Category Archives: The Denise Simon Experience

Close the Camps Protests Scheduled Nationally

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Here we go: Go to Closethecampsnow dot org to get the information.

This Tuesday, July 2, while members of Congress are home for the Fourth of July holiday, we will gather at their local offices in protest. Our demands:

  1. Close the Camps
  2. Not One Dollar for Family Detention
 and Deportation
  3. Bear Witness and Reunite Families

Will you join a local Close the Camps protest near you this Tuesday, July 2? Find an event and bring everyone you know.

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Meanwhile, just published:

ICE Removals by Arresting Agency: FY2019 Q2 (01/01/2019 - 03/31/2019)

Statement attributable to Nathalie R. Asher (ICE Executive Associate Director) – The enforcement statistics from January-March 2019 illustrate that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is committed to arresting and removing unlawfully present aliens, with criminal histories, who threaten public safety and endanger immigrant communities. During this time period, more than 85 percent of aliens arrested by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers, and more than 91 percent of aliens removed from the interior of the United States, had received criminal convictions or pending criminal charges.

The situation at the border continues to impact interior enforcement, with ERO personnel routinely detailed to support the processing and detention of arriving aliens. Administrative arrests of criminal aliens over the first two quarters of FY19 are down 14 percent versus the same time period in FY18. And, ICE removals stemming from U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehensions have increased 10 percent in the first two quarters of FY19 over FY18. The agency is dedicated to using its authorities to enforce U.S. immigration laws, and ICE officers will continue to conduct enforcement humanely, respectfully and with professionalism.

ICE Removals by Arresting Agency: FY2019 Q2 (01/01/2019 – 03/31/2019)
Arresting Agency Convicted Criminal Pending Criminal Charges Other Immigration Violator Total
Total 34,960 6,024 22,556 63,540
CBP 19,281 2,512 20,708 42,501
ICE 15,679 3,512 1,848 21,039

Editor’s Note: The arrest and removal statistics provided in this announcement include preliminary data. Official numbers can vary slightly from preliminary data depending on when statistics are reported and collected. Enforcement data is not considered final and static until the end of the fiscal year.

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How bad is it really?

For months, Democrats denied the illegal immigration crisis at the southern border, with Sen. Chuck Schumer, flanked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, going so far as to accuse President Donald Trump of working to “manufacture a crisis, stoke fear and divert attention from the turmoil in his administration.”

The president, on the other hand, has made the situation on the southern border a top priority, in January declaring it both a “humanitarian and security crisis,” and stressing it ever since. Read the full summary here.

ANTIFA and the CVE Program(s)

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So far we can label this a failure…gotta wonder if residents in Portland were told to shelter in place or they just do it on their own.

The DHS website last updated in 2016 with respect to Countering Violent Extremism reads in part as follows:

Terrorism Prevention Partnerships

Violent extremist threats come from a range of groups and individuals, including domestic terrorists and homegrown violent extremists in the United States, as well as international terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIL. Lone offenders or small groups may be radicalized to commit violence at home or attempt to travel overseas to become foreign fighters. The use of the Internet and social media to recruit and radicalize individuals to violence means that conventional approaches are unlikely to identify and disrupt all terrorist plots.

Here in the United States, acts perpetrated by violent extremists can have far-reaching consequences. Terrorism Prevention Partnerships (TPP) have therefore become a key focus of DHS’s work to secure the homeland. TPP aims to address the root causes of violent extremism by providing resources to communities to build and sustain local prevention efforts and promote the use of counter-narratives to confront violent extremist messaging online.  Building relationships based on trust with communities is essential to this effort.

See something say something? Okay….Did the Portland Police report anything? The Mayor? The Governor? The citizens of Portland?

According to OregonLive, authorities knew well in advance:

Multiple demonstrations are taking place in downtown Portland on Saturday.

Online postings indicate two right-wing demonstrations are scheduled for Saturday: one involving the Proud Boys, a fraternal organization known for street fighting, and another organized by conservative activist Haley Adams and the “HimToo Movement.” Counterprotesters, including supporters of Rose City Antifa, are planning to gather in opposition.

Portland police say three sites — at Pioneer Square, Chapman Square and Waterfront Park — will be involved, and that the events will begin around noon. Lt. Tina Jones declined to comment on the groups that police were anticipating at each protest, or how many people they expected to be there.

UPDATED 6:49 p.m.: 3 arrested in downtown Portland protests involving antifa, right-wing groups

UPDATED 5:29 p.m.:

The protests are over. We’ll have a story up shortly.

So, seems this CVE/DHS program did not work out so well, right? Read on and ask yourself, is this the best we can do?

