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USAID and other U.S. bureaucracies are paying billions to terrorists, so it's no wonder attacks are surging. For the first time in nearly a decade, terrorism spread to more countries, and lone wolf attacks surged in the West. The Terrorist Therapist®, Carole Lieberman, M.D., M.P.H., explains what's happening. Investigation of USAID, by President Trump and Elon Musk, through DOGE, has unveiled outrageous sums going to terrorist organizations because of incompetence and fraud. Some of themoney was ridiculous woke waste - like a DEI musical in Ireland and a transgender comic book in Peru. But, some had more serious consequences, like millions to fund farming equipmentfor the Taliban, so they could grow more poppies to sell heroin, and billions for terrorists linked to Al Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas and others. Not only did America fund global terrorist organizations, it fundedtop terrorists like Anwar al-Awlaki, who was provided with a scholarship after he lied on his application to Colorado State. Al-Awlaki went on to become a cleric who influenced many wannabe terrorists, including two 9/11 hijackers. But, there's hope, too. Trump extradited Mohammad Sharifullah, the top terrorist behind the Abbey Gate bombing that killed 13 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. He's also out to end anti-semitism at American colleges - starting with the ICE arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, at Columbia, who will be stripped of his visa and green card. And there's more….
Happy Bissextile Day! Wave your Bissextile Day flags! Had David Waldman just ran KITM a little overtime for perhaps fewer than only 9 minutes each day we wouldn't have had to do today's show, yet here we are. And a good thing, too, we need a whole new show, with Greg Dworkin and Armando on hand just to describe and dissect the Supreme Court's worst dick move since... well, it probably is their worst dick move ever. “Hey, what about Donald Trump's other immunity claim?”, you might ask, and so has the other judge in Trump's pocket, Aileen Cannon. And, “What about Anwar Nasser Abdulla al-Awlaki?”, David asks, but you know that question will be coming up more often. It appears that broke-ass dotard will remain our problem through the election. In the meantime, MAGA is setting up to make America more Alabaman. Mitch McConnell is leaving now that he's certain that he couldn't make anything worse.
The Rich Zeoli Show- Full Episode (01/09/2024): 3:05pm- On Tuesday, a three-judge panel from the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard arguments to determine the validity of Donald Trump's presidential immunity defense in his federal election subversion indictment. Two of the judges on the panel are Democratic appointees—Judge J. Michelle Childs and Judge Florence Y. Pan. Though, the third judge—Judge Karen L. Henderson—seemed equally unconvinced by the Trump team's legal argument. 3:15pm- Charlie Savage and Alan Feuer of The New York Times write: “Judge [Florence Y.] Pan asked [Donald Trump's Attorney John] Sauer to address a series of hypotheticals intended to test the limits of his position that presidents are absolutely immune from criminal prosecution over their officials acts, unless they have first been impeached and convicted by the Senate over the same matter. Among them, she asked, what if a president ordered SEAL Team 6, the Navy commando unit, to assassinate a president's political rival? Mr. Sauer said such a president would surely be impeached and convicted, but he insisted that courts would not have jurisdiction to oversee a murder trial unless that first happened.” You can read more here: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/09/us/politics/trump-immunity-hearing-takeaways.html?smid=url-share 3:30pm- Following Tuesday's Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit hearing, former president Donald Trump said that if his presidential immunity argument is proven to be unfounded then former president Barack Obama could, and should, be prosecuted for covert drone strikes he ordered in the Middle East—including one that resulted in the death of an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki. The strikes were conducted without congressional approval. 3:40pm- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spent several days in an intensive care unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland following elective surgery—though the precise surgery has not been disclosed. Alarmingly, the White House—including President Joe Biden—was not informed of Secretary Austin's incapacitation for more than three days. Equally concerning, while Secretary Austin was in intensive care, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was on vacation in Puerto Rico. Will anyone be held accountable for this disastrous breakdown in communication? Secretary Austin released a statement on Saturday addressing the issue: “I am very glad to be on the mend and look forward to returning to the Pentagon soon. I also understand the media concerns about transparency and I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better.” On Tuesday, it was announced that Secretary Austin has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. 4:05pm- Zack Smith—Legal Fellow and Manager of the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit hearing arguments on Tuesday to determine the validity of Donald Trump's presidential immunity defense in his federal election subversion indictment. If the presidential immunity defense is dismissed, does that mean former president Barack Obama could be held accountable for his authorization of drone strikes which resulted in the death of an American citizen? 4:25pm- On a recent episode of The Journal podcast, New Hampshire voters revealed that they are changing their party affiliation from Democrat to Republican prior to the state's January 23rd primary. Because they can't vote for their preferred candidate—Joe Biden—as he won't appear on the ballot following a Democrat National Committee feud with the state over scheduling dates, many Democrat voters are now registering as Republicans in order to vote against Donald Trump, supporting rival candidates like Nikki Haley and Chris Christie. Democrats have seemingly destroyed their own New Hampshire primary, are they impacting the Republican primary as well? 4:35pm- During a Fox News town hall event on Monday, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley accused her primary opponent Donald Trump of orchestrating chaos. 4:40pm- Lisa Kashinsky of Politico writes: “The New Hampshire attorney general's office is accusing the Democratic National Committee of engaging in unlawful voter suppression after the national party dismissed the state's upcoming primary as ‘meaningless.' Assistant Attorney General Brendan O'Donnell on Monday fired off a cease-and-desist order to the DNC, saying that instructing state Democrats to ‘educate the public' that the primary is ‘meaningless' violates the state's voter suppression laws.” You can read the full article here: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/08/new-hampshire-attorney-general-dnc-voter-suppression-primary-00134378 4:45pm- Steven Nelson and Josh Christenson of The New York Post write: “First son Hunter Biden's Manhattan art dealer shared details Tuesday about purchasers of the first son's novice works—while contradicting the White House's claim that officials brokered an ethics arrangement to keep buyer identities anonymous to prevent corruption. Georges Bergès said that Hunter, 53, actually knew who bought about 70% of his art—including Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, whom the dealer revealed purchased works by the first son both before and after scoring a prestigious appointment from President Biden.” You can read the full article here: https://nypost.com/2024/01/09/news/hunter-biden-knew-most-of-his-art-buyers-despite-ethics-plan-dealer-says/ 5:05pm- Over the weekend, MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart began to cry while discussing the three-year anniversary of the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021. 5:10pm- Ryan Saavedra of The Daily Wire writes: “One of the co-defendants in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' sprawling RICO case—against former President Donald Trump and several of his top associates—claimed in court filings this week that Willis had an ‘improper' relationship with one of the prosecutors in the case. The court filing claims that special prosecutor Nathan Wade, a private lawyer, paid for vacations that he allegedly took with Willis using funds his law firm received from the county as compensation for his work on the case. His firm has been paid approximately $650,000.” You can read the full article here: https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-co-defendant-in-georgia-rico-case-claims-da-fani-willis-had-relationship-with-prosecutor-report 5:20pm- On Monday, former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Dr. Anthony Fauci testified before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. During the hearing Dr. Fauci repeatedly denied remembering details about his decision making during the pandemic when pressed by members of Congress. 5:40pm- Haley Strack of National Review writes: “Maryland's largest school district drove up its legal expenses by 548 percent last year hiring counsel to investigate the school district's potential cover-up of sexual harassment and defend the district against parental complaints over mandatory LGBTQ curriculum. Montgomery County Public Schools has so far spent $412,544 more on legal fees this fiscal period than last, ‘due to substantial litigation on two separate matters pending in Federal Court,' according to the district's most recent legal-fees report.” You can read the full article here:https://www.nationalreview.com/news/maryland-school-district-amassed-exorbitant-legal-fees-defending-mandatory-lgbtq-curriculum/ 5:55pm- Rich got a shoutout in The Philadelphia Inquirer's article documenting how The National Park Service's decision to remove a statue of William Penn from Welcome Park was halted. The decision was quickly reversed after numerous people voiced their displeasure with the move online, on the radio, and on television. You can read the article here: https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/william-penn-statue-philadelphia-nps-social-media-outrage-20240109.html 6:05pm- Ray Epps—a former Trump support who some believe was an asset of the federal government who instigated the riot at Capitol Hill on January 6th, 2021—was sentenced to one-year of probation for his participation in the riot. 6:20pm- On Tuesday, a three-judge panel from the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard arguments to determine the validity of Donald Trump's presidential immunity defense in his federal election subversion indictment. Two of the judges on the panel are Democratic appointees—Judge J. Michelle Childs and Judge Florence Y. Pan. Though, the third judge—Judge Karen L. Henderson—seemed equally unconvinced by the Trump team's legal argument. 6:25pm- Ryan Saavedra of The Daily Wire writes: “One of the co-defendants in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' sprawling RICO case—against former President Donald Trump and several of his top associates—claimed in court filings this week that Willis had an ‘improper' relationship with one of the prosecutors in the case. The court filing claims that special prosecutor Nathan Wade, a private lawyer, paid for vacations that he allegedly took with Willis using funds his law firm received from the county as compensation for his work on the case. His firm has been paid approximately $650,000.” You can read the full article here: https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-co-defendant-in-georgia-rico-case-claims-da-fani-willis-had-relationship-with-prosecutor-report 6:40pm- Following Tuesday's Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit hearing, former president Donald Trump said that if his presidential immunity argument is proven to be unfounded then former president Barack Obama could, and should, be prosecuted for covert drone strikes he ordered in the Middle East—including one that resulted in the death of an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki. The strikes were conducted without congressional approval.
