Category Archives: 2nd Amendment

Islamic State’s suspected inroads into America, Current Threats

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First there is the video threat from Iran:

Then we have the leader of al Qaeda with this published threat:

Reuters: Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on young Muslim men in the United States and other Western countries to carry out attacks inside there and urged greater unity between militants.

“I call on all Muslims who can harm the countries of the crusader coalition not to hesitate. We must now focus on moving the war to the heart of the homes and cities of the crusader West and specifically America,” he said in an audio recording posted online on Sunday, referring to nations making up the Western-led coalition in Iraq and Syria.

He suggested Muslim youth in the West take the Tsarnaev and Kouachi brothers, who carried out the Boston marathon bombings and Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris respectively, and others as examples to follow.

Then we have the existing cases in the United States.

The Islamic State’s suspected inroads into America

 For the full article and interactive map courtesy of the Washington Post, click here.

U.S. authorities have charged 64 men and women around the country with alleged Islamic State activities. Men outnumber women in those cases by about 5 to 1. The average age of the individuals — some have been charged, others have been convicted — is 25. One is a minor. The FBI says that, in a handful of cases, it has disrupted plots targeting U.S. military or law enforcement personnel.

 

12 New York
10 Minnesota
5 California
5 Illinois
4 North Carolina
4 New Jersey
3 Texas
3 Virginia
3 Missouri
2 Florida
2 Ohio
2 Massachusetts
2 Mississippi
1 Colorado
1 Pennsylvania
1 Wisconsin
1 Kansas
1 Georgia
1 Rhode Island
1 Arizona

New York

11 Pending

1 Convicted

Mufid A. Elfgeeh Rochester, N.Y.

Charged: Sept. 15, 2014 | Age when charged: 30

Elfgeeh encouraged two other people to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State and helped prepare them for the trip, according to the U.S. government. He also discussed the idea of shooting U.S. military members, saying he was thinking that he would “just go around and start shooting.” After he purchased two handguns with silencers and ammunition, the FBI says, he was arrested by members of the Rochester, N.Y., Joint Terrorism Task Force. Source.

Nihad Rosic Utica, N.Y.

Charged: Feb. 6, 2015 | Age when charged: 26

Rosic, a Bosnian native who became a naturalized citizen, is among six other Bosnian immigrants accused of sending money and military supplies to terror groups in Iraq and Syria. The government said that last July, he tried to board a flight from New York to Syria to join the fighting. Source.

Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev Brooklyn, N.Y.

Charged: Feb. 25, 2015 | Age when charged: 24

Juraboev made a posting on an Uzbek-language Web site propagating Islamic State theology, offering to kill the president of the United States if ordered by the Islamic State, according to the government. The indictment said he then planned to travel to Turkey and then Syria to wage jihad on behalf of the group. Source.

Akhror Saidakhmetov Brooklyn, N.Y.

Charged: Feb. 25, 2015 | Age when charged: 19

Saidakhmetov, a citizen of Kazakhstan, was arrested while trying to board a flight to Istanbul. The government alleges that he and Juraboev were planning to go to Syria to wage jihad on behalf of the Islamic State. Source.

Abror Habibov Brooklyn, N.Y.

Charged: Feb. 25, 2015 | Age when charged: 30

Habibov, who is Uzbeki, helped pay for Saidakhmetov’s effort to join the Islamic State, the government alleges. Source.

Noelle Velentzas Brooklyn, N.Y.

Charged: April 2, 2015 | Age when charged: 28

Velentzas and Asia Siddiqui were allegedly preparing an explosive device to detonate in the United States. According to the government’s complaint, Velentzas at one point pulled a knife from her bra and demonstrated how to stab someone to Siddiqui and an undercover police officer, saying, “Why we can’t be some real bad bitches?” Source.

Asia Siddiqui Brooklyn, N.Y.

Charged: April 2, 2015 | Age when charged: 31

Velentzas and Siddiqui were until recently roommates in an apartment in Queens. Siddiqui acquired multiple propane gas tanks, as well as instructions on how to turn them into explosive devices, according to the government. Source.

Dilkhayot Kasimov Brooklyn, N.Y.

Charged: April 6, 2015 | Age when charged: 26

The government alleges that Kasimov, together with Habibo, helped fund Saidakhmetov’s efforts to join the Islamic State, collecting more than $1,600 for him to use on his trip to Syria. Kasimov also encouraged other people to join the fight, according to the charges. Source.

Akmal Zakirov Brooklyn, N.Y.

Charged: June 8, 2015 | Age when charged: 29

Zakirov allegedly helped fund another person’s trip to join ISIS. Source.

Munther Omar Saleh Queens, N.Y.

Charged: June 16, 2015 | Age when charged: 20

Saleh, a college student in Queens studying electrical circuitry, allegedly planned to attack New York City landmarks on behalf of the Islamic State. The government said Saleh also translated Islamic State propaganda into English.

Fareed Mumuni Staten Island, N.Y.

Charged: June 17, 2015 | Age when charged: 21

Prosecutors allege Mumuni was part of a plot to detonate a presure-cooker bomb on behalf of the Islamic State. The government also says Mumuni stabbed an FBI agent with a kitchen knife when officials arrived at his home with a search warrant. Source.

Arafat M. Nagi Lackawanna, N.Y.

Charged: July 29, 2015 | Age when charged: 42

Nagi, the FBI alleges, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He also traveled to Turkey twice intending to meet with ISIS members, according to the government. Source.

