012 there were 2.7 million immigrants from El Salvador (1.3 million), Guatemala (880,000), and Honduras (536,000) in the United States. Combined, the immigrant population from these three countries has grown 234 percent since 1990.
  • The Top-10 States of Settlement: California, Texas, New York, Florida, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Georgia.
  • Illegal Immigrants: Department of Homeland Security estimates indicate that about 60 percent of immigrants from these three countries (1.6 million) are in the United States illegally.2
  • Language: Of immigrants from El Salvador, 70 percent report they speak English less than very well; for immigrants from Guatemala, it is 72 percent; and for immigrants from Honduras, it is 69 percent.
  • Home-ownership: Of households headed by Salvadoran immigrants, 41 percent are owner-occupied, as are 28 percent of Guatemalan households, and 29 percent of Honduran immigrant households. The corresponding figure for natives is 66 percent.

The figures below are for both legal and illegal immigrants from the public-use files of the March 2013 Current Population Survey, collected by the Census Bureau:

  • Educational Attainment: 54 percent of Guatemalan immigrants (ages 25 to 65) have not graduated high school. The figure for Salvadorans is 53 percent, and for Hondurans, 44 percent. The corresponding figure for native-born Americans is 7 percent.
  • Welfare Use: 57 percent of households headed by immigrants from El Salvador use at least one major welfare program, as do 54 percent of Honduran households, and 49 percent of Guatemalan immigrant households. Among native households it is 24 percent.3
  • Poverty: 65 percent of Honduran immigrants and their young children (under 18) live in or near poverty (under 200 percent of the poverty threshold). For Guatemalan and Salvadoran immigrants and their children, it is 61 percent. The corresponding figure for natives and their children is 31 percent.4
  • Health Insurance: 47 percent of Guatemalan immigrants and their young children (under 18) do not have health insurance. The figure for both Salvadoran and Honduran immigrants and their young children is 41 percent. The corresponding figure for natives and their children is 13 percent.5
  • Share Working: 77 percent of immigrants from El Salvador (ages 25 to 54) have a job, as do 74 percent of Guatemalan immigrants and 73 percent of Honduran immigrants. The corresponding figure for natives is 76 percent.

Too Damaging to Release, ah Hillary???

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Official: Some Clinton emails ‘too damaging’ to release

FNC: EXCLUSIVE: The intelligence community has now deemed some of Hillary Clinton’s emails “too damaging” to national security to release under any circumstances, according to a U.S. government official close to the ongoing review. A second source, who was not authorized to speak on the record, backed up the finding.

The decision to withhold the documents in full, and not provide even a partial release with redactions, further undercuts claims by the State Department and the Clinton campaign that none of the intelligence in the emails was classified when it hit Clinton’s personal server.

Fox News is told the emails include intelligence from “special access programs,” or SAP, which is considered beyond “Top Secret.”A Jan. 14 letter, first reported by Fox News, from intelligence community Inspector General Charles McCullough III notified senior intelligence and foreign relations committee leaders that “several dozen emails containing classified information” were determined to be “at the CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET, AND TOP SECRET/SAP levels.”

The State Department is trying to finish its review and public release of thousands of Clinton emails, as the Democratic presidential primary contests get underway in early February.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, there is an exemption that allows for highly sensitive, and in this case classified, material to be withheld in full — which means nothing would be released in these cases, not even heavily redacted versions, which has been standard practice with the 1,340 such emails made public so far by the State Department.

According to the Justice Department FOIA website, exemption “B3” allows a carve-out for both the CIA and NSA to withhold “operational files.” Similar provisions also apply to other agencies.

Fox News reported Friday that at least one Clinton email contained information identified as “HCS-O,” which is the code for intelligence from human spying.

One source, not authorized to speak on the record, suggested the intelligence agencies are operating on the assumption there are more copies of the Clinton emails out there, and even releasing a partial email would provide enough clues to trace back to the original – which could allow the identification of “special access programs” intelligence.