The Rich Zeoli Show- Hour 1: On Tuesday, a three-judge panel from the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard arguments to determine the validity of Donald Trump's presidential immunity defense in his federal election subversion indictment. Two of the judges on the panel are Democratic appointees—Judge J. Michelle Childs and Judge Florence Y. Pan. Though, the third judge—Judge Karen L. Henderson—seemed equally unconvinced by the Trump team's legal argument. Charlie Savage and Alan Feuer of The New York Times write: “Judge [Florence Y.] Pan asked [Donald Trump's Attorney John] Sauer to address a series of hypotheticals intended to test the limits of his position that presidents are absolutely immune from criminal prosecution over their officials acts, unless they have first been impeached and convicted by the Senate over the same matter. Among them, she asked, what if a president ordered SEAL Team 6, the Navy commando unit, to assassinate a president's political rival? Mr. Sauer said such a president would surely be impeached and convicted, but he insisted that courts would not have jurisdiction to oversee a murder trial unless that first happened.” You can read more here: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/09/us/politics/trump-immunity-hearing-takeaways.html?smid=url-share Following Tuesday's Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit hearing, former president Donald Trump said that if his presidential immunity argument is proven to be unfounded then former president Barack Obama could, and should, be prosecuted for covert drone strikes he ordered in the Middle East—including one that resulted in the death of an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki. The strikes were conducted without congressional approval. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spent several days in an intensive care unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland following elective surgery—though the precise surgery has not been disclosed. Alarmingly, the White House—including President Joe Biden—was not informed of Secretary Austin's incapacitation for more than three days. Equally concerning, while Secretary Austin was in intensive care, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was on vacation in Puerto Rico. Will anyone be held accountable for this disastrous breakdown in communication? Secretary Austin released a statement on Saturday addressing the issue: “I am very glad to be on the mend and look forward to returning to the Pentagon soon. I also understand the media concerns about transparency and I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better.” On Tuesday, it was announced that Secretary Austin has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The Rich Zeoli Show- Hour 4: Ray Epps—a former Trump support who some believe was an asset of the federal government who instigated the riot at Capitol Hill on January 6th, 2021—was sentenced to one-year of probation for his participation in the riot. On Tuesday, a three-judge panel from the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard arguments to determine the validity of Donald Trump's presidential immunity defense in his federal election subversion indictment. Two of the judges on the panel are Democratic appointees—Judge J. Michelle Childs and Judge Florence Y. Pan. Though, the third judge—Judge Karen L. Henderson—seemed equally unconvinced by the Trump team's legal argument. Ryan Saavedra of The Daily Wire writes: “One of the co-defendants in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' sprawling RICO case—against former President Donald Trump and several of his top associates—claimed in court filings this week that Willis had an ‘improper' relationship with one of the prosecutors in the case. The court filing claims that special prosecutor Nathan Wade, a private lawyer, paid for vacations that he allegedly took with Willis using funds his law firm received from the county as compensation for his work on the case. His firm has been paid approximately $650,000.” You can read the full article here: https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-co-defendant-in-georgia-rico-case-claims-da-fani-willis-had-relationship-with-prosecutor-report Following Tuesday's Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit hearing, former president Donald Trump said that if his presidential immunity argument is proven to be unfounded then former president Barack Obama could, and should, be prosecuted for covert drone strikes he ordered in the Middle East—including one that resulted in the death of an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki. The strikes were conducted without congressional approval.
Barack Hussein Obama II (/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/ (listen) bə-RAHK hoo-SAYN oh-BAH-mə; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He was the first African-American president of the United States. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. After graduating from Columbia University in 1983, he worked as a community organizer in Chicago. In 1988, he enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating, he became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Turning to elective politics, he represented the 13th district in the Illinois Senate from 1997 until 2004, when he ran for the U.S. Senate. Obama received national attention in 2004 with his March Senate primary win, his well-received July Democratic National Convention keynote address, and his landslide November election to the Senate. In 2008, a year after beginning his campaign, and after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president. Obama was elected over Republican nominee John McCain in the general election and was inaugurated alongside his running mate Joe Biden, on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, he was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, a decision that drew a mixture of praise and criticism.Obama signed many landmark bills into law during his first two years in office. The main reforms include: the Affordable Care Act (ACA or "Obamacare"), although without a public health insurance option; the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; and the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act served as economic stimuli amidst the Great Recession. After a lengthy debate over the national debt limit, he signed the Budget Control and the American Taxpayer Relief Acts. In foreign policy, he increased U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, reduced nuclear weapons with the United States–Russia New START treaty, and ended military involvement in the Iraq War. In 2011, Obama ordered the drone-strike killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen and suspected al-Qaeda operative, leading to controversy. He ordered military involvement in Libya for the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1973, contributing to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. He also ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden.After winning re-election by defeating Republican opponent Mitt Romney, Obama was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2013. During this term, he promoted inclusion for LGBT Americans. His administration filed briefs that urged the Supreme Court to strike down same-sex marriage bans as unconstitutional (United States v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges); same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide in 2015 after the Court ruled so in Obergefell. He advocated for gun control in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, indicating support for a ban on assault weapons, and issued wide-ranging executive actions concerning global warming and immigration. In foreign policy, he ordered military interventions in Iraq and Syria in response to gains made by ISIL after the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq, promoted discussions that led to the 2015 Paris Agreement on global climate change, oversaw the deadly Kunduz hospital airstrike, drew down U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2016, initiated sanctions against Russia following the Annexation of Crimea and again after interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, brokered the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal with Iran, and normalized U.S. relations with Cuba. Obama nominated three justices to the Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan were confirmed as justices, while Merrick Garland was denied hearings or a vote from the Republican-majority Senate. Obama left office on January 20, 2017, and continues to reside in Washington, D.C.During Obama's terms as president, the United States' reputation abroad, as well as the American economy, significantly improved. Scholars and historians rank him among the upper to mid tier of American presidents. Since leaving office, Obama has remained active in Democratic politics, including campaigning for candidates in the 2018 midterm elections, appearing at the 2020 Democratic National Convention and campaigning for Biden during the 2020 presidential election. Outside of politics, Obama has published three bestselling books: Dreams from My Father (1995), The Audacity of Hope (2006) and A Promised Land (2020).
Failed assassination attempt (1989) On 3 August 1989, while Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh was priming a book bomb loaded with RDX explosive in a hotel in Paddington, Central London, the bomb exploded prematurely, destroying two floors of the hotel and killing Mazeh. A previously unknown Lebanese group, the Organization of the Mujahidin of Islam, said he died preparing an attack "on the apostate Rushdie". There is a shrine in Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery for Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh that says he was "Martyred in London, 3 August 1989. The first martyr to die on a mission to kill Salman Rushdie." Mazeh's mother was invited to relocate to Iran, and the Islamic World Movement of Martyrs' Commemoration built his shrine in the cemetery that holds thousands of Iranian soldiers slain in the Iran–Iraq War. Hezbollah's comments (2006) During the 2006 Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declared that "If there had been a Muslim to carry out Imam Khomeini's fatwā against the renegade Salman Rushdie, this rabble who insult our Prophet Mohammed in Denmark, Norway and France would not have dared to do so. I am sure there are millions of Muslims who are ready to give their lives to defend our prophet's honour and we have to be ready to do anything for that." International Guerillas (1990) In 1990, soon after the publication of The Satanic Verses, a Pakistani film entitled International Gorillay (International Guerillas) was released that depicted Rushdie as a "James Bond-style villain" plotting to cause the downfall of Pakistan by opening a chain of casinos and discos in the country; he is ultimately killed at the end of the movie. The film was popular with Pakistani audiences, and it "presents Rushdie as a Rambo-like figure pursued by four Pakistani guerrillas". The British Board of Film Classification refused to allow it a certificate, as "it was felt that the portrayal of Rushdie might qualify as criminal libel, causing a breach of the peace as opposed to merely tarnishing his reputation." This effectively prevented the release of the film in the UK. Two months later, however, Rushdie himself wrote to the board, saying that while he thought the film "a distorted, incompetent piece of trash", he would not sue if it were released. He later said, "If that film had been banned, it would have become the hottest video in town: everyone would have seen it". While the film was a great hit in Pakistan, it went virtually unnoticed elsewhere. Al-Qaeda hit list (2010) In 2010, Anwar al-Awlaki published an Al-Qaeda hit list in Inspire magazine, including Rushdie along with other figures claimed to have insulted Islam, including Ayaan Hirsi Ali, cartoonist Lars Vilks, and three Jyllands-Posten staff members: Kurt Westergaard, Carsten Juste, and Flemming Rose. The list was later expanded to include Stéphane "Charb" Charbonnier, who was murdered in a terror attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris, along with 11 other people. After the attack, Al-Qaeda called for more killings. Rushdie expressed his support for Charlie Hebdo. He said, "I stand with Charlie Hebdo, as we all must, to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity ... religious totalitarianism has caused a deadly mutation in the heart of Islam and we see the tragic consequences in Paris today." In response to the attack, Rushdie commented on what he perceived as victim-blaming in the media, stating "You can dislike Charlie Hebdo.... But the fact that you dislike them has nothing to do with their right to speak. The fact you dislike them certainly doesn't in any way excuse their murder." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie
Barack Hussein Obama II (/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/ (listen) bə-RAHK hoo-SAYN oh-BAH-mə; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He was the first African-American president of the United States. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. After graduating from Columbia University in 1983, he worked as a community organizer in Chicago. In 1988, he enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating, he became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Turning to elective politics, he represented the 13th district in the Illinois Senate from 1997 until 2004, when he ran for the U.S. Senate. Obama received national attention in 2004 with his March Senate primary win, his well-received July Democratic National Convention keynote address, and his landslide November election to the Senate. In 2008, a year after beginning his campaign, and after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president. Obama was elected over Republican nominee John McCain in the general election and was inaugurated alongside his running mate Joe Biden, on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, he was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, a decision that drew a mixture of praise and criticism.Obama signed many landmark bills into law during his first two years in office. The main reforms include: the Affordable Care Act (ACA or "Obamacare"), although without a public health insurance option; the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; and the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act served as economic stimuli amidst the Great Recession. After a lengthy debate over the national debt limit, he signed the Budget Control and the American Taxpayer Relief Acts. In foreign policy, he increased U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, reduced nuclear weapons with the United States–Russia New START treaty, and ended military involvement in the Iraq War. In 2011, Obama ordered the drone-strike killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen and suspected al-Qaeda operative, leading to controversy. He ordered military involvement in Libya for the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1973, contributing to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. He also ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden.After winning re-election by defeating Republican opponent Mitt Romney, Obama was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2013. During this term, he promoted inclusion for LGBT Americans. His administration filed briefs that urged the Supreme Court to strike down same-sex marriage bans as unconstitutional (United States v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges); same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide in 2015 after the Court ruled so in Obergefell. He advocated for gun control in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, indicating support for a ban on assault weapons, and issued wide-ranging executive actions concerning global warming and immigration. In foreign policy, he ordered military interventions in Iraq and Syria in response to gains made by ISIL after the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq, promoted discussions that led to the 2015 Paris Agreement on global climate change, oversaw the deadly Kunduz hospital airstrike, drew down U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2016, initiated sanctions against Russia following the Annexation of Crimea and again after interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, brokered the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal with Iran, and normalized U.S. relations with Cuba. Obama nominated three justices to the Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan were confirmed as justices, while Merrick Garland was denied hearings or a vote from the Republican-majority Senate. Obama left office on January 20, 2017, and continues to reside in Washington, D.C.During Obama's terms as president, the United States' reputation abroad, as well as the American economy, significantly improved. Scholars and historians rank him among the upper to mid tier of American presidents. Since leaving office, Obama has remained active in Democratic politics, including campaigning for candidates in the 2018 midterm elections, appearing at the 2020 Democratic National Convention and campaigning for Biden during the 2020 presidential election. Outside of politics, Obama has published three bestselling books: Dreams from My Father (1995), The Audacity of Hope (2006) and A Promised Land (2020).
