New Committee Chair Cummings has 64 Subpoenas for Trump

Posted on November 15, 2018November 15, 2018 by Denise Simon

Yup, Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings will become the Oversight Committee Chairman in the new Congress and he has readied 64 subpoenas for Trump and his family over conflicting business deals, the hotel and more.

Meanwhile, the democrats are likely going to work to cut funding for the military, ICE and DHS. They will advance legislation to move the Federal minimum wage to $15.00 an hour and will continue to bail out health insurers to save Obamacare.

Ah but this democrat agenda can become more contentious and nasty if the democrats want to play a legal warfare game as the republicans can take some major counter-measures. Of course none of this is really good for the country but as President Trump declared more than once, we will restore law and order and those who violated law should in fact receive a consequence.

So, what should the republicans consider?

Declassify and release all Fast and Furious documents.
Declassify and release all HolyLand Foundation trial documents.
Declassify and release and IRS targeting scandal documents and subpoena emails and documents of Lois Lerner, Eric Holder, Doug Shulman, John Koskinen, Steven T. Miller, Daniel Werfel, Peter Kadzik, Elijah Cummings among others.
Department of Justice to formally open a case on Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the Pakistan IT scandal.
Announce a formal investigation into Dianne Feinstein’s Chinese operative employed in her California office and to demand Feinstein submit her investments in Chinese corporations/organizations.
Defund Planned Parenthood.
Defund Export Import Bank.
Investigate Maxine Waters and her use of campaign funds employing her daughter’s company.
Investigate newly elected congresswoman Debbie Muscarel Powell and her association(s) with Ihor Kolomoisky, a corrupt Ukrainian oligarch.
Open formal investigation into Keith Ellison.
Re-open criminal case against New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez.
Refer Bernie Sanders to the Senate Ethics Committee on loan scandal.
Release all the text messages and emails of Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
Open a formal and announced investigation into the Clinton Foundation and release what is in the file now.
Need we explain the Hillary email server thing? Git ‘er done.
Comey, McCabe, Ohr, and that crowd with the FISA warrant, communications and the dossier.
Investigate Sheila Jackson Lee’s office for the staffer’s doxxing operation.
How about Uranium One, Rosemont Capital and Vistria?
Then there is John Podesta, Tony Podesta, Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills and all of that.
But we cannot overlook the tarmac meeting and the role Loretta Lynch and her DoJ played in the coverup.
Benghazi? Was that ever resolved or the billions to Iran?
How about release of details on the side deals or payments for the Taliban 5 and Bergdahl or the Iran nuclear deal? Include Susan Rice and Ben Rhodes in these details.
Release communications on why Obama and the Justice Department canceled Operation Cassandra.
Release full report on John Brennan, former Director of the CIA and his role in ‘spygate’ along his spying on member of the senate.
Declare via Treasury and DHS, ANTIFA a domestic terror organization.
Release all payments made by Office of Compliance due to congressional member’s misconduct.

There of course are many other things to add to this list. You are invited to include some of your own ideas in the comments.

A Few More Details on Khashoggi vs. KSA

Posted on October 29, 2018October 29, 2018 by Denise Simon

MURDERED journalist Jamal Khashoggi was about to disclose details of Saudi Arabia’s use of chemical weapons in Yemen, sources close to him said last night. The revelations come as separate intelligence sources disclosed that Britain had first been made aware of a plot a full three weeks before he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Intercepts by GCHQ of internal communications by the kingdom’s General Intelligence Directorate revealed orders by a “member of the royal circle” to abduct the troublesome journalist and take him back to Saudi Arabia.

The orders, intelligence sources say, did not emanate directly from de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, and it is not known if he was aware of them.

Though they commanded that Khashoggi should be abducted and taken back to Riyadh, they “left the door open” for other actions should the journalist prove to be troublesome, sources said.

Last week Saudi Arabia’s Attorney General confirmed that the murder had been premeditated – – in contrast to initial official explanations that Khashoggi had been killed after a fight broke out.

“The suspects in the incident had committed their act with a premeditated intention,” he said.

“The Public Prosecution continues its investigations with the accused in the light of what it has received and the results of its investigations to reach facts and complete the course of justice.”

Those suspects are within a 15-strong hit squad sent to Turkey, and include serving members of GID.

Speaking last night the intelligence source told the Sunday Express: “We were initially made aware that something was going in the first week of September, around three weeks before Mr Khashoggi walked into the consulate on October 2, though it took more time for other details to emerge.

