But the Tsarnaev brothers were A-OK. "Pakistani doctor who helped get Bin Laden was denied asylum in U.S., report reveals," by Sib Kaifee for FoxNews.com, May 17:

The jailed doctor who helped the U.S. track down Usama bin Laden was convicted by a tribal court on bogus charges, according to a classified Pakistani government report.

Portions of the voluminous 357-page Abbottobad Commission Report, which has yet to be made public and were obtained exclusively by Fox News, acknowledge Dr. Shakil Afridi’s conviction last year by a government-sponsored Jirga has undermined Pakistan’s credibility. The report calls for Afridi to be given a new trial.

The report also claims Afridi joined the CIA search for Bin Laden five years ago, while he was staying in the U.S. with a cousin. According to the report, Afridi applied for asylum after a terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Islam, stepped up its operations in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt.

Afridi was reportedly kidnapped by the group in 2008 and released after his family paid a $10,000 ransom. After helping the CIA pinpoint the terror mastermind just prior to the 2011 raid in which Navy SEALs killed Bin laden, Afridi was arrested and convicted by the tribal court of colluding with Lashkar-e-Islam.

The State Department declined to comment on the report's claims that Afridi had applied for asylum while staying in the U.S.

The commission report acknowledges Afridi was subjected to harsh treatment in prison, and moved several times to various undisclosed locations by Pakistan’s spy agency. His Pakistani handlers also note his incarceration for a year without judicial process was unfair, according to the report.

In a telephone interview with Fox News last year, Afridi recounted his ordeal in prison.

“My clothes were removed and I was forced by a major to wear old dirty torn rags of an army conductor," Afridi said. "It was difficult to eat food. I had to bend down on my knees to eat with only my mouth, like a dog. I sat on the floor.”

Afridi said he was blindfolded for eight months, and handcuffed with his hands behind his back for a year.

Afridi, who helped confirm the Al Qaeda leader’s presence in an Abbottabad compound, lived for a short period in San Francisco in 2009, according to the report.

“He came to meet my brother and mother, who was not well at that time,” Afridi’s first cousin, a Californian resident and student based in Los Angeles, told FoxNews.com.

It was around that time that Afridi first agreed to work for the CIA, the report said. The deal helped lead to Bin Laden’s death in 2011, and netted Afridi a mere $13,000, according to his statement documented in the report.

Afridi is currently serving a 33-year jail term, and is appealing his conviction. The U.S. has called for Afridi's release, but his supporters say the Obama administration has not done enough to press for his freedom....

Indeed not.

The attacks in Baghdad and surrounding areas pushed the three-day Iraqi death toll to more than 130 people, including Shiites at bus stops and outdoor markets..." But remember: it's a Religion of Peace, and if you dare think otherwise, you're a greasy Islamophobe.

"Iraq: Bombs targeting Sunnis claim at least 76 lives," by Sameer N. Yacoub for the Associated Press, May 17 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD — Bombs struck Sunni areas in Baghdad and surrounding areas Friday, killing at least 76 people in the deadliest day in Iraq in two months, officials said. The surge in violence has raised fears the country could be on the path to a new round of sectarian bloodshed.

The attacks in Baghdad and surrounding areas pushed the three-day Iraqi death toll to more than 130 people, including Shiites at bus stops and outdoor markets in scenes reminiscent of the retaliatory attacks between the Islamic sects that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-2007.

Tensions have been intensifying since Sunnis began protesting what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government, including random detentions and neglect. The protests, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in the country's north on April 23.

Majority Shiites control the levers of power in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. Wishing to rebuild the nation rather than revert to open warfare, they have largely restrained their militias over the past five years or so as Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida have targeted them with occasional large-scale attacks. An increase attacks against Sunni mosques has fed concerns about a return to retaliatory warfare.

The deadliest blast on Friday struck worshippers as they were leaving the main Sunni mosque in Baqouba, a former Sunni insurgent stronghold 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Another explosion went off shortly afterward as people gathered to help the wounded, leaving at least 43 dead and 56 wounded, according to police and hospital officials. Bloodied bodies were strewn across the road outside the mosque....

They are the worst enemies of the Muslims (cf. Qur'an 5:82). So this is not unexpected. What is worst about it is that the international media and "human rights community" will not even bat an eye. But imagine if a Christian cleric said something even a tenth this hateful and evil -- it would be the top story all over the world for days, maybe even weeks. But when it comes to Muslims, the multiculturalists display their unconscious ethnocentrism, and give their genocidal bloodlust a pass.

"Egyptian Cleric Sami Abu Al-'Ala Calls on God to Annihilate Jews, Make Them Widows and Orphans," from MEMRI, May 3 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by Egyptian cleric Sami Abu Al-'Ala, which aired on Al-Hafez TV on May 3, 2013:

Sami Abu Al-'Ala: Oh Allah, make the conspiracies of the Jews their own ruin. Oh Allah, crush their soldiers and their weapons, destroy their homes, freeze the blood in their veins, disperse them, make their children orphans and their women widows, and shake the earth under their feet. Oh Allah, annihilate the Jews as you annihilated the peoples of 'Aad and Thamud. Oh Allah, make the Jews annihilate themselves.

The people on the Mavi Marmara flotilla were genocidal Jew-hating jihadis, as you can see in the second video above: they were chanting a jihad war cry recalling Muhammad's massacre of the Jews of Arabia: "Khybar, Khybar, O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return." See the photos here of their weapons. What is most tragic about this whole thing is that Obama strongarmed Netanyahu into subscribing to that narrative himself by apologizing to the Turks. And now Erdogan tried to seize the opportunity to rub it in, although it isn't clear whether or not Dogan pere was actually among his entourage.

"Wait Until You Hear Who the Turkish Prime Minister Reportedly Invited to Join His Entourage During U.S. Visit," by Sharona Schwartz for The Blaze, May 17 (thanks to Maxwell):

According to Turkish media, the father of one of the radical Islamist activists killed in Israel’s raid on the Mavi Marmara in 2010 (the Gaza flotilla) was included as an invited guest in the prime minister’s delegation in the hopes he might be able to meet President Barack Obama.

