Reader’s links for June 8 – 2015

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Thank you all for those that take the effort to assist this site in keeping the public informed. Below, typically people can find the latest enemy propaganda, news items of related materials from multiple countries and languages, op-eds from many excellent sites who write on our topics, geopolitics and immigration issues and so on.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

52 Replies to “Reader’s links for June 8 – 2015”

  1. Pakistani Army: 19 Militants, 7 Troops Die in Border Clash (abcnews, June 8, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pakistani-army-19-militants-troops-die-border-clash-31605924

    “The Pakistani army says an overnight clash near the Afghan border in the restive North Waziristan tribal area has killed 19 militants and seven soldiers.

    Monday’s statement from the military says there was an intense exchange of fire between security forces and militants along the border. It says five militant commanders were among the 19 militants killed.

    One of the militants detonated his suicide vest while he was being chased by troops, killing the seven soldiers in that explosion.

    Pakistani tribal areas are off limits to journalists.

    A major military operation against local and foreign militants has been underway since last June in North Waziristan, once considered the base of the Pakistani Taliban. The army says it has cleared 90 percent of the region since launching the June 15 operation.”

  2. The left’s values are self-nullifying. They destroy whatever they touch. The American left must destroy America for the sake of “American values”. The Catholic left must destroy the Catholic Church. The Jewish left must destroy Jews. Its idea of Jewish values is unmaking Jews, Judaism and the Jewish State.

    – See more at: http://sultanknish.blogspot.co.uk/#sthash.peAWVZbJ.dpuf

  3. US Supreme Court invalidates law that would allow US citizens born in Jerusalem to list Israel as birthplace in passport

    U.S. top court invalidates Jerusalem passport law

    WASHINGTON, June 8 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday struck down a law that would allow American citizens born in Jerusalem to have Israel listed as their birthplace on passports, handing a victory to President Barack Obama’s administration.

    The Obama administration argued that the law unlawfully encroached on the president’s power to set foreign policy and would have, if enforced, undermine the U.S. government’s claim to be a neutral peacemaker in the Middle East.

    “Congress cannot command the president to contradict an earlier recognition determination in the issuance of passports,” Justice Anthony Kennedy, a conservative who often casts the deciding vote in close cases, wrote in the majority opinion.

    The court was divided, with the court’s four liberal members joining Kennedy in the majority. One of the court’s conservatives, Justice Clarence Thomas, agreed with part of the ruling. The court’s other conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Samuel Alito, all dissented.

    Congress passed the law in 2002 when President George W. Bush was president, but neither his administration nor the current Obama administration ever enforced it.

    Ari and Naomi Zivotofsky, the parents of now-12-year-old Jerusalem-born Menachem Zivotofsky, had waged a long court battle to have the boy’s passport state he was born in Israel. An estimated 50,000 American citizens were born in Jerusalem and could, if they requested it, list Israel as their birthplace if the law had been enforced.

    Scalia took the relatively rare step of reading his dissenting opinion from the bench. He said that the Jerusalem passport law does not infringe on the president’s power because it did not concern the question of recognizing a foreign government.

    “The Jerusalem passport law has nothing to do with recognition,” Scalia said.

    Seeking to remain neutral on the hotly contested issue of sovereignty over a city holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians, the State Department allows passports to name Jerusalem as a place of birth, with no country name included.

    The Obama administration had said in court papers that a loss for the government in the case would have been seen around the world as a reversal of U.S. policy that could cause “irreversible damage” to America’s ability to influence the region’s peace process.

    The White House argued that the president has sole authority to provide American recognition of who controls Jerusalem, a city claimed both by Israelis and Palestinians. The Bush administration had made the same argument.

    While Israel calls Jerusalem its capital, few other countries accept that. Most, including the United States, maintain embassies in Tel Aviv. Palestinians want East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in a 1967 war, as capital of the state they aim to establish alongside Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3115522/U-S-court-invalidates-Jerusalem-passport-law.html

  4. SPAIN –

    Moss men march through Bejar, Spain

    Bejar, Spain: Men covered from head to toe in moss have paraded through the streets of Bejar in western Spain to commemorate a daring raid that local legend says helped liberate the town from Muslim occupation some eight centuries ago.