“These details included primary orders to capture Mr Khashoggi and bring him back to Saudi Arabia for questioning. However, the door seemed to be left open for alternative remedies to what was seen as a big problem.

“We know the orders came from a member of the royal circle but have no direct information to link them to Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

“Whether this meant he was not the original issuer we cannot say.”

Crucially, the highly-placed source confirms that MI6 had warned his Saudi Arabian counterparts to cancel the mission – though this request as ignored.

“On October 1 we became aware of the movement of a group, which included members of Ri’āsat Al-Istikhbārāt Al-‘Āmah (GID) to Istanbul, and it was pretty clear what their aim was.

“Through channels we warned that this was not a good idea. Subsequent events show that our warning was ignored.”

Asked why MI6 had not alerted its Five Eye intelligence partner, the US (Khashoggi was a US citizen) the source said only: “A decision was taken that we’d done what we could.”

However analysts offered one possible explanation for this.

“The misleading image that has been created of Jamal Khashoggi covers up more than it reveals. As an insider to the Saudi regime, Khashoggi had also been close to the former head of the intelligence agency.He was an Islamist, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and someone who befriended Osama Bin Laden and had been sympathetic to his Jihad in Afghanistan,” said Tom Wilson, of the Henry Jackson Society think-tank.

“All of these connections are being hidden by a simplistic narrative that Jamal Khashoggi was just a progressive freedom fighting journalist. It isn’t plausible that he was murdered simply for being a journalist critical of the regime. The truth is much more complicated.”

Last night a close friend of Mr Khashoggi revealed that he was about to obtain “documentary evidence” proving clams that Saudi Arabia had used chemical weapons in its proxy war in Yemen.

“I met him a week before his death. He was unhappy and he was worried,“ said the middle eastern academic, who did not wish to be named.

“When I asked him why he was worried, he didn’t really want to reply, but eventually he told me he was getting proof that Saudi Arabia had used chemical weapons. He said he hoped he be getting documentary evidence.

All I can tell you is that the next thing I heard, he was missing.”

While there have been recent unsubstantiated claims in Iran that Saudi Arabia has been supplying ingredients that can be used to produce the nerve agent Sarin in Yemen, it is more likely that Mr Khashoggi was referring to phospherous..

Last month it was claimed that Saudi Arabia had been using US-supplied white phosphorous munitions against troops and even civilians in Yemen,

Though regulations state the chemical may be used to provide smokescreens, if used illegally it can it burn to the bone.

Chemical warfare expert Col Hamish de Bretton-Gordon said: “We have already seen in Syria that nothing is as effective as chemical, weapons in clearing urban areas of troops and civilians – Assad has used phosphorous for this very reason.

“If Khashoggi did, in fact, have proof that Saudi Arabia was deliberately misusing phosphorous for this purpose, it would be highly embarrassing for the regime and provides the nearest motive yet as to why Riyadh may have acted when they did against him.”

***

Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, couldn’t have imagined one of the other characters in his book was going to be at the centre of a huge political and diplomatic controversy, no less than the book’s central character, namely Osama Bin Laden.

The book was adapted for television as a series with the same title and tells the story of Al-Qaeda’s infamous attacks on New York and Washington. In one paragraph, Wright mentions a close friend of Bin Laden’s who shared the latter’s ambition to “establish an Islamic state anywhere.” That friend was Jamal Khashoggi. Both Bin Laden and Khashoggi were at the time active members of the Muslim Brotherhood and later Bin Laden would split from the Brotherhood to form with Abdullah Azzam Al-Qaeda, the most dangerous organisation in the world. Khashoggi, Bin Laden, and Azzam, were all the merry companions of the same extremist group.

Today, the world is busy keeping up with the news of the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, journalist and Human Rights activist in Saudi Arabia, but very few know the man’s past and his affiliation with Al-Qaeda during the war in Afghanistan. He promoted Saudi Mujahedeen focusing on his friendship with Bin Laden.

On May 4, 1988, the Saudi daily Arab News published a report by Jamal Khashoggi about his tour in Afghanistan in the company of Al-Qaeda operatives. Even though Khashoggi was just a journalist doing a report, the photos published with the article show him wearing Afghani garb and shouldering a RBG rocket launcher. More here.