Minnesota

9 Pending

1 Convicted

Abdiwali Nur Minneapolis

Charged: Nov. 24, 2014 | Age when charged: 20

According to the criminal complaint, Nur became “much more religious,” talking about how his family needed to pray more. He boarded a flight for Turkey and told someone on Facebook that he had gone “to the brothers.” Source.

Abdullahi Yusuf Minneapolis

Charged: Nov. 24, 2014 | Age when charged: 18

Yusuf was asssociated with a former Minnesota resident now believed to be fighting in Syria, according to the U.S. government. His parents didn’t know he had purchased a plane ticket to Istanbul. After his father drove him to school, he left for the airport, where FBI agents stopped him. Source.

Yusra Ismail St. Paul, Minn.

Charged: Dec. 2, 2014 | Age when charged: 20

Ismail, an ethnic Somali, was a shy Muslim woman who told her family she was going to a friend’s bridal shower, according to Minnesota Public Radio. Instead, she had stolen a friend’s passport and called days later to tell her family she was in Syria. “We hope she pops up randomly and tells us it was a prank,” a sister said to MPR. Source.

Hamza Naj Ahmed Minneapolis

Charged: Feb. 4, 2015 | Age when charged: 19

Ahmed was among a group of Minnesotans accused of trying to join the Islamic State. He was stopped at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York before he boarded a plane to Istanbul, said the FBI. Source.

Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahman Minneapolis

Charged: April 20, 2015 | Age when charged: 19

Abdurahman was part of a group of six Minnesota men who planned to travel to Syria in order to assist ISIS, the government alleges. Source.

Adnan Farah Minneapolis

Charged: April 20, 2015 | Age when charged: 19

Farah, who attempted to travel to Syria, told his mother that he wanted to study in China after high school and so he obtained a passport, which his parents then kept from him for fear he would disappear, according to government documents. Source.

Hanad Mustafe Musse Minneapolis

Charged: April 20, 2015 | Age when charged: 19

Musse, along with three others, attempted to reach Syria by first taking a Greyhound bus from Minneapolis to New York City, and then flying to Europe. Source.

Guled Ali Omar Minneapolis

Charged: April 20, 2015 | Age when charged: 20

Omar planned to leave the United States to join ISIS, the government alleges, and withdrew $5,000 in cash in the weeks up to his attempted departure. Source.

Abdirahman Yasin Daud Minneapolis

Charged: April 20, 2015 | Age when charged: 21

Daud was among the group of six Minnesota men trying to reach Syria to fight for ISIS. A witness called to testify on Daud’s behalf said she had known him since he was an eighth-grader and that he was “an extremely calm person” who always walked away from conflicts on the basketball court, according to Minnesota Public Radio. Source.

Mohamed Abdihamid Farah Minneapolis

Charged: April 20, 2015 | Age when charged: 21

Farah, together with a group of other Minnesota men, allegedly tried to reach Syria to join ISIS. Farah attempted to use a fake passport, saying, “The American identity is dead. Even if I get caught, I’m whatever … I’m through with America. Burn my ID,” according to the government. Source.

California

4 Pending

1 Convicted

Nicholas Teausant Acampo, Calif.

Charged: March 17, 2014 | Age when charged: 20

A student at a community college in Stockton, Calif., Teausant had been a member of the National Guard. The government alleges that he posted a message online: “Lol I been part of the army for two years now and I would love to join Allah’s army but I don’t even know how to start.” He later tried to get to Canada, thinking he was meeting someone who would help him get to Syria. Agents arrested him at the border. Source.

Adam Dandach Orange, Calif.

Charged: July 16, 2014 | Age when charged: 20

Dadanch, a U.S. citizen also known as “Fadi Fadi Dandach,” allegedly lied so that he could replace his passport after a family member took his original one to prevent him from traveling to Syria. He told FBI agents he was going to Syria to pledge his help to the Islamic State. Source.

Mohamad Saeed Kodaimati San Diego

Charged: April 23, 2015 | Age when charged: 24

Born in Aleppo, Syria, Kodaimati came to the United States around 2001 and later became a U.S. citizen, according to government documents. Prosecutors say he made false statements about his activites in Syria, claiming he did not know anyone who was a member of the Islamic State. Source.

Muhanad Badawi Anaheim, Calif.

Charged: May 22, 2015 | Age when charged: 24

Badawi and Elhuzayel allegedly used social media to discuss ISIS and their desire to die as martyrs. According to the government, Badawi let Elhuzayel use his credit card to buy a plane ticket to the Middle East. Source.

Nader Elhuzayel Anaheim, Calif.

Charged: May 22, 2015 | Age when charged: 24

Elhuzayel and Badawi discussed their support for the Islamic State, according to the FBI and Badawi is accused of purchasing a plane ticket for Elhuzayel to travel to the Middle East and fight for the Islamic State. Elhuzayel’s mother described her son to the Los Angeles Times as “a simple, gullible, nice kid.” Source.

Illinois

5 Pending

0 Convicted

Mohammed Hamzah Khan Bolingbrook, Ill.

Charged: Oct. 6, 2014 | Age when charged: 19

The government alleges a roundtrip ticket was purchased for Khan to travel from Chicago to Istanbul. A search at Khan’s home recovered multiple handwritten documents drafted by Khan and others expressing support for the Islamic State, the government says. Source.

Mediha Salkicevic Schiller Park, Ill.