Furkan Dogan, a 19-year-old with both Turkish and U.S. citizenship, joined the Gaza flotilla where he expressed his desire for “martyrdom.” His father now wants the U.S. government to sue Israel over the raid in which the IDF says its forces were defending themselves from what appeared to them to be an organized attack launched by passengers armed with knives and metal bars as the commandos boarded the ship.

Today’s Zaman reports:

Ahmet Dogan, who asked Erdogan to deliver a letter to US President Barack Obama, joined Erdogan’s delegation upon a request by the Turkish prime minister.

Dogan said Erdogan told him: “I can give this letter [to him], but it is better if you give the letter to him yourself. I will include you among the members of the official delegation.” Dogan also said the prime minister told him he should meet with Obama if they can arrange an appointment with him. The victim’s father said he described Furkan and wrote about his son’s life in the letter.

It’s unknown if the father’s letter was delivered to Obama or if he actually met the President during the trip. That the radical activist’s father was with the prime minister’s entourage was not addressed during the joint Obama-Erdogan press conference Thursday or at the White House or State Department briefings of the past few days.

Furkan Dogan, along with eight Turkish activists, was killed in a battle with Israeli commandos who boarded the ship to enforce the naval blockade on Gaza, instituted after Palestinian terrorists were caught smuggling heavy weapons to the territory by ship.

Flotilla organizers claimed they were on a humanitarian mission, but an Israeli think tank reported that seven of the nine passengers killed had professed a desire to die as “martyrs” before the boat set sail to Gaza. Radical Muslim terrorists and their supporters often glorify the idea of martyrdom for Allah, achieved via jihad.

The Jerusalem Post cited the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center which reported a month after the raid that eight of the nine passengers killed were members of the IHH, a Turkish group that calls itself humanitarian but which the Israeli government along with some U.S. and European lawmakers characterize as radical Islamist in nature. The State Department has not included the IHH on its list of terrorist groups.

According to the Israeli think tank report, a Turkish newspaper printed this quote from 19-year-old Furqan Dogan’s diary, in which he said he wanted to be a martyr, providing strong evidence his intentions were not peaceful: “These are the last hours before I join the sweet experience of being a shahid (martyr). Is there anything more beautiful than this?”

On his visit to Israel in March, President Obama convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to issue an apology to Turkey for the killing of the flotilla activists and to offer financial compensation for those killed. In exchange, Turkey was supposed to promise to drop any legal suits against the Israeli servicemen involved.

Ever since the apology, Turkey has appeared to backtrack on the deal personally brokered by Obama. Earlier this week, lawyers for the Turks killed filed a complaint against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. That venue is chosen when parties seek investigations of war crimes, genocide or crimes against humanity.

Officially, the suit was referred to the court by Comoros, a small African country in which the Mavi Marmara was registered. Michael Rubin of Commentary Magazine suggests Erdogan wants “plausible deniability,” that it’s not the Turkish government filing the suit in defiance of Obama’s request.

Rubin reveals that the law firm behind the ICC filing employs one principal who is “a long-time AKP party [Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party] activist and the other has been intimately involved in the IHH.” Rubin writes:

Anyone who believes that Erdogan seeks to bury that hatchet more than rub salt into the wounds of the last two years needs only to consider the special guest whom he has had join his delegation.[…]

It is actually quite amazing: Erdogan has endorsed an Al Qaeda financier, embraced not only Hamas but the most militant faction within that terrorist organization, defended the Sudanese leader against charges of genocide, and has been the largest leak in multilateral efforts to sanction Iran. And yet, Obama will not only welcome him to the White House with the highest honors, but help fulfill the Turkish premier’s blatant desire to use the White House as the backdrop to follow through on his pledge to bash Israel at every opportunity.

Erdogan has already rejected a personal request from Secretary of State John Kerry to hold off on visiting the Gaza Strip. Positioned next to Obama, Erdogan used the White House backdrop Thursday to announce the June timeframe for his trip to meet with Hamas leaders in Gaza, a group the U.S. defines as a terrorist organization.

At the press conference, Obama emphasized his strong relations with the Turkish leader. “This visit reflects the importance that the United States places on our relationship with our ally, Turkey, and I value so much the partnership that I’ve been able to develop with Prime Minister Erdogan,” Obama said according to the White House transcript.

Just two days after Turkish citizens got the International Criminal Court to investigate a possible case against Israel, Obama took a moment to compliment Erdogan for the steps he’s taken to fulfill the arrangement Obama brokered between Israel and Turkey.

“Given our shared interest in peace, I want to note the Prime Minister’s efforts to normalize relations with Israel,” Obama said....

Why just two years? Do the Germans really think that by two years down the line, these battle-hardened warriors of Allah will have forgotten all about jihad? If they went to Syria to wage jihad in order to impose Sharia, they want it in Europe as well. They should not be allowed back at all.

"Germany calls for two-year ban on Europeans returning to the EU from Syria over fears suspected Islamists will come back as 'homegrown terrorists,'" by Kerry Mcdermott in the Daily Mail, May 17 (thanks to Block Ness):

Germany has called for Europeans fighting the Assad regime in Syria to be temporarily barred from re-entering the EU - amid fears they could return as 'homegrown terrorists'. The German government has claimed as many as 700 Europeans have joined opposition forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad's soldiers, and warned militant Islamists could pose a threat upon returning to the EU from the battlefields of Syria.

Now the country, which has said it is aware of up to 40 people who have left Germany for Syria since the summer of 2012, wants to see suspected Islamists banned from re-entering the EU from Syria for two years.

Germany's interior minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, is expected to address the controversial suggestion at a meeting of EU governments next month, according to a report in the Guardian.

Officials at the ministry said that of 6,000 foreign militants believed to be fighting the Assad regime, between 400 and 700 are European.

Fighters could not be prevented from leaving Germany in the first place because it was impossible to prove they were going to Syria, the ministry said, adding that while passports could be confiscated, it was possible to travel to the Syrian border with just an ID card.

