Pentagon: Islamic State Threat 'Beyond Anything We've Seen'

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / YURI GRIPAS

Photo Credit: REUTERS / YURI GRIPAS

By Missy Ryan.

The sophistication, wealth and military might of Islamic State militants represent a major threat to the United States that may surpass that once posed by al Qaeda, U.S. military leaders said on Thursday.

“They are an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether it’s in Iraq or anywhere else,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon.

Hagel’s assessment of Islamic State, which gained strength during Syria’s civil war and swept into northern Iraq earlier this summer, sounded a note of alarm several days after the group posted a video on social media showing one of its fighters beheading an American hostage kidnapped in Syria.

Asked if the hardline Sunni Muslim organization posed a threat to the United States comparable to that of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Hagel said it was “as sophisticated and well-funded as any group we have seen.”

“They are beyond just a terrorist group. They marry ideology, a sophistication of … military prowess. They are tremendously well-funded. This is beyond anything we’ve seen.”

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Report: Two times as many British Muslims fighting for ISIS as with U.K. armed forces

By Noah Rothman.

Americans were made acutely aware of the threat posed by Western jihadist fighters joining the ranks of ISIS in Syria and Iraq when a man with a London accent beheaded James Wright Foley as part of a taped ultimatum to President Barack Obama.

Inexplicably, President Barack Obama chose not to even abstractly address the nature of that threat, even though he plans to personally chair a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on precisely this subject next month.

A July intelligence estimate suggested that up to 3,000 ISIS militants were of European origin and 1,500 of those are young British Muslims, according to Birmingham MP Perry Barr. Framing the problem of Europe’s failure to assimilate its Muslim minorities perfectly, a new report indicates that there are more British Muslims fighting with Islamist militants in the Middle East than there are in the British armed forces.

According to the Ministry of Defense, there are only around 600 British Muslims currently serving in the Armed Forces, making up approximately around 0.4% of total personnel. 4.3% of the British population are Muslim.

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Marine Vet’s Viral Post Warning ISIS: ‘Attack Us and There Will be No Mercy’

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Photo Credit: IJ Review

Photo Credit: IJ Review

Marine veteran Nick Powers responded to the brutal murder of American photojournalist James Foley carried out by ISIS/ISIL/IS (whatever they’re named this week). Warning: Strong language.

As I sit here constantly hearing and watching you execute innocent men, women and children in the Middle East I chuckle. Why do I chuckle you may ask? Well let me explain something to you cowardice fools who think you are so tough behind all your propaganda videos. You are scaring a population that doesn’t know how to fight, you’re bullying the weak.

You say Islam is the religion of peace,but since when does terrorizing the innocent and beheading men, women and children constitute peace? WTF? But keep in mind, what did Saddam’s troops do when we came rolling into town? They surrendered, twice… So all your empty threats of coming to America and raising your flag over the White House amuse me more than any of you sick, sadistic bastards could ever imagine or comprehend. In 2012 there was about 21.2 million veterans in the United States.

Do you understand what that means? Let me break it down for you. That means there are literally millions of disgruntled, dysfunctional, pissed off veterans who have been dealing with years of abuse from their government stabbing them in the backs and having to watch their friends die because you Islamic extremist idiots can’t seem to act like normal human beings and stop terrorism and the violence. It’s one thing to take over an Islamic state, but if my memory serves me correctly, I’m pretty sure we plowed through Fallujah in 4 days.

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MSNBC Host Channels ISIS on Obama Golfing While American Waits to Be Beheaded: ‘One Cold Bastard’ (+video)

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0MSNBC’s Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough offered an “alternate view” of President Obama’s golf outing yesterday, which came minutes after a press conference condemning the murder of James Foley.

Scarborough said this morning, according to The Daily Caller:

“And so they are negotiating with Spock with a pitching wedge here,” he quipped, referencing the emotionless alien from Star Trek. “No, they really are. He is Spock. And I’m sure there may be one or two terrorists over in Syria looking at him going, ‘Wow, that’s one cold bastard.’”

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Chicago A Top Terror Target; Ominous Tweet Connects ISIS Threat In City

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Photo Credit: CBS

Photo Credit: CBS

Over the past six years, Chicago has become a top potential target for international terrorists, a top security expert said Friday, making the posting of a veiled threat by Islamic radicals on Twitter a higher cause for concern.

“Many terror organizations refer to Chicago as Obama Town,” said CBS 2 security expert Ross Rice, a former FBI agent in Chicago. Under President Obama, the U.S. took out Osama bin Laden, and used repeated drone strikes to weaken terror networks.

