Category: Terrorism

Is This A Coming Trend?

“When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right.”  Victor Hugo

A couple of years ago some guy pooped a CEO of a health corporation…..and he has become some what of a cult hero.  I have heard people whine about his wife and kids but no one whines about the wife and kids of those denied healthcare by his organization.

Was this the start of a budding revolution?

Luigi Mangione, the man awaiting trial in the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is fast becoming a symbol of a new wave of ideologically-motivated violence, argues the Washington Post‘s editorial board. Investigators say his case inspired last year’s deadly shooting at the Manhattan skyscraper home to the NFL headquarters. The editorial board highlights other cases—including a California warehouse arson that caused an estimated $500 million in damage and a firebomb attempt at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s Texas home—in which suspects allegedly referenced Mangione.

The Post notes the 27-year-old, who has pleaded not guilty in Thompson’s murder and awaits a trial this fall, has taken on “folk hero” status among some on the radical left, with a legal defense fund pulling in $1.46 million from more than 40,000 donors. Federal prosecutors say his supporters increasingly see violence as a substitute for political or ideological argument, supercharged by online anonymity and social media. The editorial insists there’s no justification for such attacks—against tech leaders, health executives, or anyone else.

For the full argument and examples, read the editorial here.

Full disclosure–I do not rust the WaPo to be forthcoming with the news…..but I include it for the sake of my readers….

That aside it seems the recently violent acts are seemingly accelerating….recently, last week, a disgruntle employee of a paper company set fire to a warehouse…..

A California warehouse worker accused of torching his workplace allegedly cast himself as a kind of anti-corporate avenger, prosecutors say. Authorities say 29-year-old Chamel Abdulkarim set multiple fires early Tuesday inside a 1.2-million-square-foot Ontario warehouse packed with Kimberly-Clark paper products while about 20 others were on site, then posted video online that appears to show a hand igniting stacks of paper as a voice complains about worker pay, the Los Angeles Times reports. In texts afterward, he allegedly compared himself to Luigi Mangione—the man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in New York—and wrote, “I just cost these [expletive] billions.”

Federal prosecutors say Abdulkarim also posted videos arguing workers aren’t paid enough to live and texted complaints about the “1%” and corporate shareholders. The blaze destroyed roughly $500 million in goods and the $150 million building, per local officials, and grew so fast firefighters had to withdraw and fight it defensively; about 175 responded before the six-alarm fire collapsed the roof. No one was injured, KTLA reports. Abdulkarim, an employee of third-party distribution company NFI Industries, was arrested later that morning. He faces one count of aggravated arson and six counts of arson of a structure in state court, with a potential sentence of 10 years to life, ABC 7 reports. He is also expected to face federal charges.

I believe some of his words were….this did not have to happen if you paid a livable wage”…

Not to fear the culprit has been arrested…

Next came a fire bomb of AI guru Altman’s house…..

The man accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home in San Francisco has been charged with attempting to kill Altman and a security guard at the residence, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said Monday. Daniel Moreno-Gama, who also faces multiple federal charges, faces two counts of attempted murder and attempted arson in California state court, the Washington Post reports.

  • Authorities allege the 20-year-old threw the incendiary device about 4am Friday, setting an exterior gate at Altman’s home alight before fleeing on foot, police said. Less than an hour later, Moreno-Gama allegedly went to OpenAI’s headquarters and reportedly threatened to burn down the building. Moreno-Gama was opposed to artificial intelligence, writing about AI’s purported risk to humanity and “our impending extinction,” according to court documents.
  • This was not spontaneous. This was planned, targeted and extremely serious,” said FBI San Francisco Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Cobo during a press conference. On Monday morning, FBI agents went to Moreno-Gama’s home in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston, where they spent several hours before leaving. He has been charged by federal prosecutors with possession of an unregistered firearm and damage and destruction of property by means of explosives. The criminal complaint does not name Altman or OpenAI but both have confirmed they were the targets of the attack. No injuries were reported.When Moreno-Gama was arrested Friday, officials found a document on him in which he “identified views opposed to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the executives of various AI companies,” court documents say. The document discussed AI’s purported risk to humanity and “our impending extinction,” according to the criminal complaint. Authorities allege Moreno-Gama traveled from his home in Texas to San Francisco and visited Altman’s home early Friday morning.”
  • “We are only at the beginning of this investigation, but if the evidence shows that Mr. Moreno-Gama executed these attacks to change public policy or to coerce government and other officials, we will treat this as an act of domestic terrorism and together with our law enforcement partners prosecute him to the fullest extent allowed by law,” US Attorney Craig Missakian said in a statement, per Reuters.
  • The document in which Moreno-Gama discussed his opposition to AI also made threats against Altman, officials said. “Also if I am going to advocate for others to kill and commit crimes, then I must lead by example and show that I am fully sincere in my message,” Moreno-Gama is alleged by authorities to have written in the document.
  • Advocacy groups that have issued grave warnings about AI’s risks to society condemned the violence. PauseAI said in a statement that the suspect had no role in the group but joined its forum on the social media platform Discord about two years ago and posted about 34 messages there, none containing explicit calls to violence but one that was flagged as “ambiguous.” Discord said Monday that it has banned Moreno-Gama for “off-platform behavior.”

