Paris under attack

[kscarbel2]

With the Brussels and Istanbul airport attacks in mind............

A CNN investigation in December revealed that the nearly 300 aviation police officers at O'Hare and Midway airports are not only unarmed, but they are instructed to "run and hide" in the event of an active shooter.

How do you feel about that?

 

[41chevy]

37 minutes ago, kscarbel2 said:

With the Brussels and Istanbul airport attacks in mind............

A CNN investigation in December revealed that the nearly 300 aviation police officers at O'Hare and Midway airports are not only unarmed, but they are instructed to "run and hide" in the event of an active shooter.

How do you feel about that?

 

 

[kscarbel2]

Reuters  /  July 14, 2016

One or more attackers killed at least 84 people and injured 188 including 48 in intensive care, when he drove a heavy truck at high speed into crowds watching Bastille Day fireworks in the French Riviera city of Nice late on Thursday.

Police shot and killed the driver, who drove at high speed for over 100 metres (yards) along the Promenade des Anglais seafront before hitting the mass of spectators.

The act was described it as a clear criminal attack.

The truck driver shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) before being killed.

Pro-ISIS groups have been celebrating the attack, orchestrated to coincide with France's most important national holiday.

Identity documents belonging to a 31-year-old Tunisia-born French Tunisian, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, were later found in the bullet-riddled truck after the gunman at the wheel was shot dead by police marksmen. He was known to police, but not to intelligence services.

Almost exactly eight months ago, ISIS militants killed 130 people in Paris on November 13.

Eyewitnesses say there was an exchange of gunfire in the aftermath of the incident before the driver was shot dead.

The truck mounted the pavement at approximately 40mph and steered directly towards people watching a fireworks display in the city. Witnesses said it drove for at least 100 yards on the promenade targeting large groups of people.  

Prosecutor Jean-Michel Pretre said the lorry drove two kilometres (1.2 miles) through a large crowd

One witness said: 'We were at the Neptune beach and a firework display had just finished. That is when we saw a white lorry. It was going quickly at 60-70 kilometres an hour.'

Gunshots rang out in the streets, with gunmen targeting hotels and cafes in the port city as residents were warned to lock themselves in doors for their safety . The RAID anti-terror squad has been deployed to the city.

The gunman jumped out of the truck after ploughing through the pedestrians and started opening fire. Officials said the driver was shot dead near the scene. 

A second suspect is thought to have escaped and is on the run. 

An eyewitness said he saw the truck driver slam a vehicle into a crowd of revelers in the French resort city of Nice and then emerge shooting, killing many.

Police say the truck was "full of weapons and grenades".  

"Neither the place nor the date are coincidental," said former French intelligence agent and security consultant Claude Moniquet, noting the jihadist presence in Nice and the fact that July 14 marks France's 1789 revolution.

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[grayhair]

I anticipate the testosterone-free response of our State Department:  A truck driver in a truck.  A truck is where he works, therefore it is workplace violence.     Just like Ft. Hood.

Edited July 15, 2016 by grayhair

[kscarbel2]

Terror Attack on Nice: At Least 80 Dead After Grenade-Filled Truck Plows Into Crowd

The Financial Times  /  July 14, 2016

At least 84 people have died in the French city of Nice after a terrorist plowed a truck, which was "loaded with" grenades and other arms, into a large crowd during Bastille Day celebrations Thursday night around 11:00pm local time, according to officials and the French president.

The incident left an "apocalyptic" scene, according to eyewitnesses, on the famed Promenade des Anglais, put the city on lockdown and drew swift condemnation from world leaders.

"On behalf of the American people, I condemn in the strongest terms what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack in Nice, France, which killed and wounded dozens of innocent citizens," President Obama said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and other loved ones of those killed, and we wish a full recovery for the many wounded."

Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. Embassy in Paris was working to account for the welfare of U.S. citizens in Nice. The American consulate in Marseille said it was trying to "determine if any U.S. citizens were injured in the event."

The exact nature of the attack was unclear, but the Paris anti-terrorism prosecutor's office was put in charge of the investigation.

French President Francois Hollande extended the country's state of emergency for three months and were mobilizing reservists. He said it was unclear if the attacker had any accomplices.

Hollande also discussed the threat of "Islamist terrorism." “The terrorist nature of this attack cannot be denied,” he said.

"France is horrified by what has just occurred - a monstrous act of using a truck to intentionally kill dozens of people celebrating 14th of July," Hollande said. "France is strong. France will always be stronger than the fanatics who want to strike France today."

Christian Estrosi, president of the Nice region, said the truck's driver, now identified as Tunisian-born Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, "fired on the crowd, according to the police who killed him" and said that "the truck was loaded with arms, loaded with grenades."

The truck was driven by someone who appeared to have "completely premeditated behavior," Estrosi said, adding that the attacker appears to "have used, while ramming his vehicle, a firearm through the window."

