Australia a Puzzling Hotbed of Islamic State Recruiting

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PoliciaA nightclub bouncer who reportedly became a terror group leader. A man who tweeted a photo of his young son clutching a severed head. A teenager who is believed to have turned suicide bomber, and others suspected of attempting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State movement. All of them, Australian.

The London-based International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence reports that between 100 and 250 Australians have joined Sunni militants in Iraq and Syria. Given Australia’s vast distance from the region and its population of just 24 million, it is a remarkable number. The center estimates that about 100 fighters came from the United States, which has more than 13 times as many people as Australia.

Experts disagree about why the Islamic State group has been so effective recruiting in Australia, which is widely regarded as a multicultural success story, with an economy in an enviable 24th year of continuous growth.

Possible explanations include that some Australian Muslims are poorly integrated with the rest of the country, and that Islamic State recruiters have given Australia particular attention. In addition, the Australian government failed to keep tabs on some citizens who had been radicalized, and moderate Muslims have been put off by some of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s comments about their community.

Greg Barton, a global terrorism expert at Monash University in Melbourne, said Australia and some other countries underestimated Islamic State’s “pull factor.” (Read more from “Australia a Puzzling Hotbed of Islamic State Recruiting” HERE)

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Search for Missing Alaska Family of 4 Comes to Grim End

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Photo Credit: Chicago Tribune

Photo Credit: Chicago Tribune

A nearly year long search for a missing Alaska family has come to a grim end with the discovery of four bodies, a dead dog and a handgun just off a trail in a rural area near the family’s home.

Authorities said Monday they could not comment on the circumstances surrounding the deaths but there’s no reason to believe anyone else was involved.

Rebecca Adams, 23; her boyfriend, Brandon Jividen, 38; and her children, Michelle Hundley, 6, and Jaracca Hundley, 3, lived on a quiet street on the outskirts of Kenai, a fishing community of 7,100 about 65 miles southwest of Anchorage . . .

At the time, relatives said it appeared the family left without packing. The couple’s two vehicles were parked outside their duplex, and their rent for June had not been paid. The family’s dog — an English springer spaniel named Sparks — also was gone . . .

A gun found with the bodies matched the serial number from a box found in the family’s home, he said. Officers also discovered other items reported missing from the residence, and a dog was found dead at the scene. (Read more from “Search for Missing Alaska Family of 4 Comes to Grim End” HERE)

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Why Worry About UN Troops on US Soil When We’re Already Giving Local Law Enforcement Over to Foreign Mercenaries? [+video]

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police immigrantsBy David Codrea. “Police departments hiring immigrants as officers,” USA Today reported Sunday. “[S]ome [departments] are allowing immigrants who are legally in the country to wear the badge. From Hawaii to Vermont, agencies are allowing green-card holders and legal immigrants with work permits to join their ranks.”

To paraphrase Bill Clinton, that depends on what the meaning of the term “legal” is.

“Some, like the Chicago and Hawaii police departments, allow any immigrant with a work authorization from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to become an officer,” the story explains. “That means people in the country on temporary visas or are applying for green cards can join.”

While some apologist for the policy, like Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, which advocates for “a pathway to citizenship for those who are here illegally,” dismiss security concerns as a “straw man” argument, Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, warns that standards for ensuring that are far from assured. And while he is unconcerned “with green-card holders … because they’ve made a long-term commitment to the country and have undergone extensive background checks … he worries about the security risks associated with allowing any immigrant with a work permit to become an officer, especially considering that the Obama administration has given hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants work permits.”

It’s more than that, which Krikorian’s own organization has documented. A lot more, if a CIS study published in February is accurate. (Read more from “Why Worry About UN Troops on US Soil When We’re Already Giving Law Enforcement Over to Foreign Mercenaries?” HERE)

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Police Departments Hiring Immigrants as Officers

By Alan Gomez. Law enforcement agencies struggling to fill their ranks or connect with their increasingly diverse populations are turning to immigrants to fill the gap.


Most agencies in the country require officers or deputies to be U.S. citizens, but some are allowing immigrants who are legally in the country to wear the badge. From Hawaii to Vermont, agencies are allowing green-card holders and legal immigrants with work permits to join their ranks.

At a time when 25,000 non-U.S. citizens are serving in the U.S. military, some feel it’s time for more police and sheriff departments to do the same. That’s why the Nashville Police Department is joining other departments to push the state legislature to change a law that bars non-citizens from becoming law enforcement officers.