    Locals believe that during the reign of King Alfonso VIII of Castile (1155-1214) men camouflaged themselves in moss from local forests to enable them to approach the gates of a Muslim fortress.

    Once there, they waited until the drawbridge opened before ambushing the unsuspecting guards. One version of the legend says the guards took fright at the moss-men’s appearance and fled.

    Every June the parade coincides with Bejar’s Corpus Christi celebration and town-dwellers shower the moss-men with flower petals as dignitaries and youngsters who have done their first holy communion accompany them.

    http://www.smh.com.au/world/moss-men-march-through-bejar-spain-20150607-ghiqi6.html

  5. TORONTO – Vulgar anti-Islamic graffiti sprayed on North York apartment building

    Residents of a North York apartment building were disturbed to wake up and find vulgar anti-Islamic graffiti spray painted on their building.

    Police were called to the high-rise on Finch Avenue West, just east of Islington Avenue, after the incident occurred during the night on Sunday.

    A building tenant, Naseer Din, says the incident was “very shocking.”

    We can’t understand why someone would do this,” Din said, “This hurts all the Muslims.”

    The vulgar comments against the prophet Muhammad have been covered up by a cloth on the building.

    Police attended the scene and are continuing to investigate. There is no word yet on if there are any suspects.

    http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/vulgar-anti-islamic-graffiti-sprayed-on-north-york-apartment-building-1.2411245

  6. Obama on ISIS: ‘We do not yet have a complete strategy’

    At a press conference following the G7 summit in the Bavarian village Krün, President Barack Obama admitted that the US does not have a complete strategy for countering the Islamic State terror group.

    “When a finalized plan is presented to me by the Pentagon, then I will share it with the American people,” Obama said. “We don’t yet have a complete strategy because it requires commitments on the part of the Iraqis as well.”

    Obama laid out a four-point strategy in September, but critics have slammed his strategy — or lack thereof — in recent weeks as the Islamic State (also known as ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) has made territorial gains in Iraq and Syria.

    “They’re nimble, they’re aggressive, and they’re opportunistic,” Obama said about ISIS militants.

    The strategy Obama described in September included airstrikes, increasing support to allied forces on the ground such as the Iraqi security forces, using counterterrorism methods to cut off ISIS funding and the flow of foreign fighters, and continuing to provide humanitarian support to groups that ISIS is targeting.

    Obama noted that the “commitments on the part of the Iraqis” include how training and recruitment, especially of Sunni soldiers and tribesmen, take place.

    Sunnis haven’t been as involved in the fight against ISIS, a Sunni terror group, as the US would like. Some experts say that the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad is reluctant to arm and train Sunnis out of fear that the Sunnis might one day turn on them.

    Obama emphasized that the US and other allied forces have “made some progress, but not enough” on preventing foreign fighters from entering Syria and Iraq.

    “We’re taking a lot of them off the battlefield but if they’re being replenished it doesn’t solve the problem in the long term,” he said.

    The relaxed border policies Turkey adopted between 2011 and 2014 allowed extremists to easily travel to Syria and join the rebels in their fight against the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. And although Ankara is cracking down, fears of blowback means that the problem remains.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-on-isis-we-do-not-yet-have-a-complete-strategy-2015-6
    video – Obama on ISIS (6 min 34 in HD )

        • The Awkward Moment Between President Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister at G7 Summit Germany

          Obama completely ignored the Iraqi Prime Minister who was sitting next to him at the G7 Summit

  7. [Full] Boston Police Release Footage of Cops Shooting Terror Suspect ( 10 min 06 -low resolution)

  8. SYRIA – Victory Tiding II – the capture of IDLIB – ( Eng subs -26 min 53 )

    • SYRIA – June 8th 2015 – Airstrike on Janoudiyeh ( near Jisr ) ( 5 min 24 )

  9. France: Clashes erupt as riot police evict migrants from make-shift Paris camp

  10. Father strangles four daughters in Pakistan

    A Pakistani man has murdered his four young daughters in the central province of Punjab, police said Monday.

    The crimes occurred in Chak Jumra town, around 215 kilometers (135 miles) northwest of Lahore.

    “Irshad Ahmed, a resident of Chak Jumra strangled his four daughters, two sets of twins, late Sunday night,” local police official Ghulam Shabir told AFP.

    He said the victims were all aged between four and seven.

