Nothing in Rantburg’s archives in December about Bosnia, but for Austria we have this, this, this, and this. All but the first being Tajiks for ISIS-K, ie Afghanistan.
[IsraelTimes] A number of terror suspects arrested in December in Bosnia and Austria had images of Jewish and Israeli targets on their cellphones, the Wall Street Journal reports.
According to the report, the suspects were among individuals in two separate groups of refugees from Afghanistan and Syria who were detained on suspicion of terror activities.
The suspects possessed arms and ammunition including Kalashnikovs and pistols, the newspaper says.
The Wall Street Journal article is here; unfortunately, it’s paywalled and I haven’t a subscription anymore. Update: Can’t read the thing, but there is a video with a map.
[FoxNews] 'Some of our audience members are accusing you of pretty serious conduct,' Tom Cotton said.
When questioned by Sen. Tom Cotton on Monday, national security officials grappled with whether they believe Israel is engaged in the systematic destruction of the Palestinian people.
During the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's annual Worldwide Threats hearing — which was interrupted several times by protesters demonstrating for a ceasefire between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas — Cotton asked both CIA Director William Burns and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines if Israel was "exterminating" Palestinians in Gaza.
When pressed by Cotton, Burns said, "No," and said he understands Israel's need to respond to the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. But, he said, "I think we also have to be mindful of the enormous toll that this has taken on innocent civilians in Gaza."
…some 90% of whom approved of what Hamas and Friends did on 10/7, and many of whom thereafter called the IDF hotline to inform on Hamas, et al in order to end the agony of being warred upon in return as quickly as the IDF could manage it.
The Arkansas Republican then turned the question toward Haines, asking her opinion.
"I really don't have anything to add to what Director Burns has said," she explained, adding that she fully endorsed his response.
Puling cowards, both. They are a disgrace to the high calling of Intelligence, no matter how insightful and knowledgeable they might be on an absolute scale.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testifies during a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on the 'Annual Worldwide Threats Assessment' on Monday
US spy agencies published their 2024 annual threat assessment on Monday
It described how regional conflicts were fueling global insecurity and fragility
And it said Iran, China, and Russia may all try to influence 2024 elections Trying is easy. Succeeding, unless you control the nation’s social media, is a great deal harder.
[FoxNews] Mississippi SOS Michael Watson says the Biden executive order creates 'numerous opportunities' for ineligible voters to vote
Mississippi’s Secretary of State has sent a letter to President Biden’s Department of Justice asking it to stop enforcing a Biden executive order that he warns is being used to attempt to register ineligible convicts and illegal immigrants to vote.
"As you are aware, on March 7, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order No. 14019 which sought to turn the Department of Justice agencies from their historical missions of law enforcement to voter registration and get out the vote operations," Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland this week.
"These efforts are an intrusion into state matters and are a misuse of federal revenue and resources. In addition, it appears that these efforts have led to agencies under your charge attempting to register people to vote, including potentially ineligible felons and to co-opt state and local officials into accomplishing this goal."
The executive order in question was signed by Biden in 2021 and was billed as an attempt to combat racial discrimination and "protect the right to vote" and instructed government agencies "consider ways to expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process."
In his letter, Watson outlines concerns that the executive order "forces the U.S. Marshals Service" to "modify agreements with jails" that require them "to provide voter registration materials and facilitate voting by mail."
"According to the Marshals Service, they are modifying 936 contracts or intergovernmental agreements to require state and local government complicity in the potential registration of ineligible prisoners to vote," the letter states. "It further requires the Department of Justice to facilitate voter registration and mail voting for individuals in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons.
"This program creates numerous opportunities for ineligible prisoners to be registered to vote in Mississippi."
Watson told Fox News Digital that he is not confident the Biden administration is paying close attention to the voting status of the individuals involved.
"Forgive me for not necessarily trusting the Biden administration but in Mississippi we've got rules and regulations dealing with who can vote when it comes to felons, there are disenfranchising crimes in our state and I don't specifically think that the Biden administration cares about crossing those T's and dotting those I's when it comes to making sure these folks can or can't vote, they're going to register them, including illegal aliens in custody so we've got major issues and that's what led to writing this letter to Attorney General Garland," Watson told Fox News Digital.
Watson’s letter explains that the program "provides prisoners with misleading information concerning their right to both register and vote in Mississippi - a right which they may not have."
"For example, many of the people in the custody of the Marshals are convicted felons whom Mississippi law deems ineligible to vote. Additionally, many of those in custody only have fleeting ties to Mississippi and do not meet the residency requirements necessary to be a Mississippi voter," the letter says.