The Other Facts about Jamal Khashoggi

Posted on October 15, 2018October 15, 2018 by Denise Simon

The media is hardly revealing the other facts regarding Khashoggi. My buddy over at GMBDW did the work I was about to do. Hat tip to them.

First it should be mentioned that Saudi Arabia declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terror organization in 2014. Another key item is Jamal Khashoggi has been in self-imposed exile, living in Virginia for at least a year or more. He is quite critical of the Saudi Kingdom for quite some time. Remember, the Saudi royalty has been slowly and methodically working to alter the religious doctrine in the country, of which Khashoggi is against.

Khashoggi has been in print media for years, question is while being on the payroll of the Washington Post, did the ownership of WaPo know about his nefarious resume? If they did not, it is lousy journalism, if they did, we need to question the motivations of WaPo.

Why was he in Turkey in the first place? He has a friendship with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey. Jamal was about to marry and he recently bought an apartment in Istanbul.

So, what are the other facts?

Global media has been widely reporting on the alleged disappearance of Saudi national and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, often describing him in terms such as “a dissident-journalist critical of the oil-rich kingdom.” As the BBC recently reported:

Jamal Khashoggi, a well-known journalist and critic of the Saudi government, walked into the country’s consulate in Istanbul last week to obtain some documents and has not been seen since.

Generally but not always overlooked in the media coverage are Khashoggi’s ties to the Global Muslim Brotherhood. For example, British author and journalist John R. Bradley reports that Khashoggi joined the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1970’s:

October 11, 2018 In truth, Khashoggi never had much time for western-style pluralistic democracy. In the 1970s he joined the Muslim Brotherhood, which exists to rid the Islamic world of western influence. He was a political Islamist until the end, recently praising the Muslim Brotherhood in the Washington Post. He championed the ‘moderate’ Islamist opposition in Syria, whose crimes against humanity are a matter of record. Khashoggi frequently sugarcoated his Islamist beliefs with constant references to freedom and democracy. But he never hid that he was in favour of a Muslim Brotherhood arc throughout the Middle East. His recurring plea to bin Salman in his columns was to embrace not western-style democracy, but the rise of political Islam which the Arab Spring had inadvertently given rise to. For Khashoggi, secularism was the enemy.

Washington Post writer David Ignatius, who says he knew Khashoggi for 15 years, also reports that Khashoggi joined the Muslim Brotherhood at some unspecified time, likely while in the US for his education:

October 7, 2018 Khashoggi was passionate for reform of an Arab Muslim world that he considered corrupt and dishonest. He grew up in Medina, the son of a Saudi who owned a small textile shop. He went to the United States for college, attending Indiana State University. He also embraced Islam, joining the Muslim Brotherhood and, in the late 1970s, befriending the young Osama bin Laden, whom he tried to turn against violence.

Interesting is Khashoggi’s attendance at Indiana State University confirmed in a local media report which says he was an undergraduate student at Indiana State from 1977-1982, and was awarded a degree in business administration on May 7, 1983. According to a report by the GMBDW author, at the same time Khashoggi was attending university in Indiana, the state was the hub of the newly developing complex of organizations that would become the US Muslim Brotherhood. For example, the report notes a key meeting held in early 1977 described as follows:

As the Muslim Student Association (MSA) reached its mid-teens it began preparing for an expanded role in the service of Islam. It called an historic meeting of a cross-section of Islamic workers, in Plainfield, Indiana, in early 1397/1977. This meeting set up a task force to recommend a new organizational structure to respond to the increasing challenges and responsibilities emerging in the growing North American Muslim communities. The task force concluded that the new environment would be best served by establishing a broader umbrella organization called “ISNA.”

ISNA, the Islamic Society of North America, emerged out of the early US Muslim Brotherhood infrastructure and documents discovered in the course of the the terrorism trial of the Holy Land Foundation confirmed that the organization was part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. ISNA was named as a Holy Land unindicted co-conspirator as a result of what the US Justice Department called the organization’s “intimate relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Palestine Committee, and the defendants in this case.” Although not confirmed, it would seem more than possible that a Muslim student active in Indiana would have been interacting with the complex of US Brotherhood organizations rapidly developing at that time. Khashoggi is also known to have close relations with Saudi businessman Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal who appointed him to run the ill-fated Al Arab television station in Bahrain in 2015. As frequently reported by the GMBDW, Prince Talal is known to have made donations to both the ISNA and to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), also part of the US Muslim Brotherhood.

