RUTHFULLY YOURS

“With this ruling, Judge Haight contributes to the slander of one of the world’s most professional police forces and encourages anti-cop activists to escalate their demands—all while making it more difficult to keep New Yorkers safe from attack.”

This week a federal judge fed the myth of a New York City police department bent on violating the rights of innocent Muslims by unlawfully spying on them.

Senior District Judge Charles Haight did so in an extraordinary ruling rejecting a settlement that Mayor Bill de Blasio had reached with liberal activists and Muslim groups. Though the settlement was good enough for the progressives, somehow it wasn’t for Judge Haight. He’s ordered them to return with an agreement that would give the court and a civilian appointee more authority over how police operate.

Never mind that the judge’s decision is mostly based on a politicized inspector general’s report that never found evidence of the widespread spying on innocent Muslims that was alleged. Or that most of the “violations” in this same report had to do with timetables and deadlines, not spying. The judge nonetheless ruled the cops were guilty of “near-systemic violations” of the so-called Handschu guidelines—which date from a 1985 settlement approved by Judge Haight in a class-action suit originally involving the Black Panthers and Communists.

Lost in this legal fog is the truth that the program at issue was never about Muslim “surveillance.” This was about the police gathering intelligence that would help them identify places and neighborhoods where a terrorist might seek a job, a meal or a place to crash. Such information would have come in handy if, say, the Tsarnaev brothers, after bombing the 2013 Boston Marathon, had made their way to New York City to bomb Times Square as they’d planned.

It speaks to the real agenda that one of the activist demands included in the earlier settlement was that the NYPD would purge from its website a 2007 report called “Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat.” The activists claimed the report was being used to justify discriminatory surveillance on Muslims. CONTINUE AT SITE

There are four cyber-security stories that have cropped up recently to which everyone should be paying close attention:

This past week, DMV offices all over California had their computer systems shut down by what was apparently a hardware failure. There’s evidently no reason to suspect the DMV’s systems were attacked, but the incident shows off the frailty of government computer systems, the ease with which the whole edifice can collapse when a single brick is smashed (accidentally or intentionally).

The week before, websites all over the country were shut down when a major American Domain Name System host was attacked. DNS hosts handle the conversion of web addresses that make sense to men — say, NationalReview.com — into the universal system of numerical addresses that make sense to computers. Without the conversion of one to the other, the name you type into your browser’s address bar won’t connect you to that website’s servers; your internet provider won’t understand what you’re looking for. Unless you know your destination website’s IP address (National Review’s is, for instance, 104.16.126.47) and unless it allows direct IP access (National Review does not) the website becomes inaccessible.

That is exactly what happened to large swaths of the Internet two weeks ago, when Dyn, one of the U.S.’s major DNS hosts, was flooded by a tidal wave of artificial internet traffic. It tried to convert addresses for so many fake browsing requests that it was unable to respond to the real ones, like a bartender getting 10,000 orders for Banana Daiquiris just before you try to order a beer. With their DNS host overwhelmed, sites such as Twitter, CNN, Paypal, Reddit, Spotify, and Netflix stopped working.

One week before that, WikiLeaks began publishing John Podesta’s e-mails, and the Clinton campaign decided that it would try to redirect the story toward Russia, which they say is responsible for stealing Podesta’s email. That might not be true; it’s certainly possible that it is — various intelligence agencies seem to think so. There is no doubt that Russia would like to tamper with our elections, or, short of that, to appear to be tampering with them. Because the Obama administration has a more or less established policy of non-response to cyber-attacks — from Russia, from China, from North Korea, from Iran — the Kremlin no doubt felt comfortable giving it a try.

LOS ANGELES—Federal prosecutors charged two California men with conspiring to smuggle fighter-jet parts to Iran in a scheme that allegedly dates to 2009.

The pair worked with two Iranian nationals to break laws that restrict exports to the longtime U.S. adversary, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said in a statement Friday.

A nine-count federal indictment unsealed Wednesday alleged that Zavik Zargarian of Glendale tried to help one of the Iranians purchase more than $3 million worth of parts for fighter jets, including F-15s and F-18s. Their would-be supplier was an undercover federal agent.

Prosecutors also said Vache Nayirian of Los Angeles exported more than 7,000 fluorocarbon rubber O-rings, which could have military uses, including for aircraft landing gear.