In this episode, Chalin sits down with Scott Shane, former NYTimes national security reporter and author of Objective Troy: A Terrorist, a President, and the Rise of the Drone. They discuss the US foreign policy shift in favor of drones and their civilian impact. They also discuss the chilling case of Anwar al-Awlaki, the first US citizen to be chosen for targeted killing by the CIA.
This week on The Knight Tube, Stephen Knight (@Gspellchecker) welcomes Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens (@AMHitchens). Alexander is a Lecturer in terrorism at King's College London and the author of ‘Incitement: Anwar al-Awlaki's Western Jihad'. They discuss radicalisation, terrorism, and the influence of al-Awlaki on modern Islamic extremism. 0:00 Start 0:35 About Alexander 1:51 The approach and style choice when writing about Anwar Al-Awlaki 5:35 Who was Anwar Al-Awlaki? 11:09 Foreign policy versus religious ideology? 19:08 Is the doctrine of Islam a special case when it comes to extremism? 26:33 Should Islamist and Jihadi sermons remain on platforms such as YouTube? What role do digital platforms play in radicalisation? 34:27 The government response to the killing of UK politician David Amess at the hands of a suspected Jihadist. 39:39 Are counter-terror organisations better prepared than our politicians? 45:58 The public opposition to linking Islam with violent extremism 52:05 The ‘reactionary wave': Similarities between salafi-Jihadists and white supremacists. Support the podcast at http://www.patreon.com/gspellchecker Also available on iTunes, Stitcher, YouTube & Spotify.
From May 21, 2016: Four years ago, Anwar al Awlaki—an American citizen—was killed in an American drone strike in Yemen, marking the first targeted killing of a U.S. citizen by the U.S. government. While the attack occurred almost four years ago, the legality, morality and prudential nature of the strike, and others like it that occur nearly daily in a scattershot of countries around the world, remain a subject of much debate.Last week, Jefferson Powell joined Lawfare's Jack Goldsmith at the May Hoover Book Soiree for a discussion of Targeting Americans: The Constitutionality of U.S. Drone War, a new book that takes a deep look into the constitutionality of the program. Powell is a Professor of Law at Duke University, and over the hour, he argues that the killing of Anwar al Awlaki under the 2001 AUMF was constitutional, but that the Obama administration's broader claims of authority are not. He also asserts that American citizens acting as combatants in al Qaeda are not entitled to due process protections. Yet constitutional claims should not be confused with what is moral, or indeed, what is legal under international norms. Those answers, Powell suggests, must be examined through means other than constitutional law.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Award-winning investigative journalist Pamela K. Browne joins the show to discuss little-known details about the September 11 terrorist attacks--including how radicalized American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was followed by the FBI all the way to the Pentagon. LISTEN NOW!
Sean Illing talks with national security reporter Spencer Ackerman, author of the new book Reign of Terror. They discuss the staggering changes to our country in the 20 years since 9/11; the flaws, misdeeds, and injustices of the “war on terror” and the regimes that have executed it; and how America was led by the worst act of domestic terror on its own soil down a vicious, bellicose, and anti-democratic path to an authoritarian president like Trump. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), Interviews Writer, Vox Guest: Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman), national security reporter, author References: Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump by Spencer Ackerman (Viking; 2021) "The Fight Over the 'Ground Zero Mosque' Was a Grim Preview of the Trump Era" by Tim Murphy (Mother Jones; Sept. 9) "Trump Ramped Up Drone Strikes in America's Shadow Wars" by Spencer Ackerman (The Daily Beast; Nov. 26, 2018) "The Lessons of Anwar al-Awlaki" by Tim Shane (New York Times Magazine; Aug. 27, 2015) Power Wars: The Relentless Rise of Presidential Authority and Secrecy by Charlie Savage (Hachette; 2015) Enjoyed this episode? Rate Vox Conversations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Vox Conversations by subscribing in your favorite podcast app. Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by: Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: Amber Hall VP, Vox Audio: Liz Kelly Nelson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
We take another crack at an interactive episode with yet another quiz. This time it's the IStandWith quiz, where we discover which political parties and popular American politicians we are deemed to most agree with – some of it may surprise you, other comparisons likely won't. Either way, we had more fun tackling it as counterfactuals, (fun) predictions, historical trivia and personal anecdotes ensue. It's the show you know, you know? Stay tuned for a teaser to our next interactive quiz next week. (It's been a manic week so we goof on some of our information: Ryan confuses Anwar al-Awlaki for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Sebastian says Biden's been president for two years already – COME ON, MAN!) Keep an eye out for appearances by John C. Reilly, Richard Nixon, Caitlyn Jenner and previous "Mars on Life" guest Heather Friedman. Interested in taking the IStandWith quiz? Find out who you side with at https://www.isidewith.com Social media: Mars on Life: @marsonlifeshow on Twitter and Instagram Sebastian Schug: @drsebby (Instagram) and Seabass on YouTube Ryan Mancini: @mancinira (Twitter) and @manciniryan (Instagram) Artwork by Zachary Erberich (@zacharyerberichart) "Space X-plorers" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/mars-on-life-show/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mars-on-life-show/support
We're back with another rousing episode of shit-talking Chet Hanks. Or talking about k-pop, whatever. We cancel ZICO, talk about the nonsense physics of Tenet, look back Anwar al-Awlaki's death (and the dumbest attempt at a honeypot ever attempted) with new information, and ask ourselves, "What the hell is going in Europe?" Twitter Brittney: @BritLauren09 Rain: @RainAntonov
It's about 2.5 hours + long... we discuss a lot of shyte including George Tenet loves Awlaki, blind & deaf JTACS for @jtarticle15, @dianadeathofficial, Gran Torino, Divesity4all... & a lot more over booze.
News and chat about society, with a soundboard and propaganda mixed in. On all podcast platforms. This is the first episode with the new HD microphone. It's the HD era! This episode, I was joined by Matt (twitter: @MJBurroughs, tehben.com), we talked about numerous things, such as: - I ask Matt all about NASCAR, and motorsports in general - We talk about the death of Dale Earnhardt and the change of technology for safety after that - The increase of west coast pretty boy drivers like Kasey Kahne in the 2000s - Differences between NASCAR, Formula 1, and other types of motorsports - Matt's blog tehben.com - Mtn Dew Major Melon, Coffee Coca Cola, and other limited edition drinks - Anwar al-Awlaki, the first US citizen assassinated by the US by drone - Documents released by Yemeni government reveal potential CIA ties to Awlaki - The strange circumstances and mixed information surrounding Awlaki's life - I gripe about losing $500+ because of Paypal - All of that, and much much more, this is the Society Show! Leave a message on the Society Show voicemail: (917) BETH-1EU [(971) 238-4138 Follow the show on twitter: @society_show Write in to the show: societyshowpodcast@gmail.com
Best Kept Secret: While authorities pretend they don’t know Ahmad Al Issa’s motive, if you put the puzzle pieces together, it should be plain as day that he was a Radical Islamist Sympathizer. But just like people spun Robert Aaron Long's attack on massage spas in Georgia to be a white supremacist hate crime against Asians, people are spinning Ahmad’s attack on a Colorado supermarket into a narrative that denies a connection to terrorism. Neither is true - they’re simply spun by people with agendas. Since 9/11, whenever an attack is perpetrated by someone who has a Muslim-sounding name, or looks like they might be Muslim, authorities hide their identity as long as possible. That was the first clue that they suspected terrorism here. While it is still to be seen whether Syrian-born Ahmad had formal ties to ISIS or Al Qaeda, whether he was a jihadist, or whether he was motivated by believing he was a victim of Islamophobia, his ties to terrorism cannot be disputed. We analyze fascinating puzzle pieces that connect Ahmad to terrorism - from his social media posts, to his having gone to the same Boulder high school as Shannon Maureen Conley, the girl who fell in love with a jihadist over the internet and got arrested on her way to Syria, to his already being known by the FBI because of his connection to someone they’re investigating, to Anwar al Awlaki, a former leader of Al Qaeda having been president of the Muslim Students Association in a college near Boulder, and much more. Coincidences? Not when a source in law enforcement confided Ahmad killed in the name of ISIS….