Not all reporting characterizes Khashoggi as a Muslim Brotherhood “member” although it should be remembered that membership is a nebulous concept when discussing the Global Muslim Brotherhood. The independent Turkish news portal Ahval claims that while Khashoggi was not a Brotherhood member he was “someone close to their ideas”:

October 10, 2018 Khashoggi is not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but someone close to their ideas, according to his friends, … “I cannot say he was an official member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Maybe he was at the beginning, but he had close ties. The leaders of the movement in Egypt and Tunisia were Jamal’s friends. After the Arab spring, he wanted political Islam to come to power. But he was not an Islamist,” Ahmed Zaki, from BBC Arabic said.

As for Khashoggi himself, Islamist media reported in 2017 that he denied that being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood although he characterized Brotherhood thought as “noble”:

September 11, 2017 Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi has denied that he is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. The writer, who has been banned from publication by the Saudi authorities for the past 9 months, pointed out that the Brotherhood allegation is directed at anyone believing in change, reform or the Arab Spring. Responding on Twitter to another user who asked who was behind the accusations directed at him, Khashoggi said: “For a while now, I have found that anyone who believes in reform, change, the Arab Spring, and freedom, and those who are proud of their religion and their country is labelled as being part of the Muslim Brotherhood. It seems that the Brotherhood’s school of thought is noble.”

However at the same time, and in another interview, Khashoggi gave a somewhat disingenuous denial of Brotherhood membership, stating that he was not “officially a member” but did not mind being referred to as such:

September 13, 2017 Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi confirmed the news stating that he was suspended from writing for Al-Hayat newspaper, based on a decision by Al-Hayat publisher Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and the recommendation of Fahd bin Khalid Al Saud.Commenting on the news, Khashoggi said in a tweet that “the decision of suspension was indeed made by the publisher. I spoke with his Highness a little while ago, we agreed to reject the dissemination of the culture of hatred, and disagreed with regards to the Muslim Brotherhood. I have much appreciation for him.” Khashoggi, who currently resides in Washington, has criticized the arrests of preachers, including Salman al-Awda and Awad al-Qarni, who are affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, adding that belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood “is not a charge,” further noting that he “does not feel offended if someone says I am [part of]the Brotherhood, although I am not officially a member.”

Consistent with ties to the Global Muslim Brotherhood is Khashoggi’s friendship with Azzam Tamimi, a UK activist for Hamas and a leader in the UK Muslim Brotherhood. According to an Associated Press report, the two hd been involved in setting up “pro-democracy” projects since 1992:

Khashoggi had incorporated his democracy advocacy group, DAWN, in January in Delaware, said Khaled Saffuri, another friend. The group was still in the planning stages, and Khashoggi was working on it quietly, likely concerned it could cause trouble for associates, including activists in the Gulf, Saffuri said. The project was expected to reach out to journalists and lobby for change, representing both Islamists and liberals, said another friend, Azzam Tamimi, a prominent Palestinian-British activist and TV presenter. … Tamimi said he and Khashoggi had set up a similar pro-democracy project together in 1992 when they first met. It was called Friends of Democracy in Algeria, he said, and followed the botched elections in Algeria, which the government annulled to avert an imminent Islamist victory.

Although described as a “democracy advocacy group” it should be noted that in reality, as described in an ABC News report, DAWN was in fact a stalking horse for the inclusion of “Sunni Political Islam” in Middle Eastern governments, presumably including Saudi Arabia. Another self-described Islamic Democracy group is the US-based Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) where Khashoggi gave the keynote address in April 2018 and were he reportedly:

applauded the efforts made by organizations like CSID in advocating for democracy and freedom of speech and helping save the Middle East from drowning in dark ages of dictatorship.

Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) was founded in 1998 in what appears to have been a cooperative effort among the US Muslim Brotherhood, the US State Department and Georgetown University academic Dr. John Esposito who served during the 1990’s as a State Department “foreign affairs analyst” and who has at least a dozen past or present affiliations with global Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas organizations. From its inception, CSID has argued that the U.S. government should support Islamist movements in foreign countries and has received financial support from the U.S. State Department, the National Endowment for Democracy and the United States Institute of Peace.

