Iran fires on US drone; act of war and Obama does nothing

Happening the Thursday before the election, one has to wonder about the circumstances of this.  Did Obama know, and if so was the decision to wait to release it to influence the election?  If Obama didn't know (highly unlikely) then who did, and what was their reason for withholding the story?

I have questions, where are the answers?

From The Washington Free Beacon November 8

CNN: Iran Fired at Unmanned U.S. Drone Last Week

CNN reports two Iranian fighter jets fired at an unmanned U.S. Predator drone last week in international airspace, according to the Pentagon:

BARBARA STARR: New military tensions now with Iran. CNN has learned it was last Thursday, just one week ago, that two Iranian SU-25–old Russian fighter jets the Iranians operate–flew out in to the Persian Gulf into international air space and fired on a U.S. Air Force predator drone, an unmanned drone in international air space, that the Pentagon insists was conducting routine, although classified, maritime surveillance. The Iranian aircraft fired continuously; they did not hit the drone; the drone was able to return to base in that region. But this does raise some serious new tensions with Iran. It was, of course, just a few days before the presidential election here in the United States. Officials that we have talked to who are confirming it after we questioned them say they just don’t know at this point what the Iranians were up to. Were they just out to cause trouble or were they really trying to bring down that U.S. drone, Brooke.

BROOK BALDWIN: this is clearly raising tensions as you point out. Could this be considered an act of war?

STARR: Well, it’s an interesting question, I suppose for the Pentagon lawyers. The thing is, you know, they fired–the U.S. believes, we’re told–in an unprovoked fashion. They say that the drone was in international air space about 16 miles off the Iranian coast in the northern end of the Gulf, and that it was completely unprovoked and without warning. The Pentagon, through the State Department, has protested to the Iranian government. The Pentagon says they haven’t heard back from Tehran.

Congressional hearings on Benghazi next week; expect tough questions and evasive answers

We need more like him                                                                   Photo;Reuters

If we get to the truth with these hearings I will eat a bug.  I just don't see the White House coming clean on their role, or lack thereof in the jihad murder of four Americans on sovereign soil.  We shall see, but I won't hold my breath.  Blue is not my color anyway.

From CNN November 8 by Pam Benson

Obama administration officials to brief intelligence committees on Benghazi
Senior intelligence, State Department and FBI officials can expect to be grilled next week as congressional hearings resume on the terror attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya that killed four Americans.

Lawmakers want answers to many outstanding questions surrounding the September 11 armed assault on the diplomatic facility and a CIA annex in Benghazi.

Specifically, they want to know who was responsible, whether it was planned, the intelligence reporting on the threat to Libya prior the attack, and whether security was adequate.

The Senate Intelligence Committee will conduct a closed-door hearing on November 15. Scheduled witnesses include Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director David Petraeus, Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy, FBI Deputy Director Sean Joyce and National Counterterrorism Center Director Matt Olsen.

Clapper, Petraeus and Olsen will also testify behind closed doors to the House Intelligence Committee on the same day.
Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of that panel, has been outspoken in his criticism of how the Obama administration depicted the attack in the days following the incident.

Rogers maintains the United States knew early on that the attack was not a spontaneous demonstration prompted by an anti-Muslim video as the intelligence community and administration officials said at first.

Petraeus in particular has been criticized by a number of lawmakers for telling members of Congress in a secret briefing three days after the attack that the incident was a spontaneous result of the protests. That was repeated by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice on subsequent Sunday TV talk shows.

CNN's Barbara Starr reported that within a day or so of the attack, the intelligence community began to gather information suggesting it was the work of extremists either affiliated with al Qaeda groups or inspired by al Qaeda.

E-mails obtained by CNN last month indicated that within 30 minutes of the start of the attack, the State Department informed diplomatic officials, the White House, the Director of National Intelligence, the Pentagon and the FBI that it was underway and that Stevens was in the compound.

And just two hours later, one of the e-mails said the Libyan extremist group Ansar al Sharia was claiming responsibility on social media websites.

"Embassy Tripoli reports the group claimed responsibility on Facebook and Twitter and has called for an attack on Embassy Tripoli," the e-mail stated.

Rogers told CNN those e-mails, along with other information, demonstrate it was not spontaneous.