Krispy Kreme will give you free doughnuts if you're vaccinated. 12,500-year-old wooden sculpture changes what we know about human history. Albinos are scapegoated and ritually sacrificed in Malawi. Join David Gornoski as he comments on these fascinating news reports. The host of A Neighbor's Choice also offers his take on DC's new war on terror against Trump supporters. Will America look back at Biden's administration in a favorable way? What do the recent leaks about Anwar al-Awlaki reveal about our foreign policy? Visit A Neighbor's Choice website at aneighborschoice.com
Premiering at SXSW in 2020 and currently screening virtually across the country, Hamtramck, USA is a documentary film highlighting one city's municipal election and how the various ethnic communities within work together. The story that the election naturally paints, however, is the deep diversity here, a place where the soccer stadium is rented out for mass prayers, the high school flies dozens of flags representing students' ethnicities, and the call to prayer is amplified by public ordinance. In this episode of American Muslim Project we are joined by Hamtramck, USA's co-director and co-producer, Razi Jafri. Born in northern Indian and emigrating to Detroit as a child, Razi has always been an activist at heart, but acquiesced to “those immigrant expectations and pressures” by becoming an engineer for a decade. In 2015, following a personal struggle, he decided to leave corporate America for a few months in search of more meaningful work. Five years, four fellowships, and manifold projects later (including photographing the janazah/funeral of arguably our country's most prominent Muslim), he tells us how art has satiated that former void in his soul. Now a resident where his premier film was made, Razi explains how the predominantly Polish Catholic working-class town became the first U.S. Muslim-majority city. Like all communities, the prevailing topics of concern revolve around schools, safety, and public health, and a history of racial profiling and voter intimidation in politics exists; however, in Hamtramck specifically, it's essential to engage with multiple communities to win an election. His film shows the savviest of politicians amongst this “world in 2 square miles” breaching cultural mores—an Iraqi millennial stumping in Polish and Bosnian, a 60-something Polish woman greeting constituents with salaams, for instance—to appeal to voters from the 20+ racial groups. The city is unique, but also a microcosm of what is starting to happen across the United States in terms of diversity and multiculturalism. And we hope—through its struggles and failures, its constant exposure and representation to the other—that one small city in one immersive film could teach all Americans that at the end of the day, they have to work together. This interview with Razi Jafri was recorded in November 2020. Find Hamtramck, USA streaming near you, and stay tuned for his two future documentaries: Loyalty, the story of three Muslim chaplains as they navigate religious freedom and Islamophobia in the U.S. military, likely out in early 2022; and an archival examination of the War on Terror and mutual radicalization through the story of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American imam killed in a drone strike in 2011. Also view the exhibit Halal Metropolis, which explores Muslim visibility in southeast Michigan, resuming in May at the University of Michigan (Razi served as project manager and photographer). American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC. Writer and Researcher: Lindsy Gamble Show Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad Butt Music by Simon Hutchinson Hosted by Asad Butt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Vi Er Overvåget er en særudgave af Vi Er Data. Morten Storm er blevet hvervet af PET i 2006 og har levet et dobbeltliv undercover blandt militante islamister, herunder Al Qaeda, og har videregivet oplysninger til PET og CIA. Han hævder at have bidraget med de lokaliseringsoplysninger der førte at Al Qaeda leder Anwar al-Awlaki blev dræbt i et amerikansk droneangreb i 2011. Journalist Carsten Ellegaard og hans kollega Orla Borg oplever pludselig at komme i efterretningstjenesternes søgelys, da de i 2011 arbejdede på at fortælle historien om Morten Storm. Dette er anden episode af Vi Er Overvåget. En podcastserie om at blive overvåget af staten. Bagtæppet er den komplekse og på mange måder forvirrende affære, som Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste, FE, i øjeblikket er havnet i – og som i medierne er blevet udråbt som den mest alvorlige overvågningsskandale i nyere tid.Men hvad handler sagen om - egentlig? Hvorfor er den hemmelige statslige overvågning overhovedet et problem og på hvilken måde vedrører det helt almindelige mennesker – som mig - og dig der lytter til dette podcast?I Vi er overvåget vil vi forsøge at rede trådene ud, ved at tale med dem, som selv har oplevet statslig overvågning – på egen krop.Og ved at dykke ned i overvågningens historie og substans, med hjælp fra ENIGMAs egen overvågningsekspert, Andreas Marklund.I anden episode er vi stadig helt tæt på. For hvordan føles det at blive overvåget? Hvad sker der når politiet eller efterretningstjenesten holder øje med helt almindelige journalister, der bare passer deres arbejde? Vi skal se nærmere på personovervågning.Programmets vært er Marie Høst og podcasten er produceret af og på ENIGMA for Loud.
Counterrevolution Since 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, US warfare has focused on counterinsurgency. America now uses this counterrevolutionary playbook to govern domestically. Counterrevolutionary theory identifies a passive majority in all populations and a small insurgency. The first step is to brutally eliminate the rebellion, and then win over the passive majority. Using counterrevolutionary measures necessitates creating an internal enemy—for instance, Muslims, immigrants, minorities, or ANTIFA. Counterinsurgency establishes brutal violence as a policy, which quickly becomes the norm, as we’ve seen with the current level of government violence directed at US citizens. Legalizing Brutality America is a profoundly legalistic country, which looks to the law for the protection of rights. At the same time, it also has a long history of rendering questionable actions legal. The CIA redefined torture under the Bush Administration to require organ failure, which legalized many torture techniques that fell short of this standard. The summary drone strike execution of US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki required a 41-page legal memo to frame it as legal under due process. Prisoners are legally held indefinitely in Guantanamo Bay through convoluted legal justification. Counterinsurgency requires state-sponsored violence, and America is adept at legalizing actions that are normally viewed as illegal to achieve this. Once these actions are legalized, they then become normalized. Abolition Democracy To move past counterrevolution as a governing theory, we should look to WEB Dubois’s idea of Abolition Democracy. Abolition Democracy stated that no action was taken after slavery’s end to support former slaves with education, employment, and other necessities. Because of this failure, we are still combatting the legacy of slavery in the US. Abolition theory can be applied to the counterrevolution as well. We cannot merely disassemble the drones and/or shutter the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. We need a new governing paradigm, new institutions, and new norms to ensure we move away from the institutionalized brutality of counterinsurgency in a country with no insurgents. Find out more: Bernard E. Harcourt is a distinguished contemporary critical theorist, justice advocate, and prolific writer and editor. In his books, articles, and teaching, his scholarship focuses on social and critical theory with a particular interest in punishment and surveillance. Harcourt is the founding director of the Columbia Center for Contemporary Critical Thought, which brings contemporary theory to bear on current social problems and seeks to address them through practical engagement including litigation and public policy interventions. He is also the executive director of Columbia University’s Eric H. Holder Initiative for Civil and Political Rights, which sponsors courses, public events, student internships, and fellowships dedicated to strengthening the pillars of all communities—truth, justice, and law. Harcourt is the author or editor of more than a dozen books. Critique & Praxis (2020) charts a vision for political action and social transformation. In The Counterrevolution: How Our Government Went to War Against Its Own Citizens (2018), Harcourt examines how techniques of counterinsurgency warfare spread to U.S. domestic policy. Harcourt served as a law clerk for Judge Charles S. Haight Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He began his legal career representing death row inmates, working with Bryan Stevenson at what is now the Equal Justice Initiative, in Montgomery, Alabama. He continues to represent pro bono inmates sentenced to death and life imprisonment without parole. In 2019, Harcourt was awarded the New York City Bar Association Norman J. Redlich Capital Defense Distinguished Service Award for his work on behalf of individuals on death row. You can follow him on Twitter @BernardHarcourt. We've started a referral program! Refer us to your friends to get a free button or Moleskine notebook. Please use this link to get your personal referral code: https://refer.glow.fm/future-hindsight, which you can then forward to your friends.
While concluding that Trump won the debate against Biden, David highlights the absence of foreign policy disasters, among the debate topics, such as the innocent people killed in Yemen, the drone strikes that killed US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki and his son, and others killed due to US interventionism abroad. Does this reveal something sinister about the media status quo? Join David Gornoski as he reveals how political theater is a distraction to keep us from noticing the cracks in a system filled with the scapegoating of the non-violent. Also in this episode, Alec Klein and Eric Kampmann join in for another segment of Trail Thoughts. Alec and Eric talk about fear and how we can overcome it. What is fear? In what way can the Scriptures help us in conquering fear? Email A Neighbor's Choice with a guest suggestion, story tip or question at hello@aneighborschoice.com Visit A Neighbor's Choice at aneighborschoice.com
Alexander Melegrou-Hitchens discusses his new book "Incitement: Anwar al-Awlaki's Western Jihad." The interview today was conducted by Chelsea Daymon, and the show is produced by Chelsea Daymon and Sina Kashefipour. If you have enjoyed listening to The Loopcast please consider making a donation to the show through our Patreon. We greatly appreciate it.
