RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/ohio-man-arrested-attempting-to-join-isis-affiliate-in-afghanistan/

Federal prosecutors say that 19-year-old Naser Almadaoji of Beavercreek, Ohio, was arrested on Wednesday attempting to fly to Kazakhstan via Washington, D.C., and Germany, where he intended to be smuggled into Afghanistan to join the ISIS affiliate there.

Almadaoji’s arrest at the John Glenn International Airport in Columbus, Ohio, was the culmination of an investigation that began in February of this year after he was questioned by immigration officials on his return from a trip to Egypt and Jordan.

He later began communicating online with someone he believed to be an ISIS operative, who was actually an FBI confidential source. He told the confidential source that he wanted to join up with ISIS in Afghanistan because he wanted “weapons experts training, planning, executing, hit and run, capturing high-value targets, ways to break into homes and avoid security guards.”

Almadaoji attended Beavercreek City Schools in southwest Ohio near Dayton until September 2015, at which point he withdrew from school.

According to U.S. Attorney for Southern Ohio Benjamin Glassman, Almadaoji came to the U.S. from Iraq about a decade ago. Glassman also said that at some point Almadaoji made a video of himself pledging allegiance to ISIS “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. CONTINUE AT SITE

https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/toledo-woman-arrested-for-directing-financial-support-to-al-qaeda/

A Toledo, Ohio-area woman, Alaa Mohd Abusaad, was arrested Tuesday on charges that she directed an undercover FBI employee to send money to al-Qaeda in Syria.

Abusaad, 22 years old, had recently lived in Birmingham, Alabama, where the charges were filed. She was introduced to the undercover operative earlier this year through an associate while still in Birmingham.

A Justice Department press release summarized the charges:

As set forth in the complaint, Abusaad instructed an FBI undercover employee (UCE) about how to send money to the mujahedeen — fighters engaged in jihad. Abusaad told the UCE that money “is always needed. You can’t have a war without weapons. You can’t prepare a soldier without equipment.”

Abusaad also advised the UCE on how to send money in a manner that would avoid detection by law enforcement, including by using fake names and addresses when conducting electronic money transfers. Subsequently, Abusaad introduced the UCE to a financial facilitator who could route the UCE’s money to “brothers that work with aq” (meaning al-Qaeda).

Abusaad faces up to 20 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

The FBI affidavit filed with the criminal complaint records the discussions and direction that Abusaad provided to the undercover operative. They used a mobile messaging application, where she provided direction on sending money to al-Qaeda by using a fake name and keeping the amounts between $300-400 to avoid detection.

After Abusaad introduced the undercover operative to an overseas financial intermediary, Abusaad offered assurances that the money could be directed towards al-Qaeda, and that the preferred type of support could be specified:

Okay. He can say where he wants it to go specifically. Like for instance if he wants it to be zakat money [a charitable contribution under Islamic law] it can go to the Widows’s of mj [mujahedeen]. Or if he wants it could be for weapons. Bullets. Clothing … Or you can give it to the widow and orphans. Supporting a mujahids family is like taking part in jihad.

In speaking with the financial intermediary — identified in the affidavit as Individual A, who directed her to send the money to a Mustafa Yelatan in Istanbul, Turkey — the undercover operative asked for assurances that the money would go to fighters killing infidels: CONTINUE AT SITE

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/cnn-pipe-bomb-white-powder-harmless-law-enforcement-report/

The pipe bomb and white powder that forced an evacuation at CNN headquarters in New York City Wednesday morning were harmless, a law enforcement source told the Associated Press.

The purported explosive device was similar in construction to those sent Wednesday to former President Barack Obama, former attorney general Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton, Representative Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D., Fla.), and Representative Maxine Waters of California. A package containing white powder was delivered later in the day.

The NYPD said the explosive devices were live during a Wednesday afternoon press conference but subsequent reporting suggests they were not functional.

All of the devices carried a parody ISIS flag featuring comedian Larry the Cable Guy’s signature slogan, “git ‘er done,” NBC News reported late Wednesday.

The most recent wave of potential bombings came two days after billionaire liberal activist George Soros received an explosive device in the mail, which police later detonated. The package left in CNN’s mailroom was addressed to former CIA director John Brennan, who frequently appears on the network.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo said during a Wednesday press conference that his office received an explosive device but the NYPD later revealed the package in question actually contained a letter and a flash drive.

President Trump called the spate of attacks “despicable” in a Wednesday statement.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/10/24/suspicious_packages_sent_to_obama_clintons_cnn_evacuated_138446.html

Crude pipe bombs targeting Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, CNN and others were intercepted Tuesday night and Wednesday in a rash of attacks two weeks before nationwide elections that could reshape Congress and serve as a referendum on the first two years of President Donald Trump’s presidency.

The devices, which officials said shared a similar design, were aimed at prominent Democrats and a cable news network often criticized by political conservatives. A similar device was found Monday at the New York compound of liberal billionaire George Soros, a major contributor to Democratic causes.

The bombs overtook other campaign news in an already-tense political season, which has included pitched fights over immigration, the Supreme Court and sexual violence against women.

The White House quickly condemned the attacks aimed at Democrats and perceived foes of the administration.

“Acts or threats of political violence have no place in the United States,” Trump said. “This egregious conduct is abhorrent.”

https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/chicago-area-man-charged-with-running-pro-isis-media-operation/

The Justice Department has charged a Chicago-area man, Ashraf al-Safoo, with conspiring to materially support ISIS, saying that he led a pro-ISIS media operation.

Al-Safoo, a 34-year-old native of Mosul, Iraq, moved to the U.S. in 2008 and later became a naturalized citizen.