Read it all

Oregon jihadist prosecutors ask judge for permission to use the words "jihad" and "terrorism" in reference to defendants actions

As Mohamed Mohamud has stated about himself, he is a jihadist and a terrorist and expected to die during his attack in Pioneer Square in Portland a few years back.  The fact that the prosecutor must ask the judge for permission to use the words in trial is a sign of the times; you cannot say anything insulting or demonizing about Muslims, even if they themselves use it to describe their actions and beliefs.  The blinders are on, let the trial begin.

From The Republic November 7 by Nigel Duara

'Terrorist,' 'violent jihad' among words prosecutors want to use in Portland terrorism trial

PORTLAND, Ore. — Prosecutors want to call an Oregon man a terrorist while referring to violent jihad and martyrdom, words his defense attorneys have asked a federal judge to forbid.

Federal prosecutors preparing for the January trial of Mohamed Mohamud said in a motion filed Tuesday that the court should let them use the terms because they accurately characterize Mohamud's "conduct and the nature of his case."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight notes in the motion that Mohamud himself allegedly used the terms "terrorism" and "jihad" when speaking with undercover agents, though records of such conversations have not yet been made public.

Knight also seeks to refer to Mohamud's occasional dispatches for the jihadist magazine "Jihad Recollections," reports that Mohamud's attorneys say are protected speech done while Mohamud, 21, was a minor.

Mohamud is accused of conspiring with men he believed were Islamic radicals to detonate a car bomb near a 2010 Portland Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. The bomb was a fake provided by the government and the men were undercover agents.

Defense attorneys Steve Sady and Steve Wax argued in a motion that such words will "blur and dilute the specific elements of the offense and distort the facts of the case."

In other words, to use jihad and terrorism would imply a religious aspect to Muhamud's actions, and we just can't have that.  Dhimmi knuckleheads, Sady and Wax.

Prosecutors responded that such a prohibition should be measured, if used at all.

Read it all

New Egyptian Coptic patriarch doesn't like sharia, Salafists seize church in retaliation

Tawadros II said he will oppose the inclusion of the sharia in Egypt's new constitution, and Salafists immediately occupied a church in Cairo, sending a message of intimidation to the Coptic Christians.  Will Obama stand for the freedom of religion for Copts in Egypt and and demand President Morsi do something to stop this persecution of non-Muslims, or will he continue to ignore the Islamic elephant in the room?

Yeah, I thought so.

From AsiaNews November 7

Salafists seize Church land in Cairo to hit back at new patriarch

Cairo (AsiaNews) - "By seizing land that belongs to the Diocese of Shubra al-Kheima, Salafists are sending a warning to the new Coptic patriarch, Tawadros II," said Rafic Greiche. Speaking to AsiaNews, the clergyman, who is the spokesman of the Egyptian Catholic Church, explained that with such action Muslim extremists want to intimidate Shenouda III's successor because of his statement against the inclusion of Sharia in Egypt's future constitution.

On Monday night, about a hundred of Muslim extremists wielding sticks and rods seized land near the S. Mina Church in Shubra al-Kheima, in the centre of Cairo. With police standing idly by, the Islamists occupied the parcel of land for more than a day and put up a sign bearing the words 'Al-Rahma Mosque'. Only this morning did law enforcement moved in after Church authorities informed the Interior Ministry.

The diocese is headed by Bishop Antonius Morcos, who is Coptic Church media point man as well as new patriarch's spokesman.

"Such an action is nothing new in Egypt, but this is the first time that extremists directly go after a high-profile Coptic prelate," Fr Greiche said.

In a statement issued yesterday Patriarch Tawadros II criticised the Islamist stranglehold on the constituent assembly, saying that the Coptic Orthodox Church would oppose any step taken by the constituent assembly to impose Islamic law on the country....

"Are you safer from the global jihad and Islamic supremacism than you were four years ago?"

Robert Spencer explains it all for us.