Watson wrote that Mississippi jails are being prompted to "work with other reliable sources of voter information to assist federal prisoners with voter registration, voting by mail, and notification of upcoming elections."
"We are unaware of any contact with our Office, which begs the question, which organizations are the Marshals using to accomplish this demand?" The letter asks.
"Many outside groups performing voter registration and vote harvesting services are partisan entities with a history of being unreliable. There have been documented instances of these groups providing incorrect directions to voters. It is not proper for the Federal government to push partisan groups into the voting process in Mississippi or any other state."
The letter specifically addresses concerns that illegal immigrants in the Mississippi prison system could potentially be registered to vote through this executive order if the program is not closely monitored.
"Our understanding is that everyone in the Marshals' custody is given a form advising them of their right to register and vote," the letter says. "Providing ineligible non-citizens with information on how to register to vote undoubtedly encourages them to illegally register to vote, exposing them to legal jeopardy beyond their immigration status."
Watson’s letter says that it is "quite shocking" that the Biden administration would "expend tax dollars and vital law enforcement resources" on a program "that risks bloating state voter rolls with ineligible and non-citizen voters" during a time when millions of illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border.
Watson told Fox News Digital that this is an "urgent" matter with a presidential election just 8 months away.
"If you look at what's going on at the border when you've got so many illegal aliens pouring into our country, imagine the efforts used to get them to register to vote and that's what this is all about," Watson told Fox News Digital. "It's about control, it's about continuing their power, and unfortunately that puts our country in a terrible position, so it's immediate and it's something where we hope they will respect our request to stop the program."
"The information we want to see is which prisons they're working in in Mississippi, we've asked them to prove to us the documentation, what exactly are you doing in our prisons? We want to make sure we understand which prisoners you've been talking to, so we can understand whether or not they're eligible to vote and I think it's incumbent upon all of the states to take this notice up and to push back as hard as we can because with this election coming up in November it is incredibly important to the future of our country. What we have left of it."
There is now a street in Columbus, Ohio called Mohamed Abdullah Hassan lane.
Abdullah Hassan was a Somalian leader who waged "jihad" against Italy & Great Britain in 1899, resulting in 200k dead. Hassan also became an icon for Al-Shabaab.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Good. It was written to help Buddhists, etc escape Taliban-ruled Afghanistan on the assumption that there are other countries that will accept Moslem Afghans.
When the law was announced in 2019 it sparked huge protests and was delayed
Critics of the citizenship plan say the law is being made to 'divide the nation'
The authorities say it will help those facing persecution by allowing them entry
[IsraelTimes] Ramadan prayers at the Temple Mount passed without incident this evening, following scuffles between worshippers and Israeli police during the start of the Moslem holy month a night earlier.
[IsraelTimes] Terror group’s No.3, targeted by Israel in Sunday air strike, turned Qassam Brigades into organized force; first arrested in 1987, he has survived several liquidation attempts
As deputy head of Hamas ...the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... ’s military wing, Marwan Issa has long been an elusive target for Israel, and the Arclight airstrike
Continued on Page 49
[Breitbart] U.S. intelligence agencies are claiming that they "expect" protests to bring down the Israeli government and replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been an obstacle to President Joe Biden’s plans for the Middle East. Who, me worry? Not a chance.
The claim emerged in the latest "Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community," and was published by both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times Monday evening, suggesting a coordinated leak to the media.
Ya think? They’re shaping their battlefield, paved as it is by their support of the Israeli protesters.
The assessment says:
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has publicly stated his opposition to postwar diplomacy with the Palestinian Authority (PA) toward territorial compromise.
What move has the PA made toward any compromise whatsoever?
Netanyahu’s viability as leader as well as his governing coalition of far-right and ultraorthodox parties that pursued hardline policies on Palestinian and security issues may be in jeopardy. Distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections. A different, more moderate government is a possibility.
Possible, yes. Probable, not so much.
Netanyahu was elected to his current term in office in November 2022 with a right-wing coalition that had the largest majority of any Israeli government in decades. His approval dropped during nationwide protests over his proposed judicial reforms, and in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 terror attacks, but recent polls suggest that his support has recovered, as he has led Israel to the edge of victory over Hamas while resisting international pressure.
I guess the traditional news pigeons haven’t yet arrived in Washington, DC to bring them the intelligence reports. Ah well, hopefully some there are getting ahead by reading Rantburg.
Netanyahu, Orban and Argentine Pres. Milei... all men who seem to care more about their country than "international opinion". I would add Putin and Trump to the list but we all know those guys are just awful because reasons.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