Charged: Feb. 6, 2015 | Age when charged: 34

Salkicevic, a Bosnian native who immigrated to the United States and became a naturalized citizen, worked with others to transfer money to support ISIS fighters. She is married with four children. Source.

Jasminka Ramic Rockford, Ill.

Charged: Feb. 6, 2015 | Age when charged: 42

A Bosnian native who came to the United States and became a naturalized citizen was part of a group of accused of providing money and military equipment to Islamic State fighters. Source.

Hasan Rasheed Edmonds Aurora, Ill.

Charged: March 25, 2015 | Age when charged: 22

Edmonds was arrested while trying to fly to Cairo. The government alleges that he and his cousin Jonas planned for Hasan, a current member of the Illinois Army National Guard, to join ISIS. Jonas was then supposed to carry out an attack in the United States Source.

Jonas Marcel Edmonds Aurora, Ill.

Charged: March 25, 2015 | Age when charged: 29

Same as Hasan Edmonds. Source.

North Carolina

1 Pending

3 Convicted

Akba Jihad Jordan Raleigh, N.C.

Charged: April 1, 2014 | Age when charged: 21

The government accused Jordan of discussing with Brown their interest in traveling overseas to fight non-Muslims in either Syria or Yemen. The government alleged that Jordan served as a tactics instructor for Brown. Source.

Avin Marsalis Brown Raleigh, N.C.

Charged: April 1, 2014 | Age when charged: 21

Brown allegedly claimed to have a friend who had been hurt in Syria and wanted to join the fighting. He and Jordan planned to join ISIS in Syria, the government says. Source.

Donald Ray Morgan Rowan County, N.C.

Charged: Oct. 30, 2014 | Age when charged: 44

The U.S. government says Morgan tried at least once to travel from Lebanon to Syria to join the Islamic State. He also was charged with providing support in early 2014 to the militant group. Source.

Justin Nolan Sullivan Burke County, N.C.

Charged: June 22, 2015 | Age when charged: 19

Sullivan’s father tipped off authorities after noticing disturbing behavior from his son, according to NBC News. The FBI alleges Sullivan was plotting a terrorist attack inspired by ISIS and that he also wanted to kill his parents.

New Jersey

4 Pending

0 Convicted

Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh Neptune, N.J.

Charged: Jan. 16, 2015 | Age when charged: 47

Pugh, a U.S. Air Force veteran born and raised in the United States, attempted to travel to Syria and fight with the Islamic State, according to federal authorities. He appears to be the first U.S. military veteran known publicly to have tried to join ISIS. Source.

Samuel Rahamin Topaz Fort Lee, N.J.

Charged: June 18, 2015 | Age when charged: 21

Topaz, a U.S. citizen, allegedly planned a trip to the Middle East to join the Islamic State. A friend described two other individuals as “trying to recruit” Topaz and “preying” on his insecurities and “pain.” Source.

Alaa Saadeh Hudson County, N.J.

Charged: June 22, 2015 | Age when charged: 23

Saadeh, who was working full-time and finishing a business administration degree at Berkeley College, watched Islamic State propaganda videos with a few others and talked about traveling overseas to join the group, according to the FBI and the New Jersey Herald. He and his brother Nader, who was also charged, were born in North Bergen to Jordanian parents. Source.

Nader Saadeh Bergen County, N.J.

Charged: Aug. 10, 2015 | Age when charged: 29

Saddeh allegedly sent messages expressing his hatred for the United States and his interest in forming a small army with friends. The FBI said he researched flights to Turkey and received the name and number of an ISIS contact near the Turkey/Syria border who would help him reach militants. Source.

Texas

2 Pending

1 Convicted

Michael Todd Wolfe Austin

Charged: June 18, 2014 | Age when charged: 23

Wolfe was arrested trying to board a flight out of Houston, with the hope of eventually landing in Syria to join the Islamic State’s armed conflict, according to the U.S. government. He had been doing physical fitness training to prepare. Source.

Bilal Abood Mesquite, Tex.

Charged: May 15, 2015 | Age when charged: 37

An Iraqi-born naturalized U.S. citizen, Abood allegedly pledged allegiance to the leader of ISIS and then misled the FBI about his travels to Syria. Source.

Asher Abid Khan Spring, Tex.

Charged: May 25, 2015 | Age when charged: 20

Khan and a friend set out to reach Syria to join ISIS, but while en route, his family convinced him to turn around by telling him that his mother was critically ill. Source.

Virginia

1 Pending

2 Convicted

Heather Elizabeth Coffman Richmond

Charged: Nov. 14, 2014 | Age when charged: 29

Coffman, a mother living in Richmond, used social media to show her support for the Islamic State. According to court documents, she became romantically involved with a man whom she tried to help reach Syria to fight with the militant group. Source.

Reza Niknejad Woodbridge, Va.

Charged: June 10, 2015 | Age when charged: 18

Niknejad, with help from his friend Ali Shukri Amin, traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State and said to his mother after he left that he would “fight against these people who oppress the Muslims,” according to the FBI. Source.

Ali Shukri Amin Woodbridge, Va.

Charged: June 11, 2015 | Age when charged: 17

Amin, a suburban high school student who secretly ran a popular pro-Islamic State Twitter account, helped a friend get to Syria and join ISIS, according to court documents. Amin was born in Sudan and became a naturalized citizen early in his youth. Source.

