Young adults arrested trying to join extremists
Parents, authorities do not understand factors that lead to joining extremist organization based in New York City. Should the Feds treat them as terrorists?
President Obama uses IRS, FBI to counter extremist organization’s recruitment propaganda.
The first indication that something was wrong came when David Smith heard his son’s voice on the television.
“I don’t normally listen to Fox News,” said Mr. Smith, “but there he was in a report about Muslim extremists in Syria.”
The son had told his father he was leaving home to work for the New York Times.
Linda Kelly says she had no idea her daughter had been radicalized. Her disappearance came completely out of the blue, just like other extremist-related incidents are popping up in the Western world.
It’s more than just radicalism that is drawing young people to the extremely bloodthirsty fundamentalist group, a former CIA officer says. “They’re often searching for an identity, because what the extremists are actually pushing is a specific narrative, which is: your people are being oppressed in the media; your government is doing nothing; we’re the only ones who are actually going to help you out. Why don’t you join the fight?”
President Obama warned that “the high-quality videos, the online blogs, the use of talk shows—it’s all designed to target today’s young people.”
“The legacy news media is openly against our religion,” Ms. Kelly wrote her mother. ”The evil and the lies make me sick.”
“Many young people lack a sense of belonging,” said the President, “and they believe Fox News can give it to them. Fox constantly cranks the PR machine, making expert use of slick videos and social media.”
Kelly’s prosecution comes at a time when countering the lure of groups like Fox News has become one of Washington’s top priorities. “We have investigations of tea party groups in various stages of radicalization in all 50 states,” IRS director Lois Lerner said recently. Though it is unknown precisely how federal authorities came to target Kelly, it’s no secret that government informants lurk online. Agents customarily make these cases by gathering intelligence and setting traps for unsuspecting targets, many of whom, like Kelly, are arrested during SWAT-like raids. According to Fordham Law School’s Center on National Security, several people in Wisconsin alone have been detained or questioned in the past year for attempting to aid or join Republican groups.
corruption
- IRS targets conservative groups: Dan Keating and Darla Cameron at The Washington Post
- “The IRS grants tax-exempt status to 40,000 nonprofit groups per year. When the IRS began targeting conservative groups' applications in 2011, nonprofit approvals for groups with tea party or 9-12 in their name stopped entirely.”
- Issa: The IRS is Still Targeting Conservatives: Katie Pavlich
- “But Lerner wasn’t the only IRS official who got off without consequences for turning the country’s most powerful government agency into a political weapon used against everyday American citizens. Not a single persona was fired as a result of the agency targeting conservatives.”
- Why not support government unions? You support NFL unions!
- Either teachers unions don’t understand the difference between the private and public sectors, or they want to force us to pay for NFL season tickets regardless of whether we watch football.
- Wisconsin’s dirty prosecutors pull a Putin: Glenn Reynolds at USA Today
- “As if the home invasion, the appropriation of private property, and the verbal abuse weren’t enough, next came ominous warnings. Don’t call your lawyer. Don’t tell anyone about this raid. Not even your mother, your father, or your closest friends…” (Memeorandum thread)
ISIS
- The Children of ISIS: Janet Reitman
- “America is openly against Muslims,” one of the Khan siblings wrote his parents. ”The evil of this country makes me sick.”
- Officials: 3 Denver girls played hooky from school and tried to join ISIS: Ben Brumfield at CNN
- “It’s more than just a radical interpretation of Islam that is drawing teens to the extremely bloodthirsty militant group, a former CIA officer says.” (Memeorandum thread)
Omar decries “White Hate”: In the wake of anti-white violence by a Muslim shooter in Denver, Representative Ilhan Omar begins campaign to “stand together to stop white hate.” (read more…)