According to French Interior Minister Bernard Cazaneuve, 80 people have died, and numerous others were injured, including 18 in critical condition.

Jimmy Ghazal, 39, a Lebanese man visiting Nice with his family, told ABC News that after the fireworks concluded, he heard people screaming and heard what sounded like gunshots. He saw people run to shelter.

Ghazal said he saw a big truck drive "through all the security.”

“The kids thought it was part of the fireworks," he told ABC News. "We just told them it was part of the fireworks.”

Kerry said in a statement, "Today's horrendous attack in Nice is an attack against innocent people on a day that celebrates Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.

"On behalf of all Americans, and especially the great many with close ties to France, I offer our deepest condolences to the friends and family of those who were killed and our hopes for a speedy recovery to those who were injured.

"I was proud to stand alongside French leaders earlier today at Bastille Day celebrations in Paris, and the United States will continue to stand firmly with the French people during this time of tragedy. We will provide whatever support is needed."

Earlier Thursday, French President Francois Hollande had said France’s state of emergency -- which has been in place since the Paris terror attacks in November -- would be lifted later this month.

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François Hollande faces crisis as attacks continue

The Guardian  /  July 14, 2016

Hours after the Nice attacks, the French president François Hollande reiterated the war-like stance that he took after the last terrorist attacks that killed 130 in Paris in November.

“All of France is under threat from Islamist terrorism,” he said, vowing that France would not give in in its “fight against terrorism”.

He said the state of emergency put in place in November — which allows police to conduct house raids and searches without a warrant or judicial oversight, and gives extra powers to officials to place people under house arrest — would be extended by three months. This means the state of emergency will have been in place for almost a year since November.

He also said he would boost the military operation, known as Operation Sentinelle, in which 10,000 soldiers keep guard across the country, and reservists would be drafted in to help security forces. Hollande added that he would reinforce air strikes on Iraq and Syria, where it has been fighting Islamic State.

The mood could not be more serious for Hollande. The fact that France could be attacked again — leaving at least 80 dead — only eight months after the devastating November attacks on Paris, threatens a crisis for Hollande’s premiership. The fact that several children were among the dead has deepened France’s horror and grief. In the coming days, there is likely to be intense political debate about intelligence and security policy. The 2017 French presidential election is nine months away and security had already been a key voter concern.

The interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve, in Nice, said: “We’re in a war with terrorists who want to hit us at any cost and in a very violent way”.

Hollande had this month been at record low popularity ratings. Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader of the Front National, has been polling high and recent polls showed she was expected to reach the second round run-off of the presidential election, held in April and May, although polls predicted she would not win. Nicolas Sarkozy’s right-wing Les Républicains party is currently engaged in a primary race to choose its candidate.

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[kscarbel2]

Terrorists slip through profiling gaps

The Financial Times  /  July 13, 2016

The response of the west is being lost in a search for clarity in a sea of contradiction

Since Omar Mateen massacred 49 people in an Orlando nightclub, the New York-born son of Afghans has been described as a homophobe who used a gay hook-up app, a jihadi who failed to understand that Isis and Hizbollah are enemies, and a jovial wife-beater who was both relaxed about his religion and furiously devout.

Mateen is not the first paradoxical jihadi. Amedy Coulibaly, who murdered customers at a Jewish supermarket in Paris last year, died in the name of strict Islam but left behind a laptop full of child pornography. Samy Amimour was known as a personable bus driver with secular parents before he set off for Syria and returned to unleash mayhem on the Bataclan concert hall in the French capital in November. Among other recent terrorists are immigrants and natives, cradle Muslims and converts, hardened criminals and aspiring dentists.

Fifteen years after the September 11 attacks on the US there is still no consensus about what makes a terrorist. Mateen is widely considered a terrorist. Micah Johnson, who said he shot five police officers in Dallas last week because they were white, is not, on account of apparently having no agenda beyond his own actions. Both men resemble in some aspects the mass shooters who have struck American schools, churches and other public venues over the years and whose make-up and motivations are just as diverse as those of the “terrorists”.

Recent studies have suggested that a history of depression or domestic violence might be key indicator, or that a society’s attitude to the Islamic veil affects how likely it is to be struck. But psychiatrists, sociologists and others with knowledge of terrorism warn that such analysis often says less about the terrorist than the neuroses of a country searching for an explanation.

That has meant gun control in the US, secularity in France and multiculturalism in the UK. More troublingly, they say, the misguided belief that terrorists — today’s jihadis, like nationalists, white supremacists and communists before them — have a single “profile” is distorting the west’s response.

“Mateen may have felt like a husband in some situations, a security guard in another, a gay guy in another, an Isis member in others,” says Marc Sageman, a psychiatrist and former CIA officer in Afghanistan. “People don’t have a single social identity that transcends everything else.”

Mr Sageman has worked as an expert witness on the defence team in terrorism cases. He has interviewed 30 violent terrorists and is dismissive of “armchair theorists” who do not enjoy such first-hand access. In 2008 he fought a public feud with other terrorism experts over his prediction that “leaderless jihad” would eclipse al-Qaeda’s organised plotting.