It is not clear how the proposed ban would be enforced, as the individuals involved would likely have EU passports as well as jobs and families in the countries concerned.

Up to 60 militants have also left Germany for Egypt, the interior ministry said.

'Most have joined the Islamists. The dangers are growing for us,' a senior official was quoted as saying.

A survey by King's College London found last month that up to 600 individuals from countries including the UK, Spain, Sweden and Germany had taken part in the Syrian conflict since the war erupted in 2011. The largest contingent was from the UK.

Every day brings new confirmation of how compromised the U.S. government, military, and intelligence apparatus really is. After the Obama Administration purged counterterror training materials of all truth about Islam and jihad, this is what they replaced it with.

"FEATURED STORY: US Naval Academy Instructor Teaching On Behalf Of US Muslim Brotherhood," from the Global Muslim Brotherhood Watch, May 14 (thanks to Jeff):

According to promotional material, a United States Naval Academy professor is teaching on behalf of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), a part of the US Muslim Brotherhood and where global Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi reportedly serves as a trustee. IIIT recently announced its Summer Students Program for 2013 to be held from May 26 – July 3. According to the IIIT announcement, one of the instructors for the program will be Professor Ermin Sinanovic, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland who will be teaching the following course titled “Muslim World Affairs”:

Ermin Sinanovic

This course is meant to provide students who had little or no background on the Muslim world with a basic understanding of its contemporary history, its geopolitics, its diverse cultures, languages and ethnic groups. Also, the course introduces the key issues and developments that framed the relationship between the world of Islam and the West, such as the colonial encounter, the capitalist expansion of the West, the emergence of the nation-state and its institutions, the discovery of oil in the Middle East and its implications, the communication revolution and contemporary globalization and their impact on cultures, values and life styles; and finally the US foreign policy towards the Muslim world and its implications. This course will be covered in twelve hours.  Instructor: Professor Ermin Sinanovic, US Naval Academy, Maryland.

According to his bio, Ermin Sinanovic is:

…an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, USA. He studied for an MA and a PhD in Political Science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. Prof. Sinanovic obtained two BAs (one in Qur’an and Sunnah Studies, the other in Political Science) and an MA (Islamic Civilization) from the International Islamic University Malaysia. His research interests include transnational Islamic revival, Southeast Asian politics, Islamic movements, Middle East politics, Islamic political thought, and Islam and politics in general. At the Naval Academy, Prof. Sinanovic teaches courses on Southeast Asian politics, Middle East politics, and Islam and politics. He speaks Bosnian, English, Arabic, and Malay. “

One of the other instructors at the IIIT summer program will be US Muslim Brotherhood leader Louay Safi, identified in the announcement as affiliated with the College of Islamic Studies of the Qatar Foundation. In 2009 Louay Safi, also an official at the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), was at the center of a controversy when it was learned that the US Defense Department brought him to Fort Hood as an instructor and that he had been lecturing on Islam to troops in Fort Hood who were about to deploy to Afghanistan. In February 2010, the activities and lectures of Dr. Safi on all military bases were suspended pending a criminal inquiry by the U.S. military. A shooting took place at Fort Hood near Killeen, Texas on November 5, 2009 in which a single gunman killed 13 people and over 30 people were injured in the worst shooting ever to take place on an American military base. The only suspect in the shooting is Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old U.S. Army major serving as a psychiatrist. Dr. Safi has also been recently identified as a leading member of the Syrian National Council, a Syrian opposition group dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Another instructor at the program will be Jasser Aouda (aka Jasser Auda), also identified as affiliated with the College of Islamic Studies of the Qatar Foundation. Dr Auda is best known as a a key advisor to Imamn Feisal Rauf, in turn known for his attempts to build an Islamic center two blocks away from the site of the 911 attacks. Dr. Auda is also a member of the IIIT Academic Council and a founding member of the International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS), headed by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi and whose board of directors is comprised of many leaders of the Global Brotherhood. Dr. Auda is currently the Deputy Director of the Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics, headed by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood and a Global Muslim Brotherhood leader in his own right....

Will the Islamophobia never end? "Christian leader gunned down by Islamic militants in Nigeria," from FoxNews.com, May 16 (thanks to Mike):

A Nigerian Christian leader was killed when suspected Muslim militants burst into his home and shot him, as the religious fighting in Africa’s most populous nation continues to worsen.

Two members of Islamic militant group Boko Haram shot Faye Pama Mysa, a Pentecostal pastor and secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, in his home Wednesday, according to multiple reports. The attack came just after President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency because of ongoing attacks.

“The Borno CAN secretary has been killed,” CAN spokesman Kenny Asaka told the BNL news service. “We've got the report and the national president received it with heavy heart. It is very sad.”

Jonathan had earlier called the state of emergency to address “systematic effort by insurgents and terrorists to destabilize the Nigerian state and test our collective resolve,” referring to a surge in violence that threatens to engulf northern and central Nigeria. The violence has given rise to widespread concern Boko Haram could be on the verge of seizing control of the state.”

The murder of Mysa is likely to stoke tensions between Christians and Muslims, which were already at a breaking point after southern militants threatened to unleash a "crusade" against Boko Haram, the Muslim group behind a recent attack last month in which 185 people were killed.

The group that vowed to launch a campaign against the Islamists is a coalition of armed groups that includes political and religious activists as well as criminal gangs that has waged an insurgency in the region, the center of Nigeria's oil production, since 2005.

Boko Haram translates to "Western education is sacrilege." Christians have been a major target of Boko Haram and its offshoots, as scores of churches have been bombed or burned since the Islamists, who have links to Al Qaeda, launched their insurgency in 2009 in the predominantly Muslim north.

Just more of the same from the Obama Administration. "Homeland Security guidelines advise deference to pro-Shariah Muslim supremacists," by Charles C. Johnson in the Daily Caller, May 17:

The Department of Homeland Security, which under Secretary Janet Napolitano has shown a keen interest in monitoring and warning about outspoken conservatives, takes a very different approach in monitoring political Islamists, according to a 2011 memo on protecting the free speech rights of pro-Shariah Muslim supremacists.