Anwar al-Awlaki was, according to one of his followers, “the main man who translated jihad into English.” By the time he was killed by an American drone strike in 2011, he had become a spiritual leader for thousands of extremists, especially in the United States and Britain, where he aimed to make violent Islamism “as American as apple pie and as British as afternoon tea.” In Incitement: Anwar al-Awlaki’s Western Jihad (Harvard UP, 2020), Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens draws on extensive research among al-Awlaki’s former colleagues, friends, and followers, including interviews with convicted terrorists, to explain how he established his network and why his message resonated with disaffected Muslims in the West. A native of New Mexico, al-Awlaki rose to prominence in 2001 as the imam of a Virginia mosque attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers. After leaving for Britain in 2002, he began delivering popular lectures and sermons that were increasingly radical and anti-Western. In 2004 he moved to Yemen, where he eventually joined al-Qaeda and oversaw numerous major international terrorist plots. Through live video broadcasts to Western mosques and universities, YouTube, magazines, and other media, he soon became the world’s foremost English-speaking recruiter for violent Islamism. One measure of his success is that he has been linked to about a quarter of Islamists convicted of terrorism-related offenses in the United States since 2007. Despite the extreme nature of these activities, Meleagrou-Hitchens argues that al-Awlaki’s strategy and tactics are best understood through traditional social-movement theory. With clarity and verve, he shows how violent fundamentalists are born. Beth Windisch is a national security practitioner. You can tweet her @bethwindisch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Anwar al-Awlaki was, according to one of his followers, “the main man who translated jihad into English.” By the time he was killed by an American drone strike in 2011, he had become a spiritual leader for thousands of extremists, especially in the United States and Britain, where he aimed to make violent Islamism “as American as apple pie and as British as afternoon tea.” In Incitement: Anwar al-Awlaki’s Western Jihad (Harvard UP, 2020), Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens draws on extensive research among al-Awlaki’s former colleagues, friends, and followers, including interviews with convicted terrorists, to explain how he established his network and why his message resonated with disaffected Muslims in the West. A native of New Mexico, al-Awlaki rose to prominence in 2001 as the imam of a Virginia mosque attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers. After leaving for Britain in 2002, he began delivering popular lectures and sermons that were increasingly radical and anti-Western. In 2004 he moved to Yemen, where he eventually joined al-Qaeda and oversaw numerous major international terrorist plots. Through live video broadcasts to Western mosques and universities, YouTube, magazines, and other media, he soon became the world’s foremost English-speaking recruiter for violent Islamism. One measure of his success is that he has been linked to about a quarter of Islamists convicted of terrorism-related offenses in the United States since 2007. Despite the extreme nature of these activities, Meleagrou-Hitchens argues that al-Awlaki’s strategy and tactics are best understood through traditional social-movement theory. With clarity and verve, he shows how violent fundamentalists are born. Beth Windisch is a national security practitioner. You can tweet her @bethwindisch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Anwar al-Awlaki was, according to one of his followers, “the main man who translated jihad into English.” By the time he was killed by an American drone strike in 2011, he had become a spiritual leader for thousands of extremists, especially in the United States and Britain, where he aimed to make violent Islamism “as American as apple pie and as British as afternoon tea.” In Incitement: Anwar al-Awlaki’s Western Jihad (Harvard UP, 2020), Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens draws on extensive research among al-Awlaki’s former colleagues, friends, and followers, including interviews with convicted terrorists, to explain how he established his network and why his message resonated with disaffected Muslims in the West. A native of New Mexico, al-Awlaki rose to prominence in 2001 as the imam of a Virginia mosque attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers. After leaving for Britain in 2002, he began delivering popular lectures and sermons that were increasingly radical and anti-Western. In 2004 he moved to Yemen, where he eventually joined al-Qaeda and oversaw numerous major international terrorist plots. Through live video broadcasts to Western mosques and universities, YouTube, magazines, and other media, he soon became the world’s foremost English-speaking recruiter for violent Islamism. One measure of his success is that he has been linked to about a quarter of Islamists convicted of terrorism-related offenses in the United States since 2007. Despite the extreme nature of these activities, Meleagrou-Hitchens argues that al-Awlaki’s strategy and tactics are best understood through traditional social-movement theory. With clarity and verve, he shows how violent fundamentalists are born. Beth Windisch is a national security practitioner. You can tweet her @bethwindisch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Anwar al-Awlaki was, according to one of his followers, “the main man who translated jihad into English.” By the time he was killed by an American drone strike in 2011, he had become a spiritual leader for thousands of extremists, especially in the United States and Britain, where he aimed to make violent Islamism “as American as apple pie and as British as afternoon tea.” In Incitement: Anwar al-Awlaki’s Western Jihad (Harvard UP, 2020), Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens draws on extensive research among al-Awlaki’s former colleagues, friends, and followers, including interviews with convicted terrorists, to explain how he established his network and why his message resonated with disaffected Muslims in the West. A native of New Mexico, al-Awlaki rose to prominence in 2001 as the imam of a Virginia mosque attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers. After leaving for Britain in 2002, he began delivering popular lectures and sermons that were increasingly radical and anti-Western. In 2004 he moved to Yemen, where he eventually joined al-Qaeda and oversaw numerous major international terrorist plots. Through live video broadcasts to Western mosques and universities, YouTube, magazines, and other media, he soon became the world’s foremost English-speaking recruiter for violent Islamism. One measure of his success is that he has been linked to about a quarter of Islamists convicted of terrorism-related offenses in the United States since 2007. Despite the extreme nature of these activities, Meleagrou-Hitchens argues that al-Awlaki’s strategy and tactics are best understood through traditional social-movement theory. With clarity and verve, he shows how violent fundamentalists are born. Beth Windisch is a national security practitioner. You can tweet her @bethwindisch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Anwar al-Awlaki was, according to one of his followers, “the main man who translated jihad into English.” By the time he was killed by an American drone strike in 2011, he had become a spiritual leader for thousands of extremists, especially in the United States and Britain, where he aimed to make violent Islamism “as American as apple pie and as British as afternoon tea.” In Incitement: Anwar al-Awlaki’s Western Jihad (Harvard UP, 2020), Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens draws on extensive research among al-Awlaki’s former colleagues, friends, and followers, including interviews with convicted terrorists, to explain how he established his network and why his message resonated with disaffected Muslims in the West. A native of New Mexico, al-Awlaki rose to prominence in 2001 as the imam of a Virginia mosque attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers. After leaving for Britain in 2002, he began delivering popular lectures and sermons that were increasingly radical and anti-Western. In 2004 he moved to Yemen, where he eventually joined al-Qaeda and oversaw numerous major international terrorist plots. Through live video broadcasts to Western mosques and universities, YouTube, magazines, and other media, he soon became the world’s foremost English-speaking recruiter for violent Islamism. One measure of his success is that he has been linked to about a quarter of Islamists convicted of terrorism-related offenses in the United States since 2007. Despite the extreme nature of these activities, Meleagrou-Hitchens argues that al-Awlaki’s strategy and tactics are best understood through traditional social-movement theory. With clarity and verve, he shows how violent fundamentalists are born. Beth Windisch is a national security practitioner. You can tweet her @bethwindisch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On September 30, 2011, a drone strike killed leading terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen. For years prior, al-Awlaki preached hate in the United States with impunity, and the government failed to act. Others have followed in his footsteps. Ahnaf Kalam will discuss examples of Imams across the United States spreading a similar message of violence and hate. Can the government do anything to stop this? Is it just a matter of time before another al-Awlaki emerges?
Don't miss this week's episode as Zuhdi gives you his take on what's going on in Iraq, Iran and the Middle East from the attack on our American contractors to the so-called demonstrations, rather... terrorist acts ...upon our embassy to now the long overdue targeted killing of General Qasim Soleimani. Make no mistake, this killing is more consequential than the killing of Bin Laden, al-Baghdadi or Awlaki. Dr. Jasser will tell you why. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
People Time presents an influential figure who impacted the world in a negative way. Come learn about how this asshole, American terrorist became the biggest recruiter for Al-Qaeda and learned about drone strikes, the hard way.
People with psychotic mental illnesses are more vulnerable to radicalization - hear why, and look at new rules requiring psychiatrists to report such patients, and two cases of terrorists on trial who have psychiatric problems. It was determined, in France, that 1/3 of the people who were allegedly radicalized had psychological disorders. So, the French Minister of Health has just decreed that patients committed involuntarily to a psychiatric hospital must have their name and date of birth reported, so they can be compared to the profiles on the Terrorism Prevention and Terrorization Reporting file - to see if there’s a match. This controversial decree is currently being appealed, and is not unlike the U.S. controversy regarding whether psychiatrists should report patients who would be dangerous if they possessed guns. But, terrorists with psychiatric disorders are not only in France. In Chicago, Adel Daoud was just sentenced to 16 years in prison for having pressed a detonator on what he thought was a car bomb, but was actually a fake bomb from an undercover FBI agent who had been surveilling him. Originally, the judge declared him mentally incompetent to stand trial because Daoud believed his lawyers and the judge were lizards and had other delusions. After treatment, at sentencing, he apologized and said he realizes he was crazy during the time he plotted terror attacks. In Arizona, coworkers of Ismail Hamed had noticed his odd behavior, such as using his employee radio to shout “We are under attack!” and standing on a grocery belt yelling, “Bomb!” But, it wasn’t until he called 911 and swore allegiance to ISIS that he came to authorities’ attention in regard to terrorism. He is charged with assaulting a sheriff and with spreading Islamic State propaganda, such as his admiration of Omar Mateen, the Pulse Nightclub terrorist, and video from cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
Anwar al Awlaki rose to notoriety in the 2000s as a leading internet jihadist whose lectures and videos were very...
Anwar al Awlaki rose to notoriety in the 2000s as a leading internet jihadist whose lectures and videos were very...
Anwar Awlaki destroys, Abrar starves. Yemen today, with Gerald Feierstein.
We are back this week with a new “deep dive” episode, this time focused on the issues raised by the U.S. government’s use of lethal force against Anwar al-Awlaki–a U.S. citizen who became a key...
The Congressional Research Service estimates that about 4.3 million people hold permanent government security clearances, but many close advisers to President Trump do not -- including presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner.Last week, Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coates, said the system of approving security clearances for top officials is “broken” and must be overhauled. A couple of days after Coates’ Senate testimony, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly wrote a memo outlining an overhaul of how the White House manages security-clearance investigations. In that memo, obtained by the Washington Post, some White House staffers with Top Secret interim clearances, a group that may include Kushner, will lose their clearances on Friday.Tom’s guests today are two reporters who have been covering national security matters for years. Deb Reichmann has written about national security for the Associated Press for the past six years. Before that, she was an AP reporter in Afghanistan. She also covered the George W. Bush White House and the final year of the Clinton White House for AP. She joins us on the line from the AP studios in Washington. Scott Shane is a reporter with the investigative unit of the New York Times. He’s written about national security as a reporter in the Washington bureau of the Times since 2004. He’s also the author of several books, including Dismantling Utopia, on the Soviet collapse, and Objective Troy, about the American terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki.
Ron Paul has been one of a few voices of sanity in our foreign policy in the post 9/11 age. He has long derided our nation-building efforts in the Middle East, and demonstrated how the "War on Terror" has become yet another excuse to expand the size and scope of government, while threatening our civil liberties. But the iconic libertarian's flirtation with non-interventionism can be taken too far as well; particularly when he questions the use of force on the part of our government and military in justifiable situations. Paul recently called into question the Trump administration's policy towards North Korea, and questioned our use of drones to take out dangerous terrorists like American-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. While fundamentally Paul is correct that our military is too big and its presence too widespread, he is also wrong to suggest that force should not be used when dealing with a brutal megalomaniac such as Kim Jong-Un.