When attacks happen, Mr Sageman says, “two billion amateur Freuds” rush to extrapolate meaning from scraps of biographical detail. Seeking a pattern is futile, he says, beyond the fact that Islamic terrorists consider themselves members of an ummah — a community of Muslims.

“It’s an imagined community; it lives on the internet,” he says. “You can be a punk, you can drink, you can be homosexual — it’s your own identification.” Those who identify with that community perceive it to be under attack from western military campaigns in the Middle East and react to protect it, Mr Sageman says, just as Americans rushed to join the armed forces after 9/11.

A Facebook post Mateen wrote during his attack appears to bear this out. “You kill innocent women and children by doing us air strikes,” he wrote, according to Ron Johnson, chairman of the US Senate’s homeland security committee. “Now taste the Islamic State vengeance.”

But Isis, as Islamic State is also known, does not appear to have had any contact with Mateen, beyond its propaganda exhorting sympathisers to carry out attacks on their own. And in both Europe and the US, terrorism experts say attempts to predict who is likely to answer that call risk backfiring.

“The problem is lots of people might fit a profile but not act, while those who do act don’t fit a pattern,” says Martha Crenshaw, professor at Stanford University. She was among the pioneers of terrorism studies in an era when the focus was on nationalists and extreme leftists at least as much as Islamists. As far back as 1981, she argued that the “limited data we have on individual terrorists … suggest that the outstanding characteristic is normality”.

In a newspaper column after Orlando, Ms Crenshaw upbraided Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, for his claim that “thousands upon thousands of people” were coming to the US, “many of whom have the same thought process” as Mateen. When it comes to terrorist motivation, Ms Crenshaw wrote, “the possibilities are endless, from personal grievance to mental illness to social frustration”.

In contrast with the “lone wolves” in the US, the authors of the Paris and Brussels attacks belonged to organised jihadi networks with links to Isis’s so-called caliphate. Yet they also fail to conform to a pattern.

Farhad Khosrokhavar, a sociologist at the School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences in Paris, has spent two decades analysing Islam in France. There, as elsewhere in the west, the political response to terrorism, including security measures brought in after November’s Paris attack, have been based on an erroneous faith in profiling, he says.

“[Political leaders] are playing this game,” he says. “They need to tell the citizens that there is a type of person we are going to fight against. But we can see at least five or six types of person who will kill.”

In the UK, Paul Rogers, a terrorism expert at Bradford university and author of a forthcoming book on Isis, argues that the search for a unique terrorist profile is “a diversion which means we are not paying attention to the wider trends”. Those trends, he says, include the increasing marginalisation of well-educated young men in places such as Tunisia and disruption caused by climate change. “It’s looking for easy answers without facing up to much bigger problems.”

Ulrike Meinhof, Red Army Faction

German leftwing militant whose Red Army Faction was responsible for a series of bombings, kidnappings and shootings in the 1970s.

Meinhof, who lost both parents at a young age to cancer, began to espouse an extreme leftwing cause in postwar West Germany. The mother of twins worked as a journalist before turning to terrorism.

Ted Kaczynski, ‘Unabomber’

The anti-technology anarchist carried out a series of mail bombings in the US between 1978-1995, killing three people.

The Illinois-born son of Polish-Americans grew angry with industrialised society and moved to a remote cabin from where he carried out his attacks. Some blame treatment for a childhood allergic reaction and participation in university mind-control experiments for Kaczynski’s evolution into the “Unabomber”.

Richard Reid, shoebomber

The London-born son of an English mother and Jamaican father attempted to blow up transatlantic passenger flight with shoe bomb in 2001.

Reid grew up in a leafy London suburb before turning to petty crime. Converted to Islam in prison and travelled widely in the Middle East and Asia before attempting his failed attack weeks after 9/11.

Anders Breivik, rightwing fanatic

The Norwegian killed 77 in a bomb and gun rampage in Oslo and on the island of Utoya in the summer of 2011.

Raised in an affluent part of the Norwegian capital, Breivik spent years preparing for the attacks, including writing a 1,500-page manifesto. Experts disagreed over his mental health but he was found at trial to be sane.

Samy Amimour, Paris gunman

One of three gunmen, allied to Isis, who killed 89 at the Bataclan club in the French capital in 2015.

Born to parents of Algerian roots, the bus driver gradually turned to fundamentalism and spent time in Isis’s “caliphate” in Syria before taking part in the atrocities in the French capital.

Omar Mateen, Florida attacker

Claiming allegiance to Isis, Mateen killed 49 at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando in June.

Born in the US to Afghan parents, Mateen was apparently radicalised online, without direct contact with Isis. He had a hazy understanding of Islamism and was prone to violent outbursts.

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[kscarbel2]

130 human beings murdered in Paris.