There was no comment to Fox News from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Office of the Intelligence Community Inspector General, or the agency involved. Fox News has chosen not to identify the agency that provided sworn declarations that intelligence beyond Top Secret was found in the Clinton emails.

Reached for comment by Fox News, a State Department official did not dispute that some emails will never be made public.

“We continue to process the next set of former Secretary Clinton’s emails for release under the FOIA process and will have more to say about it later,” the official said. “As always, we take seriously our responsibilities to protect sensitive information.”

The State Department was scheduled to release more Clinton emails Friday, while asking a D.C. federal court for an extension.

FBI investigators looking into the emails are focused on the criminal code pertaining to “gross negligence” in the handling and storage of classified information, and “public corruption.”

“The documents alone in and of themselves set forth a set of compelling, articulable facts that statutes relating to espionage have been violated,” a former senior federal law enforcement officer said. The source said the ongoing investigation along the corruption track “also stems from her tenure of secretary. These charges would be inseparable from the other charges in as much as there is potential for significant overlap and correlation.”

Based on federal regulations, once classified information is spilled onto a personal computer or device, as was the case with Clinton and her aides, the hardware is now considered classified at the highest classification level of the materials received.

While criticized by the Clinton campaign, McCullough, an Obama administration appointee, was relaying the conclusion of two intelligence agencies in his letter to Congress that the information was classified when it hit Clinton’s server — and not his own judgment.

Joseph E. Schmitz, a former inspector general of the Department of Defense, called the attacks on McCullough a “shoot the watchdog” tactic by Clinton’s campaign.

The developments, taken together, show Clinton finding herself once again at the epicenter of a controversy over incomplete records.

During her time as the first female partner at the Rose Law firm in Arkansas during the mid-1980s, she was known as one of the “three amigos” and close with partners Webb Hubbell and Vince Foster. Hubbell ended up a convicted felon for his role in the failure of the corrupt Madison Guaranty, a savings and loan which cost taxpayers more than $65 million. Hubbell embezzled more than a half-million dollars from the firm.

Foster killed himself in Washington, D.C., in July 1993. As Clinton’s partner in the Rose Law firm, he had followed the Clintons into the White House where he served as the Clintons’ personal lawyer and a White House deputy counsel.

Clinton’s missing Rose Law billing records for her work for Guaranty during the mid-1980s were the subject of three intense federal investigations over two years. Those records, in the form of a computerized printout of her work performed on behalf of Guaranty, were discovered under mysterious circumstances in the Book Room of the private White House living quarters.

The discovery of those records was announced during a  blizzard in January 1996 by attorney David Kendall, who still represents Hillary Clinton. After Clinton testified before a grand jury, prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt she committed perjury or obstruction of justice.

Despite Clinton’s recent public statements about not knowing how the technology works, at least one email suggests she directed a subordinate to work around the rules. In a June 2011 email to aide Jake Sullivan, she instructed him to take what appeared to be classified talking points, and “turn into nonpaper w no identifying heading and send nonsecure.”

A State Department spokesman could not say whether such a fax was sent.

Obama Joins Europe Orders Labels on Israeli Products

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Obama Administration Orders Labeling of Israeli Goods

Memo directs ‘trade community’ to label Jewish goods

FreeBeacon: A memo issued earlier this month by the Obama administration directs the U.S. “trade community” and government partner agencies to explicitly label Israeli-made goods that have been produced in the West Bank.

The Jan. 23 directive states that it is “not acceptable” to label goods coming from Israeli companies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as having been produced in “Israel.”

The order comes amid an effort by the European Union to label Israeli-made goods, a move the Israeli government called anti-Israel and that prominent anti-Semitism watchdog groups have condemned as among the worst incidents of anti-Semitism in 2015.

This is a shift from the administration’s previous position. A State Department spokesman told reporters in November that such labeling could be perceived as “a step on the way to a boycott” and said boycotts would be opposed by the administration.

But earlier this month, senior Obama administration officials defended the EU’s move and reaffirmed its position against “Israeli settlement activity.”