From PJ Media November 6

8 Reasons You Aren’t Safer than You Were 4 Years Ago

Are you safer from the global jihad and Islamic supremacism than you were four years ago? Over the last four years, Barack Obama has:

• Warmly supported the “Arab Spring” revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya (the latter with military aid) that heralded the installation of pro-Sharia Islamic supremacist regimes in each. These regimes are already oppressing women and non-Muslims and striving to outdo their predecessors in anti-Americanism. The Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt, meanwhile, is giving out strong and repeated hints that the Camp David Accords, and Egypt’s uneasy but 30-year-old peace with Israel, are not long for this world.
• Refused to say a single positive word about the uprising against the bloody Islamic regime in Iran, ostensibly on the grounds that American support would doom the uprising to failure – a possibility that never gave him pause in his rush to praise the Egyptian, Libyan, and Tunisian uprisings. He thus missed an opportunity to weaken and destabilize, at the very least, a rogue regime that is relentlessly pursuing development of nuclear weapons and has made no secret of its genocidal intentions toward Israel.
• Displayed repeated contempt for Israel and its prime minister, thereby drastically weakening the U.S.’s relationship with its only ally in the Middle East and encouraging jihadists who have vowed to destroy the Jewish state – not least in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
• Readily acquiesced to the demands of Muslim groups tied to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood that training material for the FBI and Department of Homeland Security be purged of all accurate information about how jihadists use the texts and teachings of Islam to recruit and motivate terrorists. This has led to a government-wide willful ignorance about the motives and goals of those who have vowed to destroy us, which in turn leads to disastrous policy mistakes based on false assumptions about the outlook and aspirations of Muslim “insurgents.” The most obvious recent consequence of this analytical failure was the murder of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans at the Benghazi consulate by revolutionaries Obama and Stevens had backed on the assumption that they were benign democratic pluralists.

Read it all

Oklahoma: Hamas-linked CAIR sees Muslim discrimination at Tulsa bank

The bank has a "no hats, no hoods, no sunglasses" rule so all who may violate those rules are subjected to increased scrutiny.  Hamas-CAIR says that the bank is singling out Muslim women because they wear a head covering that is religiously mandated.  Note that there is no report of Mennonite women complaining, of Jewish women, or Catholic women, or Amish women...

From Tulsa World November 8 by Andrea Eger

Bank discrimination against Muslims alleged over headwear policy

The Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, is calling on Tulsa's Valley National Bank to review its "inappropriate and discriminatory" policy that treats customers wearing religious head coverings differently from other patrons.
The organization says that on Oct. 9, a Muslim woman tried to enter the Valley National Bank branch at 4812 E. 81st St., in hopes that she could exchange foreign currency but was told she would not be able to enter unless accompanied by a bank employee because of their "no hats, no hoods, no sunglasses" policy. 
"Singling out Muslim women or other people of faith who wear religiously mandated head coverings that do not hinder identification is inappropriate and discriminatory," said Adam Soltani, executive director of CAIR's Oklahoma chapter. "All customers should be treated equally regardless of their faith or religious practices."

Notice how Islamic supremacists (CAIR) denies there is a policy for all patrons and focuses on the "victimization" of Muslim women.  No context and no equal analysis.  Typical for leftists and Islamists. 
The complainant, a woman from Kiefer, did not want her identity publicized, but Soltani told the Tulsa World that his organization first took her complaint directly to bank officials, "hoping they would acknowledge it was a mistake or offer an apology." 
"We were actually shocked to find out their policy is separate but equal, going back to things that African-Americans and other people have experienced," he said. "They said, 'We do allow them in the bank but they must be escorted anywhere they go.' 
"Their excuse was it's a security measure, but there are no reports ever in Oklahoma that I am aware of, of anyone in religious headwear robbing a bank," Soltani said.

Yet.  The rules now in place should help to prevent such a scenario, but when it does happen, what will be said then?  Were sorry?  Yeah, right.

Read it all

French gays attacked, gassed and beaten by jihadists

Whether you approve of the gay lifestyle or not, this attack is not about your feelings, it is about how Islam persecutes those seen, through the Qur'an and hadiths of Muhammad as a danger to the ummah by violating the sharia law.  France is well on its way to becoming the next domino to fall in Europe, and the sad part if that some gays are Islamic apologists and will not survive their "friends" reactions.

From gaystarnews November 5 by Dan Littauer

Muslim extremists in tear gas gay Marais attack

Several people were slightly injured when a homophobic attack occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning, at the entrance of club Cud, in the gay Marais area of Paris, France.