Interesting, eh?

But not to worry the pampered billionaire is safe….

The man accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home in San Francisco has been charged with attempting to kill Altman and a security guard at the residence, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said Monday. Daniel Moreno-Gama, who also faces multiple federal charges, faces two counts of attempted murder and attempted arson in California state court, the Washington Post reports.

  • Authorities allege the 20-year-old threw the incendiary device about 4am Friday, setting an exterior gate at Altman’s home alight before fleeing on foot, police said. Less than an hour later, Moreno-Gama allegedly went to OpenAI’s headquarters and reportedly threatened to burn down the building. Moreno-Gama was opposed to artificial intelligence, writing about AI’s purported risk to humanity and “our impending extinction,” according to court documents.
  • This was not spontaneous. This was planned, targeted and extremely serious,” said FBI San Francisco Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Cobo during a press conference. On Monday morning, FBI agents went to Moreno-Gama’s home in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston, where they spent several hours before leaving. He has been charged by federal prosecutors with possession of an unregistered firearm and damage and destruction of property by means of explosives. The criminal complaint does not name Altman or OpenAI but both have confirmed they were the targets of the attack. No injuries were reported.
    • When Moreno-Gama was arrested Friday, officials found a document on him in which he “identified views opposed to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the executives of various AI companies,” court documents say. The document discussed AI’s purported risk to humanity and “our impending extinction,” according to the criminal complaint. Authorities allege Moreno-Gama traveled from his home in Texas to San Francisco and visited Altman’s home early Friday morning.

Then a couple of days later Altman’s house once again a target….

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s San Francisco home may have been targeted by two alleged attacks in a span of three days, with police announcing a pair of arrests in the latest incident, the San Francisco Standard reports. Around 1:40am Sunday, a Honda sedan allegedly drove past Altman’s property in Russian Hill, then stopped; the passenger extended a hand out the window and appeared to fire a shot toward the Lombard Street side of the estate, according to a police report citing security staff and surveillance video. No injuries were reported. The Standard frames the alleged shooting as an attack on Altman’s home, but the San Francisco Chronicle notes that has not yet been confirmed by police.

Police say a license plate captured on camera led them to a residence on Taylor Street, where officers detained Amanda Tom, 25, and Muhamad Tarik Hussein, 23, without incident and recovered three firearms. Both were booked on suspicion of negligent discharge of a firearm. The alleged shooting followed a Friday morning episode in which a 20-year-old Texas man, Daniel Alejandro Moreno-Gama, is accused of hurling a Molotov cocktail at Altman’s gate from Chestnut Street; security extinguished the flames, and the suspect was later arrested after making threats at OpenAI’s Mission Bay headquarters, authorities say. The suspect has been linked to a Discord server called PauseAI, which is against the development of frontier AI models; the group quickly disavowed the alleged attack, Business Insider reports.

After the first incident, Altman wrote a lengthy blog post reflecting on it. “There was an incendiary article about me a few days ago. Someone said to me yesterday they thought it was coming at a time of great anxiety about AI and that it made things more dangerous for me. I brushed it aside,” he wrote. “Now I am awake in the middle of the night and pissed, and thinking that I have underestimated the power of words and narratives.”

While I was writing news came across of more warehouse fires….

there are now reports of six different Warehouse or storefront fires that have happened across the United States in the last three days five of which are in different states. currently there have been two in California one in Queens New York another in Ohio at an Amazon location another in Pennsylvania and a final one in New Jersey. They’re pretty hard to look up, I’m suspecting to keep the trend from catching on.

Fascinating.

Is this the beginning of a revolt against technology or against the insanely rich?

Sorry but I cannot work up much sympathy.

“A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.”

I have been waiting a long time for this….Let it begin!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Unlawful Combatant”?

That sorta sounds like an oxymoron…..

Just yesterday Donny made his policy unknown on these attacks on boats and such…..

President Trump has declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and says the United States is now in a “non-international armed conflict” after recent US strikes on boats in the Caribbean, according to a Trump administration memo obtained by outlets including the AP and the New York Times.

