RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://michaelcutler.net/

Hi Gang:
Today’s commentary is predicated on a Department of Justice (DOJ) News release reporting on the conviction, via a guilty plea, of Mohamad Abdi Yusuf, for providing a foreign terrorist organization, al-Shabaab, with material support. The news release was issued several weeks ago, on November 3, 2011.
I have also provided you with a copy of a news report about the same case that was issued by the Riverfront Times.
There are a number of reasons why this news report is worthy of your consideration.
First of all, I want you to consider how the Department of Justice described Mr. Yusuf- the headline of the news release was:
“LOCAL MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO PROVIDING MATERIAL SUPPORT TO TERRORIST ORGANIZATION”
Of all the things I might say about an immigrant who was convicted of participating in crimes to support terrorism, I could not imagine a more deceptively innocuous term than “Local man!”
There is not a single word in the entire news release that noted that Mr. Yusuf had, in fact immigrated to the United States from Somalia. The way that is information was obtained was by reviewing the local news organization’s report about this case!
Now I want you to consider this excerpt from the DOJ news release:

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2010/11/mohamud_abdi_yusuf_st_louis_man_accused_of_funding_terrorists.php

http://www.justice.gov/usao/moe/press_releases/archived_press_releases/2011_press_releases/november/yusuf_mohamud.html

UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

RICHARD G. CALLAHAN
United States Attorney
Mohamud Abdi Yusuf: St. Louis Taxi Driver Accused of Funding Somali Terrorists
A man who immigrated to St. Louis from Somalia and worked as a driver for Express Airport Cab has been charged with funding a terrorist organization in his native country.

According to a federal indictment handed down last week, Mohamud Abdi Yusuf collected money in St. Louis that was secretly funneled to al-Shabaab, the Islamic militant group that’s seeking to takeover the east African nation. In February of 2008 the U.S. State Department added al-Shabaab to its list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The indictment states that Yusuf and his associates first plotted to raise money for al-Shabaab in January 2008 and knew it had been declared a terrorist outfit when they began sending funds to the group in June of 2008. Yusuf allegedly funneled the payments to an intermediary in Kenya and Somalia by the name of Duwayne Mohamed Diriye.

Another Somali immigrant living in Minnesota, Abdi Mahdi Hussein, was the one who allegedly wired the money from Yusuf to Africa. The indictment further alleges that the suspects used coded language to discuss their transactions, referring to al-Shabaab (which translates to “The Youth”) by nicknames such as skull-crushers, teeth grinders and sling-shot throwers.

For the most part, the funds Yusuf is accused of sending al-Shabaab were pretty meager — three payments adding up to $4,500 that was to go toward purchasing a vehicle to transfer troops and supplies.

If convicted, Yusuf could be sentenced to a maximum penalty of fifteen years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000 for each count of providing material support to terrorist. Hussein could get five years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine. Diriye remains at large in Kenya or Somalia.

In a statement today, the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Missouri, Richard Callahan, said Yusuf’s alleged crime was “uncharacteristic” of St. Louis’ population of some 2,000 Somali immigrants. The case was investigated by St. Louis airport police, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/149968#.TsqKTYR8FF4

SO DOES THE LITTLE BATRACHIAN (TOAD) HASHEMITE WHOSE PHONY RULE IN PALESTINE IS AS VULNERABLE AS ISRAEL IN A TWO STATE DISSOLUTION…RSK

Israel Radio reported Monday morning that King Abdullah of Jordan said “Israel has an expiration date.”

Abdullah’s comments were reportedly made to the BBC last week. During the interview Abdullah said Israel’s survival was dependent on a two-state solution. Israel does not realize it needs such a solution, he added.

Abdullah added his government would increase pressure on Israel to reach a final status agreement with the Palestinian Authority.

He did not, however, provide any concrete facts to buttress his oft repeated assertion of Israel’s imminent doom.

Israel remains a regional leader in the realms of economics, military, science, and technology.

Meanwhile, former defense minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Israel cannot afford to cut the defense budget because Israel is likely to find itself in renewed conflict with Egypt in the long-run.

http://townhall.com/columnists/danieldoherty/2011/10/22/the_decline_of_american_history_in_public_schools/print A few weeks ago, several friends and I braved the impending rainstorm and went to the National Book Festival on the Washington Mall. The purpose of attending — besides the obvious reason of wanting to stand in the company of Hollywood actors, renowned historians and poet laureates — was to hear David McCullough speak. […]

http://yoelmeltzer.com/the-party-is-over/ As Solomon the wisest of men once said “there is nothing new under the sun”. With this in mind it should come as no surprise that the recently proposed “rightist” bills have elicited the usual responses: lots and lots of Bibi-bashing together with accusations that Israel’s democracy is under attack and that freedom of […]