To evade detection, the shipments went to other destinations in the Persian Gulf before being routed to Iran, where the national air force received them, prosecutors said.

Both defendants have been assigned court-appointed attorneys and pleaded not guilty Wednesday. The attorney representing Mr. Nayirian questioned the strength of the government’s case, given that it began seven years ago and a grand jury produced the indictment in 2014.

Hey, kids! Thinking about becoming a “violent extremist”? Don’t Be a Puppet! (Wall Street Journal article here.)

Seriously – the FBI has created a website, complete with state-of-the-art graphics from about 25 years ago, to keep our youth from becoming “radicalized.” And no, the name of the site is not an oblique admonishment to Director James Comey. This is serious business.

The home screen shows a man-cave featuring a Snap-On tool chest, computers, and papers lying all about – those extremists sure are messy. Maybe the feds could use this as a teachable moment to promote kaizen and 5S.

For the kids who are toying with “radicalization,” “a symbol can build pride or create a positive emotional connection. Symbols can also be used to create fear and to control people. Violent extremists have used various symbols over the years to fuel feelings of revenge and hatred.” Need an example? Well here’s Old Glory. Not the sword and crescent, or even the hammer and sickle, but the American flag.

The section “Who Do Violent Extremists Affect?” features four videos: Boston Marathon Bombing, Attacks of 9/11, Hate Crime Survivor, and Oklahoma City Bombing. These must all be about equivalent, yes? Consider Hate Crime Survivor Nina Timani, “a Muslim Arab American and mother of two,” who received a threatening letter. Don’t worry – nothing happened to her, because the FBI caught the person who sent the letter, but she’s still a survivor, just like the families of the other victims. Yep, I’d say that’s just as horrific a crime as the other three. See, Arab-Americans are victims, too.

We learn that “violent extremists” have attacked in several places, including the Pentagon, where 189 people were killed on 9/11. But “the Pentagon was also bombed by domestic extremists in 1972, causing flooding in the building.” Oh, 189 dead vs. flooding. Seems equivalent to me.

And don’t forget Vail, Colo., where “environmental extremists torched and virtually destroyed a ski resort.” Or 1954, when Puerto Rican extremists attacked Congress. See? “Violent extremists” come in all shapes and sizes.

So what can cause this mysterious affliction?

Social Alienation (“Consider healthy ways you can connect with others.”)
Anxiety (“Teens can be stressed by problems at home, grades, peer pressure, bullying, and other issues.”)
Frustration (“It’s natural to feel frustrated or angry when you are treated unfairly or rejected by others.”)
Painful Experiences (“Painful experiences – including physical or emotional abuse, a romantic breakup, or the loss of a loved one – can upset a person and lead to lifelong challenges.”)

I was frustrated last week when my hard disk crashed. Recovery was a painful experience. Should I be put on the FBI’s watch list?

“Conflict Resolution Tips” has advice for dealing with these issues: “Keep your voice calm. Never yell or scream,” and so on. “Where to Get Help” even has a link to www.stopbullying.gov. The FBI as therapist to our victimized, therapeutic culture. How the Federal Bureau of Investigation has fallen from the heady days when it chased the likes of Al Capone and John Dillinger.

“How Do Violent Extremists Make Contact?” The answer will blow you away:

Internet
Cell phone
Flyer

I kid you not. Must be straight from Director Comey’s desk, ’cause he’s a real straight shooter, children, and he’d never lead you astray. Director Comey says in a video, “We created this website to talk about violent extremism.” At least the Wall Street Journal quotes the video, but I cannot find it. Maybe the director had it taken down, embarrassed by what it says about his time management. After all, he was too busy to go to Hillary’s interview but found the time to make a video for this puerile website.

LOS ANGELES—A Southern California man convicted of conspiring to provide support to the terrorist organization Islamic State was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday by a federal judge in Santa Ana, Calif.

Muhanad Badawi, a 26-year-old resident of Anaheim, in Orange County, was convicted in connection with his efforts to help his co-defendant in the criminal case, 26-year-old Nader Salem Elhuzayel, get to Syria to fight for Islamic State, also known as ISIL.