  • A source tells the AP that Congress was notified about the designation by Pentagon officials on Wednesday. Pentagon officials could not provide a list of the designated terrorist organizations at the center of the conflict, a matter that was a major source of frustration for some of the lawmakers who were briefed, the source says.
  • The move comes after the US military last month carried out three deadly strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean. At least two of those operations were carried out on vessels that originated from Venezuela. Democrats have been pressing Trump to go to Congress and seek war powers authority for such operations.
  • The notice to lawmakers said Trump has determined that drug cartels are “nonstate armed groups” and that their actions “constitute an armed attack against the United States,” the Times reports. “Based upon the cumulative effects of these hostile acts against the citizens and interests of the United States and friendly foreign nations, the president determined that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations.” The Times notes that in international law, “non-international armed conflict” normally refers to civil wars.
  • Several senators, Democrats and some Republicans, as well as human rights groups, questioned the legality of Trump’s action. They called it potential overreach of executive authority in part because the military was used for law enforcement purposes, the AP reports. By claiming his campaign against drug cartels is an active armed conflict, Trump appears to be claiming extraordinary wartime powers to justify his action.
  • In a statement to CNN, Democratic Sen. Jack Reed said the administration “has offered no credible legal justification, evidence, or intelligence for these strikes.” Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, added: “Drug cartels are despicable and must be dealt with by law enforcement. But now, by the President’s own words, the US military is engaged in armed conflict with undefined enemies he has unilaterally labeled ‘unlawful combatants,’ and he has deployed thousands of troops, ships, and aircraft against them. Yet he has refused to inform Congress or the public. Every American should be alarmed that their President has decided he can wage secret wars against anyone he calls an enemy.”

Where the Hell did this sort of doublespeak originate?

In 2001, President George W. Bush declared certain fighters for Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan to be “unlawful enemy combatants.” This designation, made by a presidential order, was intended by the Bush administration to effectively remove prisoners so designated from protection under the Geneva Conventions. The designation led to prisoners being held without access to lawyers or judicial reviews to determine whether they should have been kept prisoner. It also led to a string of Supreme Court decisions and efforts by Congress to overcome those decisions. The concept of unlawful enemy combatants is not new, dating back at least to the nineteenth century.

…

The designation “unlawful enemy combatant” impacted two legal areas: the rights of foreign citizens captured outside the United States and the rights of individuals (including American citizens) captured inside the United States. Unlike traditional “prisoners of war,” the treatment of whom is covered by the Geneva Conventions and whose release depends on the cessation of hostilities between states, “unlawful enemy combatants” do not belong to a recognized government entity engaged in a formal state of war with the United States.

Civil libertarians challenged this policy as a violation of the Constitution. In the case of prisoners held abroad, the Supreme Court eventually ruled that such prisoners must be brought before military tribunals conducted according to ordinary standards of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. In June 2008, the Supreme Court expanded on this opinion, ruling in the case of Boumediene v. Bush that the military tribunals did not provide an adequate substitute for a hearing in a federal court. The Boumediene decision effectively gave designated unlawful enemy combatants the same status as any civilian arrested and held in the United States. Leading up to the Boumediene decision, details of military tribunals hearing the cases of unlawful enemy combatants had been the source of a prolonged tug-of-war involving the administration, Congress, and the Supreme Court.

https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/law/unlawful-enemy-combatants

I understand the concept but without more details it is just chest thumping to get on camera.

Another slippery slope waiting to happen.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those Bastards On The Far Left

Many of the mindless drones on the Right are spouting lots of crap about all those on the far Left…..especially those dolts in the Donny Praise Society unknown as the Cabinet and especially that idiot number 2, Vance…..

His latest statement is a typical of a mindless regurgitation….

Vice President JD Vance hosted an episode of The Charlie Kirk Show from the White House on Monday, and his guests included White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who said the killing of the show’s namesake will lead to a crackdown on leftist groups that he described as a domestic terror movement. “With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people,” Miller said. Vance said the White House would “work to dismantle the institutions that promote violence and terrorism in our own country.”

  • “The organized doxxing campaigns, the organized riots, the organized street violence, the organized campaigns of dehumanization, vilification, posting people’s addresses, combining that with messaging that’s designed to trigger and incite violence and the actual organized cells that carry out and facilitate the violence,” Miller said. “It is a vast domestic terror movement.” He said the crackdown would happen “in Charlie’s name.”
  • Vance opened the show by saying he was “filling in for somebody who cannot be filled in for, but I’ll do my best,” the AP reports. He said Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, told him the 31-year-old was never “cross or mean-spirited” to her. “I took from that moment that I needed to be a better husband and I needed to be a better father,” Vance said. “That is the way I’m going to honor my friend.”
  • Later in the show, Vance said that he was “desperate” for national unity, but that there can be “no unity with the people who celebrate Charlie Kirk’s assassination.” “When you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out,” he said, per NBC News. “And, hell, call their employer. We don’t believe in political violence, but we do believe in civility, and there is no civility in the celebration of political assassination.”
  • “This is not a both-sides problem,” Vance said. “While our side of the aisle certainly has its crazies, it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far left.”
  • Vance’s other guests included Tucker Carlson, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Kennedy described Kirk as a “spiritual soulmate” who “orchestrated” his endorsement of Trump last year at an Arizona rally organized by Kirk’s Turning Point USA group, the Guardian reports.