It should also be noted that the British journalist John R. Bradley, has reported that Khashoggi instructed his fiancée to contact former Turkish MP and AK Party leader Yasin Aktay in case he failed to come out of the consulate. Aktay is known to be a close advisor to Muslim Brotherhood supporter and Turkish President Erdogan and the AK Party is an Islamist party close to the Global Muslim Brotherhood.

The evidence offered above strongly suggests that Jamal Khashoggi was not only a long-time member of the Muslim Brotherhood and close to the Global Muslim Brotherhood but was, in fact, actively supporting Brotherhood-related projects as recently as April of this year as evidenced by his key note address on behalf of the CSID. The GMBDW wished to state in the clearest terms that none of the above should be taken as support for any violence that may or may not have been committed against Mr. Khashoggi by any party. The evidence does however raise serious questions about how such an individual came to be associated with the Washington Post and why he is generally fêted as a “pro-democracy reformer” by so much of the global media. Perhaps much of that media is not aware that the Muslim Brotherhood is often categorized by academics as a “reformist movement.”

While it would seem unlikely and/or unusual that such a prominent journalist would be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the GMBDW has long reported on the example of Waddah Khanfar, the former General Manager of Al Jazeera who is tied to both the Global Muslim Brotherhood and to Hamas as well as currently serving as a trustee of the US-based International Crisis Group.

We should also add that this is by no means the only example of the Washington Post showing astonishingly bad judgment with respect to the Global Muslim Brotherhood. In February 2017, we reported on the Post’s shoddy work with respect to an article purporting to fact check recent series of claims about long-time Hilary Clinton aide Huma Abedin. As we wrote at that time:

The GMBDW only hopes, and our hopes are perpetually dashed, that the mainstream media in the US would once again assume its rightful role as the guardian of the public interest with respect to the topic.

More Photos From 9/11, 17 Years Later

Posted on September 11, 2018September 11, 2018 by Denise Simon

The attack(s) continue to claim victims years later due to developing illnesses. Many may be unaware that post 9/11, illness claimed the lives of 3 FBI agents.

There is a fund with more than a billion dollars that has been available to survivors to have financial aid assisting in medical needs. Congress funded this account and frankly, Saudi Arabia and Iranian al Qaeda supporters should be funding this.

Meanwhile, for those too young to remember, share the following please:

The September 11th attacks took the lives of more than 3,000 Americans, and transformed the US in countless ways.

It sparked the Global War on Terror (which the US is now fighting in 76 countries), and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

It led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Patriot Act.

And it also fundamentally changed New York City.

In honor of the 17th anniversary of the horrific attacks, we compiled 17 photos showing how Manhattan’s Financial District and skyline have changed since 9/11 as the city rebuilt Ground Zero. See for yourself:

Here’s an aerial view of the Twin Towers on a peaceful June day in 1999.

Associated Press

But that skyline was horrifically shaken a little more than two years later.

Associated Press

You can see the stark difference between this August 30, 2001 photo and a photo taken from the spot 16 days after the attacks. It would take several months for rescuers to go through the rubble.

Reuters

In December 2003, a design for the new One World Trade Center was finally unveiled.

An aerial view showing the footprint of the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan, with the Hudson River, left, on Friday Sept. 10, 2004.
Associated Press

In addition to the 1,776 foot One World Trade Center building, the site would also come to include four other World Trade Center buildings, a 9/11 Memorial and Museum, the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center, a WTC Transportation Hub, and Liberty Park.

Sources: New York City Port Authority, Curbed

But about four years after the unveiling, the site still looked about the same, as construction was hamstrung by lawsuits, budget overruns, design changes, and a recession.

Photo shows the World Trade Center site, center, surrounded by skyscrapers in New York in Aug. 29, 2007.
Associated Press

Source: Time

In 2009, the 9/11 memorial pools was starting to take shape.

Associated Press

The Freedom Tower was just starting to rise from the rubble.

Cranes work at the World Trade Center site on Jan. 27, 2009.
Associated Press

In June 2010, the skyscraper was slowly rising.

Associated Press

By July 2011, the memorial waterfalls were being tested, and One World Trade Center’s facade was beginning to reflect the sky.

Associated Press

Here’s the Manhattan skyline in August 2011. You can see the unfinished tower beginning to peek over the other skyscrapers.

One World Trade Center towers over the lower Manhattan skyline, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2011 in New York. The skyscraper is now 76 floors and will reach 104 floors.
Associated Press

The memorial waterfalls officially opened in September 2011, and the museum, seen on the right, opened in May 2014.