At least 84 lives ended prematurely in Nice.

These numbers are huge. 

Orlando........49 killed, 53 injured.

San Bernardino........14 killed, 22 seriously injured.

Until we (the U.S.) change our whole philosophy and strategy, which will require compromising on some our long-time freedoms and values, we are vulnerable. As is, our government, which is mandated to ensure our safety, and "should be" the best means, is in a weak position for doing so.

A key reason Europe has witnessed more attacks than the US is because we are much further away. And, it was so easy for them to become alleged refugees (realistically economic migrants) and flow unchecked into the EU. (What was the EU thinking?)

Only Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia and Turkey were wise enough to build fences.

We know our southern border, for example, his porous. Illegal Latin American immigrants, and 'others", are able to pour in every day. Once in without our knowledge, able to operate off the grid.........well, it's all a scary thought.   

[kscarbel2]

Truck Attack in France Shows Limits of Global Hunt for Terrorism

The Wall Street Journal  /  July 14, 2016

The counterterrorism playbook used to fight groups a decade ago has proven ineffective against modern-day sympathizers of radical causes, experts say

The U.S. government has launched thousands of airstrikes, bombed oil facilities, redeployed its military, moved satellites, intercepted phone calls, blocked money transfers and made dozens of arrests in a bid to thwart Islamic State.

But time after time, the terror group, its affiliates and sympathizers have found ways to break through a global ring fence, launching spectacular attacks that have killed hundreds of people in Europe and the U.S.

The motives and perpetrators behind Thursday’s truck massacre in Nice, France, remained uncertain in the hours immediately following the attack. But the action appeared to share the hallmarks of recent attacks carried out, or inspired by, Islamic State: It was a murderous assault on a “soft,” or unprotected, target undertaken by an individual or handful of people.

Islamic State has exploited weak or nonexistent governments in Syria, Iraq, and Libya to fortify, recruit and plan attacks. Its leaders have leveraged social media to proselytize and lure new members. And they have, again and again, hammered soft targets full of crowded people. An airport. A holiday party. A concert hall. A nightclub.

In many cases, the attacks are being carried out by an individual or small number of people, sometimes without actual ties to the group that inspired them. That presents a daunting problem for intelligence operatives and law enforcement.

“The problem is that the numbers of people who have been radicalized, mostly because of social media, are larger than anything we’ve seen before, and we are just behind the curve,” said Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University. “We are dealing with a problem of an order of magnitude much larger than in the past.”

A truck driver who plowed through crowds and murdered at least 77 people on Bastille Day in Nice, France, joined the ranks of other individuals or small groups of terrorists who have murdered dozens or even hundreds of innocent revelers, travelers and others in the past 18 months.

France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor has opened a probe. No one yet has claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack.

The attack also comes as voters across the U.S. are beginning to focus more squarely on the presidential election, with national party conventions just days away. Both leading candidates, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, are being pressed to explain how they would rework U.S. counter-terrorism policy to better thwart the resilience of Islamic State.

Their counter-terrorism strategies—and teams—will face sharper scrutiny now. Mr. Trump has proposed banning the entry of Muslims into the U.S., ramping up interrogation techniques against accused terrorists to disrupt plots and bombing the “hell out of” the terror group in Iraq and Syria. He wants to keep much of his plan a secret, though, so as not to tip off Islamic State leaders as to how he will defeat them.

Mrs. Clinton has pushed for Sunni Muslims and Kurdish forces to play a bigger role in combating Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and she also wants to expand U.S. airstrikes. She has pushed for disrupting Islamic State’s use of the internet and social media, though she hasn’t provided specifics on how she would do this.

U.S. officials have hoped that their two-year campaign to combat Islamic State would degrade its ability to carry out terror attacks, but they have found only mixed results.

U.S. officials and U.S. allies have been able to dislodge the group from some of the territory it controls in Syria and Iraq, but the group has been able to either direct or inspire attacks in France, Turkey, Belgium, the U.S. and elsewhere. A murderous sweep during the month of Ramadan killed hundreds in Baghdad; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Istanbul; and Orlando, Florida.

The attacks have proven very difficult to stop. The counter-terrorism playbook the U.S. and other countries used to thwart the large-scale attacks planned by Al Qaeda more than a decade ago has been less successful against Islamic State.

At a congressional hearing earlier Thursday, Nick Rasmussen, the head of the National Counter-terrorism Center, warned of the danger of low-tech terrorist attacks.

“While we’ve seen a decrease in the frequency of large-scale, complex efforts that sometimes span several years, we’re seeing a proliferation of more rapidly evolving threats that emerge simply by an individual encouraged to take action, who then quickly gathers the few resources needed and moves,” Mr. Rasmussen said. “The time between when an individual decides to attack and when the attack occurs is extremely compressed and allows little time for traditional law-enforcement and intelligence tools to disrupt or mitigate potential plots.”