In a checklist obtained by The Daily Caller entitled “Countering Violent Extremism Dos and Don’ts” the DHS’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties notifies local and national law enforcement officials that it is Obama administration policy to consider specifically Islamic criticism of the American system of government legitimate.

This policy stands in stark contrast to the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis’ 2009 memo “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment” [pdf], which warned of the dangers posed by pro-life advocates, critics of same-sex marriage and groups concerned with abiding by the U.S. Constitution, among others.
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The advice of the Dos and Don’ts list is far more conciliatory. “Don’t use training that equates radical thought, religious expression, freedom to protest, or other constitutionally-protected activity, including disliking the U.S. government without being violent,” the manual’s authors write in a section on training being “sensitive to constitutional values.”

The manual, which was produced by an inter-agency working group from DHS and the National Counterterrorism Center, advises, “Trainers who equate the desire for Sharia law with criminal activity violate basic tenets of the First Amendment.”...

He's an "Idaho man," AP tells us, as if the reason why he plotted these jihad terror attacks was to protect the potato industry. "Idaho man pleads not guilty in alleged Uzbekistan terror plot," from the Associated Press, May 17 (thanks to Darcy):

BOISE, Idaho — An Uzbekistan national living in Boise said little during his first court appearance Friday on federal charges that he gave support, cash and other resources to help a recognized terrorist group in his home country plan a terrorist attack there.

Fazliddin Kurbanov, 30, was arrested Thursday during a raid of his small apartment. Prosecutors have offered few details of their investigation or Kurbanov's alleged role in helping a militant group back home. He was charged in Idaho as well as Utah as a result of an extensive investigation into his activities late last year and this year.

Kurbanov pleaded not guilty during the hearing that lasted about 20 minutes. Kurbanov — with a short, cropped beard, dark hair and wearing a jail jumpsuit — spoke only a few words to the judge, their communication complicated by language differences.

Federal officials said they will enlist the help of an interpreter when Kurbanov, who lists Uzbek as his first language and Russian as his second in court documents, appears Tuesday for his detention hearing.

Until then, he will be held in the Ada County Jail. Kurbanov said he couldn't pay for an attorney, so federal public defender Richard Rubin was appointed to handle the case.

"Given his arrest, we believe any potential threat he posed has been contained,” said U.S Attorney Wendy Olson, who declined to comment on whether federal agents are pursuing additional arrests. Their investigation is ongoing, she said.

Kurbanov has been living in the United States legally, but his immigration status is unclear. He said he had a job driving trucks in Boise and listed his only assets as a couple of used cars and a small amount of cash in checking and savings accounts.

His trial on the three counts filed in Idaho is scheduled for July 2.

Olson said she has seen Internet comments blaming Idaho's Muslim community, something she called inappropriate. She said her office enjoys “outstanding partnerships” with its members.

“These charges shouldn't be seen as a reflection on that community,” Olson said.

This caveat is obligatory nowadays, and there is nothing particularly wrong with it except that it reflects the influence of Islamic supremacist advocacy groups like the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which push the fiction that Muslims in the U.S. are in danger of a large-scale "backlash" after jihad attacks occur or jihad plots are revealed.

The Idaho indictment charges Kurbanov with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and possession of an unregistered explosive device.

It alleges that between August and May, Kurbanov knowingly conspired with others to provide support and resources, including computer software and money, to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which the U.S. has identified as a terrorist organization. The group's purpose is to overthrow the government of Uzbekistan, said David B. Barlow, U.S. attorney in Utah. The alleged co-conspirators were not named.

The indictment also alleges Kurbanov provided material support to terrorists, knowing that the help was to be used in preparation for a plot involving the use of a weapon of mass destruction. On Nov. 15, Kurbanov possessed an explosive device, consisting of a series of parts intended to be converted into a bomb, according to the indictment. Those parts included a hollow hand grenade, a hobby fuse, aluminum powder, potassium nitrate and sulfur.

A separate federal grand jury in Utah charged Kurbanov with distributing information about explosives, bombs and weapons of mass destruction. For 10 days in January, Kurbanov taught and demonstrated how to make an “explosive, destructive device, and weapon of mass destruction,” the document states.

The Utah indictment, which will be handled separately after the Idaho prosecution is resolved, alleges that Kurbanov provided written recipes for how to make improvised explosive devices and went on instructional shopping trips in Utah showing what items are necessary to buy in order to make the devices, Barlow said. Kurbanov also showed Internet videos on the topic, Barlow said.

The prosecutor declined to say whom Kurbanov took on the shopping trips in Utah but said that information will come out as the case proceeds.

The indictment from Utah also alleges that Kurbanov intended that the videos, recipes, instructions and shopping trips be used to make an explosive device for the “bombings of a place of public use, public transportation system, and infrastructure facility.”...

The U.S. has brought large numbers of Somali jihadists into the country without making any attempt to determine whether or not they support the bloody Somali jihad, or to stop them from doing so. And so we have effectively imported the Somali jihad to the U.S.

"2 Minnesota women sentenced for funding Somali militants," by Faith Karimi for CNN, May 17 (thanks to Suneil):

(CNN) -- A federal court has sentenced two Minnesota women to lengthy prison sentences for soliciting donations in the name of charity, then funneling the funds to Somali militants.

Authorities said the two women went door-to-door in Somali neighborhoods in the U.S. and Canada, seeking contributions.

Amina Farah Ali, 36, got two decades in prison on 13 terror-related counts that include providing material support to Al-Shabaab.

Hawo Mohamed Hassan, 66, got half of that on one count of conspiracy to support a terror group and lying to authorities.

Both women, naturalized U.S. citizens from Somalia, were convicted in October 2011. They were sentenced Thursday in Minneapolis.

Evidence presented at their trial showed they supported the terror group between 2008 and 2009, according to B. Todd Jones, a United States Attorney.

