Messages

1

Apple Zone / Re: Machete Terror? '

« on: Yesterday at 11:25:07 pm »

I need an adult in government to tell me if this was terrorism or not:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/02/birmingham-murder-racially-motivated-police

A 75-year-old man stabbed to death yards from his home may have been targeted in a racially motivated attack, according to police.

Mohammed Saleem, who used a walking stick, was stabbed three times in the back as he returned home from prayers at his local mosque in Small Heath, Birmingham, on Monday night.

The blows were struck with such violence they penetrated to the front of his body.

The father of seven also had no defensive wounds in what has been described as a swift, vicious and cowardly attack by the man leading the murder investigation, Detective Superintendent Mark Payne of West Midlands police.

Officers want to trace a white man, aged 25-32, of medium height and build, spotted on CCTV footage running near the scene of the attack around the time it happened, just before 10.30pm.

Police also want to trace a seven-seat people carrier captured on CCTV, driving near the mosque with the two male occupants, both white and in their 30s, who are considered "significant witnesses".

In an emotional family appeal on Thursday, two of Saleem's daughters, Shazia Khan, 45, and Nazia Maqsood, 44, called for the attackers to hand themselves in. They tearfully described their father as a "widely respected member of the community" and "much-loved".

Payne said the possibility it was a racially motivated attack was "a significant line of inquiry" and a large number of detectives were working on the case. "To the attacker I say we will find you and we will bring you to justice," he added.

2

Apple Zone / Re: Machete Terror? '

« on: Yesterday at 10:59:51 pm »

How the fuck are guns relevant to a discussion about an incident in the UK?

America is NOT the world...

jeez

The UK banned guns, now people have to do each other in manually?
You're right, off-topic.

Stop being a douche.

Guns are irrelevant to this discussion.

3

Apple Zone / Re: Machete Terror? '

« on: Yesterday at 05:05:22 pm »

I'd guess at least half of being an effective terrorist is how good you are at PR.

Osama's frequent tapes, statements of websites and now this.

This still seems to be a random outlier in the most part. The nature of the attack and waiting around for arrest are still very strange to me. I would have assumed that a single violent incident is not the most effective strategy for terror. In this instance it seems you've got 2 arrested "terrorists" for the victim.

It's PR, and shows how devoted you are to the cause.

Think of the fi'dais, the pointy end of business for the Assassin sect.  After a killing, they never ran away, never even lifted a hand to protect themselves.  They did so to signal two things:

1) that they were responsible.  This was not an act of simple murder, it was an act of war by the Old Man of the Mountains, and
2) they were so zealous, so convinced of the rightness of their cause, that they would not flee like a common criminal.  They are willing to kill and to die for their cause.

If they had just killed the guy and ran off, then they wouldn't have had their statements beamed across the world by willing reporters.  People might have assumed it was a hit-and-run incident, a mugging gone wrong, or a personal dispute.  The message would have not been made.

Besides, a two man cell is hardly going to bring the country to its knees.  This act itself is only notable for its particular brutality, and the political reasoning behind it.  500 knife murders a year in the UK, after all.  If it were not for the act of staying to communicate their political message, this wouldnt even register as a terrorist attack in most people's minds.

4

Apple Zone / Re: the EDL get their monkey on in Woolwich

« on: Yesterday at 01:56:54 pm »

Pixie, would you object if I merge this with the ongoing "Machete terror?" thread?

5

Or Kill Me / Re: Discordians, check in. Post your affiliation:

« on: Yesterday at 01:52:57 pm »

That's because you left your bike OUTSIDE.

6

Or Kill Me / Re: Discordians, check in. Post your affiliation:

« on: Yesterday at 01:31:57 pm »

That may have been me.  When installing the smilies, I remember I gave a few of them special code names which old time PDers would...appreciate. 

7

Apple Zone / Re: Machete Terror? '

« on: Yesterday at 12:48:03 pm »

Sources said reports that the men had featured in "several investigations" in recent years, but were not deemed to be planning an attack, "were not inaccurate".

They confirmed that one of the suspects was intercepted by police last year while leaving the country.

Hmm.  On the one hand, the security services are meant to be in contact with potential terrorists, it is part of doing their job.

On the other hand, this blows the theory that they were random "lone wolves" whose actions could have never been predicted right out of the water.  They were on someone's list.  Question is: why, what for, and what was missed here?

Adebolajo is a Nigerian name, also.  Boko Haram or Ansaru?  Al-Qaeda in Yemen also has some people in that part of Africa.

