RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/hazmat-team-responds-ted-cruz-campaign-office-after-white-powder-arrives-in-mail/

Update 2:58p.m.: The Houston Fire Department confirmed Tuesday afternoon that the substance was found to be non-toxic.

A Hazmat team was dispatched to Senator Ted Cruz’s campaign office in Houston, Texas Tuesday after staffers opened an envelope containing a white powder that may be toxic, The Weekly Standard reported.

While it remains unclear whether the material was in fact toxic, two people present at the office building were hospitalized after coming into contact with the substance, according to the Houston Fire Department.

Two people were taken to the hospital after apparently being exposed to a white powdery substance in an office building at 3200 SW Fwy. The 9th floor of the Phoenix Tower has been evacuated as HFD HazMat is responding to the scene working to determine the nature of the substance.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/mail-laced-with-ricin-received-at-pentagon-mail-facility/

Two pieces of mail intended for top Pentagon officials have tested positive for ricin and are being further analyzed by law enforcement.

“On Monday, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency detected a suspicious substance during mail screening at the Pentagon’s remote screening facility,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning said in a statement today. “The envelopes were taken by the FBI this morning for further analysis.”

“All USPS mail received at the Pentagon mail screening facility yesterday is currently under quarantine and poses no threat to Pentagon personnel,” he added.

The mail facility is separate from the Pentagon building, ensuring the more than 20,000 employees there were never exposed to the letters.

CNN reported that the letters were addressed to Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson.

Ricin is a poison that is released from castor beans if the beans are crushed; it can also be derived from the waste products left after castor bean processing to make castor oil.

Ricin can be delivered in powder or pellet form, dissolved into liquid, or sprayed as a mist. It was used in the 1978 London assassination of Georgi Markov with a poison-tipped umbrella.

Symptoms of exposure, which differ depending on whether ricin is inhaled or ingested, to the toxin begin anywhere from four to 24 hours after exposure. Death can occur within 36 to 72 hours; there is no antidote. CONTINUE AT SITE

https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/lenient-prison-term-for-isis-terrorist-pits-prosecutors-against-federal-judge/

On September 10, just ahead of this year’s 9/11 anniversary, Texas resident Asher Abid Khan finally turned himself in to the U.S. Marshal’s office in Houston for providing material support to ISIS. He was off to the Federal Correctional Institute known as “Forrest City Medium” in Forrest City, Arkansas, according to court filings.

The 23-year-old University of Houston student had been facing a potential life term in prison when he pleaded guilty to one count related to recruiting fighters for ISIS, including one fellow Texan who died in combat. Instead, he must have felt some relief when, last month, the Ronald Reagan-appointed U.S. District Judge Lyn Hughes gave Khan 18 months.

But Khan can’t be making any long-term plans for his post-prison future.

In a highly unusual turn of events, prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice, angry about the perceived leniency of the sentence, have taken the judge’s decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. This just doesn’t happen. A Houston Chronicle report established that DOJ’s appeal of Judge Hughes’ sentence was a first involving ISIS cases. (More on the eccentric Judge Hughes in a bit).

The outcome of the coming bout will have consequences for the government’s ability to punish and deter future homegrown terrorists like Khan. America’s current and future Islamic extremists, while trying as hard as they can to die for The Cause, might view an 18-month prison stint more as delayed gratification than as wait-just-a-minute deterrent.

Here’s what the fight’s about in a quick nutshell: In the aftermath of 9/11, U.S. prosecutors were given tough new anti-terrorism laws and sentences as primary tools in the nation’s counter-terrorism strategy to punish and deter. The idea was to throw a bigger book at not only terrorist acts that directly cause death and destruction but also at soft “material support” activities that enable the violence. The USA Patriot Act, one of the new laws, increased the maximum terms of imprisonment for material support for two of the more common kinds of material support, which you can read more about here. One provision at issue here, 2339B of 18 U.S.C., takes into account supportive activity that results in death and allows prison sentences of up to 20 years or life in prison.

That’s the charge to which Khan pleaded guilty and for which Judge Hughes dished out an 18-month sentence. CONTINUE AT SITE

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/271347/feds-indict-new-mexico-terrorist-trainers-matthew-vadum

The five accused Muslim terrorists arrested in rural New Mexico near the Colorado state line this summer after an alleged school-shooter terrorist training facility was raided Aug. 3 were indicted last week on weapons and conspiracy charges by a federal grand jury.

This is the case in which five adults, including Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, were arrested after authorities found 11 hungry, filthy children living in squalid conditions in a terrorist training compound in Amalia, Taos County, a remote part of New Mexico. The children were reportedly being trained to commit school shootings. The remains of a three-year-old disabled boy, since identified as Wahhaj’s son, Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, were discovered on the property which was filled with weapons. The five individuals faced state-level child abuse charges but those were thrown out after local prosecutors failed to conduct preliminary hearings within state-imposed deadlines. The local district attorney said the charges will soon be refiled.

To the horror of law-and-order and counter-terrorism advocates, Judge Sarah C. Backus (D) of the Eighth Judicial District of New Mexico ordered the jihadist quintet released in August. Backus claimed a voter-approved state law left her no choice but to order the release of the defendants on a mere $20,000 bail per defendant with no up-front deposit. Feigning ignorance of the nature of Islamic terrorism, Backus wrote in her decision at the time that even though “[t]he state alleges that there was a big plan afoot … the state hasn’t shown to my satisfaction and by clear and convincing evidence what that plan was.” She added cutely that none of the defendants had a criminal record.

http://thefederalist.com/2018/09/14/rift-police-feds-allowed-new-mexico-terror-compound-fester/

Questions keep coming about how the U.S. justice system responded to a New Mexico compound that housed five alleged would-be jihadists and 11 reportedly malnourished children along with the remains of a twelfth child who died on the compound.