Department spokesman Don Aaron said they want immigrants who have been honorably discharged from the military to be eligible for service. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Ted Cruz: I’m Running for President [+video]

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TCCBy Hunter Walker. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) launched his presidential campaign shortly after midnight on Monday with a brief message and video he posted on Twitter.

“I’m running for President and I hope to earn your support!” Cruz wrote in his tweet.

[Hear what Sen. Ted Cruz’s father has to say about his son’s run in this exclusive interview:]

Cruz has long been expected to throw his hat into the presidential race. His announcement made him the first major candidate to officially begin a campaign.

Cruz’s 30-second video features shots of nature, people riding motorcycles through the desert, children playing baseball and reciting the pledge of allegiance, multiple American flags, and a church. It closes with a shot of Cruz waving. (Read more from “Ted Cruz: I’m Running for President” HERE)


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Ted Cruz Plans to Announce Official Presidential Bid Later Today

By Theodore Schleifer. Sen. Ted Cruz plans to announce [later today] that he will run for president of the United States, according to his senior advisers, accelerating his already rapid three-year rise from a tea party insurgent in Texas into a divisive political force in Washington.

Cruz, scheduled to speak Monday at a convocation ceremony at Liberty University in Virginia, will not form an exploratory committee but rather launch a presidential bid outright, said advisers with direct knowledge of his plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement had not been made yet. They say he is done exploring and is now ready to become the first Republican presidential candidate.


Over the course of the primary campaign, Cruz will aim to raise between $40 million and $50 million, according to advisers, and dominate with the same tea party voters who supported his underdog senate campaign in 2012. But the key to victory, Cruz advisers believe, is to be the second choice of enough voters in the party’s libertarian and social conservative wings to cobble together a coalition to defeat the chosen candidate of the Republican establishment.

The firebrand Texan may have few Senate colleagues who will back his White House bid, but his appeal to his party’s base who vote disproportionately in Republican primaries could make him competitive in Iowa and beyond.

Yet critics of Cruz argue that he will have trouble raising high-dollar donations from traditional contributors, will land few endorsements from the nation’s political establishment and be unable to escape comparisons to President Barack Obama, who also ran for president in his first Senate term. And if he advances to a general election, Cruz trails likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton solidly in early public opinion polls. (Read more from “Ted Cruz to Announce 2016 Presidential Bid on Monday” HERE)

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US Congressman Introduces Bill in Response to Military Oath Deleting “God”

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Photo Credit: Opposing Views

Photo Credit: Opposing Views

U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson introduced a bill that would make it illegal for any branch of the military to change its oaths unless approved by Congress.

Johnson said he wrote the legislation in response to a 2013 decision made by U.S. Air Force Academy to make the phrase, “so help me God,” an optional part of its oath.

Before the change, the cadet honor oath was, “We will not lie, steal or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does. Furthermore, I resolve to do my duty and to live honorably, so help me God.”

Since 1984, cadets must recite the code when they first join basic training. Cadets are required to take the oath once every year, said Air Force Academy spokesman Maj. Brus Vidal.

U.S. Air Force Academy leaders said they decided to make the phrase optional after receiving a complaint for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a group that advocates for religious freedom within the U.S. military. (Read more from “US Congressman Introduces Bill in Response to a Change in a Military Oath” HERE)

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Starbucks Ends ‘Race Together’ Coffee Cup Campaign, but Now Announces it will Open Shops in Slums

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lady with cupStarbucks went from pulling the shots on its controversial “Race Together” campaign to pulling the plug on it after only a week.

Coffee mogul Howard Schultz announced the global corporation’s plan to take its baristas out of the race and diversity campaign that included writing “Race Together” on cups, a decision that was apparently part of its plan from the beginning, a memo stated.

Baristas will no longer be writing “Race Together” on cups starting Sunday.
The bold initiative involved slapping stickers on coffee cups, but it drew criticism for being opportunistic in the wake of Ferguson and even inappropriate for a barista to task such a conversation while making coffee.

“While there has been criticism of the initiative — and I know this hasn’t been easy for any of you — let me assure you that we didn’t expect universal praise,” CEO Schultz stated. “We leaned in because we believed that starting this dialogue is what matters most.”

The company has no intention of stopping its initiative, as it announced forums to come and the hiring of 10,000 employees from diverse backgrounds to man new coffee shops in disadvantaged urban communities. (Read more from “Starbucks Ends ‘Race Together’ Coffee Cup Campaign” HERE)

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Obama Golfs as Yemen Collapses, the Same Nation the Traitor-in-Chief Called a “Success” Just 6 Months Ago

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YemenBy Fox News. The U.S. has removed all remaining personnel from Yemen as Shiite rebels controlling the country’s capital called for others to join its battle against government forces.