As someone who has been on thee Left most of my adult life would you please tell me who these ‘extremists’ are?

They have no f**king idea who they are it is just red meat for those worthless spineless supporters to keep them in their corner.

It is just like all those they call socialists….in actuality none of them would know a socialist if he walked up and bit them in the ass….it is nothing more than a simple slogan that is easily remembered by the mental midgets.

Now idiot in charge has called for an assault on the Left….

President Donald Trump revealed on Monday that he was considering designating Antifa and other far-left “radical groups” as domestic terror organizations following the murder of Charlie Kirk.

Asked, “Do you plan on designating Antifa finally a domestic terror organization?” the president responded, “Well, it’s something I would do, yeah. If I have support from the people back here– I think we’d start with Pam, I think. But I would– if you give me– I would do that 100%, and others also, by the way. But Antifa is terrible.”

Trump then added that there were “other groups” he would also consider designating as domestic terror organizations, remarking, “They have some pretty radical groups and they got away with murder.”

“Also, I’ve been speaking to the attorney general about bringing RICO against some of the people that you’ve been reading about that have been putting up millions and millions of dollars for agitation,” he concluded. “These aren’t protests, these are crimes what they’re doing.”

Trump received renewed calls to go after Antifa – which has a lengthy history of engaging in violence – following the assassination of Kirk at Utah Valley University last week.

Trump Says He Wants to Designate Antifa, Other ‘Radical Groups’ as Domestic Terrorist Organizations: ‘They Got Away With Murder’

This is such bullshit!

Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are not ‘terrorists’ but antifa is…..you morons realize that antifa is NOT an organization there is no ‘leader’, there is no national headquarters it merely stands for anti-fascist.

Can they say that about the others?

They have NO idea what they say or what they want to do other than keep people divided and rabid.

Especially Blondi, DoJ, and her most recent statement….

Attorney General Pam Bondi has doubled down on her attack on free speech after a MAGA backlash, vowing to use the full force of the law to crack down on left-wing people using violent rhetoric to silence conservatives.

“Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It’s a crime,” she posted on X.  (too bad that does not include all the hate speech)

“For far too long, we’ve watched the radical left normalize threats, call for assassinations, and cheer on political violence. That era is over.”

(thedailybeast.com)

They just cannot help themselves….

Speaking again on Tuesday, days after the killing, Trump said that “most of the violence is on the left.”

But the data tells a different story. In the last five years, 81 people have been killed by political violence in the United States. Right-wing terrorists account for over half of those murders, some 54%, according to research by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. Islamists account for 21%, and left-wingers for 22%.

The same study looked at data as far back as 1975 and found that terrorists inspired by Islamist ideology account for some 87% of all deaths (3122) from political violence, due to the mass casualties of the 9/11 attacks.

Excluding the 9/11 attacks, over the same period, terrorists inspired by right-wing ideology are responsible for 63% of deaths from political violence during that time, compared to 10% for left-wing attacks. Since 1975, there have been 391 deaths caused by right-wing terror attacks in the United States, and 65 deaths from left-wing terror attacks.

(time.com)

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo’

Is The War On Terror Over?

This meme has been lacking in the news reports for a couple of years now…..after 9/11 GW vowed to make terrorists pay with his War on Terror and from that day on the US went around the globe to take on every piss ant group that he deemed “terrorists’.

The question remains….is the War on Terror over?

First my thought….one cannot go to war on an idea for terror is just that not some entity…..but I guess it made the whole adventure more palatable to the weak minded…..

But what about the question?

n Sept. 16, 2001, five days after the attacks on New York and Washington, DC, President George W. Bush declared, “This crusade – this war on terrorism – is going to take a while. And the American people must be patient. I’m going to be patient. But I can assure the American people I am determined.”

Four days after that, President Bush declared the “war on terror” to be primarily against al-Qaeda. “Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda,” he said in an address to Congress and the nation, “but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.”

He described the enemy thus:

This group and its leader — a person named Osama bin Laden — are linked to many other organizations in different countries, including the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.  There are thousands of these terrorists in more than 60 countries.

Bush was correct in his assessment of the group.

One of those countries into which al-Qaeda jihadists implanted themselves was Syria, where from 2011 – with the support of the Obama Administration – they attempted to overthrow the secular leader, Bashar al-Assad, using terrorist tactics they had been well-trained in.