One of the victims, Alexandre Marcel, the vice president of IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia) charity was among the injured.

A complaint was filed with the French police by Marcel, no arrests have been made so far.

Marcel described to the French press the attack: ‘At 2.30 in the morning, I left the bar to smoke a cigarette with my partner, when five guys arrived and started to hit the bouncers, saying: ‘by the Quran, we will kill you all, you faggots!

‘I wanted to return to the club to take refuge. One of the bouncers who was bleeding a lot asked me to call the police.

‘When one of the attackers saw that I started calling the police and sprayed my face with a pepper based tear-gas.

Marcel recounted: ‘the attacker told me “that'll teach you a lesson to call the police you faggot!”

‘It was violent.

‘After that, I lost my sight for ten minutes.’

Marcel stated that in total three bouncers were beaten, while he, a friend and some clients of the bar were sprayed with the pepper based tear gas

He said that his skin and eyes still have a burning sensation, and that he was coughing and spitting for many hours.

He stated: ‘The worse thing is, that the bouncers told me that they won’t file a complaint with the police because the attackers won’t be found anyway,’ he recounted.

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"Innocence of Muslims" film-maker to spend next year in prison for probation violations

Make no mistake, the violations are not the real reason Mark Basseley Youssef is in jail.  No one will admit it, for to do so is to admit free speech needs to be curtailed for the sake of peace with Islam.  It matters little the history of Youssef, he is most likely a bad guy who took advantage of his relatives and the system for his own profit.  So what?  It is his views on Islam and how he was called to task for the bloodshed created my Muslims over his badly produced movie that created the atmosphere for his arrest.  The persecution of Youssef  should not be dismissed lightly, the implications for the future of free speech from this episode are very real and will affect us all.

From My Way November 7 by Greg Risling

Calif. man behind anti-Muslim film gets prison

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The California man behind an anti-Muslim film that roiled the Middle East was sentenced Wednesday to a year in prison for violating his probation stemming from a 2010 bank fraud conviction by lying about his identity.

U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder immediately sentenced Mark Basseley Youssef after he admitted to four of the eight alleged violations, including obtaining a fraudulent California driver's license. Prosecutors agreed to drop the other four allegations under an agreement with Youssef's attorneys, which also included more probation.

None of the violations had to do with the content of "Innocence of Muslims," a film that depicts Mohammad as a religious fraud, pedophile and womanizer.

However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Dugdale argued Youseff's lies about his identity have caused harm to others, including the film's cast and crew. The movie sparked violence in the Middle East, killing dozens.

"They had no idea he was a recently released felon," Dugdale said Wednesday. "Had they known that, they might have had second thoughts" about being part of the film.

Youssef's attorney Steven Seiden said his client admits to being the film's scriptwriter but had no other involvement except what he described as being a "cultural adviser."

(...)After the hearing, Seiden told reporters he had a message to relay from his client.

"The one thing he wanted me to tell all of you is President Obama may have gotten Osama bin Laden, but he didn't kill the ideology," Seiden said.

Asked what that meant, Seiden said, "I didn't ask him, and I don't know."

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UN urges countries to uphold freedom of religion and conversion but does not name the countries or the religion which does the most suppression

One must infer from the report which countries are the most likely to violate free religious expression and put up roadblocks to the conversion to, or out of a religion.  We know who they are, it is a puzzlement as to why the UN would not name specific countries.  I imagine they do not want to be seen as Islamophobic.  It is good to see the UN taking a stand, as unobtrusive as it is.

From OHCHR October 25

Violated in practice, questioned in principle – UN expert urges Governments to protect the right of conversion

NEW YORK (25 October 2012) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, today urged States to consistently respect, protect and promote the human right to freedom of religion or belief in the area of conversion.

“The right of conversion and the right not to be forced to convert or reconvert belong to the internal dimension of a person’s religious or belief-related conviction, which is unconditionally protected under international human rights law,” said Mr. Bielefeldt presenting his report* to the UN General Assembly.

In his study, the independent expert analyses the patterns of abuses that are perpetrated in the name of religious or ideological truth claims in the interest of promoting national identity or protecting societal homogeneity, or under other pretexts such as maintaining political and national security.