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The Washington Times  /  July 19, 2016

Two weeks before the massacre in Nice, a French-speaking ISIS fighter went on social media to urge Muslims in France to “go get a truck” and kill infidels.

And that’s exactly what Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel did on July 14, taking a rented truck and plowing through a mass of people watching fireworks on Bastille Day on the Riviera.

He killed 84 people.

ISIS has taken credit for radicalizing Bouhlel in one of its signature-style attacks: convince a “lone wolf” to commit mass killings and become a martyr, as happened in Orlando, Florida.

French officials say Bouhlel, by all accounts a misfit and petty criminal, was quickly radicalized. Officials have found no firm ties to ISIS, but know he searched information about ISIS on the Internet.

In the June 29 video, the fighter, speaking in French, urges Muslims in France to find weapons on the street from criminal elements.

“It is very easy to obtain weapons,” he says. “Just don’t let them know that this is for religious purposes.”

“If you cannot find a gun, go get a truck. … In France, you have access to gas tanks and trucks.”

The speaker said that, as French Muslims are having difficulty traveling to Turkey for insertion into Syria, it is better to stay and kill innocents at home.

“Open the doors of jihad on them, and make them regret it,” he says.

“So if you want Islam to be victorious, why would you want to come out of the beast and face its fangs when you can cut out its heart and liver,” he says.

[kscarbel2]

Newt Gingrich: Test every Muslim in U.S. to see if they believe in Sharia

CNN  /  July 15, 2015

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Thursday called for the U.S. to test every person with a Muslim background to see if they believe in Sharia law, and deport those who do.

"Let me be as blunt and direct as I can be. Western civilization is in a war. We should frankly test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Sharia, they should be deported," said Gingrich.

"Sharia is incompatible with Western civilization. Modern Muslims who have given up Sharia, glad to have them as citizens. Perfectly happy to have them next door."

Gingrich was asked, "How do we ascertain -- how do you possibly ascertain whether or not that person really wants assimilation, really wants a new life, or whether or not they want to expand that caliphate, which is what we're at war against?"

"The first step is you have to ask them the questions," Gingrich responded. "The second step is you have to monitor what they're doing on the Internet. The third step is, let me be very clear, you have to monitor the mosques. I mean, if you're not prepared to monitor the mosques, this whole thing is a joke. Where do you think the primary source of recruitment is? Where do you think the primary place of indoctrination is? You've got to look at the madrassas -- if you're a school which is teaching Sharia, you want to expel it from the country."

The comments by Gingrich are similar to ones made by Trump last fall, when he called for surveillance of "certain mosques" to counter terrorist threats.

Gingrich also said Thursday that calling Islam a "religion of peace" is "bologna."

"It's not that Islamists are necessarily evil, but they're not necessarily a religion of peace," Gingrich said.

Gingrich then turned his focus to President Barack Obama, citing many leading Democrats' argument for stricter gun regulation laws after the Orlando terror attack, where 49 individuals where shot and killed inside a nightclub.

"I fully expect by tomorrow morning that President Obama will have rediscovered his left-wing roots and will give a press conference in which he'll explain that the problem is too many trucks," Gingrich said. "If only we had truck regulation, then we wouldn't have problems like Nice because it is trucks that are dangerous. I mean that's the exact analog to Orlando and just tells you how nuts the left wing in America is."

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U.S. States Shun Syrian Refugees (i.e. economic migrants)

CNN / November 16, 2015

The governors of 31 (was 24) states have announced they will not accept Syrian refugees.

All but one have Republican governors.

The announcements came after authorities revealed that at least one of the suspects believed to be involved in the Paris terrorist attacks entered Europe among the current wave of Syrian refugees. He had falsely identified himself as a Syrian named Ahmad al Muhammad and was allowed to enter Greece in early October.

Some leaders say they either oppose taking in any Syrian refugees being relocated as part of a national program or asked that they be particularly scrutinized as potential security threats.

Only 1,500 Syrian refugees have been accepted into the United States since 2011, but the Obama administration announced in September that 10,000 Syrians will be allowed entry next year.

Authority over admitting refugees to the country, though, rests with the federal government -- not with the states -- though individual states can make the acceptance process much more difficult, experts said.

American University law professor Stephen I. Vladeck put it this way: "Legally, states have no authority to do anything because the question of who should be allowed in this country is one that the Constitution commits to the federal government." But Vladeck noted that without the state's participation, the federal government would have a much more arduous task.

"So a state can't say it is legally objecting, but it can refuse to cooperate, which makes thing much more difficult."

Kevin Appleby, director of migration policy at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said one tactic states could use would be to cut their own funding in areas such as resettling refugees. The conference is the largest refugee resettlement organization in the country.

But "when push comes to shove, the federal government has both the plenary power and the power of the 1980 Refugee Act to place refugees anywhere in the country," Appleby said.

In announcing that his state would not accept any Syrian refugees, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted Monday on his personal account, "I demand the U.S. act similarly," he said. "Security comes first."

