France Reports 60 Percent Increase in Radicalization in Two Years

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The number of radical individuals in France has gone up 60 percent over the last two years, according to Minister of the Interior Gérard Collomb.

Some 18,550 people are currently registered by authorities as potential radicals, up from 11,400 in 2015, Ouest France reported Friday.

The database keeps track of suspects’ personal information and their alleged relationships with terror groups. Females currently account for 26 percent of cases, while 16 percent are minors.

Collomb recently warned that 271 French radicals have returned to the country after fighting for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. He said the terror threat remains “very high,” with seven foiled attacks since the start of the year. (Read more from “France Reports 60 Percent Increase in Radicalization in Two Years” HERE)

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DOJ’s Charlottesville Hate Crime Probe Extends Beyond Driver

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The Justice Department’s hate crime investigation of Saturday’s incident in Charlottesville, Va. is not limited just to James Alex Fields Jr., the 20-year-old man charged with second-degree murder after allegedly running over a woman demonstrating against white supremacists.

A Department of Justice official familiar with the hate crime investigation says that the agency is looking into whether others individuals were involved in the attack, which occurred around mid-day Saturday after local police broke up a white supremacist rally being held near a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Video recordings showed a 2010 Dodge Challenger registered to Fields plowing into a crowd of anti-fascist counter-protesters in downtown Charlottesville.

Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal, was killed in what police say was a deliberate attack. As many as 19 other people were injured.

There has been no indication yet that Fields coordinated the attack with someone else. (Read more from “DOJ’s Charlottesville Hate Crime Probe Extends Beyond Driver” HERE)

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Government Schools Intentionally Making Kids Dumber?

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It’s no surprise to hear that America’s education system is in disarray, with Common Core dumbing down young students, faith absent from education and underpaid teachers increasingly unfit to serve as effective educators.

But all of that is by design, contends Alex Newman, an international journalist and co-author of “Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians are Using Government Schools to Destroy America’s Children.” . . .

Newman believes the government education system is not built to educate but to create obedient, unlearned drones who are subservient to authority.

“It’s really the education system that is at the foundation of what eventually emerges as culture, politics, government and all the rest of it,” Newman began. “Education is where we went wrong, so if we’re going to fix this, education is the place to be involved.” . . .

According to Newman, government schools work to produce illiteracy, dumb down students and spread an atheistic worldview. Government education, he said, leads to “a hatred toward truth, objective reality and moral principles.” (Read more from “Government Schools Intentionally Making Kids Dumber?” HERE)

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Shoppers Prepping for ‘World War III’

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As the rhetoric ramps up over North Korea and nuclear weapons, the cash registers have been ringing at a local Army Supply store, where some are apparently prepping for a third World War.

Ben Orr, the manager of Joe’s Army Navy in Royal Oak, says he’s been selling a lot of “prepper items” over the past week or so.

“We’ve been very busy. Unusually busy, I’d say,” Orr told WWJ’s Sandra McNeill. “It’s definitely an increase, just in selling all the normal prepper stuff, end of the world stuff. A lot of water prep stuff, food, MREs — the military meals.”

And there’s been a substantial increase in the sale of a particular item they don’t sell much of — a so-called radiation antidote called potassium iodide. (Read more from “Shoppers Prepping for ‘World War III'” HERE)

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4,000 Apps Secretly Recording Your Audio, Steal Info

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A single threat actor has aggressively bombarded Android users with more than 4,000 spyware apps since February, and in at least three cases the actor snuck the apps into Google’s official Play Market, security researchers said Thursday.

Soniac was one of the three apps that made its way into Google Play, according to a blog post published Thursday by a researcher from mobile security firm Lookout. The app, which had from 1,000 to 5,000 downloads before Google removed it, provided messaging functions through a customized version of the Telegram communications program. Behind the scenes, Soniac had the ability to surreptitiously record audio, take phones, make calls, send text messages, and retrieve logs, contacts, and information about Wi-Fi access points. Google ejected the app after Lookout reported it as malicious.

