Report: Merger of ISIS and Al-Qaeda Could Cripple Civilized World

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Photo Credit: Reuters By Breitbart News.

As ISIS continues to advance on the Syrian town of Kobani and close in on Turkey’s border, experts in Islamic radical movements think the terror group may merge with its al-Qaeda mother organization soon. Together, the group would represent the greatest terror threat to the civilized world.

“I think Britain, Germany and France will witness significant attacks in their territories by the Islamic State. Al-Baghdadi [the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, otherwise known as ISIS] may reconcile with al-Zawhiri [the leader of the al-Qaeda central organization] to fight the crusader enemy. The attacks by the United States and her allies will unite the two groups,” said Hisham al-Hashimi, an Iraqi researcher who just finished writing a book about ISIS based on his unique access to the organization’s documents and years of research and advising Iraqi security forces.

“I have been monitoring al-Qaeda’s leaders’ rhetoric towards Baghdadi. They are getting softer and softer….The Islamic State, regardless of how big or small it becomes, will come back to its mother: al-Qaeda,” he added.

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Photo Credit: REUTERSTop US Gen. Dempsey: ISIS had ‘straight shot’ to Baghdad airport

By Fox News.

The U.S.’ top military leader said Sunday that Islamic State militants recently came within 15 miles of the Baghdad airport after overrunning Iraqi forces, adding to concerns about whether U.S. airstrikes alone can stop the jihadist army’s foray into Iraq.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, told ABC’s “This Week” that Apache helicopters were for the first time called in to stop the extremists’ “straight shot to the airport.”

“We were not going to allow that to happen,” said Dempsey, acknowledging the risk of using low-flying helicopters instead of fighter jets. “We need that airport.”

However, Dempsey said, there may come a time when he might recommend that American advisers accompany Iraqi troops against Islamic State targets.

Dempsey does not think Baghdad is in imminent jeopardy of being overrun by the Islamic State army but said individual members have infiltrated the surrounding Sunni population, which gives them the capability to fire indirectly into the city.

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War against Isis: US air strategy in tatters as militants march on

By PATRICK COCKBURN.

America’s plans to fight Islamic State are in ruins as the militant group’s fighters come close to capturing Kobani and have inflicted a heavy defeat on the Iraqi army west of Baghdad.

The US-led air attacks launched against Islamic State (also known as Isis) on 8 August in Iraq and 23 September in Syria have not worked. President Obama’s plan to “degrade and destroy” Islamic State has not even begun to achieve success. In both Syria and Iraq, Isis is expanding its control rather than contracting.

Isis reinforcements have been rushing towards Kobani in the past few days to ensure that they win a decisive victory over the Syrian Kurdish town’s remaining defenders. The group is willing to take heavy casualties in street fighting and from air attacks in order to add to the string of victories it has won in the four months since its forces captured Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq, on 10 June. Part of the strength of the fundamentalist movement is a sense that there is something inevitable and divinely inspired about its victories, whether it is against superior numbers in Mosul or US airpower at Kobani.

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New Trend: Billionaires 'Buying Gun Control'

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesBill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and three other billionaires are bankrolling a controversial gun-control initiative that will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot in Washington State.

Even the new owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, Steve Ballmer, has gotten into the act, writing a check for $1 million dollars to help flood the airwaves with anti-gun propaganda.

The strategy in Washington relies on big money supplied by a few ultra-rich elites and, if successful, could serve as Bloomberg’s model for tightening the strings on gun owners nationwide.

Initiative 594 would not only require background checks for transactions at gun shows and over the Internet but also person-to-person sales and loaned guns. Even handing a firearm to a friend for a few moments during a hunting trip would trigger the need for a background check if Initiative 594 were to pass, critics say. The cost of the background check, to be borne by the gun owner, is yet to be determined.

Backers of the proposal are flush with cash, as nearly $8 million has been shoveled in their direction from wealthy businessmen such as Bloomberg, Gates, Ballmer, Seattle venture capitalist Nick Hanauer and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

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U.S. Pledges $212 Million in Gaza Aid

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Photo Credit: AP / Adel HanaThe United States on Sunday promised $212 million in immediate aid to help rebuild Gaza Strip infrastructure devastated by recent fighting between Hamas and Israel.

The pledge came during an international conference in Cairo, where nations worldwide committed $5.4 billion for the Palestinian-controlled enclave that borders Egypt and Israel.

“The people of Gaza do need our help desperately — not tomorrow, not next week, but they need it now,” said Secretary of State John Kerry while attending the conference.

Much of the territory’s infrastructure, including at least 100,000 homes, were damaged during a 50-day conflict between Israel and Hamas. A ceasefire took hold in August.

Kerry said the money will help the Palestinian Authority meet its budgetary needs for “relief and reconstruction” efforts, including the immediate distribution of food and medicine, repairing the region’s water and sanitation system, and rebuilding homes before winter.

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Ebola at Sea? US Coast Guard Began Monitoring Threat in Summer

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Photo Credit: A2012Ebola at sea is a frightening prospect, and one the U.S. Coast Guard began considering as early as August, long before the federal government proposed new airport screening measures.

An Aug. 7 Coast Guard bulletin obtained by FoxNews.com warned the maritime industry to be on the lookout for sailors from West African nations who showed signs of being infected with the deadly virus. And although there have been no known cases of crew members aboard the thriving ocean trade from the region having Ebola, protocols for dealing with it aboard ships and at ports have been put in place.