Product DescriptionHaroro J. Ingram journeys through over a century of history, from the Islamist modernists of the late-1800s into the 21st century, in the first full length examination of the charismatic leadership phenomenon in Islamist radicalism and militancy. Exhaustively researched and founded upon a suite of innovative multidisciplinary paradigms, this book features case studies of Hassan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, Abdullah Azzam, Osama Bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki. At a micro-level, Ingram argues that charismatic leaders act as vehicles for the evolution of modern Islamist radicalism and militancy. At a macro-level, he argues that the transformative charisma phenomenon in Islamist radicalism and militancy produces complex chains of charismatic leaders as individual figures rise by leveraging, to varying degrees, the charismatic capital of preceding charismatic leaders. Within these case studies, Ingram offers new approaches to understanding the nuances of these complex phenomena; from his ideal-types of charismatic leadership in Islamist militancy (spiritual guides, charismatic leaders and neo-charismatic leaders) to his framing of al-Qaeda as a 'charismatic adhocracy'. The result is an authoritative analysis of a phenomenon largely ignored by scholars of both charismatic leadership and Islamism. Ultimately, this ground-breaking investigation offers important insights into the complex nuances that drive the rise and evolution of not only Islamist militancy but radical and militant groups more broadly.About the AuthorHaroro J. Ingram has worked on national security issues in various capacities and is currently with the School of International, Political and Strategic Studies (Department of Political & Social Change, Australian National University, Canberra).
Objective Troy tells the gripping and unsettling story of Anwar al-Awlaki, the once-celebrated American imam who called for moderation after 9/11, a man who ultimately directed his outsized talents to the mass murder of his fellow citizens. It follows Barack Obama's campaign against the excesses of the Bush counterterrorism programs and his eventual embrace of the targeted killing of suspected militants. And it recounts how the president directed the mammoth machinery of spy agencies to hunt Awlaki down in a frantic, multi-million-dollar pursuit that would end with the death of Awlaki by a bizarre, robotic technology that is changing warfare—the drone. Scott Shane, who has covered terrorism for The New York Times over the last decade, weaves the clash between president and terrorist into both a riveting narrative and a deeply human account of the defining conflict of our era. Awlaki, who directed a plot that almost derailed Obama's presidency, and then taunted him from his desert hideouts, will go down in history as the first United States citizen deliberately hunted and assassinated by his own government without trial. But his eloquent calls to jihad, amplified by YouTube, continue to lure young Westerners into terrorism—resulting in tragedies from the Boston marathon bombing to the murder of cartoonists at a Paris weekly. Awlaki's life and death show how profoundly America has been changed by the threat of terrorism and by our own fears. Illuminating and provocative, and based on years of in depth reporting, Objective Troy is a brilliant reckoning with the moral challenge of terrorism and a masterful chronicle of our times.About the AuthorScott Shane is a national security reporter for The New York Times based in Washington, DC, where he has worked for over a decade.
The Ohio State University Attack An OSU student, Abdul Razak Ali Artan drove a car into a group of people and then proceeded to get out and stab them. Our prayers and condolences go out to the individuals effected by this Ohio State University attack. SO, a recap: Subject drives vehicle into a crowd Gets out of vehicle, proceeds to stab as many as he can Cop shows up, shoots dirt bag While (thankfully) our nations warning of a possible Macy's Parade terrorist attack didn't prove true, this took place shortly after. The man who plowed car into a crowd at Ohio State University before stabbing several pedestrians with a butcher knife on Monday is said to have referred to American-born Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki as a “hero” on his social media accounts. Source: 'Stop interfering with other countries': OSU attacker slammed US over treatment of Muslims on Facebook A Look at the Event As this is an after action report, we'll direct you to your favorite news feed for the specifics. What we currently know is this: Abdul Razak Ali Artan had made previous social media statements and threats against the United States The subject used time tested and recently encouraged terrorism tactics in his attack The standard "run, hide, fight" warning was issued and a shelter in place order was given Ohio State University Police Officer Alan Horujko was in the immediate area and was able to respond in under a minute How do we respond from here Although solid standard procedures were set in place, there are a few things we need to look at. We never want anyone to become a victem of an event like this. Run, hide, fight needs an awareness message and adaptive focus added to it. There is no one size fits all situation or scenario. It is especially relevant that some people had a plan. CNN reported tweets of classrooms where either current or former military members took charge during the shelter in place. They reportedly moved their fellow students to the center of the rooms and guarded the door to deal with whatever assailent or attecker appeared. This is a great example of an adaptive plan. Furthermore, Officer Horujko was in the right place at the right time. Without this absolute windfall, this attack could have been much worse for all involved. Good job sir. The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Or a car and a knife.. -Adapted quote Keeping You and Yours Safe in Uncertain Times We at Full Circle Systems what you to be able to go home at the end of your day. While there are no absolute guarantees in life, we offer training to you and your organization to give your people the very best opportunity to go home. If you would like to discuss our training formats to understand your options, please click here to contact us.
"And then they came for me." -Sabri Benkahla When it comes to the conversation of Islam in America, it can sometimes feel like having a debate where both parties talk over one another, dive into the shallow end of the topic and leave thinking they’ve proved their points—trophies for all. This self-perpetuating social filter bubble of sorts absolves accountability and fogs up facts—it clouds up the reality of what many Muslim communities in America have actually gone through and are going through. No place has had it worse than Dar Al-Hijrah, a northern Virginia mosque that sits right outside the nation’s capital. First there was peace. Then there was 9/11. And then there was terror. This is the story of how one mosque and its community has spent the past 15 years at the intersection of faith, terrorism and liberty. Show Notes: [02:25] Fort Hood shooting coverage (ABC News) [02:30] Explosions at the Boston Marathon (The Boston Globe) [02:30] Boston Marathon bombing coverage (WBZ TV) [02:40] Chattanooga shooting coverage (CBS News) [02:50] San Bernadino shooting coverage (NBC News) [03:00] Orlando shooting coverage (ABC News) [03:05] St. Cloud stabbing coverage (WCCO TV) [03:10] Chelsea explosion coverage (Fox News) [03:25] Presidential Candidate Donald J. Trump speech in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (CSPAN) [04:00] "Tum Ekh Ghorak Dhanda Ho" by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan [06:45] Richard Bulliet, Professor at Columbia University [07:10] "Bouncing" by Blue Dot Sessions [07:35] Light reading on the Qu’ran [07:40] Light reading on the Hadith (ICRAA.org) [07:55] Additional reading on the Sunni-Shia divide (NPR) [08:00] Light reading on Abu Bakr, the first Caliph [08:10] Light reading on Ali, the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin [09:35] "Janitor" by Blue Dot Sessions [10:00] The spread of Sufism (Oxford Islamic Studies) [14:10] "Horizontal Glow" by Blue Dot Sessions [15:45] More on Dr. Esam Omeish (NPR) [17:35] "Lowbrow" by Blue Dot Sessions [19:10] More on Imam Johari Abdul Malik (The Washington Post) [20:20] Light reading on Hamas [20:30] "American Accused in a Plot to Assassinate Bush" (The New York Times) [20:35] Light reading on the Virginia Jihad Network (The Washington Post) [21:35] More on Michael German, Former FBI Agent [21:45] "Circuitry" by Blue Dot Sessions [22:41] Light reading on the Phoenix Memo and the Moussaoui Investigation (The Washington Post) [23:40] President Bush signing the PATRIOT Act into law (CSPAN) [24:20] "Unfolding Plot" by Blue Dot Sessions [26:45] FBI’s biased counterterrorism training (Wired.com) [27:45] "Pacing" by Blue Dot Sessions [33:05] Light reading on Lakshar-e-Taiba [33:40] "Repsite" by Blue Dot Sessions [34:00] More on Benkhala’s court recap (Leagle.com) [34:40] "Flaked Paint" by Blue Dot Sessions [36:50] Article on Benkahla’s sentencing (Associated Press) [38:45] "Missing Transistor" by Blue Dot Sessions [40:35] Dr. Omeish’s resignation from Immigration panel discussed on Fox News [41:05] Shaker Elsayed, the Attorney’s office of the Eastern District of Virginia and George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security declined to be interviewed for this story. Representative Peter King’s office never responded back. [41:40] Light reading on Shaker Elsayed [41:55] Shaker statement’s brought up on Fox News [42:30] Shaker on CSPAN shortly after 9/11 [43:20] "Masonry" by Blue Dot Sessions [45:40] "Lubber" by Blue Dot Sessions [46:00] President Obama on Awlaki’s death (Associated Press) [47:10] Recommended reading: New York Times reporter Scott Shane looks into the life of Anwar al-Awlaki [49:50] Related fact check on number of those killed by terrorist attacks (Politfact) [50:25] "Lull" by Blue Dot Sessions [52:30] Related: “The Confused Person’s Guide to the Middle East” (The Atlantic) [53:40] "Slimm" by Blue Dot Sessions [55:10] "Horizontal Glow" by Blue Dot Sessions [57:00] "Disinter" by Blue Dot Sessions [59:57] Light reading on the people at Badr 56. More at thisissomenoise.com
Scott Shane is a veteran reporter with the New York Times.His latest book is titled Objective Troy: A Terrorist, a President and the Rise of the Drone. It tells the story of Anwar al-Awlaki and President Obama's decision to kill him. al-Awlaki was an American born man of Yemeni descent. He was a charismatic preacher who later moved to Yemen and joined an al Qaeda affiliate. In 2011 he was killed by a US drone strike, making him the fist American since the civil war to be deliberately assassinated by his own government. Scott Shane's book is a masterpiece that won the 2016 Lionel Gerber prize for best international affairs book. It's now out in paper back. And unlike most episodes where we spend the first 10 or fifteen minutes speaking about an author's new book before exploring their own life story, Scott and I spend the bulk of our conversation telling the remarkable and gripping story of al-Awlaki before talking about Scott's own career.
The U.S. has launched more than 400 drone strikes since 2004. More than 3,100 people have been killed - most of them terrorists. The U.S. military announced more than 120 ISIL leaders, operatives and other so-called, high-value individuals have been killed so far in 2016. Rarely do U.S. officials talk about the program, but the man who commanded some of the most high-profile operations is talking to WTOP. T. Mark McCurley, a retired Lt. Colonel in the US Air Force, commanded the mission that killed Anwar al Awlaki, the former leader of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. He's even stared right into the eyes of a terrorist, through the camera of a drone, before a Hellfire missile turned out the lights for that terrorist.
