President Trump & Terrorism in the USA:threat & response

[davidbfpo]

An odd report via Twitter, from an untested source that relies on a local Miami paper and it starts with:

According to the Miami Herald, Brandon Russell, Arthurs’ roommate, was in possession of multiple materials meant to build explosives, including a lethal bomb-making chemical named hexamethane triperoxide diamine. FBI and Tampa Police Department officers found the materials in Russell’s garage.
While in his bedroom, devices used by police bomb technicians alerted to the presence of radiation sources — thorium and americium.

Link:http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/fbi-...ive-materials/

The local paper's report:http://www.miamiherald.com/news/loca...151953257.html

Leaving aside that Russell was serving in the National Guard; he lived with an extremist who was building IEDs possibly with radioactive components.

[AdamG]

An odd report via Twitter, from an untested source that relies on a local Miami paper and it starts with:Link:http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/fbi-...ive-materials/

The local paper's report:http://www.miamiherald.com/news/loca...151953257.html

Leaving aside that Russell was serving in the National Guard; he lived with an extremist who was building IEDs possibly with radioactive components.

You left out a key piece of the story, Dave. From the Miami Herald link above:

Officers placed him in handcuffs, and as they walked him to a patrol car, he made several references to “Allah Mohammed,” and said, “I had to do it. This wouldn’t have to happen if your country didn’t bomb my country.”
Arthurs explained that he shared the same neo-Nazi beliefs as Himmelman and Oneschuk until his recent conversion to Islam. His friends often made disparaging comments about the religion, he said, to which he began to take great offense.
“Since then, Arthurs states, he has become angered by the world’s anti-Muslim sentiment and had wanted to bring attention to his cause,” according to the arrest report.

‘But they aren’t hurt, they’re dead’
Arthurs told police he killed his two friends — identified by police as Jeremy Himmelman and Andrew Oneschuk — because they disrespected his new-found Muslim faith. Police found the bodies Friday hours after Arthurs barged into a nearby smoke shop and pulled a handgun on an employee and several customers.

Note that RAW STORY massaged this event to exclude all mention of the "Derka Derka Mohammed Jihad" aspect.

Now, however will the SPLA classified this? Islamic terrorism or Right-Wing terrorism? Place your bets now, kids.

[AdamG]

One week after the FBI raided a Dearborn home in the middle of the night, a new terrorism case surfaced in New York on Thursday involving two men: a Dearborn man who allegedly received bomb-making#training from a terror group and another man who allegedly plotted attacks on New York.
Samer el Debek, 37, of Dearborn and Ali Kourani, 32, of the Bronx#were arrested a week ago and charged with training and working on behalf of Hizballah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization based in Lebanon.#

http://www.freep.com/story/news/2017...oup/382329001/

[davidbfpo]

Citing Adam G:

One week after the FBI raided a Dearborn home in the middle of the night, a new terrorism case surfaced in New York on Thursday involving two men....were arrested a week ago and charged with training and working on behalf of Hizballah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization based in Lebanon.

Is this the first case for violent action, as distinct from fund raising etc for actions elsewhere, 'on behalf' of Hezbollah? Just curious; if it is surely this would be very significant?

[Azor]

Citing Adam G:

Is this the first case for violent action, as distinct from fund raising etc for actions elsewhere, 'on behalf' of Hezbollah? Just curious; if it is surely this would be very significant?

Yet from 2014 to the end of 2016, the U.S. ignored Hezbollah in Syria, and partnered with its affiliates in Iraq.

[Azor]

Citing Adam G:

Is this the first case for violent action, as distinct from fund raising etc for actions elsewhere, 'on behalf' of Hezbollah? Just curious; if it is surely this would be very significant?

See here (October 2016) from Brookings: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/marka...united-states/

See here (March 2012) from the former House Homeland Security Chairman: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/hundreds-soldiers-hezbollah-inside-us-says-homeland-security-chairman

[davidbfpo]

As the UK security agencies wrestle with post-attack assessments of where they went wrong with known suspects rated as not posing a threat a reminder that the FBI has ye to explain what it did over Mateen, the loner responsible for the Orlando night club massacre, on June 12th 2016.

Citing a former FBI agent:

Did law enforcement do a great job and were they heroes, or were they bumbling, inept dopes? Almost impossible to make the call unless you see the record. Who knew what, and what did they know? The next step is more difficult. What could we do differently? Well, because of the lack of transparency, we don’t know what we did wrong.

The penultimate passage:

Whatever flaws in the FBI assessment process that allowed Mateen not to be designated a threat last year, they likely still exist today.

Link:https://theintercept.com/2017/06/12/...rism-failures/

[davidbfpo]

This article popped up yesterday via Twitter IIRC and comes from an advocacy group on gun control - which I've not seen before - and is useful as it provides some options to prevent violence.

The title is:Anger Is the Shared Fuel of Mass Shooters and Everyday Murderers. Here’s What Might Stop Both; The post-Orlando debate is overlooking policies and programs that can prevent rage from boiling over into gun violence.
Link:https://www.thetrace.org/2016/06/ang...ce-prevention/
It is also appropriate after yesterday's shooting @ Alexandria, where the suspect appears to be an angry loner.