    “The father was on anti-depressants,” Shabir said, adding that the mother had taken two other children to a wedding in a neighboring town and left the four girls with their father.

    When the mother returned the next day she found the four dead children in bed. The father had fled.

    Zaheer Ahmed, the investigating officer, said there were rope marks on the girls’ necks.

    In Pakistan’s conservative[ Muslim ] patriarchal society daughters are often considered a burden.

    http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/asia/2015/06/08/Father-strangles-four-daughters-in-Pakistan.html

  11. Iran to open 150 alcohol treatment centers

    Iran plans to open 150 alcohol treatment centers, a health ministry official said on Monday, in an acknowledgement of the scale of abuse in a country where drinking is illegal.

    The head of the ministry’s drug abuse department, Dr Alireza Norouzi, told the ISNA news agency that the 150 day centers would provide special settings and educational courses to help people give up alcohol.

    Six of the centers to be opened by March 2016 would also provide in-patient detoxification, Norouzi said.

    Iran opened its first detoxification center in Tehran in late 2013.

    Authorities estimate that as many as 200,000 Iranians have an alcohol problem despite the ban on drinking in force since the Islamic revolution of 1979.

    The sole exemption is for Iran’s Christian minority, which is allowed to produce wine for use in mass.

    But liquor is widely produced illicitly, leading to frequent reports of deaths from adulterated alcohol. It is also smuggled in from neighbouring [Muslim] countries, particularly Turkey and Kurdish parts of Iraq.

    Traffic police already introduced roadside breath tests several years ago in a bid to tackle drink driving. Offenders face a fine of two million rials ($67 at the official rate).

    http://english.alarabiya.net/en/life-style/healthy-living/2015/06/08/Iran-to-open-150-alcohol-treatment-centres-.html

  12. NEW ZEALAND – Muslim denied home stay in Japan over Isis fears

    A Dunedin teenager missed out on a year-long home stay in Japan because he is Muslim.

    Sharif Steel, 15, loves studying Japanese and wanted to take part in year-long home stay to the country.

    That wish was thwarted after exchange organisation World Youth Services emailed him to say their Japanese counterparts had “a few questions about you being a Muslim”.

    The Kings’ High School student replied to the New Zealand-based organisation explaining his religion meant that “I just can’t eat pork and I sometimes fast”.

    A fortnight later he was told it was impossible to find him accommodation because “basically every Japanese family eats pork”.

    Steel, who has never eaten pork, responded by saying he was willing to “pick out the pork in my meals, or would that be a rude thing to do”, but his plea was rejected earlier this year.

    “I blamed myself.”

    Richard Ellis, of World Youth Services, said he was aware of the case. Steele’s application coincided with the capture and beheading of two Japanese nationals by Islamic State.

    “The challenge was nothing to do with the boy, the fact was they were unable to find a Japanese family to host a Muslim.

    “Unfortunately it coincided with the beheading of the Japanese people by ISIS and just the horror that had, and by association anybody that appeared to be in the least Islamic, was not considered.”

    When asked why that message – rather than an email debate over his dietary requirements – wasn’t conveyed to the teenager, he replied “we were upset as his family was”.

    When asked if the organisation had apologised to the family, he replied: “I hope we conveyed that we were as dismayed as they were”.

    When told of the organisation’s reason for not allowing him on the home stay, Steel said: “I feel more upset now”.

    His mother, Azizah, who came to New Zealand from Singapore, said the decision smacked of “racism”.

    “It made me feel sick. I told him don’t you ever feel ashamed that you are Muslim.”

    The family said they had not received an apology from the exchange organisation.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/69200285/muslim-denied-home-stay-in-japan-over-isis-fears

    • What apology should they receive? No one would host a muslim after just seeing two of their citizens have their heads chopped off on youtube…
      Presumably, hosting a student is a voluntary action.
      “Smacks of racism.” I am so sick of that crap…
      No, Mrs. Muslima, it smacks of not wanting people of the muslim faith into your country. Would you host a Jew from Israel? At least they also don’t eat pork…

  13. DAILY MAIL – The moment Muslims start a mass punch-up in a Russian mosque which ‘could have ended in a massacre’

    Huge brawl broke out after Iman announced he wouldn’t lead a prayer
    Police had to be called to break up the fight between Sufis and Salafies
    Incredible footage shows one worshiper throwing himself into the fight

    video – on this page :

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3115774/Watch-moment-Muslims-start-mass-punch-Russian-mosque-officials-said-ended-massacre.html

  14. USA – Army’s Public Website Hacked by Unknown Intruders

    Defense officials confirm the official public Army website has been hacked by unknown intruders demanding the U.S. stop training rebel fighters inside Syria.