Missouri

3 Pending

0 Convicted

Ramiz Zijad Hodzic St. Louis

Charged: Feb. 6, 2015 | Age when charged: 40

Ramiz Zjad Hodzic and his wife, Sedina, were Bosnian natives who immigrated to the United States as refugees. The two gathered money to purchase U.S. military uniforms and tactical gear, intending to transfer them to people fighting with ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Source.

Sedina Hodzic St. Louis

Charged: Feb. 6, 2015 | Age when charged: 35

Same as Ramiz Zjad Hodzic Source.

Armin Harcevic St. Louis

Charged: Feb. 6, 2015 | Age when charged: 37

Harcevic, a Bosnian native who immigrated to the United States and became a lawful permanent resident, was part of a group of calling themselves “Bosnian Brothers,” among other names, that contributed money people fighting for ISIS. Source.

Florida

1 Pending

1 Convicted

Miguel Moran Diaz Miami

Charged: April 2, 2015 | Age when charged: 45

Diaz called himself a “Lone Wolf” for ISIS, according to the FBI, and wanted to acquire a rifle and scratch “ISIS” into the shell casings. Source.

Harlem Suarez Key West, Fla.

Charged: July 27, 2015 | Age when charged: 23

Suarez, who was living with his parents, allegedly said he wanted to recruit others who wanted to join the Islamic State and discussed possibly launching terrorist attacks in Florida. Source.

Ohio

2 Pending

0 Convicted

Christopher Cornell Green Township, Ohio

Charged: May 7, 2015 | Age when charged: 20

A resident of the Cincinnati area, Cornell allegedly expressed support for ISIS and then plotted to attack the U.S. Capitol in a military-style assault. Source.

Robert C. McCollum Sheffield, Ohio

Charged: June 19, 2015 | Age when charged: 38

McCollum changed his name to Amir Said Abdul Rahman Al-Ghazi and began discussing Islamic extremism on social media, according to the FBI. In his postings, the government alleges, he spoke about carrying out terrorist attacks in the United States and said he would “cut off the head of his non-Muslim son if necessary.” Source.

Massachusetts

2 Pending

0 Convicted

David Wright Everett, Mass.

Charged: June 12, 2015 | Age when charged: 25

Wright and Nicholas Rovinski of Rhode Island allegedly conspired to attack and behead a man who had organized a conference in Garland, Tex., featuring cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad. Source.

Alexander Ciccolo Adams, Mass.

Charged: July 4, 2015 | Age when charged: 23

Ciccolo, allegedly a supporter of the Islamic State, spoke with another person about setting off explosive devices, such as a pressure cooker. His father, a Boston police captain, sent a tip to the FBI about his estranged son, according to the Boston Globe. Source.

Mississippi

2 Pending

0 Convicted

Jaelyn Delshaun Young Starkville, Miss.

Charged: Aug. 11, 2015 | Age when charged: 20

Young, a 2013 honors high school graduate, told undercover FBI agents that she wanted to join the Islamic State in Syria, saying “I just want to be there,” according to the FBI. The government says she and Dakhlalla were married and planned to travel to the Middle East using their honeymoon as a cover story. Source.

Muhammad Oda Dakhlalla Starkville, Miss.

Charged: Aug. 11, 2015 | Age when charged: 22

Dakhlalla, a 2015 Mississippi State University graduate, was the son of the imam at the Islamic Center of Mississippi in Starkville, according to the Associated Press. Dakhlalla planned to join the Islamic State along with Young. Source.

Colorado

0 Pending

1 Convicted

Shannon Maureen Conley Denver

Charged: April 9, 2014 | Age when charged: 19

Conley, a Muslim convert, told federal agents she wanted to use the American military training she gained from the U.S. Army Explorers to launch a holy war in the Middle East. She told federal agents she planned to go live with a Tunisian man who she met online and who claimed to be fighting for Islamic State. A nurse’s aide, Conley said she planned to become a housewife and a nurse at the man’s camp. Source.

Pennsylvania

1 Pending

0 Convicted

Keonna Thomas Philadelphia

Charged: April 3, 2015 | Age when charged: 30

Thomas, a mother in Philadelphia also known as “YoungLioness,” tried to travel overseas to join ISIS and martyr herself, according to the government’s charges. She communicated with an Islamic State fighter in Syria, who asked Thomas if she wanted to join. She responded, “that would be amazing…a girl can only wish.” Source.

Wisconsin

1 Pending

0 Convicted

Joshua Ray Van Haften Madison, Wis.

Charged: April 9, 2015 | Age when charged: 34

Van Haften told a number of people in person and over social media that he sympathized with ISIS and traveled to Turkey, intending to arrive in Syria to fight, according to the government. Source.

Kansas

1 Pending

0 Convicted

John T. Booker Jr. Topeka, Kan.

Charged: April 10, 2015 | Age when charged: 20

The government alleges that Booker tried to detonate a vehicle bomb at the Fort Riley military base in Kansas on behalf of ISIS. Source.

Georgia

0 Pending

1 Convicted

Leon Nathan Davis Augusta, Ga.

Charged: May 27, 2015 | Age when charged: 37

A convicted felon, Davis tried to board a flight to Turkey to allegedly join ISIS. He told the judge as he was being sentenced that he had been “brainwashed” by online radical Muslim propaganda, according to the Associated Press. Source.

Rhode Island

1 Pending

0 Convicted

Nicholas Rovinski Warwick, R.I.

Charged: June 12, 2015 | Age when charged: 24

Same as David Wright. Source.