The new guidance references a decades-old administrative directive that sought to promote the import of Palestinian goods produced in the West Bank. The Obama administration is facing criticism for reinterpreting it and enforcing it to punish Israeli businesses.

The new memo, issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, is meant to “provide guidance to the trade community regarding the country of origin marking requirements for goods that are manufactured in the West Bank.”

Good produced in these areas are not to be labeled “with the words ‘Israel,’” according to the memo, which warns that inappropriate labeling will subject the products to “enforcement action” by Customs and Border Protection.

“Goods produced in the West Bank or Gaza Strip shall be marked as originating from ‘West Bank,’ ‘Gaza,’ ‘Gaza Strip,’ ‘West Bank/Gaza,’ ‘West Bank/Gaza Strip,’ ‘West Bank and Gaza,’ or ‘West Bank and Gaza Strip,’” according to the directive.

“It is not acceptable to mark the aforementioned goods with the words ‘Israel,’’ ‘Made in Israel,’ ‘Occupied Territories-Israel,’ or any variation thereof,” it states.

Goods that are erroneously marked as products of Israel will be subject to an enforcement action carried out by U.S. Customs and Border Protection,” the memo states. “Goods entering the United States must conform to the U.S. marking statute and regulations promulgated thereunder.”

Pro-Israel organizations have taken a firm stand against the explicit labeling of Jewish goods, with some viewing the latest memo as part of a larger effort to economically isolate Israel.

“This is an administration that slaps labels on Jewish goods on a Saturday and has the president give a Holocaust Remembrance speech the next Wednesday,” said Omri Ceren, a managing director at The Israel Project, an organization that promotes stronger U.S.-Israeli ties.

“It’s worse than incoherent. It needlessly alienates Israel at a time when the Middle East is falling apart and U.S. allies are looking for signals about whose side the administration is on,” he said.

A State Department official who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon on Thursday said that the department is aware of the new memo but does not view it as a shift in longstanding policy.

“We are aware that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection re-issued guidance on their marking requirements,” the official said. “There has been no change in policy or in our approach to enforcement of marking requirements.”

The latest guidance stands as a “restatement of previous requirements,” the official added. “CBP has made clear that it in no way supersedes prior rulings or regulations, nor does it impose additional requirements with respect to merchandise imported from the West Bank, Gaza Strip, or Israel.”

“Longstanding U.S. guidelines, dating to 1995, on country of origin product marking requires that products produced in the West Bank be marked as products of the West Bank, and products of Israel be marked as products of Israel,” the official explained.

Custom and Border Protection did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the memo.

Trump and the Veterans…Really?

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I remember Vietnam veterans often coming to my home years ago to sell light bulbs, you know those bulbs that are now banned? I bought them every time and I think I may still have at least a dozen in the cabinet. It’s not very well known that about 25% of transitioning veterans are interested in starting a new business and just need the right startup funding guide for veterans to help them. This is why I always try to help them but Trump? Humm, not so much.

Trump Website for Donations to Veterans Funnels All Money to Donald J Trump Foundation

TWS: Donald Trump is skipping tonight’s debate because, according to Trump, Fox News and Megyn Kelly have not been nice to him. Trump plans on holding a rally to benefit veterans instead, but The Federalist reports that Trump is funnelling all donations for veterans to his personal Donald J Trump Foundation–a charity that has treated veterans as an afterthought in recent years.

From The Federalist:

“Honor their valor,” the website, donaldtrumpforvets.com, states. “Donate now to help our Veterans.”

The website, which is nothing more than a single page with stock photos and a credit card donation form, claims that “100% of your donations will go directly to Veterans needs.”

There’s only one problem: 100% of the money raised on the site goes directly to Donald Trump’s personal non-profit foundation, according to a disclosure listed at the bottom of the page.

“The Donald J Trump Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization,” the disclosure reads. “An email confirmation with a summary of your donation will be sent to the email address provided above.”