Texas will not accept any Syrian refugees & I demand the U.S. act similarly. Security comes first.

— Greg Abbott

In a letter to President Barack Obama, Abbott said "American humanitarian compassion could be exploited to expose Americans to similar deadly danger," referring to Friday's deadly attacks in Paris.

In a statement from Georgia's governor, Republican Nathan Deal, he said Georgia will not accept Syrian refugees "until the federal government and Congress conducts a thorough review of current screening procedures and background checks."

I've issued an executive order directing state agency heads to prevent the resettlement of Syrian refugees in GA.

— Governor Nathan Deal

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley also rejected the possibility of allowing Syrian refugees into his state and connected refugees with potential terror threats.

"After full consideration of this weekend's attacks of terror on innocent citizens in Paris, I will oppose any attempt to relocate Syrian refugees to Alabama through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program," Bentley said Sunday in a statement.

"As your governor, I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm's way."

I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm's way. We refuse Syrian refugees.

— Gov. Robert Bentley

There is currently no credible threat against the state, the governor's office said, and no Syrian refugees have been relocated to Alabama so far.

As the list of states blocking refugees grows, at least one state, Delaware, announced that it plans to accept refugees.

"It is unfortunate that anyone would use the tragic events in Paris to send a message that we do not understand the plight of these refugees, ignoring the fact that the people we are talking about are fleeing the perpetrators of terror," said Gov. Jack Markell.

States whose governors oppose Syrian refugees coming in:

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming

States whose governors say they will accept refugees:

Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said the state would "put on hold our efforts to accept new refugees."

"Michigan is a welcoming state and we are proud of our rich history of immigration. But our first priority is protecting the safety of our residents," said Snyder. He demanded that the Department of Homeland Security review its security procedures for vetting refugees but avoided blanket suspicion of people from any region.

"It's also important to remember that these attacks are the efforts of extremists and do not reflect the peaceful ways of people of Middle Eastern descent here and around the world," Snyder said.

And Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson posted on his official Twitter account that he would "oppose Syrian refugees being relocated to Arkansas."

Action taken by some states is similar to several European countries who have forcefully opposed accepting refugees. Hungary built a razor-wire fence along its border, and neighboring countries have been following suit. And previously generous countries such as Sweden and Germany that welcomed thousands were already pulling back.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said in a statement, "(At) this time, I find the idea of accepting Syrian refugees highly concerning and have no plans to accept them into our state and believe the federal government has an obligation to carry out extensive background checks on everyone seeking to enter the United States."

Mississippi, Ohio bristle at taking refugees

The governors of Ohio and Mississippi also announced their states would not allow Syrian refugees.

Jim Lynch, a spokesman for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, issued this statement:

"The governor doesn't believe the U.S. should accept additional Syrian refugees because security and safety issues cannot be adequately addressed. The governor is writing to the President to ask him to stop, and to ask him to stop resettling them in Ohio. We are also looking at what additional steps Ohio can take to stop resettlement of these refugees."

Kasich is a Republican presidential candidate.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant wrote on Facebook that he was working with the state's homeland security department to "determine the current status of any Syrian refugees that may be brought to our state in the near future.

“We don’t know who these individuals are. Any idea (that) you can do a background check of someone that’s been living in Syria is absolutely ridiculous,” Bryant said. “These are dangerous times, whether people want to admit it or not,” Bryant said. “We want to keep the war out of Mississippi, here on the homefront.”

"I will do everything humanly possible to stop any plans from the Obama administration to put Syrian refugees in Mississippi. The policy of bringing these individuals into the country is not only misguided, it is extremely dangerous. I'll be notifying President Obama of my decision today to resist this potential action."

Louisiana: 'Kept in the dark'

Louisiana governor and GOP presidential candidate Bobby Jindal complained bitterly in an open letter to Obama that the federal government had not informed his government about refugees being relocated to his state last week.

"It is irresponsible and severely disconcerting to place individuals, who may have ties to ISIS, in a state without the state's knowledge or involvement," says Jindal.

He demanded to know more about the people being placed in Louisiana to avoid a repeat of the Paris attacks and wanted to know whether screening would be intensified for refugees holding Syrian passports.

And he suggested Obama hold off on taking in more refugees.

"It would be prudent to pause the process of refugees coming to the United States. Authorities need to investigate what happened in Europe before this problem comes to the United States," Jindal said.

Republican candidate Donald Trump called accepting Syrian refugees "insane."

"We all have heart and we all want people taken care of, but with the problems our country has, to take in 250,000 -- some of whom are going to have problems, big problems -- is just insane. We have to be insane. Terrible."

While addressing reporters on Monday, Obama called out Republican candidates who have objected to admitting refugees to the United States.

"When I hear a political leader suggesting that there should be a religious test for which a person who is fleeing from a war torn country is admitted... when some of those folks themselves come from families who benefited from protection when they were fleeing political persecution, that is shameful," the President said. "We don't have religious tests to our compassion."