They soon changed their name – but not their stripes – and became the Al-Nusra Front, headed up by an experienced jihadist who fought against US troops in Iraq by the name of Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. His group was known for chopping off heads. Perhaps even American heads.

Last December Jolani’s jihadists – with support from the US, Turkey, and Israel – finally brought down the Assad government and quicker than you can say “Washington PR makeover” he clipped his beard, switched out his tactical military watch for a $90,000 Patek Philippe World Time Chronograph, and declared himself president.

The “civilized world” cheered the re-emergence of democracy in Syria!

At their first meeting earlier this year in Saudi Arabia, President Trump praised jihadist Jolani as “a young, attractive fellow” and “a tough guy, a fighter, with a very strong background. He has a lot of potential, he’s a real leader.”

https://original.antiwar.com/daniel-mcadams/2025/07/13/the-global-war-on-terror-is-over-terror-won/

So the US has supported some of the same people that supported the attacks on 9/11….where is the logic?

Outta sight outta mind I guess…..

The idea remains so one cannot infer that the “war” has been won.

How long before it strikes again?

I know there were some strong opinions after 9/11 but are those same opinions still valid?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Captain Clueless And The World Of Tomorrow

It is done!

The US jumped into the Iran/Israel mash-up and by all accounts (I do not believe half of what they sat because they are constantly lying to the people) it was a success on hitting the Nuke facilities…..now we wait for the retaliation.

When and if it comes what will it look like?

Things could get messy fast.

Now the waiting game begins. How will Iran respond to attacks on three of its sites, including Fordo, seen as the crown jewel of its nuclear programme?

Trump appears to be hoping the US strikes force Iran to make greater concessions at the negotiating table, but it seems unlikely that a nation unwilling to talk while under Israeli attack will be more inclined when American bombs are also falling.

And while Trump seemed to be implying that the US attack was a singular, successful event, if that’s not the case, then the pressure to strike again will grow – or the president will have taken a serious political risk for minimal military gain.

At first I think it will be cyberattacks…..

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s “massive precision strikes” on Iran, concerns have been raised both for Americans in the region and at home.

A principal area of worry is cyberattacks by Iranian state actors, including targeting the banking system or energy grid.

A recent Department of Homeland Security bulletin warned: “Iranian government-affiliated cyber actors will probably prioritize retaliatory attacks against Israeli targets in the short term but may target U.S. networks due to their perception of U.S. support for Israeli strikes.”

The bulletin urged domestic critical infrastructure entities to “immediately” assess and shore up their security. Such attacks have already infiltrated U.S. water and wastewater systems, according to the non-profit think tank Center for Internet Security, which briefed law enforcement on Friday.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/after-trump-attacks-iran-experts-officials-fear-american/story

The possibility of retaliation against our troops could be in the early stages of planning….

Iranian forces themselves have previously targeted American interests, hitting U.S. bases in the Middle East, for instance, after top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani was killed in an American airstrike in Iraq in 2020.

And in the summer of last year, the Justice Department also separately charged a Pakistani man with ties to the Iranian government for allegedly seeking to carry out political assassinations. Authorities told ABC News that among Asif Merchant’s targets were Trump and other current and former U.S. officials.

Then think about the Strait of Hormuz…..

Iranian media reported on Sunday that Iran’s parliament has voted to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to the US bombing of three Iranian nuclear facilities, a step that could significantly impact the global oil markets and economy.

Esmaeil Kowsari, a senior Iranian lawmaker, said it was now up to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council whether to go through with closing the waterway. “The parliament has come to the conclusion that it should close the Hormuz Strait, but the final decision lies with the Supreme National Security Council,” he said.

Roughly 18 million barrels of crude oil — about 20% of the world’s consumption — move through the Strait of Hormuz each day, making it a vital choke point for global energy trade. According to Newsweek, some experts suggest that closing the strait could raise oil prices by 30% to 50%, potentially leading to a $5 increase in gasoline prices per gallon.

(antiwar.com)

This action would be my first guess if Iran retaliates.

Finally the scary part of this whole thing….

Medvedev responded to the US strike in social media posts, including on his English-language channels, on June 22 by claiming that US President Donald Trump has started a new war.[7] Medvedev also claimed that the United States failed to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities, that Iran will continue to work towards the production of nuclear weapons, and that several unspecified countries are ready to “directly supply” Iran with nuclear warheads. The Kremlin typically leverages Medvedev to amplify narratives intended to stoke panic and fear among Western decision makers, particularly through nuclear saber rattling.[8] Medvedev’s veiled threats thus do not represent a significant rhetorical inflection. CTP-ISW continues to assess that Russia is constrained in its ability to provide direct support to Iran due to its war in Ukraine and has likely resigned itself to providing diplomatic overtures for the time being, showcasing the immediate limitations in the Russo-Iranian strategic relationship.