Arizona

1 Pending

0 Convicted

Ahmed Mohammed El Gammal Avondale, Ariz.

Charged: Aug. 27, 2015 | Age when charged: 42

Gammal, an Arizona resident, allegedly helped a New York college student receive terrorist training in Syria.

SOURCE: Department of Justice. Swati Sharma and Julie Tate contributed to this report.

Pope Francis is Breaking the Catholic Doctrine, Revolt at Vatican

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On the very same day that the Kentucky clerk, Kim Davis is ordered released from jail by a local judge for adhering to her inalienable rights to her belief system, a religious debate is underway throughout America.

Anyone remember the Obama administration suing the Little Sisters of the Poor due to Obamacare and birth-control?

Inalienable rights, cannot be surrendered, sold, suspended or transferred at the behest of any government and Kim Davis stood stern.

Meanwhile, while so many issues challenge America, one place to normally seek stability, sense or morality is church, but such is not the case with the Catholic Church or the Vatican.

Due to Pope Francis and what most of the media is not saying, the Papacy and the Vatican is in crisis, in Rome and honestly across the globe.

The edge of a movement is underway at home and worldwide, the rise of the moral and religious compass.

A Conservative revolt is brewing in the Vatican as Pope Francis introduces more inclusive measures

VATICAN CITY — On a sunny morning earlier this year, a camera crew entered a well-appointed apartment just outside the 9th-century gates of Vatican City. Pristinely dressed in the black robes and scarlet sash of the princes of the Roman Catholic Church, the Wisconsin-born Cardinal Raymond Burke sat in his elaborately upholstered armchair and appeared to issue a warning to Pope Francis.

A staunch conservative and Vatican bureaucrat, Burke had been demoted by the pope a few months earlier, but it did not take the fight out of him. Francis had been backing a more inclusive era, giving space to progressive voices on divorced Catholics as well as gays and lesbians. In front of the camera, Burke said he would “resist” liberal changes — and seemed to caution Francis about the limits of his authority. “One must be very attentive regarding the power of the pope,” Burke told the French news crew.

Papal power, Burke warned, “is not absolute.” He added, “The pope does not have the power to change teaching (or) doctrine.”

Burke’s words belied a growing sense of alarm among strict conservatives, exposing what is fast emerging as a culture war over Francis’s papacy and the powerful hierarchy that governs the Roman Catholic Church.

This month, Francis makes his first trip to the United States at a time when his progressive allies are heralding him as a revolutionary, a man who only last week broadened the power of priests to forgive women who commit what Catholic teachings call the “mortal sin” of abortion during his newly declared “year of mercy” starting in December. On Sunday, he called for “every” Catholic parish in Europe to offer shelter to one refugee family from the thousands of asylum-seekers risking all to escape war-torn Syria and other pockets of conflict and poverty.

Yet as he upends church convention, Francis also is grappling with a conservative backlash to the liberal momentum building inside the church. In more than a dozen interviews, including with seven senior church officials, insiders say the change has left the hierarchy more polarized over the direction of the church than at any point since the great papal reformers of the 1960s.

The conservative rebellion is taking on many guises, in public comments, yes, but also in the rising popularity of conservative Catholic websites promoting Francis dissenters; books and promotional materials backed by conservative clerics seeking to counter the liberal trend; and leaks to the news media, aimed at Vatican reformers.

In his recent comments, Burke was also merely stating fact. Despite the vast powers of the pope, church doctrine serves as a kind of constitution. And for liberal reformers, the bruising theological pushback by conservatives is complicating efforts to translate the pope’s transformative style into tangible changes.

“At least we aren’t poisoning each other’s chalices anymore,” said the Rev. Timothy Radcliffe, a liberal British priest and Francis ally appointed to an influential Vatican post in May. Radcliffe said he welcomed open debate, even critical dissent within the church. But he professed himself as being “afraid” of “some of what we’re seeing”

Rather than stake out clear stances, the pope is more subtly, often implicitly, backing liberal church leaders who are pressing for radical change, while dramatically opening the parameters of the debate over how far reforms can go. For instance, during the opening of a meeting of senior bishops last year, Francis told those gathered, “Let no one say, ‘This you cannot say.’ ”

We have a serious issue right now, a very alarming situation where Catholic priests and bishops are saying and doing things that are against what the church teaches

Since then, liberals have tested the boundaries of their new freedom, with one Belgian bishop going as far as calling for the Catholic Church to formally recognize same-sex couples.

Conservatives counter that in the climate of rising liberal thought, they have been thrust unfairly into a position in which “defending the real teachings of the church makes you look like an enemy of the pope,” a senior Vatican official said on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely.

“We have a serious issue right now, a very alarming situation where Catholic priests and bishops are saying and doing things that are against what the church teaches, talking about same-sex unions, about Communion for those who are living in adultery,” the official said. “And yet the pope does nothing to silence them. So the inference is that this is what the pope wants.”

A measure of the church’s long history of intrigue has spilled into the Francis papacy, particularly as the pope has ordered radical overhauls of murky Vatican finances. Under Francis, the top leadership of the Vatican Bank was ousted, as was the all-Italian board of its financial watchdog agency.

One method of pushback has been to give damaging leaks to the Italian news media. Vatican officials are now convinced that the biggest leak to date — of the papal encyclical on the environment in June — was driven by greed (it was sold to the media) rather than vengeance. But other disclosures have targeted key figures in the papal cleanup — including the conservative chosen to lead the pope’s financial reforms, the Australian Cardinal George Pell, who in March was the subject of a leak about his allegedly lavish personal tastes.