As Forbes reported in October, the Donald J Trump Foundation barely gave more than $10,000 per year to veterans groups from 2009 to 2013. Trump’s net worth is estimated to be $4 billion. Trump’s donations to the Clinton Foundation totaled somewhere between $100,000 and $250,000.

Trump’s spokeswoman said that “Mr. Trump has made significant financial and in kind contributions to many Veterans organizations, personally and not through the Donald J. Trump foundation.” She declined to provide an estimate of how much Trump has personally given to veterans.

*** Wait, 300 words does not tell the whole story, there is more.

Donald Trump Wanted Vets Kicked Off Fifth Avenue

DailyBeast: Instead of debating his presidential rivals Thursday, the GOP frontrunner is hosting an event ‘to raise money’ for veterans. That’s rich, say the disabled veterans he tried to eject from the street outside Trump Tower.

Now that he has balked at facing Megyn Kelly at the Republican debate, Donald Trump will be embracing heroes.

“[Trump] will instead host an event in Iowa to raise money for the Veterans and Wounded Warriors, who have been treated so horribly by our all talk, no action politicians,” the Trump campaign announced.

Never mind that for more than a decade Trump sought to deprive veterans in need of their meager livelihood because he found them unsightly nuisances who should not be allowed anywhere near his gleaming headquarters on Fifth Avenue.

The Trump who now extols veterans spent years clamoring for New York City’s politicians to take action and ban even those street vendors with special disabled veteran’s licenses from the environs of Trump Tower.

As was reported in the New York Daily News, Trump wrote in a letter to the New York State Assembly back in 1991, “While disabled veterans should be given every opportunity to earn a living, is it fair to do so to the detriment of the city as a whole or its tax paying citizens and businesses?”

He went on, “Do we allow Fifth Avenue, one of the world’s finest and most luxurious shopping districts, to be turned into an outdoor flea market, clogging and seriously downgrading the area?”

He was still at it in 2004, when he wrote a letter to Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

“Whether they are veterans or not, they [the vendors] should not be allowed to sell on this most important and prestigious shopping street,” Trump declared.

He warned, “The image of New York City will suffer… I hope you can stop this very deplorable situation before it is too late.”

Army Veteran and Street Vendor, Sean Williams.

Michael Daly/The Daily Beast

Army Veteran and Street Vendor, Sean Williams.

The state Legislature had originally accorded a special vendor’s license to disabled veterans in the aftermath of the Civil War. Trump and other moneyed folks were not able to get the vendors banned, but the authorities did cap the total number of veterans with special licenses and restrict the number who could work on particular streets at a given time.

Peddlers were largely banned from Fifth Avenue, but they continued to sell their wares on the side streets.

On Wednesday, they included 48-year-old Sean Williams, who served in the U.S. Army from 1987 to 1992, and now sells hats and scarves on East 43rd Street, just off Fifth Avenue.

“I was going to re-enlist, but I had kids,” he said.

Williams has been supporting his family by peddling for the past 12 years, commencing around the time Trump wrote the mayor to say vets should not be allowed to sell on his street. Williams had no trouble characterizing Trump’s efforts.

“Despicable,” he said. “He never served. And not his kids.”

Williams uttered another word when he learned that Trump was using a veterans event to offset his absence from Thursday’s Republican debate.

“Wow!”

Planters in front of Tump Tower to ward off street vendors on 5th Avenue, New York.

Michael Daly/The Daily Beast

Planters in front of Trump Tower to ward off street vendors on Fifth Avenue, New York.

Two blocks uptown, at East 45th Street just off Fifth Avenue, Annette Seck was also selling hats and scarves. She served in the Army from 1980 to 1985.

“Talk about Private Benjamin…” she laughed.

Her son, now 27, also served in the Army and was deployed to Iraq. He returned with no physical wounds.

“He’s all right, I think,” she reported.

She worries that the war might have had unseen effects.

“I’m looking at him hard,” she said.