“While some undue restrictions on the rights of converts or those trying non-coercively to convert others are undertaken by State agencies, other abuses, including acts of violence, stem from widespread societal prejudices,” the Special Rapporteur noted.

“Violations in this sensitive area also include forced conversions or reconversions, again perpetrated either by the State or by non-State actors,” he said. “In addition, the rights of converts or those trying non-coercively to convert others are sometimes questioned in principle.” In this context, he stressed, the rights of the child and his or her parents must also be guaranteed.

The right to conversion
“In addition to being exposed to manifestations of social pressure, public contempt and systematic discrimination, converts often face insurmountable administrative obstacles when trying to live in conformity with their convictions.”

“In some States, converts may also face criminal prosecution, at times even including the death penalty, for such offences as ‘apostasy,’ ‘heresy,’ ‘blasphemy’ or ‘insult’ in respect of a religion or the country’s dominant tradition and values.”

The right not to be forced to convert
“While some members of religious or belief minorities experience pressure to join a religion or belief deemed more ‘acceptable’ in society, converts are often exposed to pressure to reconverting to their previous religion. Such pressure can be undertaken both by Government agencies and by non-State actors, including by directly linking humanitarian aid to an expectation of conversion.”

The Special Rapporteur said he was particularly concerned about pressure or threats experienced by women, sometimes in the context of marriage or marriage negotiations, to convert to the religion of their husband or prospective husband.

The right to try to convert others by means of non-coercive persuasion
“Many States impose tight legislative or administrative restrictions on communicative outreach activities. Many such restrictions are conceptualised and implemented in a flagrantly discriminatory manner, for instance, in the interest of further strengthening the position of the official religion or dominant religion of the country while further marginalising the situation of minorities.”

“Members of religious communities that have a reputation of being generally engaged in missionary activities may also face societal prejudices that can escalate into paranoia, sometimes even leading to acts of mob violence and killings.”

The rights of the child and his or her parents
The Special Rapporteur said he had also received reports of repressive measures targeting children of converts or members of religious minorities, including with the purpose of exercising pressure on them and their parents to reconvert to their previous religion or to coerce members of minorities to convert to more socially ‘accepted’ religions or beliefs.

“Such repressive activities may violate the child’s freedom of religion or belief and/or the parents’ right to ensure an education for their children in conformity with their own convictions and in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child.”

(*) Check the full report: http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N12/461/30/PDF/N1246130.pdf?OpenElement

Kashmir: parents murder daughter with acid to protect their honor

91% of all honor murders happen in Islamic countries, primarily Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Kashmir may not be a Muslim country as yet but it has a fair population of Muslims and is situated close to other, more strict Muslim countries.  This murder is not unusual, and the incidents of honor murders is increasing across the globe, and not just in Islamic countries.

This is particularly egregious, and shows how Islam grips some Muslims in it's cult-like grip.

From The Telegraph November 1

Parents kill teenage daughter in acid attack in Kashmir

A mother and father in Pakistan-administered Kashmir killed their 15-year-old daughter by dousing her with acid after seeing her talking to a young man, police say.
Local police officer Tahir Ayub told AFP the father, Mohammad Zafar, was already suspicions about his daughter Anvu Sha and became enraged when he saw her with a boy outside their home on Monday.
"Zafar beat her up and then poured acid over her with the help of his wife. She was badly burnt but they did not take her to hospital until the next morning, and she died on Wednesday," Mr Ayub said.
Doctor Mohammad Jahangir of the state-run Kotli hospital said the girl was brought to hospital in a "very critical condition" with almost 70 per cent burns.
Police were alerted by Anvu Sha's married elder sister who demanded they investigate the incident in Khoi Ratta district, 87 miles north of the state capital, Muzaffarabad.

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Egypt: "bearded" men attack and order the slicing off tongue of man for insulting Islam

Of course they did.  By demanding that they ask permission to use the bathroom the shopkeeper insulted them, and he was attacked, seriously cut and when his brother came to the rescue he almost had his tongue cut out.

More democracy from the land of the Pharaohs.