Terrorism Prevention Lines of Effort

OTPP implements a full-range of partnerships to support and enhance efforts by law enforcement, faith leaders, local government officials, and communities to prevent radicalization and recruitment by terrorist organizations.  OTPP also provides these stakeholders with training and technical assistance to develop CVE prevention programs in support of resilient communities. OTPP leads the Department’s CVE mission with the following objectives:

  • Community Engagement. OTPP works with the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to facilitate community engagements to build awareness and promote dialogue with community partners, which includes engagements with DHS senior leadership;
  • Field Support Expansion and Training. OTPP supports DHS field staff across the country to develop and strengthen local partnerships and to provide training opportunities;
  • Grant Support. OTPP worked with FEMA to provide $10 million in grants to community-based programs under the FY2016 Countering Violent Extremism Grant Program.  Those projects have a period of performance that runs through July 2019.
  • Philanthropic Engagement. OTPP works with the philanthropic community to maximize support for local communities, and encourage long-term partnerships;
  • Tech Sector Engagement. OTPP engages the tech sector to identify and amplify credible voices online and promote counter-narratives against violent extremist messaging.

There is some kind of procedure to be listed as a domestic terror group, but those details are fleeting in open source information. We have some big work to do and some questions to be answered. However, according to the FBI website here is a sample list for gangs/extremist groups:

11.30.10

Black September

11.30.10

Aryan Nation

12.06.10

Mexican Mafia

12.06.10

Mafia Monograph

12.06.10

Bloods and Crips Gang

11.30.10

Clarence Smith (aka 13x)

05.05.11

White Hate Groups

03.27.11

WACO / Branch Davidian Compound

03.23.11

Imperial Gangsters

Imperial Gangsters The Imperial Gangsters was a violent street gang based in Miami. In 1994, the FBI’s Miami Division proposed an undercover operation against the gang. In 1995, the division requested a reauthorization of the operation.

03.02.11

Black Guerilla Family

03.02.11

Black Mafia Family

05.17.11

Original Knights of the KKK

03.02.11

Gangster Disciples

11.30.10

Weather Underground (Weathermen)

11.30.10

American Nazi Party

11.30.10

Aryan Brotherhood

The Aryan Brotherhood, a violent white supremacist gang, formed within the California state prison system in the late 1960s. On August 9, 1982, the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office opened a racketeering enterprise investigation into the gang. The case was closed in 1989.

12.06.10

Nuestra Familia

12.06.10

Aryan Circle

11.30.10

George Jackson Brigade

12.06.10

The Covenant The Sword The Arm of the Lord

12.06.10

White Supremacist Groups

12.06.10

George Lester Jackson

(1941-1971)

12.06.10

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

12.06.10

The Hells Angels

11.29.10

Five Percenters

The Five Percenters was an offshoot of the Nation of Islam founded in Harlem in 1965 under Clarence Edward Smith, also known as Clarence 13X and other names. This release covers from 1965 to 1967 and consists of one main file primarily concerned with the group’s potential to foment public disturbances and containing a number of references to the group found in other FBI files.

11.30.10

Black Panther Party

The Black Panther Party (BPP) is a black extremist organization founded in Oakland, California in 1966. It advocated the use of violence and guerilla tactics to overthrow the U.S. government. In 1969, the FBI’s Charlotte Field Office opened an investigative file on the BPP to track its militant activities, income, and expenses. This release consists of Charlotte’s file on BPP activities from 1969 to 1976.

05.24.11

National Gang Threat Assessment

05.24.11

Almighty Latin Kings

03.02.11

El Rukns

The El Rukns, a violent street gang that trafficked in narcotics and stolen property, was established in the 1960s. FBI offices in Chicago, Springfield, Illinois, and Minneapolis investigated the gang in cooperation with local police and federal drug enforcement authorities. The materials in this release range from 1982 to 1991.

03.29.11

White Aryan Resistance

The White Aryan Resistance—also known as the White American Resistance (WAR)—is a white supremacist group. This release consists of two sections from an FBI investigation into the group. The dates range from 1987 to 1988.

 

Google/YouTube Declares Nazis Using The Dog Whistles

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Really Google? Perhaps try wearing the tyrannical high-tech moniker for a while.

A newly-published leaked document contains what appears to be an email exchange among Google employees participating in a “transparency-and-ethics” discussion that includes a reference to PragerU, Jordan Peterson, and Ben Shapiro as “nazis using the dog whistles.”

The document was published by Project Veritas Tuesday, a day after the conservative group released its report on how political and ideological bias influences the ways in which Google connects users to content. The group obtained the “newly leaked document from Google” via their tipline.

“The email apparently was sent as part of the Google ‘transparency-and-ethics’ group internal communications and suggests that content from PragerU, Jordan Peterson, and Ben Shapiro should be disabled from the ‘suggestion feature,'” Project Veritas reports.