The September 11 Museum entrance pavilion, right, sits next to one of the September 11 Memorial pools, at the World Trade Center Monday, April 14, 2014.
Associated Press

By November 2014, One World Trade Center was completed, as was 4 World Trade Center (left) and 7 World Trade Center (right.) But 3 World Trade Center, seen here with the crane above it, still wasn’t finished.

A construction crane works on top of the rising steel frame of Three World Trade Center, center, November 20, 2014 in New York.
Associated Press

The WTC Transportation Hub, on which the soaring white Oculus was built, was also under construction in late 2014.

The WTC Transportation Hub and One World Trade Center as seen from Church Street, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014, in New York.
Associated Press

The hub officially opened in June 2016, when 3 World Trade Center was still under construction.

3 World Trade Center, center, reaches its full height of 80 stories in New York in this June 22, 2016 photo.
Associated Press

The $50 million Liberty Park also opened in June 2016. From there, visitors can get an overhead view of the Ground Zero memorial.

A visitor to Liberty Park take a selfie, Wednesday, June 29, 2016, in New York. The one-acre, elevated Liberty Park opened to the public Wednesday.
Associated Press

Source: Gothamist

It took 3 World Trade Center another two years to be completed. This June 8, 2018 photo shows 3 World Trade Center, One World Trade Center, 4 World Trade Center, the 9/11 Memorial, and Liberty Park finally complete.

In this June 8, 2018 photo, 3 World Trade Center, second from right, joins its neighbors One World Trade Center, left, and 4 World Trade Center, right, next to the September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York. The center’s latest skyscraper opens Monday.
Associated Press

And the Manhattan skyline was forever changed.

New World Trade Center Tower in June 7, 2018.
Associated Press

Then there was the Pentagon:

The FBI released 27 new photos of the Pentagon on 9/11

FBI

The FBI has released 27 new photos of the Pentagon on 9/11 after it was struck by a plane that was hijacked by five terrorists.

Five al-Qaeda terrorists took over American Airlines flight 77, which was traveling from Washington DC to Los Angeles, as it flew over eastern Kentucky. They then turned it back towards Washington, D.C., eventually crashing it into the Pentagon, killing 184 people.

The pictures released by the FBI show debris from the plane, the Pentagon on fire and crews putting out the blaze and cleaning up the damage.

Debris from American Airlines flight 77.

FBI

More debris from the flight, which appears to be part of the body of the plane.

FBI

The red “C” in the American Airlines logo is clearly visible in this picture.

FBI

Dark smoke billows up over the flames still burning.

FBI

Crews working to put out the blaze.

FBI

Crews use heavy machinery to clean up the damage.

FBI

A large hole in the wall, which appears to have been caused by blowout.

FBI

A side view of the blowout hole.

FBI

Crews inspecting the damage.

FBI

Workers using more heavy machinery to clean up the damage.

FBI

Firefighters gazing down at the wreckage.

FBI

The Pentagon, seen at a distance, still smoldering.

FBI

Crews still going through the wreckage.

FBI

Crews in Haz Mat suits walking near the damage.

FBI

Workers shoveling up the ash and small debris.

FBI

Workers holding an American flag near the site.

FBI

Workers still picking up the debris.

FBI

A view inside the Pentagon.

FBI

Another view of the inside of the Pentagon.

FBI

A view from inside the Pentagon looking out.

FBI

A view from the top of where the plane struck the Pentagon.

FBI More here.

London’s Crime is Surging and 80 Terrorists to be Released

Posted on July 30, 2018July 30, 2018 by Denise Simon

photo

London’s Mayor, Sadiq Khan is under fire for the growing crime in his city. How can the murder rate be higher than in New York?

As of March, London accounted for 17 percent of all recorded crime in England and Wales in the year prior, as well as 42 percent of all recorded robberies. A third of all knife crime took place in London as well.

London temporarily overtook New York in the number of murders in early 2018. In February, London’s police investigated 15 murders while New York saw 11 homicides. In March, the Metropolitan Police murder numbers increased further to 22, while the NYPD’s jumped to 21. New York has since recorded more murders.

Remember those Beatles, ISIS suspects? Well, Britain’s Home Office has suspended cooperation with the United States in extraditing them mostly due to the death penalty.