More often, dissent unfolds on ideological grounds. Criticism of a sitting pope is hardly unusual — liberal bishops on occasion challenged Benedict. But in an institution cloaked in traditional fealty to the pope, what shocks many is just how public the criticism of Francis has become.

In an open letter to his diocese, Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, wrote: “In trying to accommodate the needs of the age, as Pope Francis suggests, the Church risks the danger of losing its courageous, countercultural, prophetic voice, one that the world needs to hear.” For his part, Burke, the cardinal from Wisconsin, has called the church under Francis “a ship without a rudder.”

Even Pell appeared to undermine him on theological grounds. Commenting on the pope’s call for dramatic action on climate change, Pell told the Financial Times in July, “The church has got no mandate from the Lord to pronounce on scientific matters.”

In conservative circles, the word “confusion” also has become a euphemism for censuring the papacy without mentioning the pope. In one instance, 500 Catholic priests in Britain drafted an open letter this year that cited “much confusion” in “Catholic moral teaching” following the bishops’ conference on the family last year in which Francis threw open the floodgates of debate, resulting in proposed language offering an embraceable, new stance for divorced or gay Catholics.

That language ultimately was watered down in a vote that showed the still-ample power of conservatives. It set up another showdown for next month, when senior church leaders will meet in a follow-up conference that observers predict will turn into another theological slugfest. The pope himself will have the final word on any changes next year.

Conservatives have launched a campaign against a possible policy change that would grant divorced and remarried Catholics the right to take Communion at Mass. Last year, five senior leaders including Burke and the conservative Cardinal Carlo Caffarra of Bologna, Italy, drafted what has become known as “the manifesto” against such a change. In July, a DVD distributed to hundreds of dioceses in Europe and Australia, and backed by conservative Catholic clergy members, made the same point. In it, Burke, who has made similar arguments at Catholic conferences, issued dire warnings of a world in which traditional teachings are ignored.

The pope does not have the power to change teaching (or) doctrine

But this is still the Catholic Church, where hierarchical respect is as much tradition as anything else. Rather than targeting the pope, conservative bishops and cardinals more often take aim at their liberal peers. They include the German Cardinal Walter Kasper, who has suggested that he has become a proxy for clergy members who are not brave enough to criticize the pope directly.

Yet conservatives counter that liberals are overstepping their bounds, putting their own spin on the pronouncements of a pope who has been more ambiguous than Kasper and his allies are willing to admit.

“I was born a papist, I have lived as a papist, and I will die a papist,” Caffarra said. “The pope has never said that divorced and remarried Catholics should be able to take Holy Communion, and yet, his words are being twisted to give them false meaning.”

Some of the pope’s allies insist that debate is precisely what Francis wants.

“I think that people are speaking their mind because they feel very strongly and passionately in their position, and I don’t think the Holy Father sees it as a personal attack on him,” said Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich, considered a close ally of the pope. “The Holy Father has opened the possibility for these matters to be discussed openly; he has not predetermined where this is going.”

Stefano Pitrelli contributed to this report.

The End is Near for the EU and the Schengen Agreement?

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It was an experiment, a treaty in 1985 and not implemented until 1995 where borders were eliminated in Europe. Stop and think about that a minute or two.

The Schengen Agreement covers two different agreements that were ratified in 1985 and 1990 respectively. Between them, they abolished border controls and made transit through Europe a lot easier. The two individual agreements said the following:

1985 – The Schengen Agreement of 1985 was made between the Benelux Economic Union, the French Republic and the Federal Republic Of Germany. All of those governments agreed to abolish border check on the borders that they shared. Instead of stop and search tactics, every vehicle that had a green visa disc in the windscreen could simply drive on through. There were still to be guards on the borders to visually check the vehicles as they crossed into another country. This is commonly known as Schengen I.
1990 – The 1990 Schengen Agreement, which is also known as Schengen II, went one step further. It made provisions for the complete elimination of border checks over a period of time.
Both Schengen Agreements were a major breakthrough for the traffic in Europe. Queues would often be a mile long waiting for border patrols to wave them through, but the agreements enabled this to be brought to an end. Now people can cross into neighbouring countries without having to show any form of ID. Of course, airlines still require you to show it for security purposes, but border controls are a lot easier to navigate and do not even exist in some cases.

Sixteen European countries have now adopted the Schengen Agreement. They are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxemburg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands. This is because the original Schengen Agreements were actually referred to in the framework of the European Union and included in the law.

To create a common free travel condition, a new visa was issued. The Schengen Agreement was based on the Treaty of Rome whereby common policing would be used and well as judicial policy, economic policy (sharing) and more a common used of identity documents.

Most recently, the burden of sustaining Europe has fallen on Germany and it was not but a few months ago that Scotland voted to leave the United Kingdom where that initiative was defeated. Then the financial spiral of Greece, threatened to be the first country to possibly be forced out of the union. Then in recent months, there is a movement in Great Britain to reconsider the European Union membership.

Based on the immediate refugee crisis in the Middle East affecting all corners of Western and Eastern Europe, could it be that each country is having internal discussions about amending or terminating this agreement? If not, they should. Shared sacrifice and more forced policy for unique countries and cultures will no longer be a viable condition in coming years.

Simply noted is that Brits want out.