“Today it is often 1 or 2 steps to nazis, if we understand that PragerU, Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro et al are nazis using the dog whistles you mention in step 1,” reads the email that appears to have been sent to over a dozen other Google employees. “I can receive these recommendations regardless of the content of what I’m looking at, and I have recorded thousands of internet users sharing the same experience. I don’t think correctly identifying far-right content is beyond our capabilities. But if it is, why not go with Meredith’s suggestion of disabling the suggestion feature?”

Project Veritas published the document a day after its exposé on Google which contains testimony from a whistleblower, additional leaked internal documents, and undercover video footage of an interview with the head of Google’s “Responsible Innovation” team, which monitors the responsible implementation of A.I. technologies.

“They want to act as gatekeeper between the user and the content they want to access, so they’re going to come in and they’re going to filter the content,” the whistleblower told Project Veritas’ James O’Keefe. “They’re going to say, ‘We don’t want to give the user access to that information because it’s going to create an outcome that’s undesireable to us.'”

As The Daily Wire reported, in the video O’Keefe and the insider discuss “leaked internal documents appearing to show how the search engine manipulates what information users see based on its ‘fair and equitable’ priorities, which at times filters out or deemphasizes factual information that its creators deem ‘unfair.'”

YouTube, which is owned by Google, has since pulled the video “due to a privacy claim by a third party.” This is the second Project Veritas video focused on Big Tech bias YouTube has pulled in two weeks.

High-End Russian Frigate in Cuba, Why?

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This advanced warship is using docking space formerly used by the U.S. cruise lines of Carnival and Norwegian.  The Russian frigate has an arctic port of Severomorsk and is part of the Northern fleet. Cuba gave a 21 gun salute greeting to the arrival. Remember too, that several weeks ago, Russia dispatched a pair of Tu-160 strategic bombers to Venezuela. Gotta wonder if this Russian frigate will make the next stop in Venezuela…

Military and Commercial Technology: "Admiral Gorshkov" project 22350 undergoing a final testing ...

A U.S. destroyer is off the coast of Havana, Cuba, shadowing a detachment of Russian naval ships that includes one of the country’s most advanced surface ships, USNI News has verified.

As of Tuesday morning, Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109) was roughly 50 nautical miles north of Havana and about 72 miles from Key West, Fla., operating in the Straits of Florida, according to publicly available ship location data reviewed by USNI News.

A day earlier, Russia’s first-in-class frigate Admiral Gorshkov arrived in Havana. Admiral Gorshkov was joined by support vessel Elbrus and salvage tug Nikolay Chiker, according to several media reports.

Navy officials told USNI News they were aware of the Russian detachment’s arrival in Cuba and were monitoring its activities. The same officials referred USNI News to U.S. Northern Command for more information on Dunham.

In a statement provided to USNI News on Wednesday morning, NORTHCOM said, “We are aware of the deployment of the Russian ship Gorshkov and are taking steps to actively track it. We won’t discuss all measures being taken, but NORAD is conducting air operations in defense of the U.S. and Canada and USNORTHCOM has deployed maritime assets to track Gorshkov.”

The first-in-class Admiral Gorshkov departed its homeport of Severomorsk, on the Barents Sea, on Feb. 26. This around-the-world cruise is the ship’s first significant deployment, according to a Russian Navy statement. Admiral Gorshkov made port calls to Djibouti, Sri Lanka and China. The frigate also visited Ecuador before passing through the Panama Canal, according to the Russian Navy.

The Russian Navy did not release information about Admiral Gorshkov’s visit to Cuba, only stating that “the Russian ships will continue to perform tasks in accordance with the long-range cruise plan and make business calls to the ports of some island states in the region.”

During the past decade, Russian naval ships have periodically visited Cuba, according to several media accounts, including a post from PBS News Hour. 

In the last several years, the Russian signals intelligence ship Viktor Leonov also has visited Cuba.

The Admiral Gorshkov class of frigates has a displacement of 4,500 tons, a top speed of 29 knots and a crew of about 210, according to an account posted on English-language Russian news site RT Sputnik. The ship features a modern Russian vertical launch system and a variety of anti-ship and land-attack missiles that parallel capabilities of modern U.S. and allied surface combatants.

The ship is the first of a new generation of Russian Navy surface ships that have been developed since the end of the Cold War. Russian surface forces have lagged behind their submarine counterparts, with limited deployments of surface action groups relative to submarines.

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The ship is the first in class of new blue water frigates for the VMF, according to Vice Admiral Viktor Bursuk, deputy chief of naval armaments. “We will operate four Gorshkov-class surface combatants,” he said.