In September, Mr. Elhuzayel was sentenced to 30 years in prison by U.S. District Judge David Carter, who also handed down Mr. Badawi’s sentence.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, which prosecuted the two men, had recommended a 30-year sentence for Mr. Badawi. Through words and action, Mr. Badawi “demonstrated his deep commitment to the ISIL ideology and his corresponding antagonism to the fundamental values of the U.S.,” said one government court filing.

“Badawi and Elhuzayel wanted to fight for ISIL, desired to become so-called martyrs and supported ISIL’s terrorist activities. Prosecutions such as this are critically important to our national security,” Eileen M. Decker, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said in a statement.

Mr. Badawi’s attorneys had recommended a sentence of no more than 15 years. Such a sentence “achieves the goals of deterrence, incapacitation and rehabilitation. A greater sentence does not achieve a greater level of justice,” said a defense court filing.

At a hearing Monday, Judge Carter had raised the possibility of assigning Mr. Badawi to a program aimed at “de-radicalizing” individuals who have become followers of terrorist groups. A federal judge in Minnesota has been exploring the use of such a program for defendants facing terrorism-related charges.

Al-Qaeda is appealing to millennials with a cocktail of populism and Islam and directives to not admire grown “kids” in professional sports but “men… with their AK aimed at the enemy” — and to follow the latter into jihad.

The outreach was detailed in Al-Balagh, a recent magazine issued by al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, a successful chapter announced by core leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2014 that has conducted a spree of machete assassinations against individuals deemed to have insulted Islam. One of the group’s earlier victims was an Atlanta couple who were secular writers visiting Bangladesh; Avijit Roy was hacked to death, while his wife Rafida Bonya Ahmed was seriously injured.

The 53-page inaugural issue of the magazine was printed in English and Bengali. The editor’s note at the beginning first details and slams the “criminal demon-crazy nexus which is known as democracy.”

“Thus, while the anti-Islamic bigots and hate-breeders are hailed as heroes by the rulers and the media, the Tawheed [monotheism]-loving Muslims who came out in the streets to protest the defamation of their beloved prophet are humiliated and massacred,” the column states in apparent reference to the bloggers, professors and journalists who have been hacked to death by AQIS.

The appeal to youth first uses the politics of Bangladesh as a backdrop, arguing that “the criminals siphon billions of dollars from the share market with ease and immersed in mirth, with no accountability whatsoever, while the devastated, burdened youth faced with unrelenting poverty and debt are forced to commit suicide.”

“Domestic maids succumb to death after enduring barbaric torture at the hands of distinguished citizens, while the killers are showered with flowers and garlands. Our mothers and sisters are abused in broad daylight, yet the criminals roam free,” the piece continues. “Every moment a new tragedy is born. It is impossible to keep track of the disasters plaguing this nation. So which one of these can one speak about? Such is the state of the country.”

“And what about the Muslim Ummah [community]? It seems no one even cares to inquire about the Muslims in Palestine anymore, although the criminal Zionist Israel is still surrounded by Muslim countries. I think it was Ali Tantawi who once said, ‘If Muslims can’t learn to resist Israel with weapons then they should learn how to die. You will see Israel be wiped off of the map with a flood of Muslim blood.'”

The article laments that in “Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, China, Myanmar, India, Pakistan — nowhere have the Muslims been able to be liberated.”

“I am not merely talking about the Western concept of ‘independence’ or ‘self-determination,’ but I am talking about true liberation, which can only come through the victory of the deen [religion]. I am talking about making Islam victorious,” the write continues.

“But the good news is a new wave, a reversal of the world order has started all over the world. A wave of Muslim youth is returning to Tawheed. A wave of the youth is returning to Islam. It is a return to the roots in order to bring back the glory and reclaim the honor, and to destroy the satanic civilization and establish the reign of the divine Shariah.”

“The Muslim youth,” argues the AQIS piece, “have started to realize that they have to rise up and join the caravan.”

“They have to join the resistance and the revolution. They have to conquer fear and walk on the same road on which the Salaf stepped upon. Only then true liberation and true victory will come. The Muslims have recognized the reality of the system of kufr [disbelief] imposed by the global kuffar. The magic of the magician has finally come undone,” continues the recruiting pitch.

Would-be jihadists are told that “with our backs to the wall, now is the time to fight back.”

“It is now or never. The Muslims all over the world are witnessing the help of Allah granted to the Mujahideen.” A few operations are mentioned, including “the beginning of the Third Intifada” in the Middle East. CONTINUE AT SITE