Of course this could very well be vague chest thumping but one that needs to be watched closely.

Just a couple of scenarios but the situation seems to be fluid right now so anything could happen at any time.

Tick Tock

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Agroterrorism

Agroterrorism?

Not a term that is batted around too often in the news here….but apparently it is a problem to consider….

But first a little background into this upcoming situation….

The United States enjoys a safe, plentiful, and inexpensive food supply. Americans spend only 11 percent of their income on food compared with the global average of 20 to 30 percent.1 The nation’s agricultural abundance helps drive its economic prosperity. As many as 1 of 6 jobs are linked to agriculture, a trillion-dollar industry. Agriculture-related products comprise nearly 10 percent of all U.S. exports, amounting to nearly $68 billion in 2006.2

Terrorists consider America’s agriculture and food production tempting targets. They have noticed that its food supply is among the most vulnerable and least protected of all potential targets of attack. When American and allied forces overran al Qaeda sanctuaries in the caves of eastern Afghanistan in 2002, among the thousands of documents they discovered were U.S. agricultural documents and al Qaeda training manuals targeting agriculture.

A subset of bioterrorism, agroterrorism is defined as “the deliberate introduction of an animal or plant disease for the purpose of generating fear, causing economic losses, or undermining social stability.”3 It represents a tactic to attack the economic stability of the United States. Killing livestock and plants or contaminating food can help terrorists cause economic crises in the agriculture and food industries. Secondary goals include social unrest and loss of confidence in government.

https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/agroterrorism-threats-to-americas-economy-and-food-supply

Now that there is some clarification of the term….what started me on this line of research was a story I read the other day and it is news….

Two Chinese nationals are facing federal charges after allegedly smuggling a crop-destroying fungus—deemed a potential agroterrorism weapon—into the United States. Yunqing Jian and Zunyong Liu are facing federal charges in Michigan over the fungus, Fusarium graminearum. Authorities allege Liu attempted to bring the fungus through Detroit’s airport to study it at a University of Michigan lab where Jian, his girlfriend, worked, the BBC reports. They say Jian may already have been handling the fungus at the lab without the necessary federal permits, the Guardian reports.

The fungus in question is known to cause disease in major crops such as wheat, barley, maize, and rice, with the potential to destroy yields and contaminate food supplies, according to the US Attorney’s Office. Its presence can lead to vomiting and liver damage if it enters the food chain and is ingested, and officials note the pathogen is cited in scientific literature as a possible “agroterrorism weapon.” It can also cause reproductive defects in both humans and livestock. It’s blamed for economic losses in the billions across the globe annually.

Prosecutors say Jian is a member of China’s Communist Party and received Chinese government funding for her research on the fungus back in China. US Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. called the case a matter of the “gravest national security concerns,” claiming the scheme involved using a university lab to further unspecified goals. The case comes at a time of heightened US-China tensions, following new visa restrictions for Chinese students announced by the Trump administration and trade disputes between Washington and Beijing. Jian has appeared in court, but Liu returned to China after being turned away at the Detroit airport last year.

This will add a new twist to the prevention of terrorism and one that we all should think about for if even a portion of our food supply is tainted it will lead to more hunger and we know what hunger can do to a people….(think French Revolution)

Just something else that we can worry about in these troubling times.

As long as we are speaking of terrorism….meet the new head of terrorism prevention for the WH….

When Thomas Fugate graduated from college last year with a degree in politics, he celebrated in a social media post about the exciting opportunities that lay beyond campus life in Texas. “Onward and upward!” he wrote, with an emoji of a rocket shooting into space.

His career blastoff came quickly. A year after graduation, the 22-year-old with no apparent national security expertise is now a Department of Homeland Security official overseeing the government’s main hub for terrorism prevention, including an $18 million grant program intended to help communities combat violent extremism.

The White House appointed Fugate, a former Trump campaign worker who interned at the hard-right Heritage Foundation, to a Homeland Security role that was expanded to include the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships. Known as CP3, the office has led nationwide efforts to prevent hate-fueled attacks, school shootings and other forms of targeted violence.

Fugate’s appointment is the latest shock for an office that has been decimated since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and began remaking national security to give it a laser focus on immigration.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-dhs-thomas-fugate-cp3-terrorism-prevention

Good to see Donny is consistent….he hired an person with no experience in the field of terrorism prevention….in other words yet another damn amateur….

I feel so much safer now that we have a high schooler in charge of preventing terrorism (can he spell ‘terrorism’)

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Don’t Let The Door Hit You In The Ass

This is news from Africa…..

I recently wrote about the failure of our War on Terror in Africa….that it had created more problems than it solved….

Is Africa A Failure?

Then there was a coup in Niger and the coup leaders told the US to vacate….