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/post_normal_claws_teeth_and_slime.html As the memories of the Soviet Union and Mao’s China fade, a new generation of Marxists has materialized.  Still-living members of the old generation are keeping the faith. How can anyone be a Marxist given the Marxist horrors of the 20th century?  It could be jealousy, rebelliousness, primordial archetypes, indulgent child-rearing, or a college […]

http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/1959/COIN-Colonel-Changing-Religious-Mindset-May-Not-Be-Realistic-Goal-in-A-stan.aspx It happened again.  There we were, going from one happy-dappy government account of COIN success in Sangin District at DVIDS  — With the use of counter insurgency operations, or COIN, the Marines are finding new ways to remove the insurgent networks from areas and assisting local villages in creating the peace the people of […]

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/11/21/super-dud The supercommittee was bound to fail. Naturally, the Pentagon will be the fall guy. Newt Gingrich was wrong. Last week, he said, “I am watching the ‘super committee’ in Washington with amazement. This is the dumbest idea I’ve seen in a very long lifetime.” Mr. Speaker, please admit it: the “super committee” isn’t the dumbest […]

http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/1958/Whats-It-All-About-Alfie.aspx After 12 visits to Afghanistan in five years, Telegraph defense correspondent Thomas Harding is trying really, really hard to be positive about NATO, and, particularly, British gains. Now, Harding writes, after decade of Western blood and treausre, Afghan farmers know how to trellis their grape vines so the fruit doesn’t moulder on the ground […]

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.10865/pub_detail.asp It would be interesting to draw some parallels between Occupy Wall Street and a phenomenon that preceded and that fed the rise of Nazism and the ascension of Nazi power in Germany. That phenomenon was the post-World War I paramilitary Free Corps (Freikorps), or Freebooters. When Germany lost the war, its army was disbanded, […]

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.10864/pub_detail.asp

The newly renovated New York Historical Society has a new movie presentation on New York history that presents a misleading picture of the 9/11 attacks.
The New York Historical Society was New York’s first museum, founded in 1804 and dedicated to fostering the history of New York and the United States. Until recently, it was an under-utilized, somewhat stodgy institution with comprehensive collections of Audobon prints, Tiffany lamps and historical paraphernalia – but little pizazz. In the shadow of its formidable neighbor, the Museum of Natural History, it stood little chance of attracting large crowds and remained a small curiosity on a prime piece of New York real estate. In the past few years, it has undergone a transformative renovation and has just re-opened with a glorious façade and two wide- windowed entrances displaying an elegant lobby on Central Park West and a colorful gift shop with a soon to be opened café on west 77th street. A full page ad in the NY Times of Nov 8th featured the museum’s replica Tiffany lamp collection and assorted gift items priced under $30 to appeal to Christmas shoppers who might otherwise never have ventured beyond those appealing doorways. It is clear that the museum has decided to jump into the second decade of the 21rst century with a new self-importance and some strategic marketing help.

When you buy your admissions ticket, you are given an automatic pass to the orientation film about New York – an approximately 20 minute summary of the historical and social evolution of our city from its beginnings as New Amsterdam to the current metropolis that is arguably the most cosmopolitan city in the world. On a panoramic, multi-paneled screen, we are quickly introduced to one of the salient focal points of the museum – the pervasive and determining role of slavery in our country’s history. We are reminded of its place in New York, both in the use of slaves to build the city itself and in the production of products created or manufactured by slaves and shipped out of New York Harbor. There is no attempt to whitewash our national guilt in this shameful human trafficking – in fact, there seems to be the opposite intent, to place this sin front and center whenever possible. In this regard, the film echoes what is seen throughout the building. At the front of the main lobby is a bust of George Washington with slave shackles attached to its back and a small statue of a Black man next to him; additional displays or references to slavery are on every floor. Eventually, the film reaches modern times and we see the shocking footage of 9/11 with its tragic rubble and chaotic frenzy. At the right side of the screen is an enlarged NY Times headline reading, “Hijacked Jets Attack New York.” There is no further elucidation of who attacked us and no attempt to give 9/11 any context whatsoever, including no mention of how many people were killed. For the classes of young school-children who are ushered in to this auditorium, this could just as easily be interpreted as an aviation accident or an isolated incident that had no repercussions beyond the destruction of some skyscrapers downtown.

The most pivotal event to happen in New York and the United States in this century was the attack on our country on 9/11 – a topic of far greater moment for young students of today than George Washington’s slaves – yet the Museum has chosen not to identify its perpetrators nor to discuss its aftermath or significance. There is no mention of Al Qaeda or Radical Jihad, no mention of who the hijackers were – not a word about the heroism of firemen, policemen and other first responders. Though an earlier photo-montage of the Triangle Shirt Fire mentioned how many victims perished and the section on the Draft Riots of the Civil War discussed its enormous ravages, 9/11 is bereft of statistics and in a museum dedicated to history – it is suspended in a vacuum, lacking both causes and consequences.