    Unlike the massive hack into Office of Personnel Management records, the officials stress the website contains no official classified information or private personal data of any Amy personnel, military or civilian.

    The messages reportedly proclaimed “YOU’VE BEEN HACKED” and added “YOUR COMMANDERS ADMIT THEY ARE TRAINING THE PEOPLE THEY HAVE SENT YOU TO DIE FIGHTING.”

    It’s not clear yet whether the Army or the hackers shut down the website.

    “Today an element of the Army.mil service provider’s content was compromised,” Army Brig. Gen. Malcolm Frost, chief of public affairs, said on the website hacking. “After this came to our attention, the Army took appropriate preventive measures to ensure there was no breach of Army data by taking down the website temporarily.”

    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/armys-public-website-hacked-unknown-intruders-n371781

  15. IG report: TSA failed to identify 73 workers ‘linked to terrorism’

    On the heels of Transportation Security Administration workers flunking a security test at airport checkpoints, the results of a new audit show that — while the agency keeps a robust system for screening commercial airport workers — it still failed to flag 73 airport workers “linked to terrorism.”

    Apparently, TSA does not have access to all the terror watchlist information it needs to make those judgments.

    “The TSA did not identify these individuals through its vetting operations because it is not authorized to receive all terrorism-related categories under current interagency watch-listing policy,” the June 4 Inspector General report stated.

    According to TSA data, the people in question were working for major airlines, airport venders and other employers.

    The agency acknowledged that individuals in these categories “represented a potential transportation security threat,” according to the report.

    To test the accuracy and effectiveness of TSA’s terrorism vetting procedures, the National Counterterrorism Center was asked to match more than 900,000 records of active aviation workers against its Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database.

    According to the report, the TSA had been unable to find 73 individuals “linked to terrorism” because the information the TSA received from the Department of Homeland Security Watchlist Service and used for vetting did not contain the terrorism “codes” associated with the 73 individuals. In other words, TSA did not have the entire terror watchlist.

    Some parts of the IG report, including codes, were redacted.

    Overall, the report concluded, the vetting and re-vetting procedures that TSA used were “generally effective” in identifying workers with links to terrorism. Since 2003, the agency has advised airports to deny or revoke 58 airport workers as a result of its vetting process for credential applicants and holders.

    The TSA had “less effective controls” in place to ensure airports have a robust verification process for a credential applicant’s criminal history and authorization to work in the United States.

    The report advised the TSA to “request and review additional watchlist data, require that airports improve verification of applicants’ right to work, revoke credentials when the right to work expires and improve the quality of vetting data.”

    The IG investigation is just the latest in a series that have called out the TSA for massive security breaches at some of the country’s largest airports.

    Last week, news broke that undercover federal agents had a 95 percent success rate at sneaking fake bombs and other banned weapons past airport security checkpoints during multiple tests.

    Acting TSA Administrator Melvin Carraway was re-assigned less than 24 hours after the report went public. The Senate homeland security committee plans to hold a hearing on the TSA security issue on Tuesday.

    In an op-ed piece published Monday, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., wrote that last week’s full report should be made available to the public. Parts of it had been redacted.

    “The publicly available facts are disturbing, but the classified details are even worse,” he wrote in USA Today. “Millions of families will soon fly to summer vacations, but if moms knew what members of Congress have learned behind closed doors, they would march on Washington demanding an urgent, top-to-bottom reevaluation of airport security.”

    In the column, Sasse said the findings were troubling for passengers who rely on the TSA to prevent terrorist attacks.

    “Until last week, Americans were led to believe that jihadi terrorists could never again weaponize commercial airliners. After last week, it is time to rethink that.”

    Not mincing words, he wrote, “We are not safe. It is time to start effectively protecting U.S. flights from those [ Muslims ] hell-bent on killing us.”