In the meantime, the U.S. government on Friday issued a security bulletin to all U.S. law enforcement in light of the overall threat posed by Islamic State, commonly known as ISIS or ISIL.

The ominous post on Twitter, purportedly from somebody connected with Islamic State, shows a photo of the Old Republic Building, 307 N. Michigan Ave., in Chicago and the White House.

The text reads:

#AmessagefromISIStoUS

We are in your state
We are in your cities
We are in your streets

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Miller: Begich Ad Willfully Distorting the Truth, Should be Pulled

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10384039_878134048865141_7628186140099520827_nToday Joe Miller weighed in on Mark Begich’s latest attack on Dan Sullivan in which the junior senator uses a clip lifted from the KTVA Republican primary debate.

“Mark Begich’s ad is completely disingenuous,” said Miller. “My words were ripped out of context. This is exactly what we’ve come to expect from Washington politicians, willful distortion of the truth. To say nothing of the fact that Mark Begich is the poster-child for Barack Obama and Harry Reid’s dirty money. The ad needs to be pulled.”

The context of the Joe Miller quote was a general question posed by Alaska Dispatch reporter Nat Hertz during the KTVA/Alaska Dispatch debate regarding big outside money coming into Alaska in order to influence the outcome of the US Senate race.

“Joe was merely pointing out that Alaskans need to be discerning with respect to who is giving the money and what they hope to get in return for their investment,” said Miller Press Secretary Randy DeSoto. “Senator Begich is not only twisting Joe’s words, he’s being incredibly hypocritical, given he has taken millions from outside special interests.”

It should be clear to Alaskans that Mark Begich is playing the insider game. This is just more evidence that he’s been corrupted by Washington and needs to go.

Miller concluded, “Instead of spending his time misleading Alaskans, Mark Begich should be getting help for his spending addiction, or working to clean up the Obamacare mess he made by delivering the 60th and deciding vote for its passage. Alaskans might also appreciate it if he found the courage to stand up and oppose at least one of the President’s radical nominees. Then he might actually be a ‘thorn’ in Barack Obama’s backside.”

The Latest Obamacare Victim: the Chicago Cubs

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

President Barack Obama’s shameful pitching is not the only way the administration has tarnished America’s national past time.

Obamacare forced the beleaguered Chicago Cubs to reduce staffing hours for its ground crew, resulting in an embarrassing game cancellation on Tuesday because of the failure to get a tarp on Wrigley’s infield.

Obama’s hometown paper, the Chicago Sun Times reports:

The staffing issues that hamstrung the grounds crew Tuesday during a mad dash with the tarp under a sudden rainstorm were created in part by a wide-ranging reorganization last winter of game-day personnel, job descriptions and work limits designed to keep the seasonal workers–including much of the grounds crew–under 130 hours per month, according to numerous sources with direct knowledge.

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Overwhelmed, and No Outbreak: 30 States Plus D.C. Requested Help with Possible Ebola Cases

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States-Seeking-CDC-Help-with-Potential-Ebola-Cases-640x480jpg

Thirty states plus the District of Columbia have sought the Center for Disease Control’s help identifying potential cases of Ebola. The map above is based on a list of those states provided to Breitbart News Thursday by the CDC. The list shows (in bright red) all the states which have asked for the CDC’s help with potential Ebola cases since July 27th. When contacted for consultation, the CDC examines the patient’s symptoms and travel history to decide whether or not a blood test is needed. In most cases, the CDC is able to rule out Ebola without the need for a blood test…

Read more from this story HERE.

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rtr435uhOutbreak accelerating: Ebola death toll surges to 1420, with more than 2600 cases

The number of people dying in West Africa from the ongoing Ebola outbreak is poised to surpass the total number of people to ever have died from the virus in just 10 days, according to World Health Organization figures. Up until sometime in early 2014, the Ebola virus had killed 1,548 people since being discovered in 1976. As of Monday, Ebola had killed more than 1,350 people across West Africa in the five months since the outbreak was first declared there. Another 1,000 people could be dead by the end of October if the death rate continues at its current pace. Despite an influx of money, materials and personnel, an average of more than 25 people died each day this August in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, according to the latest WHO figures. That rate has nearly doubled since July, when 13 people on average died each day. Doctors Without Borders officials said it “can’t speculate on numbers and outbreak patterns,” but President Joanne Liu said last week her organization and others will need to remain in the region for at least “six months, and I’m being, I would say, very optimistic.” Even more troubling, the ongoing crisis might be underestimated by as much as 20 percent, because many deaths and infections go unreported, either out of fear or denial, or because those infected live in hard-to-reach rural areas, Joseph Fair, a special adviser to Sierra Leone’s Health Ministry, told NPR.