A combination picture shows Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, who the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) identified as British nationals, in undated handout pictures in Amouda, Syria, released February 9, 2018 by the Syrian Democratic Forces.HANDOUT/REUTERS

Dozens of convicted terrorists are about to be released

BRITAIN is bracing itself, with 80 terrorists expected to be free to walk the streets by Christmas — and that’s not all the bad news.

AS MANY as 80 convicted terrorists will be free to roam British streets by the end of the year, including an Islamist preacher who urged people to join the Islamic State.

The extraordinary situation has arisen because about 40 per cent of the sentences for terrorism issued between 2007 and 2016 will have ended by Christmas — meaning police are powerless to stop them walking free.

Police and the government have admitted more resources will have to be pumped into keeping a close eye on the terrorists, at a time when resources are already stretched coping with a crime wave that has seen 80 killings in London so far this year.

UK Security Minister Ben Wallace said police would focus on getting them to “disengage” from extremism, but that would require a different approach than trying to prevent them being radicalised in the first place.

“It is a concern because what we are seeing nowadays is a large group of people who have effectively crossed the Rubicon to becoming radicalised. That is the mindset that they have now accepted or adapted,” he told BBC Radio.

To deal with the influx, police would be putting resources into efforts to “to try and make them disengage — that is slightly different from ‘deter them in the first place’ … and into how we effectively supervise them if they are released back into the community”.

That meant monitoring the terrorists, which inevitably would come at a cost both financial and through rediverting staff from other duties.

The actual number released could even be higher than 80, as some prisoners are eligible for release halfway through their sentences.

Those eligible for parole include Anjem Choudary, an Islamist preacher, who was jailed for five years in 2016 for inviting people to support Islamic State.

All the sentences given to people for financing terrorism, having terrorist information, or not disclosing information about terrorist acts, will have expired by the end of the year. Another two dozen will have lapsed by next year.

The discovery of the end of the sentences for 40 per cent of those issued between 2007-2016 was made by The Guardian last month. A former head of counter-terrorism, Richard Walton, told the paper the release of so many convicted terrorists was “worrying” — and any attempt to monitor them was “time-intensive” especially when the individuals knew they were being watched, so “often lie low for a period”.

Terrorist prisoners released on licence place a resource burden on both specialist counter-terrorism detectives and on mainstream policing. A risk-management process is used to monitor those released on licence and the monitoring of high-risk offenders is extremely resource-intensive.”

He went on to say: “Intelligence is often insufficient to gauge whether they have any intent to reoffend owing to their recent incarceration.”

That made monitoring them after their release even more difficult, especially as they were aware of the close attention security agencies were paying to them.

A program already exists to try to integrate terrorists back into the community, but so many returning to the community means extra vigilance will be needed.

To add to the problem the probation union has already warned its resources were stretched, while a 2016 review found extremism in British jails — where 700 inmates are considered to have extremist views — meant there was a real risk prisoners could be radicalised while they were behind bars.

News.com.au asked police what steps were being taken to ensure public safety given Mr Walton’s view and that of Mr Wallace, who believed there were challenges ahead.

A spokesman from the Met Police would only say they and intelligence agencies were working “tirelessly and at pace” to keep the public safe from terrorism.

“This includes monitoring and assessing existing and emerging threats and risks, including the release of convicted terrorists, and putting into place actions to mitigate them through a range of operations and activities.”

A Home Office spokesman told news.com.au national security would always be the government’s “main priority”.

“Terrorists released on licence are closely managed by the National Probation Service. They are subject to very restrictive licence conditions including, for example, living in approved premises; restrictions on movement and stringent curfews. Failure to adhere to conditions results in enforcement action, including prison recall.”

Terrorists are managed by multiple agencies and preparations begin months before their release. But the Home Office would not discuss specifics, and refused to say how many were being released.

“All offenders of extremist or terrorist concern are managed actively as part of a comprehensive counter-terrorism case management process. It would not be appropriate to release figures for how many of those offenders due to be released this year are deemed to be high risk.”

Since March last year there have been 12 terror plots thwarted and four other extreme far-right plots, and there can be up to 500 active investigations at any one time.

Meanwhile, this week a UK think tank urged the Government to replace laws surrounding treason that date back to 1351.

In a statement, Policy Exchange said a new treason law updated for modern times was needed, and argued a workable law of treason would mean offenders could be convicted and jailed for much longer.

“Many of them will … have betrayed this country. If they had been convicted of treason and imprisoned for life, the UK would be considerably safer,” the statement said.