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/06/08/ig-report-tsa-failed-to-identify-73-potential-terrorists-trying-to-get-access/

  16. Weasel Zippers – Video: Muslim Diet Coke Lady About To Freak Out Because She Thinks More People Are Being Mean To Her

    This video of Tahera Ahmad’s behavior speaks volumes in regards to the bullshit United Airlines FA/Soda Debacle

    This video is from a PBS series called “What’s Your Calling”, and was supposed to be a clip with how people deal with frustration. There are multiple clips focusing on Tahera Ahmad that seem to be from 2010.

    https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=928728727187815

    http://www.weaselzippers.us/225906-video-muslim-diet-coke-lady-about-to-freak-out-because-she-thinks-more-people-are-mean-to-her/

  17. DEUTSCHE WELLE – Suspected terror group ‘Forsane Alizza’ on trial in France

    Members of the outlawed French Islamist group “Forsane Alizza” are on trial in Paris, accused of preparing terrorist attacks. Who are they? And did they ever really pose a threat to the public? DW takes a look.

    The trial of 15 members from the radical Islamist group “Forsane Alizza” (Knights of Pride) got underway in Paris this week. The accused were arrested in 2012 amid a crackdown on radical Islamists following a shooting rampage in southern France.

    Police had allegedly uncovered illegal weapons in a series of raids at group members’ homes. They also found a document belonging to the group’s leader, Mohamed Achamlane, which listed targets including Jewish supermarkets and the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo – which both became scenes of shootings in Paris in January this year that left 17 people dead.

    But despite the apparent similarities in targets, there’s no known link between “Forsane Alizza” and the January attacks in Paris, or the 2012 shooting in the country’s south. [link = Islam]

    The 15 are facing charges of “criminal association with the aim of preparing terrorist acts,” in a court case that’s expected to run until June 23.

    Before the French government banned “Forsane Alizza” in 2012, the group was known for posting provocative propaganda videos online, training its members to fight, and openly supporting jihad. Still, some terrorism experts are skeptical they were ever actually capable of carrying out an attack.

    What is ‘Forsane Alizza’?

    “Forsane Alizza” emerged in late 2010 in France’s western Nantes region. Its original goal was to fight Islamophobia in French society.

    “But instead it evolved towards a more violent group. It was their initial task to defend women against Islamophobia, but it went very far,” Jean-Charles Brisard, chairman of the Paris-based Center for Analysis of Terrorism, told DW.

    “They were radical Salafists opposing institutions, opposing any evolution in society, and clearly calling for the application of Sharia law in France.”

    The group had anywhere between a dozen and 100 local, mostly young, members, as well as several thousand online followers. It relied mainly on social networks, online forums, and propaganda stunts to spread its ideas.

    In one of the group’s first actions in 2010, a handful of members barged into a McDonald’s restaurant in the southern city of Limoges, shouting anti-Semitic slogans. Self-proclaimed emir Achamlane was subsequently given a four-month suspended sentence for incitement to racial discrimination.

    An outlawed group

    In 2011 the group grabbed news headlines when it staged several protests against the French law prohibiting women from wearing the burqa – a full facial veil – in public. During one such demonstration in August of that year, Achamlane burnt a copy of the French penal code, saying it did not protect Muslims.

    The French government outlawed the group in February 2012. Since then, most “Forsane Alizza” members have been jailed or placed under police surveillance.

    “They got a short period of glory,” says Francois-Bernard Huyghe, senior researcher at the French Institute for International and Strategic Relations.

    “They were just practicing karate in the forest and publishing very hardline texts, praising the martyrdom of their brothers and the heroism of the jihadis. Most of their activity was talking, they didn’t even begin to do anything,” he said.

    At the time, French Interior Minister Claude Gueant accused Achamlane of “promoting an armed struggle” and seeking to recruit and train soldiers. Although Achamlane has always insisted his group was not a danger, at a press conference held shortly before it was outlawed, he said: “We are soldiers of the faith… we are physically preparing for eventual attacks, we do not hide it.”

    A real threat?

    Less than a month later, France was shaken by a series of deadly shootings by Mohamed Merah in the cities of Montauban and Toulouse. The 23-year-old French national of Algerian descent killed seven people – including French soldiers and Jewish civilians – before he was gunned down by police.

    The killings prompted a crackdown on radical Islamists, as police scrambled to find possible Merah’s accomplices. Achamlane and more than a dozen of his associates were arrested in the raids. Police allegedly found weapons in Achamlane’s home, instructions for making explosives, and a computer document listing potential targets including Jewish businesses and right-wing politicians.