The State Department said in a statement it is removing personnel due to the “deteriorating security situation” in the country. The State Department also said it will continue to engage the Yemeni people and international community to support the country’s political transition.

Earlier Saturday, Yemeni security and military officials said that U.S. troops and Special Forces commandos were evacuating from an air base in southern Yemen. The air base was believed to have at least 100 American troops stationed there. (Read more from “Yemen Collapses” HERE)


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US Special Ops Forces Scramble out of Yemen, Weapons Missing, and Obama Was Doing What?

By Tom Tillison. As U.S. special operations forces scrambled Saturday to evacuate the Al Anad air base in southern Yemen after al-Qaida fighters seized the nearby city of al-Houta, their commander in chief enjoyed an afternoon of leisure.


Yes, this is the same Middle Eastern country that President Obama touted as a “success” in the war on terror just six months ago . . .

Nevertheless, Obama spent part of the day Saturday watching the Princeton women’s basketball team in the NCAA tournament — his niece plays for the Tigers.

And since the weather was being cooperative for March, the president squeezed in a round of golf, too. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Alaska’s Senator Lisa Murkowski Helping Obama Fund Solyndra 2.0

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Murkowski & ObamaTwo Republican senators are looking to increase government spending on various energy programs, but conservatives accuse them of stifling the free market’s efforts to address energy concerns and effectively helping President Obama pass his climate change agenda.

In a recent piece for Conservative Review, FreedomWorks Senior Fellow Tom Borelli highlights the efforts of Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to increase funding for the Department of Energy through the current appropriations process.

Alexander is focused on federal assistance to develop more nuclear power, which Borelli said is now at a competitive disadvantage as a result of plunging natural gas prices . . .

According to Borelli’s reporting, Sen. Murkowski’s energy priorities include more money for the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy and for the department’s loan guarantee program. Borelli said her position doesn’t come as a surprise, either.

“Lisa Murkowski, back in 2013 she had something called ‘Energy 20/20: A Vision for America’s Energy Future,’” he said. “What she wanted to do was grow the energy research budget.” (Read more from “Lisa Murkowski Helping Fund Solyndra 2.0?” HERE)

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‘Islamic State Hacking Division’ Posts Kill List With Purported Addresses of U.S. Military Members

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Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

Calling for their beheadings, a self-proclaimed arm of the Islamic State published a list of addresses purportedly belonging to approximately 100 members of the U.S. military late Friday night.

Identifying themselves as the “Islamic State Hacking Division,” the group claimed to have obtained the personal information of military personnel from compromised military servers, databases and emails.

“[W]e have decided to leak 100 addresses so that our brothers residing in America can deal with you,” the group warned.

Photo Credit: Screen Grab

Photo Credit: Screen Grab

“Kill them in their own lands, behead them in their own homes, stab them to death as they walk their streets thinking that they are safe,” the “Islamic State Hacking Division” added.

In the online document, names and photos accompanied addresses purporting to belong to the military personnel. An informal review of the information by TheBlaze appeared to show matches between some names, photos and listed addresses. (Read more from “‘Islamic State Hacking Division’ Posts Kill List With Purported Addresses of U.S. Military Members” HERE)

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Sun Setting on Daylight Saving Time? States Consider Alternative to Clock-Changing ‘Hassle’

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Daylight savingsLawmakers in 10 states have proposed legislation challenging what, for many, is a twice-a-year headache, and one they just endured again earlier this month. The new bills would mostly have states pick a time … and stay on that time.

“Every time you have the spring forward or fall back, you get in the coffee shops, churches and everybody’s complaining about it and all of a sudden it dawned on me it is kind of a hassle,” said Texas state Rep. Dan Flynn, who proposed a bill that would place the entire state of Texas on central standard time year-round.

Beginning in 1966, every state in the country except Arizona and Hawaii started adjusting their clocks under the Uniform Act that permanently established daylight saving time nationwide. . .

But the practice has been scrutinized since its inception. . .

Proponents of scrapping daylight saving time say it’s generally unnecessary, disturbs sleep patterns and has recently become even more complicated. In 1986, Congress extended daylight saving from a six- to seven-month period and extended it again in 2005 to eight months — mid-March to mid-November. (Read more from “Sun Setting on Daylight Saving Time? States Consider Alternative to Clock-Changing ‘Hassle'” HERE)

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