Al-Qaeda

What’s interesting out there today?

Open thread, as always.

First up, over the weekend the FBI conducted raids in more than 70 cities. They rescued more than 100 teens, mostly runaways and kids from broken homes, from sex-trafficking operations. Well done FBI.

From NBCNews “The sting resulted in the arrest of 159 “pimps” from San Francisco to Miami who were involved in the commercial exploitation of both adults and children, said Ronald Hosko, assistant director of the FBI’s criminal investigative division.

It was the FBI’s largest action to date focusing on the recovery of sexually exploited children, and took law enforcement agencies to streets, motels, casinos and social media platforms, Hosko said. He said he hoped it would focus attention on sex trafficking, “this threat that robs us of our children.”

“The sweep was the seventh iteration of Operation Cross Country, part of a partnership begun a decade ago by federal authorities and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to address child prostitution.

The sting, over three days beginning Friday, demonstrate “how many of America’s children are being sold for sex every day, many on the Internet,” said John Ryan, the center’s president and CEO.”

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More on the threat that closed, and continues to keep closed, numerous overseas facilities. Security in the states has ramped up as well.

From ABCNews “On the day that almost two dozen U.S. embassies and consulates across North Africa and the Middle East are closed following the identification of a significant threat from an al-Qaeda affiliate, a senior U.S. official is providing new details about the communications intercepted from the terrorists, telling ABC News that al-Qaeda operatives could be heard talking about an upcoming attack. The official described the terrorists as saying the planned attack is “going to be big” and “strategically significant.”

“The part that is alarming is the confidence they showed while communicating and the air of certainty,” the official said, adding that the group — Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula — appeared to have a media plan for after the attack.

Authorities do not know the exact target of the planned attack, according to the official.”

Bill Kristol points out a painful truth. Despite the President’s rhetoric, reality shows al-Qaeda is alive and well.

From TheDailyCaller “Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol remarked on Sunday that President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign rhetoric on foreign policy stood in stark contrast to the turmoil in the Middle East stirred by threats from al-Qaida, pointing out that the U.S. closed 22 embassies throughout the Muslim world.

“Four years ago President Obama gave a much heralded speech as outreach to the Muslim world,” Kristol said. “And now, four years later we are closing embassies throughout the Muslim world. A year ago, the president said al-Qaida is on the run. And now we seem to be on the run.”

“I’m not criticizing the decision to close the embassies. That’s probably the right thing to do for the sake of trying to save American lives and others, but it’s a terrible thing,” he added. “That you know, just a year ago boasting al-Qaida is on the run and Osama bin Laden is dead.”

Or is it all yet another distraction tactic? Yes, cynical, I know.

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Some leakers are more equal than others. The White House will be all over this I’m sure. 🙄

From TheJerusalemPost “Unnamed US officials leaked information Thursday on alleged Israeli air strikes in Syria, and told The New York Times they expect an additional attack by Israel in the near future.

The sources, described by the Times as “American intelligence analysts,” discussed what they said were classified assessments, according to which a July 5 IAF strike on a Syrian facility housing Russian surface-to-sea missiles in Latakia failed to destroy them all.”

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It’ll be fun to see how the White House responds to this…

From FoxNews “A new petition on the White House website asks the administration to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.

The request was posted on petitions.whitehouse.gov on July 7 and quickly garnered more than the 100,000 signature requirement for the Obama administration to officially consider the request.”

“The “We the People” petition program, which was set up by the White House late last year, stipulates that all requests must receive some sort of response from the administration when150 signatures are added within the first 30 days and the petition gains 100,000 signatures by the second 30 days.”

The 100,000 in 30 has been met.

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Planned Parenthood is forced to pay the state of Texas 4.3 million dollars for Medicaid fraud. But as expected the media response is to act like the 3 monkeys. Hear nothin’, see nothin’, speak nothin’. You know the drill.

From NewsBusters “In the first week of February 2012, the Big Three networks lunged to the defense of Planned Parenthood when the Susan G. Komen Foundation (very temporarily) withdrew its donation to abortion giant (about $680,000 the previous year). Network reporters whacked Komen, promoting “outrage and disappointment engulfing the Internet.”

But Mollie Hemingway of Get Religion pointed out that Planned Parenthood in Texas was recently forced to pay the state of Texas $4.3 million for Medicaid fraud. Where was the “outrage and disappointment” engulfing the media? The networks didn’t notice. Even the local newspaper coverage was terrible.”

“Planned Parenthood trotted out the usual corporate line that settlement wasn’t an admission of guilt — which might be the shriveled fig leaf the “mainstream media” would use to say it’s not newsworthy. But wait — Texas isn’t the only state where this fraud might be occurring, as the Heritage Foundation reported:

Alliance Defending Freedom’s recent analysis of state and federal audits of family planning programs suggests that in 12 states, Planned Parenthood affiliates overbilled Medicaid for more than $8 million. One federal audit of New York’s Medicaid family planning program reported that certain providers, “especially Planned Parenthoods,” had engaged in improper practices resulting in overpayment.”

Shhhhh….. It’s a secret. 🙄

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Well I guess this was way overdue. She should just take him up on his offer and tell the truth.

From TheNYPost “Twenty-five years after accusing an innocent man of rape, Tawana Brawley is finally paying for her lies.”

“She still owes Pagones $431,000 in damages. And she remains defiantly unapologetic.

“It’s a long time coming,” said Pagones, 52, who to this day is more interested in extracting a confession from Brawley than cash.

“Every week, she’ll think of me,” he told The Post. “And every week, she can think about how she has a way out — she can simply tell the truth.”

Sharpton threw her under the bus. Isn’t it time she returned the favor?