When this condition is brought home for a domestic debate, look no further than NAFTA and the policy of Barack Obama of the expanded Visa Waiver Program, the backdoor Dreamer White House project and worse the lifting of quotas on foreigners into the United States, known as the Johnson Reed Act, which was essentially an emergency piece of legislation and has been amended, updated and expanded to include a wide variety of foreign/international operations, trade and conditions.

The lesson for this article is watch Europe closely. There are citizens there not happy with the Schengen Agreement, remaining in the union and it could soon have new consequences. If it has never for the most part worked in Europe, it wont work here, and further, America has a U.S. Constitution and each respective state does as well.

Fair warning America.

 

Meanwhile, the BRICS’ have $100 Billion, Operational

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Back to Irregular Warfare, as previously posted on this site:

$100bn BRICS monetary fund now operational

The five leaders of BRICS met in Ufa, Russia on 9 July 2015 [Xinhua]

The $100 billion BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) has become fully operational following the inaugural meetings of the BRICS CRA Board of Governors and the Standing Committee in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

“The first meetings of the governing bodies mark the start of a full-scale operation of the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement as an international institution with activities set to enhance and strengthen cooperation,” said a Russian Central Bank statement on Friday.

BRICS leaders Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Jacob Zuma, Narendra Modi and Dilma Rousseff witnessed the signing of the agreement on the CRA in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza in July 2014.

The agreement entered into force on July 30, 2015.

China will provide the bulk of the funding with $41 billion, Brazil, Russia and India with $18 billion each, and South Africa with $5 billion.

The CRA is meant to provide an alternative to International Monetary Fund’s emergency lending. In the CRA, emergency loans of up to 30 per cent of a member nation’s contribution will be decided by a simple majority. Bigger loans will require the consent of all CRA members.

Meanwhile, Finance Ministers from the five BRICS countries have met in Ankara on the sidelines of the G20 meeting of global finance ministers and central bankers, amid growing worries about the state of the global economy.

With a looming US federal Reserve rate hike and Chinese market turbulence sending shock waves through emerging markets, the IMF has lowered its global growth forecast.

A G20 communique after their two-day meeting in the Turkish capital Ankara noted that global growth was falling short of expectations.

“Global growth falls short of our expectations. We have pledged to take decisive action to keep the economic recovery on track and we are confident the global economic recovery will gain speed,” the statement said.

The G20 vowed to “carefully calibrate and clearly communicate our actions … to minimise negative spillovers, mitigate uncertainty and promote transparency”.

As the BRICS countries launched new financial institutions like the $100 billion BRICS Bank, the China-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, and a $100 billion BRICS currency reserve fund, the IMF has once again delayed voting reforms to give emerging countries greater say.

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Meanwhile, Putin is rejoicing in the European refugee crisis, this too is part of Irregular Warfare.

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Refugee Crisis: EU bearing burden of US foreign policy, says Putin

Refugees are prevented by police from entering the Keleti railway station in Budapest, Hungary on September 1, 2015 [Xinhua]

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is willing to hold snap parliamentary elections and share power with a “healthy opposition”.

Russia and Iran, have backed Assad since Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011.

Russia, along with other members of the BRICS bloc, have insisted on  international efforts being geared to bring about a ‘political solution’ to the crisis rather than a military one.

Syria’s conflict began with anti-government demonstrations in March 2011, which soon spiraled into a multi-front civil war that has left more than 230,000 people dead, according to UN estimates.

“Overall there is an understanding that the unification of forces in the fight against terrorism should proceed in parallel with some sort of political process within Syria. The Syrian president agrees with that, all the way down to holding early parliamentary elections, establishing contacts with the so-called healthy opposition, and bringing them into the governing,” Putin said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Friday.

“But this is, first of all, an issue of internal Syrian development; we are not imposing anything, but are ready to facilitate this internal Syrian dialogue,” he added.

A 2013 accord, brokered by Russia, took Assad’s declared chemicals out of Syria in an 11th-hour move to avert US bombing.

The Syrian government is fighting a number of rebel groups as well as radical militant organizations, including militants from ISIL and the Nusra Front.

“By the way, the people aren’t fleeing from the regime of Bashar Assad. They are fleeing from ISIL, which has seized their territories, including considerable parts of Syria, Iraq,” Putin said referring to the refugee crisis in Europe.

Russia has stressed in the past that Washington’s refusal to coordinate its airstrikes against purported ISIL positions in Syria with Damascus is a “mistake.” Western and Arab leaders have shied away from cooperating with Assad in the fight against the Islamic State to avoid being seen as legitimising his rule.

More than 300,000 people have crossed to Europe by sea so far this year and more than 2,600 have died during these desperate journeys.

“I think the crisis was absolutely expected. We in Russia, and me personally several times said it straight that pervasive problems would emerge, if our so-called Western partners continued to maintain their flawed, as I always stressed it, foreign policy, which they pursue to date, especially in regions of the Muslim world [such as] Middle East, North Africa,” Putin said on Friday.

“And it is, first of all, the policy of our American partners. Europe is blindly following this policy within the framework of the so-called allied liabilities, and in the end shoulders the entire burden. I am now quite surprised that some of the American mass media are criticizing Europe for what they consider to be excessive cruelty towards migrants,” the Russian President added.

As refugees land on European shores, “the ‘United States of Europe’ appeared singularly dis-united”, writes journalist and Faculty of Media at London College of Communication, Russell Merryman.

“While the EU itself resorted to lofty rhetoric about working together to deal with the crisis and developing equitable ways of distributing refugees among the member states, some of Merkel’s European partners began to retreat into petty nationalism,” writes Merryman.