Two other apps—one called Hulk Messenger and the other Troy Chat—were also available in Play but were later removed. It’s not clear if the developer withdrew the apps or if Google expelled them after discovering their spying capabilities. The remaining apps—which since February number slightly more than 4,000—are being distributed through other channels that weren’t immediately clear. Lookout researcher Michael Flossman said those channels may include alternative markets or targeted text messages that include a download link. The apps are all part of a malware family Lookout calls SonicSpy. (Read more from “4,000 Apps Secretly Recording Your Audio, Steal Info” HERE)

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Muslim Running for Congress Silent on 1 Big Issue

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Regina Mustafa is trying to become the first Muslim woman elected to Congress and, if successful, she says she will use her “sheer passion” to represent oppressed minorities across the United States, fight for more gun control and battle against climate change.

Mustafa, a 37-year-old community activist living in Rochester, Minnesota, has announced her candidacy for the state’s 1st congressional district . . .

Mustafa, who says she is a seasoned community activist, has focused her activism since moving to Rochester on interfaith dialogue with Christian and Jewish partners . . .

Despite her work on interfaith issues, Mustafa was not open to discussing her personal faith. WND asked what attracted her, as an American woman, to Islam and why she converted.

“How do you know I converted?” she asked. (Read more from “Muslim Running for Congress Silent on 1 Big Issue” HERE)

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EXPLOSIVE: Ex-Deputy Director of FBI Says, “The Government is Going to Kill Trump”

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[CNN counterterrorism analyst Phil] Mudd, who served as deputy director to former FBI Director Robert Mueller, said Trump’s defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin has compelled federal employees “at Langley, Foggy Bottom, CIA and State” to try to take Trump down.

“Let me give you one bottom line as a former government official. Government is going to kill this guy,” Mudd, a staunch critic of Trump, said on “The Lead.”

Mudd also broached Trump’s recent announcement of a ban on transgender soldiers in the military as another reason some in the government are turning on him.

“We saw the same thing in his transgender comments. What is the military saying to him on transgender? ‘Show us the policy.’ You know what that means inside government? ‘Ain’t going to happen,’ ” he said.

Mudd pivoted to a newly revealed July FBI raid on the home of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort to emphasize his point about the mistrust between the intelligence community and the president.

“What did the Department of Justice say on Paul Manafort? ‘You can say what you want, a judge told us we had cause to search his home early in the morning because we don’t trust the guy who was your campaign manager.’ The government is going to kill this guy because he doesn’t support them,” he concluded. (Read more on this ex-FBI official’s statement that the government is going to kill Trump HERE).

What You Need to Know Guam and the North Korea Missile Crisis

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North Korea has threatened to wipe out the western Pacific island of Guam, following ever-increasing rhetoric between Washington and Pyongyang.

On Wednesday, North Korea threatened to send a missile barrage at the U.S. territory, following President Trump’s insistence that the U.S. would retaliate against North Korean aggression with “fire and fury.”

Per PRI.org, North Korea’s Hwasong-12 missiles “flew about 489 miles in its latest test in May, when it was fired at a steep angle, and is believed to have a maximum range of about 3,106 miles.

“That puts Guam — around 2,050 miles from North Korea’s missile bases — well within range.”

Guam is the closest U.S. territory to North Korea, making it a vital defense post in the Pacific. But given its distance from the U.S. mainland, few Americans ever encounter the Pacific island territory.

Here’s what you need to know about Guam.

The small island (with a size of approximately 210 square miles), located 4,000 miles west of Hawaii, serves as an important strategic territory for the United States, given its relative proximity to the Asian continent and its important players, such as China, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, and North and South Korea.

Spain claimed sovereignty over Guam in 1565, and proceeded to colonize the land in 1668. A smallpox epidemic came 20 years later, wiping out much of the indigenous Chamorro population on the Island.

After four centuries of Spanish rule, Guam (and Puerto Rico) was transferred over to the United States as part of the Treaty of Paris of 1898.

Immediately after its attack on Pearl Harbor, Imperial Japan invaded and occupied the American garrison in Guam during World War II. The Japanese occupied Guam for 31 months.