The Admiral Gorshkov has a full displacement of 5,400 tonnes, a length of 135 m, a beam of 16 m, and a draft of 4.5 m. Its armament suite comprises 16 3M55 Oniks anti-ship missiles (ASMs) or 3M54/3M14 Kalibr ASMs/land attack missiles, a 9K96 Poliment-Redut naval air defence system, an RPK-9 anti-submarine rocket launcher, two 3M89 Palash close-in weapon systems, and an A-192 130 mm naval gun. The frigate also carries a Ka-27PL anti-submarine helicopter. The Admiral Gorshkov is powered by a combined diesel and gas turbine engine, producing a maximum speed of 30 kt. The ship has a range of 4,500 n miles and an endurance of 30 days. It has a crew of 180-210.

A military source told Jane’s the Admiral Gorshkov has already been assigned to the Northern Fleet’s 43rd Missile Ship Division.

Jane’s has also learned that sea trials of the second Project 22350 frigate, Admiral Kasatonov , are scheduled for late 2018.

The source also reported that the Severnoye Design Bureau (SPKB) started design work on the upgraded Project 22350M frigate in 2018. “The navy is planning to build a larger series of modernised [Project 22350] ships and to receive the first upgraded frigate in 2026,” the source said.

Iran’s New Terror Cells in Africa

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Primer:

Unit 400 is the special forces unit of the Quds Force, focused on planning and conducting attacks outside Iran. Within this remit, it also takes responsibility for transferring military aid to terror and guerrilla organizations around the world and coordinating their activities in order to prepare them to carry out attacks that serve the interests of the Iranian regime.

Unit 400 is an elite unit that works covertly and maintains maximum compartmentalization and secrecy. Given the sensitivity of the unit’s activities, its operations require special authorization from Quds Force chief commander Qassem Suleimani and ultimately from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The unit has been responsible for various attacks and attempted attacks that have been exposed in recent years, including the assassination of a Saudi diplomat in Pakistan in May 2011, plans to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. that were foiled in September 2011, and a series of plots in February 2012 in New Delhi, Tblisi and Bangkok.

The unit is headed by Major General Hamed Abdollahi, from the Shah-Abad district of Tehran. Abdollahi has been involved in violent terror activity including, for instance, the firing of an RPG at a Sunni mosque in Zahedan. He has served in various significant positions, including as commander of the Quds Force intelligence branch, commander of the IRGC in the Zahedan and Zabol provinces of east Iran, and as deputy to Qassem Suleimani when the latter commanded the 41st Division.  More here.

Qods Force | Iran Bulletin photo

Iran is setting up a network of terror cells in Africa to attack US and other Western targets in retaliation for Washington’s decision to impose sanctions against Tehran, according to Western security officials.

The new terror network has been established on the orders of Qassem Suleimani, the head of the Quds Force, the elite section of Iran’s Republican Guard Corps that has responsibility for overseas operations.

The aim of the new terror cell is to target US and other Western military bases on the continent, as well as embassies and officials.

The Iranian cells are said to be active in a number of African countries including Sudan, Chad, Ghana, Niger, Gambia and the Central African Republic.

“Iran is setting up a new terrorist infrastructure in Africa with the aim of attacking Western targets,” a senior Western security source told The Daily Telegraph. “It is all part of Tehran’s attempts to expand its terrorist operations across the globe.”

Intelligence officials say Iran has been working on the new terror network for the past three years since signing the nuclear deal on freezing its uranium enrichment activities with the US and other major world powers in 2015.

The operation is being organised by Unit 400, a highly specialised section of the Quds Force which is run by Hamed Abdollahi, a veteran Republican Guard officers who was designated by the US as supporting terrorist activity in 2012. Khatam-al Anbiya | Iran Business News

The African cell is said to be run by Ali Parhoon, another senior Iranian officer in Unit 400. Details of the terror cell’s existence were uncovered following a series of arrests in Chad in April.

Investigators found that Iran was behind the recruitment and training of men between the ages of 25-35 with the aim of committing terror attacks against Western targets on the continent.

There are estimated to be around 300 militants who have been recruited by the Revolutionary Guard and have undergone rigorous training at Iranian-run training camps in Syria and Iraq.

The last batch of recruits were trained at an Iranian base in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf. Iran’s attempts to establish a new terror operation in Africa follow revelations in The Telegraph earlier this month that British security officials caught terrorists linked to Iran stockpiling tonnes of explosives on the outskirts of London.

The British authorities believe this cell was also set up in 2015 after Iran signed the nuclear deal.

US diplomatic officials say a warning has been circulated to American diplomatic and military missions in the countries where Iranian militants are said to be operating, as well as missions of other Western countries, including Britain, France and Italy.

The revelation that Iran is setting up a new terror network in Africa comes at a time when Tehran has been accused of stoking tensions in the Gulf after Revolutionary Guard commanders confirmed that they were responsible for shooting down a US military drone operating close to the Strait of Hormuz.

In addition Iran has been blamed for carrying out attacks on a number of oil tankers operating in the Gulf that were damaged by mines.