Teleconference appeal for Al-Shabaab

"Ali communicated by telephone with Somalia-based members of Al-Shabaab who requested financial assistance on behalf of the group," Jones said in a statement. "Ali often sought the money under false pretenses, contending that it was to help the poor."

In both years, authorities said, she hosted teleconferences and urged listeners to give money to the terror group instead of the poor.

In one instance, she recorded $2,100 in pledges at the conclusion of that teleconference, according to officials.

She would then funnel the funds to the terror group using various remittance companies under false names.

'Questioned by the enemy'

Ali has maintained that the funds were for the poor, but authorities said monitored phone calls reveal otherwise.

"On July 14, 2009, the day after the FBI executed a search warrant at Ali's home, she telephoned her primary Al-Shabaab contact, saying, "I was questioned by the enemy here . . . they took all my stuff and are investigating it . . . do not accept calls from anyone."

Hassan, on the other hand, made false statements when questioned by federal agents about international terrorism, Jones said....

The women were among a group sentenced this week in the federal government's probe focusing on Al-Shabaab, which is believed to recruit young men in the Minneapolis area. The U.S. has designated it a terrorist group, and has said it has ties to al Qaeda.

In recent years, about 20 Somali-American men have traveled from the area to Somalia to train with the terror group, and some have gone on to fight with the militants, according to U.S. officials.

Umar Lee, a convert to Islam from St. Louis, was once enough of an Islamic supremacist to write to a rival: "i could cut your neck with the sword of islam and watch you squeal like a bitch like daniel pearl." In an email exchange with me, he endorsed the death penalty for apostasy.

But now he has left Islam and returned to Christianity. Watch the video; in it he makes many, many important points about how converts to Islam are lied to, and how Islam establishes an empire of fear.

Note especially this, starting at 4:04:

"We can talk about the grievance industry, CAIR, etc., trying to hype up the threat of Islamophobia. Islamophobia is very minor. You want to talk about religious bias? You convert to Christianity in Saudi Arabia, you're murdered. You convert from Islam in so many Muslim countries, it's the death penalty. Why are Muslim societies so afraid of missionaries? Why are Muslim societies so afraid of freedom of speech? Why are Muslim societies so afraid of the Gospel? Why are Muslim societies so afraid of the message of Jesus Christ? If you believe Islam is the truth, why don't you believe Islam can compete in the marketplace of ideas? Obviously you don't, or you wouldn't kill people that convert to Christianity and put missionaries in jail."

Clearly they don't believe Islam can compete in the marketplace of ideas. Just yesterday I offered to debate UC-Berkeley's professor of "Islamophobia," Hatem Bazian. He responded: "Racist are not to be debated they are to be shunned." (Yes, this university professor wrote "racist are." He didn't explain what race jihad terror is. They never do. This "racism" business is just a cover for what Umar Lee says: their knowledge of and fear of the fact that they know their ideas can't compete, or hold up to scrutiny.

Umar: be well, and be safe.

Cigarette smoking is hazardous to your health -- in a whole new way. "New York says breaks cigarette-smuggling ring linked to militants," by Mark Hosenball for Reuters, May 17 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

(Reuters) - Fifteen men of Palestinian origin have been arrested on charges of running a multi-million-dollar cigarette smuggling ring in New York, and New York authorities who announced the arrests on Thursday said several of the suspects have ties to Hamas and other Islamist militant groups.

The men are accused of smuggling more than a million cartons of untaxed cigarettes from Virginia to be sold in grocery stores across New York, with $55 million in sales uncovered so far, Eric Schneiderman, the New York attorney general, and Ray Kelly, the New York City police commissioner, said at a press conference.

"We don't know where all of that money went, but what we do know is deeply troubling," Schneiderman said. "We know that some members of this group have ties to very dangerous people, we know they were arrested with weapons, we know that they made tens of millions of dollars but so far we have found only a fraction of that."

Investigators are still tracking where much of the money ended up, but they noted similar rings in the past have funneled money to Hamas, the Islamist government in Gaza, and Hezbollah, the militant Shi'ite group based in Lebanon, both of which are considered to be terrorist organizations by the United States.

All 15 men remained in custody on Thursday and could not be reached for comment. It was not immediately clear if they had retained lawyers.

A 16th man accused of taking part in the ring, Ribhi Awadeh, 39, from Guttenberg, New Jersey, remained at large after flying to Jordan several weeks ago, Schneiderman said.

In a 224-count indictment, the men are charged with enterprise corruption, money laundering and other tax crimes, for which each defendant faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. In addition to costing New York State and New York City an estimated $80 million in lost sales tax revenue, the ring generated at least $10 million in profit, Schneiderman and Kelly said.

None of the men lived extravagantly, Schneiderman said, adding that this supported the idea the money was being funneled elsewhere.

"This is not the lifestyles of the rich and famous," Schneiderman said. "We are very concerned about where the money went."

Kelly said that Youssef Odeh, 52, of Staten Island, who is accused of being a distributor for the ring, received an investment for an illegal baby formula distribution business in the 1990s from Omar Abdel Rahman, often dubbed the "blind sheik," who is imprisoned for helping plot the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Muaffaq Askar, 46, of Brooklyn, who is accused of being one of the ring's resellers, was a confidant of Rashid Baz, Kelly said. Baz, a Lebanese immigrant, is serving a 141-year prison sentence after being convicted in the 1994 shooting of Ari Halberstam, a 16-year-old yeshiva student in Brooklyn, which Baz said was in retaliation for the killing of Muslim worshippers in the West Bank by a Jewish settler from Brooklyn.

Mohannad Seif, 39, of Brooklyn, another accused reseller, had been under police surveillance in part because he had lived in the same three-story Brooklyn building as a former secretary to Moussa Abu Marzouk, a deputy leader of Hamas.

Authorities said the ring was headed by two brothers, Basel Ramadan, 42, and Samir Ramadan, 40, both of Ocean City, Maryland, who ran a couple of local Subway restaurant franchises. Investigators said they found $1.4 million stashed in Basel Ramadan's home, some of it stuffed in black plastic trash bags, and three handguns following his arrest on Thursday....