Four years ago, Anwar al Awlaki—an American citizen—was killed in an American drone strike in Yemen, marking the first targeted killing of a U.S. citizen by the U.S. government. While the attack occurred almost four years ago, the legality, morality and prudential nature of the strike, and others like it that occur nearly daily in a scattershot of countries around the world, remain a subject of much debate. Last week, Jefferson Powell joined Lawfare’s Jack Goldsmith at the May Hoover Book Soiree for a discussion of Targeting Americans: The Constitutionality of U.S. Drone War, a new book that takes a deep look into the constitutionality of the program. Powell is a Professor of Law at Duke University, and over the hour, he argues that the killing of Anwar al Awlaki under the 2001 AUMF was constitutional, but that the Obama administration’s broader claims of authority are not. He also asserts that American citizens acting as combatants in al Qaeda are not entitled to due process protections. Yet constitutional claims should not be confused with what is moral, or indeed, what is legal under international norms. Those answers, Powell suggests, must be examined through means other than constitutional law.
Since 9/11, more than three hundred Americans – born and raised in Minnesota, Alabama, New Jersey, and elsewhere – have been indicted or convicted of terrorism charges. Among the perpetrators are Anwar al-Awlaki, the New Mexico-born radical cleric who became the first American citizen killed by a CIA drone, and Omar Hammami, an Alabama native and hip hop fan who became a fixture in al Shabaab's propaganda videos. While some have taken the fight abroad, many others have acted on American soil, sparking new debates not only about extremist violence but about the controversial surveillance tactics used by U.S. government agencies to track potential terrorists, the biases experienced by innocent observant Muslims at the hands of law enforcement, and the role social media has played in revolutionizing terrorist activity. Drawing on an extensive network of intelligence contacts, from the National Counterterrorism Center and the FBI to the NYPD, Peter Bergen's United States of Jihad: Investigating America's Homegrown Terrorists takes on these topics by telling the entwined stories of the key actors of the American front of jihadism and by asking: what motivates them, how are they trained, and what do we sacrifice in our efforts to track them? https://www.newamerica.org/international-security/united-states-of-jihad/
This week, New York Times national security reporter Scott Shane came on the Lawfare Podcast to provide an overview of his new book on the life and death of radical Islamic cleric Anwar al Awlaki, Objective Troy: A Terrorist, A President, and the Rise of the Drone. Shane provides an overview of the book, examining the role played by al Awlaki in al Qaeda plots against the United States, his continued influence on the jihadi movement, and how his life and death was intimately tied to the rise of the drone in U.S. counterterrorism efforts. Why and how did al Awlaki transform from a leader in American Islamic thought into a recruiter for al Qaeda? And what lessons can the trajectory of his life teach us about countering violent extremism and the methods the United States uses to achieve its counterterrorism goals?
Objective Troy tells the story of Anwar al-Awlaki, the once-celebrated American imam who called for moderation after 9/11, a man who ultimately directed his outsized talents to the mass murder of his fellow citizens. It follows Barack Obama's campaign against the excesses of the Bush counterterrorism programs and his eventual embrace of the targeted killing of suspected militants. And it recounts how the president directed the mammoth machinery of spy agencies to hunt Awlaki down in a frantic, multi-million dollar pursuit that would end with the death of Awlaki by a bizarre, robotic technology that is changing warfare -- the drone.Scott Shane is a national security reporter for the New York Times based in Washington, DC. From 1983 to 2004, he was a reporter for the Baltimore Sun.Writers LIVE programs are supported in part by a generous grant from PNC Bank.
Objective Troy tells the story of Anwar al-Awlaki, the once-celebrated American imam who called for moderation after 9/11, a man who ultimately directed his outsized talents to the mass murder of his fellow citizens. It follows Barack Obama's campaign against the excesses of the Bush counterterrorism programs and his eventual embrace of the targeted killing of suspected militants. And it recounts how the president directed the mammoth machinery of spy agencies to hunt Awlaki down in a frantic, multi-million dollar pursuit that would end with the death of Awlaki by a bizarre, robotic technology that is changing warfare -- the drone.Scott Shane is a national security reporter for the New York Times based in Washington, DC. From 1983 to 2004, he was a reporter for the Baltimore Sun.Writers LIVE programs are supported in part by a generous grant from PNC Bank.Recorded On: Monday, September 21, 2015
It's on those days when we're just gearheaded out that the Garage Hour goons take a stroll down Digression Lane. This episode's chock full of those crazy stories you read about of bears beating up hikers, Iran beating up hikers, piranhas eating up tourists and crocodiles eating up the natives. Then it's Hellfire-missiles for San Diego's favorite terrorist, Ospreys falling out of the sky (the plane, not the bird, though we suppose the birds do too), and how you can tell when a Chinook is out of hydraulic fluid - it stops leaking. After that, there's more bears (always with the bears), plus Bender, the "Impson" family, the Beatles versus Eric Crapton (sorry, Clapton), a schtick about celebrities being eaten by bears, and a farewell to the kitchen-pooping celebrity bear of Tahoe, Bubba. The bear dogs finally got him. Cohosts Dirty Dave, Mr. Dustin (Top Earner) and Matt Walsh, of Matt Walsh Wood Floors, join Hostus Maximus Justin Fort to make this Garage Hour good.
Guest this hour - Catherine Herridge (FOX News Channel). -Mark talks with Catherine Herridge this hour to discuss her SPECIAL on ISIS and terror recruitment. PLUS they banter about Anwar al-Awlaki, and the U.S.'s reluctance to use certain terms to describe the "bad guy". -Mark Larson gets in to school bonds, France's attack having a tie to San Diego, and MORE! LIVE, LOCAL - news and comment with the answer, The Mark Larson Show on AM 1170 "The Answer"!
Mark talks with Catherine Herridge this hour to discuss her SPECIAL on ISIS and terror recruitment. PLUS they banter about Anwar al-Awlaki, and the U.S.'s reluctance to use certain terms to describe the "bad guy".
Kevin Gosztola of and , an independent journalist, are joined by Nafeez Ahmed, who is a writer and contributor to The Guardian. His most recent articles have covered the militarization of social science; specifically, the Pentagon's funding of research into preparing for a civil breakdown as well as how both the security agencies in both the United Kingdom and the United States regard differnt types of activists and factions of the poor as threats. We talk with him for over a half hour about the implications of this militarized social science. In the discussion portion of the show, we talk about the memo released this past week - with redactions - containing the Obama's "legal" justification for targeting and assassinating US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki. We also discuss the victory thirteen US citizens placed on the No-Fly List won in court and the water shut-offs occurring in Detroit.
Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined by Pardiss Kebriaei, a staff attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, to discuss the Awlaki decision. She is the leading attorney on the case which a judge dismissed and addresses what the families of US citizens were seeking from their government after their sons were killed in drone strikes. She also outlines some of the most troubling aspects of the judge's decision. During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek discuss FBI agents on JSOC raids in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Albuquerque police, "Cuban Twitter" and President Barack Obama as this country's deporter-in-chief.
With the drone strike on accused terrorist and New Mexico-born Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, President Obama has tested the limits of the executive branch’s powers. Does the president have constitutional authority under the due process clause to kill U.S. citizens abroad, or is it a violation of this clause to unilaterally decide to target and kill Americans? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
9 AM - Japan says Sony can't lay people off; Furry follow-up; Danish spy helped us find Al Awlaki.
Morten Storm was a Danish convert to Islam who became a close associate of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American imam who was a senior member of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen. He even ate in Awlaki’s home and helped find him a wife. When Storm repented of his radical ways, he turned to the Danish intelligence service and offered inside access to AQAP. Hear him tell SPY Historian Mark Stout how MI6 and CIA came into the picture and how he helped tracked down Awlaki, who died in a controversial CIA drone attack in September 2011.
The use of the nuclear bomb in World War II fundamentally altered the nature of modern warfare. For the United States, it forever changed the role of the presidency, giving the executive branch the power to unilaterally detonate a stunningly destructive bomb. Today, drones have, arguably, become the modern version of the nuclear bomb, controlled from a computer, with the potential for no loss of American life, no boots on the ground, and a relatively small price tag. The use and deployment of drones rests comfortably in the hands of the president. He alone can order the killing of another human being abroad, including an American citizen. To date, three Americans have been killed in Yemen in drone strikes, include Anwar al-Awlaki, the leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. It's a presidential power that Attorney General Eric Holder has reaffirmed in the face of imminent danger. David Cole, professor of constitutional law, national security, and criminal justice at Georgetown University Law Center, says that the administration legally justifies the drone program with two legal documents: First, they can engage in targeted killing on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Pakistan because it's a war. And second, the targeted killings in Yemen and Lebanon — thousands of miles away from any battlefield — are justified because those individuals they are targeting are an imminent threat. According to Cole, "They have redefined imminence to say that if somebody is involved in one of these groups that's associated with Al Qaeda and they're an operational leader, then by definition they constantly pose an imminent threat to us." "In this program, a judge doesn't decide anything," he says, "because the administration has taken this authority on for itself and asserts that it doesn't have to get any approval from any other branch, whether it be Congress or the judiciary, to kill even an American citizen."