    “They targeted people they suspected of Islamaphobia,” says Huyghe. “They had a strong sense of resentment, of being persecuted, so they chose a lot of targets… probably too many targets to be credible.”

    Huyghe says it’s difficult to know whether the group posed a serious threat, despite all their talk and provocative statements. He describes Achamlane as a “megalomaniac,” who was followed by “very imaginative” youths.

    The real danger, he says, are people like Mohamed Merah, the Kouchi brothers or Amedy Coulibaly (the perpetrators behind the January Paris shootings) because they “did not claim on the net that they wanted to lead the jihad. They prepared their slaughters in secret.”

    Flocking to Syria

    “Forsane Alizza” was disbanded before the militia “Islamic State” rose to prominence in Iraq and Syria, and before hundreds of young people began traveling to the Middle East to join the jihad cause.

    Some former associates of the group have since traveled to combat zones in Syria, or have been involved in planning attacks in France, Brisard says.

    According to the newspaper “Le Monde,” supporter Omar Diaby has become a main recruiter in France for the Syrian Al-Nusra Front. Another associate, Reda Bekhaled, has also recruited Muslims to fight in Syria, and was indicted last September for planning to bomb an anti-Semitism event in southeastern France.

    Regardless of “Forsane Alizza’s” actions, or lack thereof, Brisard says there’s still a potential for such groups to act as “incubators” for terrorism.

    “It’s important that the government dismantle such groups which can form the basis of violent acts, not only inside the countries but also abroad.”

    http://www.dw.de/suspected-terror-group-forsane-alizza-on-trial-in-france/a-18504039

    video ( in French )

    • “Forsane Alizza” “They were not just practicing karate in the forest

      • Reuters – French Islamic group on trial after Jewish “target” list found

  18. NBC 10 I-Team: Warwick man connected to Boston terror suspects

    The NBC 10 I-Team has learned through authorities that the Warwick man questioned by police and the FBI is the third man who met with two Boston terror suspects on a Rhode Island beach.

    Court documents released Wednesday said Usaama Rahim and David Wright met a then-unidentified third person on a Rhode Island beach Sunday during a heavy rain storm to discuss a plan which involved beheading an unknown victim and also attacking police officers.

    Two days later, Rahim was shot dead by Boston police and the FBI after they said he lunged at them with a military-style knife. The FBI said Rahim was under 24-hour surveillance by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

    Wright was arrested a short time later in Everett, Massachusetts, and told the FBI, according to an affidavit, about the terror plot that was discussed Sunday on the beach.

    “They’re connecting the dots there, and evidently one of the dots is connected to down here,” said Bill Donnelly, a resident of the Governor Francis Farms neighborhood in Warwick, now saturated with police and reporters.

    NBC News confirmed police and the FBI have been questioning a Rhode Island man since Tuesday. Authorities said he is the person referred to in court documents as having attended a discussion with Rahim and Wright last Sunday “on a beach in Rhode Island, in inclement weather” to talk about Rahim’s plans.

    Separately, the NBC 10 I-Team has identified the Warwick man investigated by police as 24-year-old Nicholas Rovinski, who lives a short distance from Gaspee Point with his mother and younger brother on Aspinet Drive. The information was confirmed by a senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation.

    “Growing up with him, he was never a threat to anybody, always a good kid, always really nice too,” said neighbor Brandon Waterman.

    Other neighbors are now wondering why the police are on the street for the third day in a row.

    “If he’s in there, why not arrest him? My conclusion is they don’t have enough evidence,” Donnelly said.

    The NBC 10 I-Team has learned through authorities that the investigation is not yet complete. A representative for the Boston office of the FBI would not confirm nor deny the connection of Rovinski to the third man on the beach.

    http://www.turnto10.com/story/29239915/i-team-third-suspect-watched-by-fbi-lives-in-warwick

    Nicholas Rovinski on Google +

    https://plus.google.com/107833127644946486270/posts

  19. NYPD Working to Increase Ranks of Muslims in Department

    The New York Police Department is working to recruit more Muslims, and is asking for help within the community to better refine outreach aimed at stifling the lure of overseas terror groups, officials said Monday.