Read more from this story HERE.

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EbolaNumber of Ebola deaths are massively underestimated, warns WHO

The magnitude of West Africa’s Ebola outbreak has been underestimated, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, warning that unknown numbers of people were dying in “shadow zones” unrecorded by medical authorities. Official estimates place the number of known, suspected and probable cases of Ebola at nearly 2,500, just over half of which have been fatal. However, in a detailed assessment of the true extent of the crisis, the WHO described a bleak situation in which “invisible caseloads of patients… are not being detected by the surveillance system.” Recording of Ebola cases has been hindered for a number of reasons, particularly in Sierra Leone and Liberia, which have seen the worst of the epidemic, the WHO said in its latest situation report. Families are hiding infected loved ones, on the assumption that, because Ebola has no cure, it would be better for them to die at home rather than in hospital. However, effective treatment can improve chances of survival – a message that health authorities have been struggling to communicate to increasingly fearful populations. Isolation wards for Ebola patients are instead being viewed by many Africans as an “incubator for the disease”, the WHO said. Many medical facilities throughout the affected countries have closed, in many cases because medical staff have fled.

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Pentagon says Chinese Jet Carried Out ‘Aggressive’ and ‘Dangerous’ Intercept of Navy Intelligence Jet

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The Pentagon on Friday called a Chinese jet’s encounter with a U.S. anti-submarine warfare aircraft an “aggressive” and “dangerous” act and said it has protested the action with Beijing.

Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters that the incident took place Tuesday in international airspace.

“We have registered our strong concerns to the Chinese about the unsafe and unprofessional intercept, which posed a risk to the safety and the well-being of the air crew and was inconsistent with customary international law,” Kirby said, adding that the incident was “very, very close, very dangerous.”

“Also—and we’ve made this clear—that it undermines efforts to continue developing military-to-military relations with the Chinese military.”

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jeff Pool said the aerial incident took place 135 miles east of Hainan Island when a Chinese J-11, a version of the Russian Su-27, came within 20 feet of a U.S. Navy P-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft.

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10 Insane Things the Pentagon Gave to Local Law Enforcement

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The Department of Defense Excess Property Program (1033) has seen a lot of criticism lately, as news surfaces about how local police departments are using the Pentagon’s extras. Pentagon equipment used by the St. Louis County Police in Ferguson, Missouri — the scene of riots following the shooting of Michael Brown — includes multiple $47,000 trucks and scores of military rifles. The New York Times highlighted the program and produced an interactive graphic to show the flow of weapons from Defense to police. According to the Times, the program started as a countermeasure to high crime in the 1990s.

Using data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and covering 2006-2014, we looked into the type and cost of equipment that local law enforcement has been receiving from the Pentagon. Items ranged from aircraft (some costing over $5 million each) to screws and washers (36 cents each). Most of the equipment filtering down to local law enforcement will not surprise the average citizen — mostly rifles, handguns and related equipment — but we found a lot of questionable line items.

1. 240 pair of “DRAWERS,EXTREME COLD WEATHER” for a total cost of $1,770.65. San Diego County, California.

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La Jolla Beach, San Diego (kan_khampanya/Shutterstock.com)

2. 200 pairs of “SOCKS” for a total cost of $468. Wichita County, Texas.

The Pentagon gave or sold a lot of socks to different counties. The document contains 175 line items with the word “socks” in them, with nearly every state receiving the all-important garments. Wichita, Texas, received 200 pairs of Pentagon-issued socks, presumably, for inmates at the James V. Allred Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Otherwise, law enforcement in Wichita County is swimming in socks.

Read more from this story HERE.

DNC Chair: Illegal Immigrants ‘Backbone Of Economy’, Bigotry ‘Deeply Embedded’ In GOP (+video)

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Photo Credit: National Review

Photo Credit: National Review

The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, was on Fusion’s America With Jorge Ramos when she was asked about immigration reform. DWS, as usual, had some interesting thoughts on the subject.

Wasserman Schultz says that illegal immigrants are the “backbone of the economy”, which means she must not think very highly of American workers or even legal immigrants. Schultz also says there hasn’t been any immigration reform because bigotry is “deeply embedded” in House Republicans.

Read more from this story HERE.