New York: 'Virtually no vetting'

A senior White House security official attempted to allay concerns about the vetting of Syrian refugees.

On NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said, "We have very extensive screening procedures for all Syrian refugees who have come to the United States. There is a very careful vetting process that includes our intelligence community, our National Counter Terrorism Center, the Department of Homeland Security, so we can make sure that we are carefully screening anybody that comes to the United States."

New York Rep. Peter King cast doubt on Rhodes' comments.

"What he said about the vetting of the refugees is untrue. There is virtually no vetting cause there are no databases in Syria, there are no government records. We don't know who these people are."

On Sunday, investigators said that one of the Paris bombers carried Syrian identification papers -- possibly forged -- and the fear of Syrian refugees grew worse.

"It's not that we don't want to -- it's that we can't," said Florida Senator and Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio. "Because there's no way to background check someone that's coming from Syria."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

.

Life in a western country, including the United States, is completely different from countries under Islamic Law (Shariah). If one chooses to [legally] immigrate to the United States, then one needs to make a conscious decision about adapting to the American way of life.

The U.S. is a global symbol of diversity. However, we have our own norms, which are unlike those of countries under Islamic Law (Shariah).

You can’t put a square peg into a round hole. Live in the countries where your beliefs fit in.

[HeavyGunner]

Looks like Newt has some pretty good, common sense ideas. Unfortunately in our pc world he'll be painted as a racist, cold hearted, right wing, old white male with white privelege instead of a person with a reasonable solution to stop the war on western civilization. How many more attacks on the US and other free countries do we need before we get tired of the same old same old and kick some ass?  The only good I see from these attacks is more and more people are starting to come out of the far left ideology camp and are starting to see obummer's and Hilary's policies are crap and that we have been lied to. I pray this country finally turns a corner and starts being involved in making sure our government can not continue to run rampant with no consequences. 

[kscarbel2]

It would appear that authorities are not acknowledging that they captured a terrorist alive.

.

 

[kscarbel2]

Associated Press  /  July 18, 2016

A Muslim Afghan refugee shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great) injured 21 people with an axe and knife on a train in Germany. 

Twenty-one people were left injured in the incident, with three now in a critical condition, according to Spiegel and Bild.

The 17-year-old was gunned down by armed police after fleeing from the scene near the city of Wurzburg, 70 miles north of Nuremberg in southern Germany.

Officials have said it was 'probably' an Islamist attack.

Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann has told state television that the attacker was a 17-year-old Afghan man, who came to Germany as an unaccompanied minor refugee.

According to state broadcaster ARD a passengers pulled the emergency brake on the train and the assailant then fled from the vehicle.

Law enforcement have entered the area in significant numbers and have brought helicopters into operation.

According to Deutsche Welle, police located the assailant and shot him dead.

The train was on its way from the Bavarian town of Treuchtlingen to Wuerzburg, which is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Nuremberg.

[41chevy]

Probably??? 

[david wild]

Isis, not bad for a JV team as Ocrap for brains called them, and Clinton follows in his foot steps, what mental defect do liberals have to support these people ???  only the insane would look at what is going on and think things are OK. all this crap just proves that liberals should not be able to vote because they are mentally defective. and a President that hugs cop killer supporters ??? talk about out to lunch crazy, man needs to be locked up at the funny farm.     

[41chevy]

6 hours ago, david wild said:

Isis, not bad for a JV team as Ocrap for brains called them, and Clinton follows in his foot steps, what mental defect do liberals have to support these people ???  only the insane would look at what is going on and think things are OK. all this crap just proves that liberals should not be able to vote because they are mentally defective. and a President that hugs cop killer supporters ??? talk about out to lunch crazy, man needs to be locked up at the funny farm.     

Needs to be tried for Treason, Aid and Comfort to the Enemy and shot.

[HeavyGunner]

23 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

Associated Press  /  July 18, 2016

A Muslim Afghan refugee shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great) injured 21 people with an axe and knife on a train in Germany. 

Twenty-one people were left injured in the incident, with three now in a critical condition, according to Spiegel and Bild.

The 17-year-old was gunned down by armed police after fleeing from the scene near the city of Wurzburg, 70 miles north of Nuremberg in southern Germany.

Officials have said it was 'probably' an Islamist attack.

Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann has told state television that the attacker was a 17-year-old Afghan man, who came to Germany as an unaccompanied minor refugee.

According to state broadcaster ARD a passengers pulled the emergency brake on the train and the assailant then fled from the vehicle.

Law enforcement have entered the area in significant numbers and have brought helicopters into operation.

According to Deutsche Welle, police located the assailant and shot him dead.

The train was on its way from the Bavarian town of Treuchtlingen to Wuerzburg, which is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Nuremberg.

All these attacks makes me glad I choose to carry. At least I may have a fighting chance. 

[kscarbel2]

4 hours ago, HeavyGunner said:

All these attacks makes me glad I choose to carry. At least I may have a fighting chance. 