He also railed at the Infidels. An update on this story. "'F***' America,' Boston Marathon Bomb Suspect Wrote in Boat: Officials," by Michele McPhee, Aaron Katersky and Brian Ross for ABC News, May 16:

As police searched for him, and as he lay bleeding in his boat hideout, Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev wrote "F*** America" on the side panel of the boat, police in Massachusetts told ABC News.

Officers said they also discovered the phrase "Praise Allah" on the boat's side panels and several anti-American screeds, including references to Iraq, Afghanistan and "the infidels."

A Massachusetts official showed ABC News what he said was a cell phone picture of the phrase "Praise Allah," written in black ink, with a bullet hole above it, believed to have been written by Dzhokhar as he hid inside the boat in Watertown, Mass.

Also seen in the picture was the faintly written word "brother," which the official said was part of a reference by the younger Tsarnaev "that was something about his brother is lucky to be with Allah first."...

They were in the witness protection program -- which is news in itself -- but the Justice Department didn't give their names to those who actually keep dangerous people from flying. Funny how all of Obama's mistakes go in the same direction. He never makes one in favor of conservatives, or civil liberties, or free speech, or against Islamic supremacism.

"Justice Dept. faulted over terrorist identities," by Pete Yost for the Associated Press, May 16 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department failed to provide the names of some terrorists in the witness protection program to the center that maintains the government's watch list used to keep dangerous people off airline flights, the department's inspector general said in a report Thursday.

As a result of the department's failure to properly share information, some in the witness protection program who were on the "no-fly" list were allowed to travel on commercial flights, the federal watchdog said.

"It was possible for known or suspected terrorists to fly on commercial airplanes in or over the United States and evade one of the government's primary means of identifying and tracking terrorists' movements and actions," the report said.

To help protect witnesses from the people and organizations against whom they testify, the U.S. Marshals Service provides cooperating witnesses with new names and identities.

"We found that the department was not authorizing the disclosure to the Terrorist Screening Center of the new identities provided to known or suspects terrorists" in the federal Witness Security Program, known officially as WitSec.

In response, the Justice Department said it has developed a highly restrictive travel policy that prohibits program participants with no-fly status from traveling on commercial flights.

The department said the number of former known or suspected terrorists ever admitted into the witness protection program was a fraction of 1 percent of those in the program.

The department said that to date, the FBI has not identified a national security threat tied to the participation of terrorism-linked witnesses in the program.

Pakistanis and Saudis caught in a no-trespass zone after midnight at a water reservoir for a major city that has just been the site of an Islamic jihad attack. And Islamic jihadists have often spoken about poisoning water supplies -- most recently in the Canada/New York jihad plot. So even if the water tests safe, it is still exceedingly suspicious that they were there at all.

An update on this story. "Boston reservoir tests safe after late-night trespassers nabbed," by Perry Chiaramonte for FoxNews.com, May 15 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Massachusetts State Police beefed up patrols around the reservoir that supplies Boston's drinking water after seven foreign students were caught trespassing in the area late at night.

With the city still jittery after the April 15 terror attack at the Boston Marathon, word that two women and five men, reportedly from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Singapore, had been found in the restricted area around the Quabbin Reservoir caused concerns. The reservoir serves Boston and some 40 other communities in the area.

“As an extra precaution, water quality samples were analyzed at MWRA’s lab yesterday and all came back normal," Ria Convery, of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, told the Boston Herald. “There is no evidence of any water quality issues at the Quabbin Reservoir following the trespassing incident.”

It was after midnight on Tuesday morning when a state trooper on patrol at the reservoir spotted two cars parked on the grass near one of Quabbin’s entrances. The cop investigated and found a group of seven people, five men and two women walking from the water back to their cars. When the police officer asked why they were trespassing, members of the group replied that they were chemical engineers and recent college graduates who had an educational interest in the reservoir, according to police.

The group was briefly held at the scene while background and warrant check were conducted but let go after their records turned up clean.

“There was no evidence that the seven were committing any crime beyond the trespassing,” Massachusetts State police spokesman David Procopio told FoxNews.com, adding that officers on the scene checked the vehicles and the park area and did not locate any items out of place or of a criminal nature.

Procopio also said that a preliminary investigation determined the individuals were originally from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. The Springfield field office of the FBI was contacted by the State Police and is assisting in an investigation.

“Further investigation is being undertaken because of the late hour when they were observed, their explanation for why they wanted to see the reservoir, and the fact that they were in an area marked no trespassing,” Procopio said....

"There's really no such thing as just Sharia, it's not one monolithic Continuum - Sharia is understood in thousands of different ways over the 1,500 years in which multiple and competing schools of law have tried to construct some kind of civic penal and family law code that would abide by Islamic values and principles, it's understood in many different ways..." -- Reza Aslan

Not really: Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence.

Some might arguing that fighting for Assad doesn't make these soldiers apostates according to Islamic law, but since Assad is an Alawite, the jihadists have a strong case: Islamic law forbids a Muslim to obey an Infidel ruler who is supposedly impeding Islam in some way. In any case, not in dispute is the death penalty for apostasy itself, however much Islamic spokemen in the West disingenuously deny it.

"Islamist rebels execute 11 Syrian soldiers for 'massacres,'" from Reuters, May 16 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

BEIRUT: Fighters of the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front in Syria executed 11 men they accused of taking part in massacres by President Bashar al-Assad's forces, a video published on Thursday showed.

A man whose face was covered in a black balaclava shot each man in the back of the head as they kneeled, blindfolded and lined up in a row in the eastern province of Deir al-Zor.

"The sharia court for the eastern region in Deir al-Zor has sentenced to death these apostate soldiers that committed massacres against our brothers and families in Syria," the executioner said on the video.

Islamist militants with black flags shouted "God is great" as each man was shot. The executioner returned to some victims, firing more bullets into them to make sure they were dead.