From Al Arabiya November 1

Off with their … tongues? Salafis in Egypt punish man for ‘cursing’ Islam

The “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Authority” group , in Egypt’s eastern city of Suez has attacked a man for not allowing them to use his private toilet and ordered to cut his brother tongue for “cursing” Islam.

Ahmed Gharib, this week told the online newspaper, al-Mowjaz, that the problem started as he was in his shop, in the El-Arbeen area in Suez, when a “bearded man” rushed inside to use the bathroom.

“I told him that he needs to ask for permission to use the toilet,” said Gharib, “but he just responded with ‘we do not ask for permission,’” he added.

A few minutes later, a group of 30 “bearded” men reportedly came to Gharib’s shop and said they wanted to “discipline him for insulting a religious figure,” reported the newspaper.

“They tied me down and assaulted me,” said Gharib. “They tried to cut off my hand for reaching for one of them,” he added.

They were unable to cut off his hand, however, as passersby intervened to stop the fight. But Gharib sustained deep cuts.

Gharib’s brother, who had reached the shop later, angered with what had happened to his brother insulted the men so the “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” group ordered the cutting of the young man’s tongue as they claimed that he cursed Islam.

“They tried to catch him to carry out the order but he managed to escape with the help of neighbors,” said Gharib.

Read it all

German jihadists recruiting youth on the internet

I don't find this surprising.  The 'net has been used for a long time to spread jihad propaganda and recruit new members, the surprise is that Germany is just now recognizing it, and taking steps to stop it.    Sort of...a little bit...somewhat.

From Spiegel November 1 by Christopher Sydow

German Islamists Target Youth on the Internet

As a rapper, Denis Cuspert was a bit player, but as a propagandist for jihad he is a star in some circles. He has gained considerable prominence since 2010, when he transformed himself from a Berlin hip-hop artist named Deso Dogg into the Islamist Abu Malik.

Actually, not much has changed since he became a Salafist. He still makes music, and distributes it primarily through the Internet. But instead of performing rap songs like "Gangxta" and "Ich und mein Baby" ("Me and My Baby"), he releases so-called Anasheed, or Islamic vocal music in which he glorifies jihad.
Cuspert's songs have attained cult status among radical Islamists in Germany. At the request of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Berlin, three of his jihadist songs were labeled as being harmful to minors in early 2012.

Today, the ex-rapper is one of the most prominent German-speaking propagandists for jihad on the Internet. A new study by the Berlin-based Foundation for Science and Politics (SWP), which advises the German government, addresses the development of the Islamist scene on the Internet in detail for the first time.

Sophisticated Websites

International terrorist groups like al-Qaida recognized the importance of the Internet for recruiting new supporters early on. But it wasn't until the end of 2005 that the German arm of the "Global Islamic Media Front" (GIMF), which saw itself as the mouthpiece for all jihadists worldwide, emerged.

The German offshoot of GIMF was founded by Mohamed Mahmoud, an Austrian with Egyptian roots. In addition to Cuspert, Mahmoud is still one of the most colorful figures in the German Islamist community. Mahmoud quickly attracted the attention of authorities when he began spreading al-Qaida propaganda on the Internet in 2005.

After GIMF posted a video in March 2007 threatening possible attacks in Germany and Austria, Mahmoud and his wife were arrested. Because he had used his own computer to place the video on the Internet, all Austrian authorities had to do was establish the connection between Mahmoud and the computer's IP address.

After his release in September of last year, Mahmoud quickly joined his new friend Cuspert in Berlin. Soon thereafter, the two men went to the western German city of Solingen, where Mahmoud transformed the Millatu Ibrahim Mosque into a nationally known meeting place for Salafists.

But the Internet remained far more important than the mosque. Mahmoud, Cuspert and their supporters have set up sophisticated websites. "Especially noteworthy are the high degree of technical professionalism and the targeted use of elements of current youth culture," the SWP study, published on Wednesday, concludes.

According to the study, shutting down the websites and arresting the people behind them will hardly curb the growing number of Salafists in Germany. On the contrary, Mahmoud only developed into "a star in the scene" as a result of having spent time in prison. After the federal government banned Mahmoud's Millatu Ibrahim group in June, its website was shut down, but new blogs and sites soon popped up to spread the same messages.