Her other worry is the business. The hyper-luxury enterprises such as Tiffany’s might be booming, but sidewalk stands that cater to the less wealthy 99 percent are way down.

“This is the worst year ever,” she lamented. “The money’s not there. People aren’t buying like they used to.”

She is aware of Trump’s efforts to chase the peddlers from the street. She counts the continued presence of her and her comrades as a defeat for The Donald.

“He lost, because of a lot of veterans in the street,” she said.

She then pondered the possibility of victories for The Donald, not just in the primaries but in the general election.

“If he gets elected, I’ll die,” she said simply.

Up on East 51st Street, just off Fifth Avenue and across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral, another hat and scarf vendor had a Disabled American Veterans sign on his cart. He declined to give his name or particulars, but he was quick to offer a word of his own regarding Trump hosting a veterans event on Thursday night.

“Disgusting.”

He was understandably dubious of Trump’s newfound fondness for those who served.

“Now he’s different,” the peddler said. “He’s born again.”

The peddler did not expect that this born-again Trump would now favor allowing disabled vets to sell their wares on the golden avenue where his tower stands.

“First class war vets, second class back-at-homes,” the peddler said.

He then added, “Go take a picture of the planters.”

He meant the large cement planters that Trump has placed outside the tower, not to ward off possible terrorists but to keep away peddlers.

As has been reported by The New York Times, Trump had used somewhat smaller planters to fill a marble bench in a stretch of the lobby that was ceded to the public in exchange for him being allowed to build 20 stories higher than zoning would have otherwise allowed.

City officials noted that the planters on the bench prevented the public from sitting there. Trump responded with a 1984 letter that presaged the ones he would write regarding disabled vet vendors.

“We have had tremendous difficulties with respect to the bench—drug addicts, vagrants, et cetera have come to the atrium in large numbers,” Trump wrote in the letter, as cited by the Times. “Additionally, all sorts of ‘horrors’ had been taking place that effectively ruined the beautiful ambience of the space which everyone loves so much.”

The city fined Trump, who subsequently removed the bench altogether. He replaced it with an elegant version of a hats and scarves stand such as disabled vets might set up on Fifth Avenue if they were allowed.

“THE TRUMP STORE,” the sign reads.

One item that no self-respecting disabled vet peddler would stock was on display on Wednesday afternoon: Trump’s book Crippled America. Vet peddlers who were crippled in service of America would likely only shake their heads on seeing the rest of the title.

How to Make America Great Again.

One disabled veteran who has been sidelined by medical troubles in recent days is Dondi McKellar. He was in the Navy during the 1980s, serving aboard the USS Boulder. He has been selling bubble blowers in the street since 2004.

“Everybody got their own thing, but bubbles make me happy,” he told The Daily Beast on Wednesday evening.

 

McKellar is the chairman of the veterans committee at the Street Vendor’s Project and an active participant in the effort by Veterans 4 Veterans to relax current regulations. The idea is to restore fully the promise the New York state Legislature made in 1894 that disabled veterans would be free to sell goods in the street.

“We’re part of why we have the freedom we have,” McKellar noted. “This country we served should give us the opportunity to come out and vend.”

He wishes big-business folks were able to recognize the vendors as fellow business folks.

“We have to start somewhere,” McKellar said.

Meanwhile, people in New York should keep an eye out for the yellow licenses or the blue licenses that signal a vendor is a disabled veteran.

“I would appreciate it,” McKellar said. “All my fellow veterans would as well if that would give you a reason to come over.”

He figures we should all rejoice at the thought of disabled veterans struggling to make their way on the same block as Trump Tower.

“It is what makes America great, we have such a great variety of everything,” McKellar said.

He does not expect that the day will come when Trump would welcome him.

“He wouldn’t have liked me in front of his establishment,” McKellar said.

He suspects Trump might be that rare person who proves immune to the charm of his bubbles, which seem to make almost everybody smile.

“If he gets upset with my bubbles…” McKellar began.

McKellar then said, “He get upset with Megyn Kelly, so I don’t put it past him.”