Back in July, the Justice Department was "considering" a guideline allowing the FBI to launch criminal investigations against people without any basis for suspicion. The powers that be considered and somehow decided that this guideline is in keeping with what America is all about. The government now has even more license to profile innocents bases on their races, ethnicities, and religious beliefs.
Looks like Barack Obama isn't the only one with a history of "terrorist fist jabs."
(Click for larger version)
Earlier: Was Barack Obama’s “Fist Bump” Actually a Hi-Five With Osama Bin Laden?
"Since 9/11, there has been an increasing war on photography," writes security scribe Bruce Schneier. "Photographers have been harrassed, questioned, detained, arrested or worse, and declared to be unwelcome. We've been repeatedly told to watch out for photographers, especially suspicious ones. Clearly any terrorist is going to first photograph his target, so vigilance is required."
But what if it's all been for naught? What if prohibiting photos at airports and train stations actually did exactly nothing to stop terrorism? CONTINUED »
It's not that Dunkin' Donuts actually thinks living endorsement Rachael Ray is supporting terrorism by wearing this black-and-white scarf in one of its ads. But the attacks from the right-y blogs, including Michelle Malkin's, has the company deciding that it's easier to pull the ad all together than defend itself against criticism that Ray is actually wearing a keffiyeh, or, as Malkin describes it, "the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad." [BG] Ray, who used to hoc Urban Outfitters scarfs on her website before the DD ad, joins celebrities like Ricky Martin who dared to wear the accessory without realizing it's as controversial as a KKK hood. Or that some people believe it to be.
Cranky former Democrat Joe Lieberman last week called on YouTube to remove videos from what he called Islamic terrorist organizations. If they can keep The Daily Show clips off the site, why not calls for the end of the Western world?
YouTube has at last publicly answered the politico's request, and it reads something like this: Go away.
Funny, coming from a company owned by Google, which has no problem turning in its users when international authorities come calling. CONTINUED »
After being held for six years at Guantanamo Bay, Al Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj has been released. Without charges. He was apprehended in 2001 by Pakistani officers while traveling near the Afghan border, accused of making videos for Osama bin Laden. But as the U.S. government puts it, he's not being released so much as he's being transferred to the Sudanese. [Reuters]
THE DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY IS A CLIENT Nielsen's flawed data isn't just being used to allocate billions of ad revenue dollars, but to keep tabs on terror threats. "If prescriptions for drugs used to treat infectious diseases begin to spike in a market, the Nielsen data can track how it spreads and whether it is taking on epidemic proportions or migrating in a way that might reveal a biological attack." [MP]
The confidential blueprints for the new Freedom Tower at Ground Zero were found by a homeless guy in a trash can. That's also where Al Qaeda was planning to plant a bomb had it got its hands on 'em. [NYP]
Did you hear? Scary British runway walker Naomi Campbell "took a meeting" with Venezuelan prez Hugo Chavez. And in case that's not weird enough already, now Palestinian terrorists are calling Campbell "courageous" and interpreting the Amazonian phone-thrower's precedent setting actions to mean the tides of America's political landscape are officially changing for the better.
Abu Nasser, chief of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades terror group in the Old City of Nablus in the West Bank, said: "The visit presents a slap in the face to Bush and his government and his policy. The fact that she respects Chavez, and his ideals, can bring more people to follow this step."
At least, in theory.
Finally! The trailer for I Am Legend (the movie that disrupted our sleep schedule and had everyone in Manhattan mistakenly convinced that our city was once again the victim of a violent terrorist attack) is available. We'd watch it ourselves, but we're busy working still being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Earlier: Will Smith To Scare The Crap Out Of Everyone Who Forgot To Pick Up Today’s Paper
Did you hear? ABC New is reporting that 6-8 vials of a "dangerous nerve gas" (phosgene) were discovered at the U.N. building early this morning.
And despite Michael Chertoff's "gut feeling" that terrorist attacks were imminent this summer, it appears al-Qaeda's not to blame.
In fact, officials think it was probably just a bunch of silly U.N. officials who wanted to keep cannisters of "a poisonous, colorless gas with a suffocating odor like newly mown hay" as kitschy remembrances of the 1987 Iraq war.
"Incredibly, CNN's Lou Dobbs didn't mention the transformer explosion at all during his 6pm newscast," observes TVNewswer.
But you know who did mention it? The Daily Mail (UK)! Good thing they totally kept things in perspective, though, as evidenced by their modest and completely understated headline, "Explosion Tears Through New York In Replay Of September 11 Panic."
"An underground steam pipe explosion tore through a Manhattan street near Grand Central Terminal last night, swallowing a tow truck and killing one person as hundreds of others ran for cover amid a towering geyser of steam and flying rubble in scenes reminiscent of the panic after the September 11 terrorist attack," writes the Daily Mail in a crazy, reactionary run-on sentence of a lede.
Think international terrorism is all serious and unfunny? Think again! Or at least read the following excerpt from Popbitch and then judge for yourselves.
Liverpool airport was closed for four hours today after police found a suspicious car parked outside. It was taxed, insured and still had its radio.
Oh, come on, laugh. Otherwise it'll be like the terrorists have already won.
The terror threat in London isn't over yet. We're hearing that Kitson owner and Us Weekly frenemy Fraser Ross was on a British Airways flight from London, bound for Toronto, when the police boarded the plane with dogs and cleared everyone off at 12:45pm local time. Heathrow's Terminal 4 has been cleared entirely, with all passengers and staff standing in the rain in the car park. "There is some kind of suspicious bag or package on the plane or in the baggage area," we're told.
Update: Meanwhile, all suspects in London's scare are said to be in custody.
Only hours after an explosive device (loaded with fuel, gas cylinders nails) was found in London's theater district this morning, police have already discovered what appears to be a second car-bomb.
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