Mahmoud, Cuspert and their cohorts depend on these sites to stay in touch with their supporters in Germany. In the wake of the Millatu Ibrahim ban and growing police pressure on the Salafists following bloody clashes at a rally in Cologne, Mahmoud and Cuspert, together with many other key figures in the German Islamist community, have disappeared and have presumably fled to Egypt.

Cuspert made another Internet appearance in September, with threats of attacks in Germany. "You spend millions and billions for the war against Islam," he said in a video. "And that's why this country, the Federal Republic of Germany, is a war zone."

Taking Inspiration from Others

German authorities are taking the dangers posed by jihadist propaganda on the Internet very seriously, especially after the case of Arid U. The young man from Frankfurt had never had any physical contact with known jihadists, and became radicalized exclusively through the Internet. In March 2011, he killed two US soldiers at Frankfurt Airport. In addition to YouTube videos of alleged and actual crimes committed by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan, Anasheed supposedly played an important role in his actions.

U. is the perfect example of a phenomenon called "leaderless jihad." These militants do not travel to terrorist training camps in Pakistan or Afghanistan, nor do they receive direct instructions from al-Qaida leaders. Instead, they act on their own, inspired by jihadist websites.

For the authorities, this web-based propaganda offers both opportunities and risks. On the one hand, according to the SWP study, "they can trace the networks of sympathizers and even pinpoint some of their physical locations."

Intelligence services can also take advantage of the anonymity of Internet forums to deliberately plant false information or obtain insider information. But all of this requires a lot of personnel, and for each website that is shut down, a similar one appears before long.

Until now, attacks by "leaderless jihadists" have been relatively minor in comparison to others, because the attackers had not been trained in camps run by militant Islamist movements.

But Guido Steinberg, editor of the SWP study, warns: "We can assume that the jihadists will also draw lessons from attacks like those committed by Anders Breivik in Norway, or by the National Socialist Underground (NSU), and will become more effective in the future."

The next country the cross-hairs of Islam; Ethiopia

Muslim agitation is increasing, and now at the end of Friday prayers, Muslims stream out of the mosques and start to demonstrate against the government.  Ethiopia is mostly Christian with a minority Muslim population, but it appears the few Muslims are flexing their muscle, probably in the wake of Islamist takeover of other African countries over the last 18 months.  Watch for more news from Ethiopia in the future.

From FOXNews November 2

Muslims in Christian-dominated Ethiopia rally on Fridays as tensions rise and arrests increase

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – As midday prayers came to an end at the Grand Anwar mosque in Ethiopia's capital, worshippers continued on to what has become a regular second act on Fridays — shouting anti-government slogans.

The demonstrations this Friday did not turn violent. But tensions are rising between the government in this mostly Christian country and Muslim worshippers. On Monday, federal prosecutors charged a group of 29 Muslims with terrorism and working to establish an Islamic republic.

Not all encounters between police and the protesters have been peaceful. In July, hundreds were arrested after a scuffle in the mosque that injured many and damaged property, including city buses.

Religious violence outside the capital has killed eight and wounded about a dozen this year in two incidents, including one last month when protesters tried to free jailed Muslim leaders in the Amhara region. Protests first erupted in December after the state, wary of Islamist extremists, wanted to change the leadership of a religious school in the capital.

The government also expelled two Arabs in May after the pair flew in from Middle East and disseminated pamphlets at the Anwar mosque. Two-thirds of Ethiopians are Christians; the rest are Muslims.

33% Muslim is more than enough to foment unrest, and it seems the fomenting has begun.

Read it all

Tunisia: one year later

"...we have no democracy, no trust in elected officials, no improved constitution. Human rights and women’s rights are threatened. The economy is tanking. Tourism is dwindling..."

From The New York Times October 31 by Souhir Stephenson  

Tunisia, a Sad Year Later

ON Oct. 23, 2011, I voted for the first time as a Tunisian citizen. It was the first election of the Arab Spring. Pictures of smiling, proud voters flooded the Internet. The world watched, surprised and hopeful. Moderate political Islam in the Arab world was touted as a possibility rather than an oxymoron.

A year later, we have no democracy, no trust in elected officials, no improved constitution. Human rights and women’s rights are threatened. The economy is tanking.