Dressed in green military fatigues and a blue garrison cap, Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane, a spokesperson for Niger’s ruling junta, took to local television last month to criticize the United States and sever the long-standing military partnership between the two countries. “The government of Niger, taking into account the aspirations and interests of its people, revokes, with immediate effect, the agreement concerning the status of United States military personnel and civilian Defense Department employees,” he said, insisting that their 12-year-old security pact violated Niger’s constitution.

Another sometime Nigerien spokesperson, Insa Garba Saidou, put it in blunter terms: “The American bases and civilian personnel cannot stay on Nigerien soil any longer.”

(antiwar.com)

I understand that US will leave Niger….”The US Department of State agreed to pull out about 1,000 troops from the country that has been under military rule since July 2023….

Now it seems that another nation in Africa is fed up with US presence….Chad….

Chad is threatening to scrap an agreement with the US that allows American troops to operate in the country, signaling the US might lose even more of its military footprint in Africa after Niger ordered a US withdrawal.

According to CNN, Chad’s government sent a letter to the US earlier this month that said it could end the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The letter didn’t directly order the US military to leave, but US officials said that if the agreement were canceled, US forces would have to leave a French military base where they were stationed.

Reuters also reported on the letter and said Chad ordered the US to halt activity at the Adji Kossei Air Base because the US had failed to provide documents justifying their presence there. The US has a small military presence in Chad, with CNN putting the number of US troops in the country below 100.

US officials told CNN that the letter could be a negotiating tactic to get a more favorable deal, but the expulsion of US forces would follow a pattern of Western countries losing their foothold in the region.

(antiwar.com)

By all accounts the War on Terror in Africa is an epic failure….for it has created more problems than it has solved.

How many more African nations will follow suit?

I could say this would save the taxpayer some money but reality and the War Department will just piss it away on Ukraine and Israel.

Time for all this to change….and now!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Remember Terrorism?

First of all….I would like to wish everyone a ‘Happy Earth Day’….

Now he is a subject that has taken a backseat in the media….and because it is under reported the American people have moved on to the point of blocking this out of their minds.

AQ is a mere shadow of its former self and ISIS, well ISIS is still there and still performing acts of terror and mayhem.

Then just recently the world got another wake up call….the attack in Moscow.

With its “war on terrorism,” the United States launched a global campaign against the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks as well as a number of other targets. The campaign probably created more terrorists than it killed. Moreover, U.S. interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq—the first with only a tangential relationship to al-Qaeda, the second with no connection whatsoever—killed a huge number of civilians as well.

Having failed to accomplish its poorly defined objectives, the United States eventually refocused on other national security threats. The “war on terrorism” disappeared from the headlines. Today, the world is more worried about the wars conducted by states: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Israel’s attack on Gaza, and the potential conflict between China and Taiwan.

But as the latest attack in Moscow demonstrates, some terrorist organizations are still going strong. On May 22, militants associated with the Islamic State chapter in Afghanistan attacked concertgoers at a Moscow venue, killing more than a 100 people. It was a shocking reminder of how vulnerable states can be in the face of determined non-state actors.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS or Daesh according to the Arabic acronym) is perhaps the most prominent terrorist organization operating in the world today. It emerged from the wreckage of the U.S. war in Iraq and the civic uprising against Bashar al-Assad in Syria. For several years beginning in 2014, these radical Islamists managed to govern a vast swath of territory straddling Iraq and Syria. Though it attracted recruits from around the world, ISIS also attracted the enmity of a range of states that otherwise didn’t agree on anything else. After repeated attacks by these diverse states—the United States, Russia, Syria, Iraq—the self-declared caliphate collapsed in 2019.

Even without its mini-caliphate, the Islamic State persists. It still launches attacks within Syria and wields considerable influencein the huge al-Hol facility in eastern Syria for detained ISIS fighters and their families (along with many unfortunates who have no connection to ISIS).  It still has something of a foothold in Southeast Asia. Several groups in both the Sahel and in sub-Saharan Africa are still operating.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/04/09/the-return-of-terrorism/

Terrorism did not go away nor was it defeated….however the importance in the media did go away….but now with this attack there should be a renewed interest in the happenings around ISIS and other groups bent on destruction and death.

But after all how important can it be when we have an election to fret over?

How will this play out?

Your thoughts, please.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The FISA Revolt

FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), just in case you have been unaware….it is up for renewal and the Hard Right is fighting the passage of this…..