    Right now, there are about 800 Muslim uniformed police officers out of about 35,000, according to the NYPD Muslim Officers Society. Of those, only about 20 are higher ranked officials. Lt. Adeel Rana, commanding officer of the community affairs immigration outreach unit, said there has been a slow increase over the past decade, but it has been rapidly changing in the past year and a half.

    “It’s changing every day; we are getting more and more recruits,” he said. “And as they see people of their own religion in uniform, their eyes brighten.”

    There has been an effort to increase openness and communication with the community since the new administration took over, stinging from a public outcry over the contentious stop, question and frisk policy and the surveillance of Muslims. A unit that investigated Muslims under the previous police commissioner was disbanded, and Commissioner William Bratton said Monday officials had worked hard to regain trust.

    “We will not do anything to jeopardize that trust,” he said.

    In an effort to reach out to more recruits, the NYPD is also expanding a cadet program where college students are given stipends and fast-tracked to a job. Rana said officers also attend community meetings and fairs. A video played during the department’s annual pre-Ramadan conference showed dozens of uniformed officers who are Muslim saying: “We are your NYPD.”

    Muslim leaders said they are encouraged by recruitment efforts.

    “The more Muslims who work in the NYPD the better,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “This is a way to break down the mistrust and create bridges in the community. Where an informant breaks down trust, a law enforcement officer builds it.”

    The outreach is also meant to counter efforts by overseas terror groups to radicalize youth over the Internet.

    John Miller, the department’s deputy commissioner for counterterrorism and intelligence, said the department is working with Islamic leaders and community members to figure out how to get a counterterrorism message out on the same platforms.

    While rebuilding the relationship, he said, officials are working to reinforce a message: “You’re one of our communities and we are your police.”

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/nypd-working-increase-ranks-muslims-department-31622412

  20. EGYPT – SINAI – IS in Egypt kills man accused of being police ‘spy’

    Cairo (AFP) – The Egyptian branch of the Islamic State group released a video Monday showing the jihadists killing a man in North Sinai after accusing him of being a police “spy”.

    Ansar Beit al-Maqdis — which has pledged allegiance to IS and renamed itself “Sinai Province” — has carried out a spate of deadly attacks on the peninsula since last year.

    In the video distributed on Twitter and YouTube on Monday, the Egyptian man accused of being a “spy” for the security services was shot in the neck by the jihadists.

    Before the killing, the man identified himself in front of the camera and said the security services had charged him with infiltrating the Sinai-based extremists and collecting information about them.

    Jihadists have killed scores of police and soldiers in attacks on the Sinai peninsula since the army deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

    They are seeking to establish a province of the self-declared IS “caliphate” straddling parts of Syria and Iraq and say the attacks are retaliation for a deadly government crackdown on Morsi’s supporters since his ouster.

    news ( dot ) yahoo ( dot ) com/egypt-kills-man-accused-being-police-spy-192129306 ( dot )html

    video on dailymotion :

    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2t6vrp
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  21. Obama administration harshly criticizes Egypt in report to Congress

    The Obama administration has sent Congress a report that harshly criticizes the Egyptian government for restricting free speech, arresting political opponents and undermining democracy.

    Even so, the report also recommends the US continue sending it $1.3 billion in mostly military aid.

    The report, quietly submitted to lawmakers last month, said that while Egypt has implemented some democratic reforms, “the overall trajectory of rights and democracy has been negative.”

    The report, which the administration was required to send to Congress, says human rights and civil activists have reported a “steadily shrinking space for political dissent.”

    It also says that, except in rare instances, police and security forces have not been held accountable for alleged human rights violations.

    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/132287/Egypt/Politics-/Obama-administration-harshly-criticizes-Egypt-in-r.aspx

  22. A handful short vids with some written commentary showing us what we already know.

    Inside Mosul: What’s life like under Islamic State? (BBC, June 8, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32831854

    “Exclusive footage from Iraq’s second city of Mosul reveals how Islamic State wields power over people’s everyday life, a year after it was captured.

    Secretly-filmed videos obtained by the BBC’s Ghadi Sary show mosques being blown up, abandoned schools, and women being forced to cover up their bodies.

    Residents said they were living in fear of punishment according to the group’s extreme interpretation of Islamic law.

    They also described IS preparations for an expected government offensive….”