After WWII, the Guam Organic Act of 1950 re-designated Guam as an unincorporated U.S. territory. The law provided U.S. citizenship for all residents of Guam, including the indigenous Chamorro people, and allowed them to vote for their governor. The act also created an elected legislature.

During the Vietnam War, the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam served as a major platform for U.S. operations. American bombers primarily departed from Guam, for close air support and heavy bombing runs.

Today, Guam is home to roughly 7,000 American service members, consisting of members of the Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard. The military presence takes up about 30 percent of the entire island’s land, according to Fox News.

Guam’s population is about 163,000 people. A little over one-third is indigenous to the land, and another quarter is foreign workers from the Philippines. Some 85 percent of the population identifies as Roman Catholic, and the officials languages are English and Chamorro.

The U.S. territory is currently represented in Washington, D.C., by Madeleine Bordallo, who serves as Guam’s non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives. The Democrat representative has represented Guam since 2002.

The governor of Guam is Eddie Calvo, a Republican and member of the indigenous Chamorro population. During the 2016 Republican primary, Calvo endorsed Texas Senator Ted Cruz. When Cruz dropped out of the race, he endorsed Donald Trump.

Appearing on Fox News Thursday evening, Calvo supported the president’s debated “fire and fury” comments, stating: “As far as I’m concerned, as an American citizen, I want a president that says that if any nation such as North Korea attack Guam, attack Honolulu, attack the west coast, they will be met with hell and fury.”

So, what happens if North Korea does indeed go through with a missile attack on Guam?

There are several military defenses stationed on or near Guam. The THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missile defense system is currently deployed in Guam. THAAD is designed to detect and destroy a ballistic missile early on in its “boost phase.”

Several U.S. Navy ships possess SM-3 missiles, which are capable of hitting ballistic targets midflight in lower-earth orbit. And there is the Patriot missile, which also holds anti-ballistic capabilities.

Homeland Security officials in Guam continue to institute precautions and fact sheetsfor residents, should the defense systems fail to stop an attack. Yet through all the North Korean saber rattling, Gov. Calvo continues to reassure residents that the Island is “safe and sound.”

“Everyone should continue to live their lives,” he urged residents of the U.S. territory. (For more from the author of “What You Need to Know Guam and the North Korea Missile Crisis” please click HERE)

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White House Considering Another Administration Ouster — This Is Who Might Be Replaced

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A new Bloomberg report alleged that GOP officials are considering the ouster of Sec. Rick Perry at the Department of Energy, to be replaced with Sen. Joe Manchin. (D-W.Va.)

Manchin was previously considered for the post of Secretary of Energy and is up for reelection in 2018.

When spokesman for Manchin, Jonathan Kott, was reached by Bloomberg, he declined commit to an answer. (Read more from “White House Considering Another Administration Ouster — This Is Who Might Be Replaced” HERE)

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Report: US Intel Indicates North Korea Now Has Everything It Needs to Nuke the U.S.

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A confidential Central Intelligence Agency assessment of North Korea’s re-entry vehicles indicates the country has what it needs to carry out a nuclear strike on the continental U.S., sources knowledgable about the report told The Diplomat.

North Korea conducted its second test of the Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile in late July, and while the CIA assesses that the re-entry vehicle did not survive the lofted test, it assumes that the re-entry vehicle would perform properly if the missile were fired along a normal trajectory, the sources with direct knowledge of the assessment told The Diplomat.

The CIA assesses that the lofted trajectory put additional stress on the re-entry vehicle, causing it to fail during testing, but believes that the technology would probably not encounter performance problems on a minimum energy trajectory.

The U.S. has sought comfort and a sense of security by denying that North Korea could produce an ICBM, by refusing to accept that North Korea could miniaturize a nuclear warhead, and by consistently highlighting North Korea’s inability to develop a functional re-entry vehicle. (Read more from “Report: US Intel Indicates North Korea Now Has Everything It Needs to Nuke the U.S.” HERE)

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