A federal grand jury recently indicted the five alleged jihadists on weapons and conspiracy charges, alleging the group created their compound in the desert outside Taos, New Mexico as a training camp and firing range to facilitate a “Common plan to prepare for violent attacks government, military, educational and financial institutions” and sought to “engage in jihad and form an army of jihad” according to the federal indictment published by the Department of Justice on September 11.

The five suspects—Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, Lucas Morten, Subhanah Wahhaj, Hujrah Wahhaj, and Jany Leveille—had previously faced state charges of child abuse, but the charges floundered in court after a New Mexico judge dismissed charges against all five suspects when state prosecutors missed a 10-day deadline for a preliminary hearing. Prosecutors argued extenuating circumstances but were rebuffed.

The federal charges echo information first laid out in the state prosecutors’ motion urging the judge in the case to reconsider the judge’s dismissal of bail, given evidence that the suspects had discussed targeted attacks against “corrupt institutions,” including schools and an Atlanta-area hospital. Suspects reportedly had repeatedly discussed a willingness to fight and kill law enforcement, and to die as “martyrs.” Prosecutors cited testimony from children inside the camp saying they were being trained to conduct school shootings or other attacks.

The five suspects were arrested after local police launched a raid to respond to reports of child abuse from inside the camp, only to discover a shooting range, multiple weapons, and documents describing a potential terrorist attack, including a document titled “Phases of a Terrorist Attack.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/john-kerry-deserves-jail-for-secret-iran-diplomacy

In a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt, former Secretary of State John Kerry admitted that he’s been working behind-the-scenes to salvage the Iran nuclear deal. “What I have done is tried to elicit from him what Iran might be willing to do in order to change the dynamic in the Middle East for the better,” he explained. Kerry’s backchannel with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif has not been a one-time deal. “I think I’ve seen him three or four times,” Kerry said, and acknowledged that his talks were occurring without the Trump administration’s approval.

Kerry has always been an arrogant and aloof man. During his long career on Capitol Hill, Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle described him as the least-liked senator, an opinion repeatedly affirmed by his own office staff during his long career. He is disdainful of democracy. Simply put, he sees himself as above the law, deserving of privilege and special dispensation not only when he is in government, but also as a private citizen.

Perhaps Kerry believes he is not violating the Logan Act of 1799 which states that: “Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.”

http://acdemocracy.org/political-islam-and-extremist-terrorism/
Seventeen years since al Qaeda terrorists used passenger airplanes to attack New York’s Twin Towers and the Pentagon, Western-style liberal democracies are failing to recognize the radical Islamist threat. While, as former President Obama reminds us, “we took out [Osama] bin Laden,” neither he, nor most Western leaders have taken measures to identify the ideological underpinning that fuel radical Islamists the world over, which to make things more difficult disguises itself as just another political movement, i.e., Political Islam. But President Trump did not hesitate to call a spade a spade. He condemned “radical Islamic Terrorism” when addressing the 9/11 memorial service in Shanksville, PA, commemorating the brave passengers of Flight 93, who crashed the plane, to prevent the al Qaeda terrorists from hitting Capitol Hill.

The failure to name the jihadist is caused by an unwillingness to identify the seditious nature of Political Islam has prevented Western-style democracies to defend and counter the harmful rise of radical Islam. This failure has been hastened by the imposition of “political correctness” by leaders of the global Progressive Left movement, branding every attempt to identify the Islamist threat and stop it, as hateful, racist, and incredibly even Anti-Semitic.

The latest sad evidence of the failure to identify the jihadist ideology as the basis for Islamist terrorism is the first report of the Congressional mandated Task Force on Extremism in Fragile States, titled: “Beyond the Homeland: Protecting America from Extremism in Fragile States.” The bi-partisan committee was headed by the co-chairs of the 9/11 Commission, Rep. Lee Hamilton, and Gov. Thomas Kean, who once again, failed to identify the jihadist ideology that fuels “extremism.” Instead, the report concluded that “A comprehensive preventive strategy should target both the conditions and the actors that fuel violent extremism, focusing on alleviating real and perceived injustice; fostering political inclusion; curbing the spread and appeal of extremist ideology; and containing the spread of extremist groups.” Nothing about jihad or political Islam.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/271288/sept-11-terror-attacks-17-years-later-michael-cutler

For me, writing about the terror attacks of 9/11 has become something of an annual ritual.

I don’t do this to rehash old news and old concerns but out of my burning desire to prevent future terror attacks by pointing out the vulnerabilities that undermine national security and public safety. Those threats are as real today as they were on that sunny late summer morning 17 years ago.

Since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 I have testified before numerous Congressional hearings and provided testimony to the 9/11 Commission and have testified before state legislative hearings across the United States.

Wherever I participate in panel discussions and other public speaking engagements I am frequently asked essentially the same question by concerned members of the audience, “Are we safer today than we were on September 10, 2001?”

From the immigration perspective, my area of expertise, it is clear that we are not only not safer, but increasingly at risk. In point of fact, today because of the Radical Leftist ideology that the Democratic Party has adopted, America’s threat level has risen precipitously. I addressed this extreme danger in my recent article, Democrats’ Attack On ICE Agents Is Working, making more terrorism inevitable.

Let me be as clear about this as I can. I am not being partisan, I am being pro-American!

I have been a registered Democrat for more than five decades. The problem is that Democrats are no longer Democrats but have morphed into a political party of anarchists and seditionists.

The Democratic Party has been hijacked as certainly as were those four airliners on September 11, 2001 turning crowded passenger airliners into de facto cruise missiles.

Sanctuary Cities and Sanctuary States have spread across the United States like a wildfire, obstructing the enforcement of our immigration laws from within the interior of the United States.