8

Aneristic Illusions / Re: Random News Stories

« on: Yesterday at 12:42:25 pm »

From Holder's statement:

For example, when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab — the individual who attempted to blow up an airplane bound for Detroit on Christmas Day 2009 — went to Yemen in 2009, al-Aulaqi arranged an introduction via text message. Abdulmutallab told U.S. officials that he stayed at al-Aulaqi’s house for three days, and then spent two weeks at an AQAP training camp. Al-Aulaqi planned a suicide operation for Abdulmutallab, helped Abdulmutallab draft a statement for a martyrdom video to be shown after the attack, and directed him to take down a U.S. airline. Al-Aulaqi’s last instructions were to blow up the airplane when it was over American soil.

Only, Abdulmutallab never actually said Al-Awlaki instructed him to blow up the plane.  He refused to name his co-conspirator, then immediately afterwards discussed how he had been inspired by the speeches of Al-Awlaki.

9

Apple Zone / Re: Machete Terror? '

« on: May 22, 2013, 10:49:16 pm »

The Daily Mail and Telegraph are going to be insufferable for the next month.  In the case of the EDL, that they can only muster a hundred guys in central London suggests they are on the wane, in conjunction with other reports I've heard. 

This looks like a lone wolf attack, but I'm going to reserve judgement on that.  Here's an interesting possibility - UK residents and citizens have joined Al-Shabab before, the militant Somalian jihadist outfit.  Just putting it out there.

10

Apple Zone / Re: Open Bar VII: written by George Lucas!

« on: May 22, 2013, 09:20:59 pm »

I know, right?  I'm considering some sort of long troll, where I convince her to take me on as an academic advisor on terrorism, where I'll spend 90% of my time flat out contradicting everything she says, and the other 10% making lewd Berlusconi related jokes...but I can only do that for so long.

11

Apple Zone / Re: Open Bar VII: written by George Lucas!

« on: May 22, 2013, 09:16:32 pm »

Oh dear God.

One of my students is the son of one of "Berlusconi's Babes", the formidable female talent that flocks to the former Italian premier like prostitutes at a bunga-bunga party.  Not a senior member of the Cabinet, but her name was put forward as a possible future Premier...assuming she can stop insulting Muslims for long enough to swear the necessary oaths of office.

I can think of several dozen ways to use this information, I'm just not sure which one is best.

I am willing to take advice on this.  Also, to clarify, by "best" I mean "funniest".

12

Apple Zone / Re: Machete Terror? '

« on: May 22, 2013, 07:00:06 pm »

That's true, the press are usually terrible at telling a machete from any other kind of big knife, and if the guy was black, they may have just leapt to a conclusion without doing the proper research.  Kinda like what I'm doing, except I'll admit it's speculation.

One witness is saying one of the suspects had a firearm, too.

13

Apple Zone / Re: Machete Terror? '

« on: May 22, 2013, 06:45:26 pm »

Hmmm.  Will keep an eye on this one.

Machetes don't tend to be used much outside of Africa, though, for political violence.  I wonder if the assailants were of African origin, or are sympathetic to African Islamist groups?

14

Apple Zone / Re: Things go boom

« on: May 22, 2013, 05:46:19 pm »

More info:

http://m.clickorlando.com/news/fbi-involved-in-fatal-shooting-near-universal-orlando/-/16721250/20249584/-/15quxngz/-/index.html

The FBI said Ibragim Todashev was shot and killed just after midnight at 6022 Peregrine Avenue in the Windhover Apartments near Universal Orlando.

“The agent encountered the suspect while conducting official duties. The suspect is deceased,” FBI Special Agent Dave Couvertier told Local 6.

John Miller, the former FBI assistant director who now works for CBS News, said the FBI was trying to re-question Todashev at his apartment when “something went wrong.”  Miller said the FBI agent fired shots, but details of the incident have not yet been released and it’s not known if Todashev had a gun.

http://www.fbi.gov/boston/press-releases/2013/fbi-boston-divisions-response-to-shooting-incident-in-orlando-florida

The FBI is currently reviewing a shooting incident involving an FBI special agent. Based on preliminary information, the incident occurred in Orlando, Florida during the early morning hours of May 22, 2013. The agent, two Massachusetts State Police troopers, and other law enforcement personnel were interviewing an individual in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing investigation when a violent confrontation was initiated by the individual. During the confrontation, the individual was killed and the agent sustained non-life threatening injuries. As this incident is under review, we have no further details at this time.

Things of note:

He was being interviewed again.  So what changed between the last interview and this one, which resulted in a corpse?

He was at his apartment when being questioned, not at a station or in a holding cell.  What is the standard FBI interview protocol here?  I've tried looking, but found nothing so far.

"Other law enforcement personnel".  Who?  Is that FBI-speak for the spooks of the High Value Interrogation Unit? 

None of this is conclusive of anything, yet.  But it's certainly worth keeping an eye on.

15

Apple Zone / Re: Open Bar VII: written by George Lucas!

« on: May 22, 2013, 05:34:59 pm »

Unless she graduated from Harvard, Stanton or Wharton, she's done nothing but get herself into some serious debt.