The House passes a surveillance bill masked as pediatric research and then wastes our time. Also, highlights from the leaked legal justification for the Obama Administration's "lawful" drone bombing of American citizens. H.R. 225: National Pediatric Research Network Act of 2013 Introduced by Democrat Lois Capps of Northern California. The bill says the Director of the National Institutes of Health (a gov't agency) can create a network of up to 20 groups of public or private non-profits to work together to do pediatric research. As a condition of accepting an award, the groups need to agree to help the Centers for Disease Control with the establishing patient registries and "other surveillance systems as appropriate and upon request by the Director of the Centers." The bill establishes a "Data Coordinating Center" to... 1. Distribute scientific findings 2. Help design and conduct research projects and to manage the resulting data 3. "To organize and conduct multi-site monitoring activities" But the bill doesn't give the NIH any money to do this. Congressional Budget Office Analysis NIH already supports many research networks that support research and training focused on pediatric health care needs and operates data coordinating centers for those networks. Those networks perform essentially the same activities as the groups described in the bill. The existing networks are not helping the CDC to establish surveillance systems. ...CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 225 would have "no effect on the number" of research groups or data coordinating centers that NIH would support. "CBO expects that CDC would request assistance from a few networks to establish surveillance systems." H.R. 444: The Require a Plan Act The President generally begins working on a budget in Nov/Dec The fiscal cliff deal wasn't done until January 2 meaning we didn't know how much revenue the United States would be collecting until then. President Obama will be submitting his budget late. Require a PLAN Act requires the President to give Congress another budget if the President's budget for fiscal year 2014 is not balanced. Not later than April 1, 2013, the President shall submit to Congress an addition to his budget that includes— * An estimate of the earliest fiscal year in which the additional budget will eliminate the deficit (Ryan budget was around 2030) * A detailed description of additional policies to be implemented in order to achieve such result (would have to be extreme measures) * An evaluation of what agency functions can be eliminated or consolidated. (Fleming Amendment) * An explanation of the differences between the President's original budget for fiscal year 2014 and the extra budget referred to in this subsection. * An estimate of the cost per taxpayer of the deficit for each year until the budget is balanced. (Messer Amendment) Republicans seem to believe that creating a budget is an Executive Branch responsibility. "It is astounding that the President has shirked his responsibility to submit a budget on time for 4 of the last 5 years." - Rep. Roger Williams (TX) It isn't. "The fact of the matter is it is our responsibility. Not a nickel can be spent in America unless the Congress authorizes it to be spent. The President can't spend money on his own. Not a nickel can be raised in this country, of revenue, without the Congress acting on it. The President can't do that. It is the Congress of the United States, under article I, that has this responsibility. We're not taking that responsibility. We're trying to shove it off on somebody else, in this case, the President of the United States." - Rep. Steny Hoyer (MD) What's really happening is the House is wasting almost all of February and to let the sequester crisis come down to the last minute. A deal needs to be done by Friday, March 1. Republicans are trying to re-write history and pretend President Obama created the sequester. "To add to the uncertainty, the President's proposed sequestration is set to take effect this March…." -Rep. Austin Scott (GA) "President Obama's sequester is an important issue." -Rep. Tom Price (GA) "What we should do is replace the President's sequester with responsible reforms that will help balance the budget in 10 years." -Rep John Boehner (OH), Speaker of the House Reality: In 2011, the GOP was refusing to raise the debt ceiling. In order to pay our bills, the President and Senate had to promise the GOP House that they would get $2 trillion in government cuts. $1 trillion in cuts were in the Budget Control Act. The second trillion was supposed to be decided on by the SuperCommittee. The sequester was the painful-for-everyone-so-it'll-never-happen penalty that was supposed to bring everyone to the bargaining table. "We put sequester in place thinking it was so irrational and would have such a negative effect that clearly we would address the matter in the last 14 months. We didn't…. It was a silly bill. The Senate passed it and the President signed it because it was the only way we could make sure that we did not put the creditworthiness of the United States at risk." -Rep. Steny Hoyer (MD) Now, Republicans are actually considering letting the sequester happen! "I, for one, felt that the delay in the sequester on January 1 was not in the country's best interest. These were the cuts that the Congress promised to the American people. When the debt limit was raised in August of 2011, this was the promise that was made, and it was a promise that was made by the President. It was pro-posed by people within the administration. The bill was signed into law by the President... Every line in every appropriations bill has a constituency somewhere that cares deeply about that language being retained. So, when all else fails, an across-the-board cut may be the only way that you can ever achieve that spending restraint." Rep. Michael Burgess (TX) The House will be in session for only 8 days before the sequester takes effect. The Leaked "White Memo": Authorizes Drone Strikes on American Citizens Highlights (or lowlights, if you prefer)... "Sets forth a legal framework for considering the circumstances in which the U.S. government could use lethal force in a foreign country outside the area of active hostilities against a U.S. citizen who is a senior operational leader of al-Qa'ida or an associated force of al-Qa'ida." "A targeted killing of a U.S. citizen who has joined al-Qa'ida or its associated forces would be lawful under U.S. and international law." Three conditions must be met: # 1: "An informed, high level official of the U.S. government has determine that the targeted individual poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States." But... "The condition that an operational leader preset an "imminent" threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future." "A decision maker determining whether an al-Qa'ida operational leader presents an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States must take into account that certain members of al-Qa'ida are continually plotting attacks…the U.S. government may not be aware of all al-Qa'ida plots as they are developing and thus cannot be confident that none is about to occur." #2: Capture must be "infeasible". "Capture would not be feasible if it could not be physically effectuated during the relevant window of opportunity or if the relevant country were to decline to consent to a capture operation." #3: The operation would be conducted in a manner consistent with applicable law of war principles. (Necessity, distinction proportionality, and humanity) "There is no prohibition under the laws of war on the use of technologically advanced weapons systems in armed conflict- such as pilotless aircraft or so-called smart bombs- as long as they are employed in conformity with applicable laws of war." What about due process guaranteed to Americans in the Constitution? "In these circumstances, the "realities" of the conflict and the weight of the government's interest in protecting its citizens from and imminent attack are such that the Constitution would not require the government to provide further process to such a U.S. citizen before using lethal force." How is this justified? "Congress's authorization of the use of all necessary and appropriate military force against this enemy, and the existence of an armed conflict with al-Qa'ida under international law." The memo specifically names the Authorization for Use of Military Force from 2001, signed in the days following 9/11. Doesn't targeting a certain person for death count as an assassination? "It is a lawful act of self defense." "A lawful killing in self defense is not an assassination." But Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16 year old son (who was never considered associated with al-Qa'ida) were in Yemen when they were blown up by United States' drone strikes. Wasn't the Authorization for Military Force for hunting down the people responsible for 9/11 in Afghanistan? "The United States is currently in a non-international armed conflict with al-Qa'ida and its associated forces… Any U.S. operation would be part of this non-international armed conflict, even if it were to take place away from the zone of active hostilities." "The AUMF itself does not set forth an express geographic limitation on the use of fore it authorizes." This sounds unconstitutional. Maybe the courts should decide this? "The Department notes that under the circumstances described in this paper, there exists no appropriate judicial forum to evaluate these constitutionals considerations."
Issue: I feel like a conspiracy theorist when I say this, but they are watching. Who's To Blame? Blame: Listen in as, Leon, a veteran tells his story of a "secret" encounter. We also have Enrique to discuss the legal ramifications of said encounter. Oh yea, we also touch on Al Awlaki and the NDAA. Listen in!!
Anyone notice that politicians seem to be more and more confident that they can get away with double-speak and hypocrisy? Just two weeks ago, the US government killed a US citizen they accused of "terrorism", killed without trial or a presentation of the evidence against him. Then, a fortnight later, the US government proudly announces that its agents have busted a plot to ASSASSINATE an Arab ambassador. While the Arab ambassador is not seen as a criminal in the eyes of the US politicians, the Iranians claim that Saudi Arabia has been guilty of assisting the US government in its campaign of killings of innocent Muslims in the Middle East. So on the one hand, the US claims it is illegal and bad to try to assassinate a person who has not been proven to have done anything bad, and on the other, the US officials claim that it is a noble thing to kill a person who has not been proven to have done anything bad -- but in the latter case, it is the US government that's doing the killing, so it is alright, we're told. Strange days. We cover it, and ask why people put their faith in this corrupt institution called the state. We also talk about the UK government destroying property rights of the Irish Travellers at Dale Farm. This is an update we didn't want to provide, but must. Be Seeing You!
David DeCosse, Director Campus Ethics, Miriam Schulman, Director of Communications, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and Peter Minowitz, Professor of Political Science, Santa Clara University discuss the increasing use of drones by the United States national security forces in light of the killing in Yemen of an American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki.
Was it constitutional for President Obama to kill Osama bin Laden? How about the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen living in Yemen? The answers are more complex than you might think. We talk to John Bellinger, former Legal Advisor to both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and to the National Security Council. We also speak with Professor Robert Turner of the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia.
8 AM - Josh Gerstein from Politico comes on to talk about Anwar al-Awlaki being killed in Yemen; John Travolta is a time traveler, maybe; Obama talks al-Awlaki; Hispanic group is trying to get John and Ken off the air.
President Obama is not going to assassinate you. Chris Christie is not going to tell you the truth. Occupy Wall Street is not going to destroy Wall Street.
Podcast for the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations
A lecture by Robert Chesney, Charles I. Francis Professor in Law, University of Texas School of Law. This event was co-sponsored by the International Human Rights Law Program at the UCLA Law School.
Podcast for the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations
A lecture by Robert Chesney, Charles I. Francis Professor in Law, University of Texas School of Law. This event was co-sponsored by the International Human Rights Law Program at the UCLA Law School.
End Time Current Events: 12-5-10–Part 2 Table of Contents: Allah is the Pagan Moon God In new video, Awlaki says: Kill Americans without hesitation Islamist insurgents in Iraq threaten wave of attacks on Christians Fatah again honors planner of Munich Olympics massacre Fury as British Airways says it would allow Muslim veil but not the…
Bilal PhilipsThroughout time man has deviated. The people who were alive during the time of the prophets before the Prophet Muhammad (saw) deviated just as those who are alive now deviate. So, as a result deviation is nothing new. However, we may extract benefit from the mistakes of the past. This presentation is meant to inform us of the various types of deviation which have occurred, so their mistakes will not be repeated. This lecture is also a source of historical reference material.Bilal Philips - Deviation of the Ummah
Beyond Guantanamo: Is This The End?From the words of those who have been or are in the dungeons of the enemies of Islam, Shaikh Anwar al Awlaki delivers a message to the Muslim prisoners from the Muslim prisoners. This lecture, which was scheduled for public broadcast at the Annual CagePrisoners Iftar Dinner 2009, was banned by the Kensington and Chelsea Council in London without reason. Anwar Al-Awlaki - Beyond Guantanamo - Is this the end