The video is the second in two days to show such executions by fighters who say they are from Al-Qaeda-linked groups.

A video posted online on Wednesday from the northern province of Raqqa, which is controlled by Islamist rebels, showed three blindfolded men sitting on the curb of a central roundabout before being shot in the head with a pistol.

A man speaking in the video said the executions were revenge for killings in the coastal town of Banias two weeks ago. Photos and videos of the alleged Banias massacre showed dozens of mutilated bodies, many of them children, lying in the streets.

Note that here again we see Islamic jihadists explain their killings as revenge. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev claimed that his Boston jihad murders were revenge; Islamic jihadists who fired mortars into Israel claimed they were doing it for revenge as well. This is because Islamic supremacists are apparently incapable of ever taking responsibility for anything they do; it's always someone else's fault. But more importantly, it's because in the absence of a caliph, the only jihad that is permissible according to Islamic law is defensive. Only the caliph, according to Sunni Muslim jurisprudence, can lawfully wage offensive jihad against non-Muslim states. So every jihad until the caliphate is restored has to be cast as defensive. This leads the jihadists to retail endless lists of grievances and alleged Infidel atrocities they're supposedly avenging, and foolish non-Muslim analysts to think that if they just redress the grievances and throw money at the jihadis, the jihad will go away. It won't. There will just be new grievances.

"Palestinians mark the Nakba, or catastrophe of the founding of Israel, every May 15." Forgotten (of course) in all their murderous and simultaneously self-righteous posturing is that it was Muslim leaders who exhorted the Muslims to leave their homes, promising that they would be able to return in a matter of weeks when Israel was destroyed. Also, the "Palestinian" state that is supposed to solve everything was turned down by the local Muslims, who were not yet "Palestinians," when the UN offered it to them in 1948. "Islamist group says Hermon mortars fired to avenge ‘Nakba,’" by Elhanan Miller and Michal Shmulovich for the Times of Israel, May 16:

A previously unknown Islamist group took responsibility Thursday for the firing of two mortar shells at Mount Hermon a day earlier. It was the first time since the outbreak of the Syrian uprising that the area was targeted, and it led authorities to shut down the tourist area for several hours.

In a message posted online, the self-described Abdul Qader Husseini Battalions of the Free Palestine movement said it “attacked an observatory of the Zionist entity on the occupied Golan Heights with missiles on the anniversary of return, May 15, 2013, avenging the martyrs of return [who died] last year.”

The group was likely referring to clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian refugees in Syria on Nakba Day in 2011 that left 13 dead after the border fence was breached.

Palestinians mark the Nakba, or catastrophe of the founding of Israel, every May 15.

“We do not celebrate, but rather avenge our martyrs as we tell the Zionist enemy that this is a battle of score settling,” the group wrote. “The operation included two missile barrages and was carried out at 5 a.m. Long live liberated Palestine.”

A video posted on Youtube on Wednesday purports to show the group firing the rockets.

There were no reported injuries or damage from the mortar fire. The area in the Hermon, the mountain range that straddles the Lebanese-Syrian border and the Golan Heights, was promptly closed to hikers for several hours on the Shavuot holiday.

Israel lodged a complaint over the attack with UNDOF, the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, which oversees the buffer zone between Syria and Israel established by the Security Council in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

On Wednesday, Israel Radio reported that Tehran had approached Damascus about letting Lebanese terror group Hezbollah open a new front against Israel from Syrian territory.

The Lebanese daily al-Akhbar suggested last week that Iran had “reached a final decision” to respond to reported Israeli airstrikes on a weapons transfer in Syria by “turning the Golan into a new Fatah-land. The front has become open to Syrians and Palestinians and anyone who wants to fight Israel.”

A "final decision," eh? Is that like a "final solution"?

Mortar shells fired from within Syria have landed in the Golan Heights several times in previous months, and Israel has often returned fire.

Last Monday, two shells hit the Israeli Golan Heights near the town of Ramat Magshimim, but no injuries or damage were reported. The next day, another mortar hit the southern Golan Heights as a result of the spillover from fighting in Syria, again without casualties or harm caused during the incident.

As Turkey's Islamization is now galloping forward, before too long Turkish secularism will be a thing of the past and Sharia will be fully implemented. "Islamist Turkish government prepared alcohol ban everywhere in Turkey with new laws," from National Turk, May 15 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

The Turkish AKP government has prepared a draft law that would ban advertising alcoholic drinks in what officials say is an effort to protect children but could further divide religious and secularist Turks.

the [sic] Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) sent a bill on Friday which includes a series of measures to restrict how alcohol is advertised and displayed.

The bill includes a ban on event sponsorship for alcohol producers, restrictions on where drinks are sold and consumed, as well as a requirement for all alcoholic products to carry health warnings.

It is believed the bill could become a law before parliament recesses in July.

Although the bill has a stated aim of protecting young people, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is renowned for his dislike of drinking, and has systematically raised taxes on alcohol he came to power 10 years ago.

Speaking in April at the global alcohol policy symposium in Istanbul, Erdogan angered secular Turks by claiming the country’s national drink was Ayran a non-alcoholic yoghurt-based drink and not the anise-flavoured spirit Raki.

“Our national drink is ayran…Alcohol offers no benefits to a society,” he is reputed to have said at the symposium.

Furthermore, in February this year, Turkey’s national carrier THY announced that it would cease serving alcoholic drinks on all domestic flights for both economy and business class passengers, except for certain routes, such as journeys to Istanbul.

The ban was justified on non-religious grounds, but it is widely felt that such a move is part of a campaign by Erdogan, a devout MusliM, to severely restrict alcohol consumption in public.

Critics say the move is the latest in a campaign led by the AKP to Islamize Turkish society by stealth and constitutes an intrusion into private life.

It follows a ban on drinks service on several routes flown by state-run Turkish Airlines. Official statements cited lack of demand, but media accused the airline of following Ankara’s conservative footsteps.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Muslim who does not drink or smoke, said recently that ayran, a non-alcoholic refresher made from yoghurt, was the “national drink” of the Turks.