“The worst display was from Hungary which built a 180km fence, while their pugnacious prime minister, Viktor Orban, said it was Germany’s problem and that the refugees threatened to undermine Europe’s Christian roots,” he adds.

 

 

Congress: Islamist Terror Threat Matrix

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U.S. Terror Matrix

 

 

 

The full House of Representatives 8 page report is here.

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The jihadist threat in the U.S. homeland is high and has escalated dramatically this year. There have been more U.S.-based jihadist terror cases in 2015 than in any full year since 9/11. The number of U.S. terrorist cases involving homegrown violent jihadists has gone from 38 in July 2010 to 124 today—more than a three-fold increase in just five years.

• ISIS is fueling the Islamist terror wildfire across the globe at unprecedented speed. As of the end of August, the group has inspired or directed 57 terror attack plots against Western targets, including 15 in the United States. A recent train attack in France would have been a mass-casualty attack had it not been for an alert group of Americans. There have now been nearly twice as many ISIS-linked attack plots against the West this year (37) as there were in all of 2014 (20).

• Islamist terrorists are intent on killing American law enforcement and military personnel, in addition to innocent civilians. Radicals are increasingly targeting men and women in uniform here in the United States. In August, ISIS supporters released another “hit list” of American government personnel, including service members. Since early 2014, the majority of Islamist terror plots on U.S. soil have featured plans to kill police or U.S. service members.

• ISIS has largely maintained its terror safe havens in Syria and Iraq while expanding globally more than a year after the U.S. and its allies launched operations against it. Al Qaeda affiliates from Syria to Yemen have also carved out sanctuary and seized additional terrain. ISIS retained control over its major strongholds in Syria and Iraq while undertaking disruption attacks and offensives in key territory; ISIS-affiliated militants have simultaneously consolidated control in Libya. Foreign fighters continue to swell the ranks of Islamist extremist groups looking to recruit foot soldiers and activate followers to launch attacks in their home countries.

HOMEGROWN ISLAMIST EXTREMISM

The jihadist threat in the U.S. homeland is high and has escalated dramatically this year.

By the numbers

• Since September 11, 2001, there have been 124 U.S. terrorist cases involving homegrown violent jihadists. Over 80 percent of these cases—which include plotted attacks and attempts to join foreign terrorist organizations—have occurred or been disrupted since 2009.1

 

• Authorities have arrested or charged at least 52 individuals in the United States this year – 67 since 2014 – in ISIS-related cases. The cases involve individuals: plotting attacks; attempting to travel to join ISIS overseas; sending money, equipment and weapons to terrorists; falsifying statements to federal authorities; and failing to report a felony.2

• FBI Director James Comey has said authorities have hundreds of open investigations of potential ISIS-inspired extremists that cover all 56 of the bureau’s field offices in all 50 states. He stated there may be hundreds or thousands of Americans who are taking in recruitment propaganda over social media applications: “It’s like the devil sitting on their shoulders, saying ‘kill, kill, kill.”

Recent Developments

• August 24: Ahmed Mohammed El Gammal, 42, was arrested in Avondale, Arizona, for helping a 24-year-old New York City resident travel to Syria to receive military training from ISIS. El Gammal was an avid ISIS supporter online and engaged the recruit through social media before in-person meetings. El Gammal and the recruit communicated with an unnamed co-conspirator based in Turkey.

TERROR PLOTS AGAINST THE WEST

ISIS is fueling the Islamist terror wildfire across the globe at unprecedented speed.

By the numbers

• Since early 2014, there have been 57 planned or executed ISIS-linked terror plots against Western targets, including 15 inside in the United States.3

• There have been nearly twice as many ISIS-linked plots against Western targets in the first seven months of this year (37) than in all of 2014 (20).4

Recent Developments

• August 21: A 25-year-old Moroccan national, Ayoub El Khazzani, attacked passengers on a train in Thalys, France, before a group led by three Americans, including two service members on vacation, subdued him. Khazzani was armed with an arsenal of weapons and 270 rounds of ammunition. He watched a jihadist propaganda video before attempting to launch his attack. He had lived in and attended a radical mosque in Spain before relocating to France. He had also lived in Belgium and traveled from Germany to Turkey in early May before returning to Europe in June. This trip was reportedly part of a plot to fight with ISIS in Syria.

• August 13: ISIS’s “hacking division” released information regarding 1,400 American government personnel, including service members, and encouraged supporters to track down and attack them. The list included names, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers. ISIS operative and hacker Junaid Hussain had been central to similar plots targeting servicemembers; Hussain was eliminated in an August 24th drone strike in Syria.

FOREIGN FIGHTERS

Undeterred by airstrikes, foreign fighters continue to pour into the conflict zone in Syria and Iraq, bolstering ISIS and representing a potential threat to their home countries—including America—upon return.

By the numbers

• More than 25,000 fighters from 100 countries have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join extremists—the largest convergence of Islamist terrorists in world history. U.S. estimates reportedly put its current manpower at 20,000-30,000 members. “We’ve seen no meaningful degradation in their numbers” since last August, according to a defense official.

• Approximately 4,500 Western fighters have traveled to Syria and Iraq.5 Europol recently assessed that the high-end estimate of EU citizens who left to fight in Syria may have been as high as 5,000 at the beginning of this year.

• An estimated 550 Western women have traveled to the conflict zone.

Read the whole report here.