The August bulletin, entitled “Ebola Virus Precautions,” advised ship owners and operators and others in the maritime industry that:

*Ship representatives are required to report sick or dead crew and passengers within the last 15 days to the CDC.

*Vessel masters must inform any boarding teams from the Coast Guard of any ill crew members on board.

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Lawsuit Seeks Human Rights for Chimps, While Unborn Babies Have None

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Photo Credit: LifeNewsThe New York case that seeks to morph chimps from higher mammals into persons has reached the Court of Appeals. (Imagine the laughter if I’d written that sentence twenty years ago. Never say, “It can’t happen here”!)

The case involves Tommy the Chimp, which–not who–is being kept in allegedly neglectful and abusive conditions by Tommy’s owner who–not which–runs a roadside zoo. If the chimp is not being cared for properly, the proper response is to alert authorities to remedy the wrong.

chimpBut animal rights attorney Steven Wise isn’t that interested in the abuse or neglect angle. From the Yahoo News story:

One of the judges said the state has laws to protect animals from mistreatment and suggested they might be a more appropriate avenue to ensure Tommy’s welfare.

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Passengers: Flight Attendant Refused to Hang Army Ranger's Uniform Jacket

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Photo Credit: WSOCTVU.S. Airways is trying to track down a U.S. Army Special Forces soldier after passengers said one of an airline flight attendant refused to hang up his jacket on a Charlotte-bound flight.

Late Friday afternoon, the airline issued an apology for what happened on board U.S. Airways Flight 1930 from Portland, Oregon, to Charlotte on Thursday.

The statement reads: “We apologize for the situation and are reviewing the incident internally. We have a long and proud history of serving our military members and hold the men and women who serve our country in the highest regard.”

Thousands of people have responded blasting the airline online after the story went viral.

First Sgt. Albert Marle asked a flight attendant if she could hang up his jacket to keep it from getting wrinkled. Passengers on board the flight said she refused, citing a policy that said the closet was only for first-class passengers and Marle wasn’t one of them.

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Media Darling and Ferguson Activist Is Child Molester

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A Muslim media darling during the Ferguson protests is a convicted child molester, GotNews.com has learned.

Mustafa Hussein is a volunteer for ArgusRadio, a popular activist website that live streams the St. Louis race riots and Ferguson protests.

He’s continuing to cause trouble now, like staging a protest at the St. Louis Cardinals game.

Hussein a.k.a. Theodore Barrett was previously convicted of child molestation in Iowa. His victim was under the age of 13.

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Michigan Toddler Dies from Enterovirus

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Photo Credit: Fox The enterovirus claims the life of a Clinton Township girl. Madeline Reid passed away at Children’s Hospital just a few months before her 2nd birthday. All of us at Fox 2 extend condolences to Reid’s loved ones.

n less than a month, Madeline Reid went from a healthy 21-month old to having her body break down. Her family told Fox 2 she needed a miracle, one that tragically never came. Baby Madeline was admitted to the hospital Sept. 14 after what started as a runny nose quickly took a turn for the worse. Maddy suffered two strokes, leaving her partially paralyzed. She needed to be on dialysis for all major organs. She was in an induced coma waiting for a heart transplant that she was too ill to receive. Doctors believe Enterovirus D-68 is to blame.

Fox 2 News Headlines

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Probe of Silencers Leads to Web of Pentagon Secrets

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Photo Credit: WNDThe mysterious workings of a Pentagon office that oversees clandestine operations are unraveling in federal court, where a criminal investigation has exposed a secret weapons program entwined with allegations of a sweetheart contract, fake badges and trails of destroyed evidence.

Capping an investigation that began almost two years ago, separate trials are scheduled this month in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., for a civilian Navy intelligence official and a hot-rod auto mechanic from California who prosecutors allege conspired to manufacture an untraceable batch of automatic-rifle silencers.

The exact purpose of the silencers remains hazy, but court filings and pretrial testimony suggest they were part of a top-secret operation that would help arm guerrillas or commandos overseas.

The silencers — 349 of them — were ordered by a little-known Navy intelligence office at the Pentagon known as the Directorate for Plans, Policy, Oversight and Integration, according to charging documents. The directorate is composed of fewer than 10 civilian employees, most of them retired military personnel.

Court records filed by prosecutors allege that the Navy paid the auto mechanic — the brother of the directorate’s boss — $1.6 million for the silencers, even though they cost only $10,000 in parts and labor to manufacture.

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Tony Perkins: Supreme Court Made 'Back-Alley' Decision on Gay Marriage

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Photo Credit: APThe U.S. Supreme Court’s recent refusal to hear cases upholding same-sex marriage will only ensure the issue rages for years to come, says Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

“The court did a back-alley-type Roe v. Wade judicial decision by letting the lower courts do their evil bidding,” Perkins said on “Fox News Sunday.”

When the Court in 1973 “imposed abortion on the nation” it was to “resolve the issue,” Perkins said. “Forty-one years later, that issue is now a political issue in every election from president on down.”

Ted Olsen, a conservative lawyer who represented plaintiffs in Virginia, disagreed, saying federal courts were handling the issue “in an appropriate and proper way.”

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