A bill that would reauthorize a crucial national security surveillance program was blocked Wednesday by a conservative revolt, pushing the prospects of final passage into uncertainty amid a looming deadline. The legislative impasse followed an edict earlier in the day from Donald Trump to “kill” the measure. The procedural vote to bring up the bill failed 193-228, with 19 Republicans joining Democrats in voting no. More, from the AP:

  • The bill. The bill in question would renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which permits the US government to collect without a warrant the communications of non-Americans located outside the country to gather foreign intelligence. US officials have said the tool, first authorized in 2008 and renewed several times since then, is crucial in disrupting terror attacks, cyber intrusions, and foreign espionage.
  • Opposition. The reauthorization is currently tied to a series of reforms aimed at satisfying critics who complained of civil liberties violations against Americans. But opponents have complained that those changes did not go far enough. Among the detractors are some of Johnson’s harshest critics, members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus. Pushback has been bipartisan, with Democrats like Sen. Ron Wyden, who have long championed civil liberties, aligning with Republican supporters of Trump.
  • “Kill FISA.” In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump stated incorrectly that Section 702 had been used to spy on his presidential campaign. “Kill FISA,” Trump wrote in all capital letters. “It was illegally used against me, and many others. They spied on my campaign.” A former adviser to his 2016 presidential campaign was targeted for surveillance over potential ties to Russia under a different section of the law.
  • Expiry date. Though the program would technically expire on April 19, the Biden administration has said it expects its authority to collect intelligence to remain operational for at least another year, thanks to an opinion earlier this month from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
  • House Intelligence Committee reaction. “I’m just bewildered that a small number of members decided to take down the rule,” Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters on Wednesday evening. The panel’s Republican chairman, Rep. Mike Turner, also lamented that the bill had faltered, especially since he said it had unanimous support from a special working group. “There’s a great deal of misinformation about FISA,” Turner said. “It is not spying on Americans—in fact, that is absolutely prohibited.”
  • What Johnson had to say. The Washington Post reports that when Johnson was asked if Trump was impeding the FISA reauthorization process, he said, “I’ll just say that it’s never helpful for the majority party to take down its own rules.”

If you would like a more detailed look then this site should help….

https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/bill-to-extend-mass-surveillance-program-fails-house-vote/

More to the story….

https://www.commondreams.org/news/section-702-2667732823

Looks like the Freedom Caucus is gunning for Johnson as they did for his predecessor, McCarthy…..

These tools have way too much power and Trump has way too much influence on this pack of thugs.

Will Johnson cave to keep his job or will he grow some cajones and take on the Freedom Caucus?

More fun for me!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What Is ISIS-K?

The other big news on Saturday….

By now most everyone who lives above ground has heard about the horrific terrorist attack in Moscow…..but for those that have been under a rock….

While firefighters continued to pull bodies from the rubble and put out the lingering flames Saturday after a terrorist attack at Moscow’s Crocus City concert hall, people came to the site to leave flowers and teddy bears in honor of the victims. Questions about how such an attack, which killed more than 100 people and injured more than 150, could happen were mixed with expressions of grief and concerns about the future.

Some Russians wondered about the Russian security forces’ inability to prevent the attack. “Why is it that they say that there were warnings from foreign security services, but our services were completely indifferent?” asked a woman in Moscow. “How can this happen in 2024?” Another woman pointed out that the government seems to concentrate on watching dissidents. “There are cameras everywhere that can trace opposition people going to a rally, and they are also stopped in the metro,” she said. “Does it mean that cameras are targeted on people who carry a book … but you can carry a bomb or a Kalashnikov, and that will be OK?”

The group that carried out this attack is known as ‘ISIS-K’….who are these barbaric bunch?

Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), named after an old term for the region that included parts of Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, emerged in eastern Afghanistan in late 2014 and quickly established a reputation for extreme brutality.

One of the most active regional affiliates of the Islamic State militant group, ISIS-K has seen its membership decline since peaking around 2018. The Taliban and U.S. forces inflicted heavy losses.
But the United States sees the group as an ongoing threat. General Michael Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command, told Congress last March that ISIS-K was quickly developing the ability to conduct “external operations” in Europe and Asia. He predicted it would be able to attack U.S. and Western interests outside Afghanistan “in as little as six months and with little to no warning.”
Attacks within the U.S. itself were less likely, he said.
 
The United States has said its ability to develop intelligence against extremist groups in Afghanistan such as ISIS-K has been reduced since the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country in 2021. The U.S. military has said it can see the “broad contours” of an impending attack, but does not have the specific detail it did previously.
 
(reuters.com)
This is not a ‘new’ group by any means….
 
U.S. intercepted communications confirming the group carried out twin bombings in Iran that killed nearly 100 people.
 
In September 2022, ISIS-K militants claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing at the Russian embassy in Kabul.
 
The group was also responsible for an attack on Kabul’s international airport in 2021 that killed 13 U.S. troops and scores of civilians during the chaotic U.S. evacuation from the country.
 
More info will be passed on as it becomes available to people like me.
 
You now know as much as anyone else on this group.
 
I Read, I Write, You Know
 
“lego ergo scribo”