According to figures provided by national statistics institute TurkStat, 85 percent of Turks do not consume alcohol.

Erdogan’s populist government, in power for over a decade, is often accused of creeping efforts to coerce the country to be more conservative and pious.

Turkey is a fiercely secular state, despite being a majority Muslim country. Under Erdogan’s rule headscarves – banned in public institutions – have become more visible in public places and alcohol bans are more widespread.

He says it is because they preach contempt for women and the concept of women as chattel, which (pace Hargey) is certainly found in Islam, with its polygamy (Qur'an 4:3), wife-beating (Qur'an 4:34), devaluing of a woman's testimony (Qur'an 2:282), etc. This is compounded, he says, by the further contempt of and hatred for Infidels, which is also certainly Islamic (cf. Qur'an 48:29, 98:6, etc.). He doesn't mention the permissibility in Islamic law of taking Infidel women as sex slaves, which is also a key motivating factor for these sex slavery gangs.

"‘Imams promote grooming rings’, Muslim leader claims," by Hayley Dixon in the Telegraph, May 16 (thanks to Twostellas):

The Oxford grooming ring was promoted by imams who encourage followers to think white women deserve to be “punished”, an Islamic leader has claimed.

Dr Taj Hargey, imam of the Oxford Islamic Congregation, said race and religion were inextricably linked to the recent spate of grooming rings in which Muslim men have targeted under-age white girls.

Earlier this week seven members of a child sex ring from Oxford were found guilty of forcing under age girls to commit acts of "extreme depravity".

Their victims, aged between 11 and 15, were groomed and plied with alcohol and drugs before being sexually assaulted and forced into prostitution. They targeted "out of control" teenagers.

Dr Hargey said that the case brought shame on the city and the community and is a set back for cross community harmony.

But worse still is the refusal to face up to its realities, he wrote in the Daily Mail.

The activities of the Oxford sex ring are “bound up with religion and race” because all the men - though of different nationalities - were Muslim and they “deliberately targeted vulnerable white girls, whom they appeared to regard as 'easy meat', to use one of their revealing, racist phrases”, Dr Hargey said.

That attitude has been promoted by religious leaders, he believes. “On one level, most imams in the UK are simply using their puritanical sermons to promote the wearing of the hijab and even the burka among their female adherents. But the dire result can be the brutish misogyny we see in the Oxford sex ring.”

People tiptoe around the issues and refuse to discuss the problems exposed by the scandals such as those “from Rochdale to Oxford, and Telford to Derby”, he wrote.

In all cases the perpetrators were Muslim men and the victims were under age white girls.

To pretend it is not a problem is the Islamic community is “ideological denial”, Dr Hargey said.

“But then part of the reason this scandal happened at all is precisely because of such politically correct thinking. All the agencies of the state, including the police, the social services and the care system, seemed eager to ignore the sickening exploitation that was happening before their eyes.

“Terrified of accusations of racism, desperate not to undermine the official creed of cultural diversity, they took no action against obvious abuse.”

The men were allowed, he said, to come and go from care homes by the authorities, and if the situation had been reversed with gangs of white men preying on Muslim teenagers ”the state's agencies would have acted with greater alacrity.”

True Islam preaches respect for women but in mosques across the country a different doctrine is preached - “one that denigrates all women, but treats whites with particular contempt,” the Imam said.

The men are taught that women are “second-class citizens, little more than chattels or possessions over whom they have absolute authority," he claims in the column.

“The view of some Islamic preachers towards white women can be appalling. They encourage their followers to believe that these women are habitually promiscuous, decadent, and sleazy — sins which are made all the worse by the fact that they are kaffurs or non-believers.

“Their dress code, from miniskirts to sleeveless tops, is deemed to reflect their impure and immoral outlook. According to this mentality, these white women deserve to be punished for their behaviour by being exploited and degraded.”

Such cases can only be prevented in the future if Britain abandons the blinkers of political correctness, he concludes.

Indeed.

Because it was used during the Crusades, you see. Eleanor Jackson, like so many others in England and the U.S., is ashamed of her heritage and history. No wonder they are throwing it away with both hands. "Council vetoes flag of St George after concerns raised about links to Crusades," by Victoria Ward for the Telegraph, May 15 (thanks to all who sent this in):

A local council decided against flying the flag of St George after concerns were raised that it would offend the town’s 16 Muslim residents.

Eleanor Jackson, a university lecturer, said the red and white symbol could cause upset in Radstock, Somerset, because it was used during the Crusades 1,000 years ago.

The Labour councillor voiced her concerns at a meeting called to discuss which flag should be purchased to fly atop the town's repaired civic flagpole.

She said: “My big problem is that it is offensive to some Muslims, but even more so that it has been hijacked by the far right.

"My thoughts are we ought to drop it for 20 years."

Radstock Town Council, which serves a local population of more than 5,600 residents, eventually decided to purchase a Union flag to fly on Armistice Day.

The rainbow flag of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender pride movement will be flown at “appropriate” times of the year while an In Bloom flag will celebrate the town's achievements in the gardening competition.

The objections raised about the flag of St George were branded “oversensitive” by the local Muslim community while the Muslim Council of Britain said England's patron saint should not be associated with “any hatred of Muslims”.

Spokeswoman Nasima Begum said: "St George needs to take his rightful place as a national symbol of inclusivity rather than a symbol of hatred.”

Rizwan Ahmed, spokesman for the Bristol Muslim Cultural Society said: "I think they are going a bit far here.

"It is political correctness going a bit too far.

"Use by the far right is one thing, but to say that Muslims are offended I don't think is correct. We understand the flag is part of this country's heritage, and in fact many many Muslims will identify as being British themselves.

"In actual fact we are normal people. We have a sense of humour and have the same concerns as everyone else – we are not just some single group."...

So we're constantly told, until there comes the next time to take offense over some ridiculous thing. And "we are not just some single group," and yet there is still no significant anti-jihad or anti-terror movement among Muslims in the U.K. or U.S. Now, why is that?