Now playing devil's advocate, there were some 30 people "carrying" (rifles) during a protest on the night that the gunman opened fire in Dallas. But not a single one of these "carrying" people made use of their weapon in an attempt to take out the gunman.

I don't mind people owning shotguns for hunting........duck, deer, ect.

I don't mind people owning a pistol for personal safety.

However I do mind when people are walking the streets of American with assault rifles. That is unacceptable.

[kscarbel2]

Japan has not experienced attacks by Islamist extremists because it has a low proportion of Muslim migrants.

"Personally, I would like to see [Muslim migration] stop now for Australia," she said.

"Following the atrocities of last week in Nice, where 10 children lost their lives, as a mother, I believe it's vital in a democratic society to be able to discuss these issues without being labelled racist."

.

 

[kscarbel2]

RT  /  July 19, 2016

French police have arrested a Muslim Parisian taxi driver after explosives were found at his home during a raid over a separate criminal case.

Police found a picture of an ISIS flag on his phone.

The 23-year-old man, was arrested on Sunday at his home in southeast Paris.

The man was on a watch list of dangerous individuals.

Police came to the man’s home to question him over his suspected involvement in a burglary case. Police believed the driver had robbed the empty homes of several of his clients after taking them to the airport.

While searching the house for stolen goods, police discovered two sticks of dynamite, several detonators and cables.

Three passports and two driving licenses stolen during a burglary last week were found in the man’s car, possibly intended for use in human trafficking.

The man was known to French authorities. He was listed on France’s “Fiche S,” a list of several thousand people who are suspected of posing a security risk due to their radicalization.

[HeavyGunner]

 

 

2 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

Now playing devil's advocate, there were some 30 people "carrying" (rifles) during a protest on the night that the gunman opened fire in Dallas. But not a single one of these "carrying" people made use of their weapon in an attempt to take out the gunman.

I don't mind people owning shotguns for hunting........duck, deer, ect.

I don't mind people owning a pistol for personal safety.

However I do mind when people are walking the streets of American with assault rifles. That is unacceptable.

I'm with you there Kevin. Just because open carry is legal it doesn't necessarily mean it should be practiced. I have a carry permit and no one besides my wife and I know I'm carrying. The element of surprise in an emergency could be a good thing in my mind. I'll play devil's advocate as well. Are legally armed, peaceful protesters anymore dangerous than Muslim, KKK or Black Panthers (or Black Lives Matter today)?

[kscarbel2]

These fellows have too much spare time on their hands and/or need to get a life.

If they want so much to play army, Syria is that way. Knock yourself out.

Please get off our streets before someone gets hurt.

.

[HeavyGunner]

Couple of things come to mind when I look at those pics. I'd bet the chance of a mass shooting is far less because the cowards that do the shootings look for the defenseless populated areas. Are those open carry protesters calling for anarchy and death to police officers or any other group?  There are far more alchohol related deaths than assault rifle deaths but the government isn't trying to ban alchohol. My personal belief is however we look at it good or bad citizens being able to own guns is what set America apart from other countries. It truly made/makes us free. My fear is once the left bans one gun, that won't be enough and they'll keep on trying to ban until we are an unarmed public that is completely dependent on whatever stipen they give us. 

[david wild]

You may not like them carrying their guns but the chicken sh*t black lives matter crowd is not to be seen which proves they are a coward group that shoots people in the back, let the Black panther party come to my town and get stupid, they will go home in a box, it is time that we stand up to the wimp bullies and set them strait, they are only tough when they have O shit for brains and Holder and now Lynch backing them with power of the government, some day they won't have that backing and will run scared like the cowards that they are, one on one they are scared little clingons that need a good wiping.

[41chevy]

4 hours ago, HeavyGunner said:

Couple of things come to mind when I look at those pics. I'd bet the chance of a mass shooting is far less because the cowards that do the shootings look for the defenseless populated areas. Are those open carry protesters calling for anarchy and death to police officers or any other group?  There are far more alchohol related deaths than assault rifle deaths but the government isn't trying to ban alchohol. My personal belief is however we look at it good or bad citizens being able to own guns is what set America apart from other countries. It truly made/makes us free. My fear is once the left bans one gun, that won't be enough and they'll keep on trying to ban until we are an unarmed public that is completely dependent on whatever stipen they give us. 

They mostly seem to have military experience by their actions. I would be more worried about the pair in the 3rd photo than the others

now where were all the photos of the NBP and BLM armed groups? Saw a few images of them on BBC.             Paul

[david wild]

The worst part is if you went to Syria and killed Isis dirt bags Obama would put you in prison for killing them ???? I think it could be a new biz venture Hunt Isis dirt bags.com, for a couple grand we will drop you off supply you with ammo and full auto rifles, kill as many Isis you can in x amount of time at the end of the year we award a trophy for the best head count.  I like it, bet Obama won't let me do it, bet Trump will.