He took orders directly from ISIS officials. Through social media, he spread propaganda on behalf of the terror group, helping ISIS to recruit and encouraging supporters to conduct terror attacks.

A Justice Department press release describes the extent of his online activity:

According to the complaint, Al Safoo is a member of Khattab Media Foundation, an internet-based organization that has sworn an oath of allegiance to ISIS and created and disseminated ISIS propaganda online. Al Safoo and other members of Khattab have created and posted pro-ISIS videos, articles, essays and infographics across multiple social media platforms, at the direction and in coordination with ISIS, the complaint states. Much of the propaganda created and distributed by Khattab promotes violent jihad on behalf of ISIS and ISIS’s media office, the complaint states.

On Nov. 4, 2017, according to the complaint, Al Safoo reposted in a social media application for Khattab members an encouragement for people to help ISIS in any way possible, including by offering money or themselves. Al Safoo wrote, “Thus, it was incumbent on us to support them verbally and with money and soul and by inciting others to target the tyrants and expose the evil scholars and the Saudi rulers,” the complaint states. On May 23, 2018, according to the complaint, Al Safoo posted on multiple social media groups directions and encouragement for Khattab’s ISIS propaganda efforts: “Brothers, roll up your sleeves! Cut video publications into small clips, take still shots, and post the hard work of your brothers in the apostate’s pages and sites. Participate in the war, and spread fear.” CONTINUE AT SITE

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/isis-targeting-water-supplies-power-lines-and-cell-towers/

ARLINGTON, Va. — ISIS is proving to be a “very elusive enemy” in its remaining strongholds in Syria as forces on the ground battle against omnipresent booby traps and a network of jihadist tunnels, and in Iraq where jihadists are tampering with water supplies.

Via video from Baghdad today, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. Sean Ryan was asked why the Syrian Democratic Forces’ Operation Roundup, intended to clear ISIS fighters from the Middle Euphrates River Valley, seemed to be moving at a glacial pace compared to the seizure of ISIS’ capital, Raqqa.

“Raqqa and Mosul, that’s house-to-house fighting, to where this whole area is deserty area, it’s thousands of miles long. So it takes a long time,” Ryan replied. “ISIS has also been using underground tunnels, as we’ve mentioned before. And they are a very elusive enemy, there’s no doubt about. But when they’re underground, it’s very difficult.”

“I think the SDF is making very good ground right now. It just takes a long time,” he added. “And also, you have to remember, ISIS has booby-trapped and IED’d almost every area in there, to where you just can’t go rushing into these areas and clear them. You have to have the equipment and the manpower to do that. And often when you start the clearing, your equipment gets damaged when IEDs go off. So there’s not an, you know, unlimited supply of vehicles that they can use. They have to, you know, get resupplied.”

Ryan said when the SDF asks the coalition for something, “we are usually able to deliver it.”

Asked why U.S. officials have noted for many months that only 2 percent of the original caliphate still is controlled by ISIS, but that 2 percent has not been regained, Ryan replied that “it’s not about the land mass, it’s about taking away ISIS capabilities.”

“It’s not just killing ISIS fighters, it’s taking away their weapons systems, taking away their logistical support and things of that nature. So that’s happening every day,” he said.

Also, he added, “they had planned on this four years ago; they knew that they were probably going to end up in this area.”

“With the tunnels they have underneath and the tunnels that the oil companies left with food and supplies, they’re able to sustain.” CONTINUE AT SITE

https://pjmedia.com/trending/fbi-hazmat-team-descend-on-sen-susan-collins-house-in-bangor-after-ricin-letter-threat/

A hazmat team was called in to Senator Susan Collins’ home in Bangor, Maine, Monday after her husband received a threatening letter that may have been contaminated with poison. A number of other law enforcement groups descended on the Collins house, including the Bangor Criminal Investigation Division, the Bangor Fire Department, and the FBI, Bangor Daily News reported.

Police shut down a road adjacent to her house for several hours Monday afternoon.

“Senator Collins’ husband, Tom Daffron, today received a threatening letter that the writer claimed was contaminated with ricin, a highly hazardous substance which was used in a previous attack against the United States Senate,” Collins’ spokeswoman Annie Clark said in a statement Monday night. “Mr. Daffron, their dog, and parts of their home were quarantined while the crime lab undertook an analysis of the premises. The affected areas have now been cleared, and Senator Collins and Mr. Daffron will be able to remain at home tonight.”

Preliminary test results indicated there was no threat to the public.

Collins, a Republican, was not at home Monday afternoon while local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, including a Hazmat team from Orono, investigated her West Broadway residence. Sgt. Wade Betters of the Bangor Police Department referred questions to the U.S. Capitol Police, the primary investigating agency.

Police had no comment on whether they had identified a suspect, who would probably face federal charges.

Clark said Monday night that the threatening letter was “the latest in a series of threats against Senator Collins, her loved ones, and her staff.”

Collins has had to endure vicious attacks from the left both before and after she cast a decisive vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, including protests in front of her house.

The senator arrived home from Washington, D.C., in the early evening, after most police had cleared the scene, Bangor Daily News reported.

“We are very grateful for the immediate and professional assistance that we received from the Bangor Police Department, the Maine Crime lab, the Maine State Police Department, the Capitol Police, the FBI, the Orono Hazmat Unit, the Bangor Fire Department, the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service,” Collins said in a joint statement with her husband on Twitter.

“We are also truly appreciative of the many well wishes that we received today. Our friends and neighbors have been incredibly kind and have even offered to open their homes to us. We feel blessed to live in such a supportive community,” the statement continued. CONTINUE AT SITE