Tourism is dwindling. Who wants to vacation among bands of bearded savages raiding embassies, staking their black pirate flag over universities or burning trucks carrying beer? Meanwhile, our government and puppet president watch, without arresting these Salafist extremists.

We have one thing left from our revolution: free speech. That is why Facebook is filled with outrage and cell-phone videos of the madness; why we exchange skits and caricatures of our dictators, past and present. If something will save us, it will be our refusal to shut up again.

During those first elections, the Islamists were better organized, and supported by Gulf States afraid of democratic contagion. They won over many poor voters by financing communal weddings and lamb dinners for the Eid holiday. Islamists also volunteered in greater numbers at polling stations.

The Islamist Ennahda party won control over the country by winning only 41 percent of the electoral vote. This was possible because parties that portrayed themselves as democratic during the campaign later formed a coalition with the Islamists rather than with other secular parties.

Today, Tunisians are somber, anxious, rattled by daily tragedies. Recently, a secular party representative was assassinated by an extremist group. A woman gang-raped by the policewas later prosecuted. Salafists attacked the U.S. Embassy and burned its school (attended by Tunisians) while the government failed to dispatch police, firemen or soldiers.

The Islamists placed their relatives and buddies in powerful positions. They tried to insert into the Constitution that women are “complementary to men,” which would have reversed 50 years of equality. We did not vote for fanatics to twist our Constitution into Shariah law.

The recent leaked video of Rachid al-Ghannouchi, Tunisia’s Islamist mastermind, clearly demonstrates that the Salafists he was reassuring are not just his supporters, but his own militia, intent on terrorizing citizens into tacit obedience and on turning Tunisia into Little Iran.

It takes time to infiltrate the ministries, he explained. There are still too many secular people in the administrations, in the police, the army. Don’t worry about Shariah law; it is not what is written but what is enforced, he assured them. You can do your part, he told them, by opening more Koranic schools and camps, bringing in preachers. This is the man who was hailed as a moderate by the West.

There is nothing moderate or democratic about the Islamists. They played the moderate and democratic game to gain power. Now, in office, they keep postponing elections to entrench themselves in the fabric of government and judiciary by brute force.

The year voters granted them is up. The time for manipulative political Islam is over. It has lost legitimacy. It has failed to improve lives, preserve the few rights we had, or uphold the rule of law.

We must say “no” again — until we get it right. Democracy is a process, an evolution.

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Tunisian imam calls on faithful to prepare their "shrouds" for upcoming jihad

But remember, to point this out is to be Islamophobic and anti-Muslim.

From ANSAmed November 2

Tunisia: Imam calls jihad, Salafites to prepare shrouds

(ANSAmed) - Tunis -The new imam of the Nour mosque appointed after his predecessor Aymen Amdouni was killed in an assault on National Guards barracks, called for jihad inviting young Salafites to prepare their shrouds.

Nasreddine Aloui, the new imam of a mosque considered the centre of Salafites in Douar Hicher, participated in a talk show in which he called on young Salafites to engage in a holy war against the unfaithful and against the Ennahdha party accused of following 'Washington's orders'.

The young cleric was speaking on the eve of the funerals of the second victim of the assault on the Douar Hicher barracks which are scheduled to take place this afternoon in a tense climate.

Speaking at the talk show and addressing Tunisia's Interior Minister Ali Laarayedh, a leading member of Ennahdha who was also participating, Aloui showed his shroud saying that all Salafites needed to prepare theirs in view of their martyrdom.

'The interior minister and the other leaders of Ennahdha have mistaken the US for God as they establish the laws and write the Constitution', he said.

Egypt: anti-semitism rising swiftly after the "Arab Spring"

What happened?  Did we not expect a new democratic and secular Egypt to rise from Mubarrak's ashes?

“The real problem is that a cynical government that used anti-Semitism as a tool may have been replaced by an ideological government in which anti-Semitism is deep and serious”

No, really?

From the Free Beacon November 1 by Adam Kredo

Anti-Semitism Virulent in Egypt

A rising tide of anti-Semitism in Egypt has stoked concerns among Americans and Israelis that extremism will guide Cairo’s foreign policy under the Muslim Brotherhood-backed President Mohamed Morsi.

Prominent Egyptian political figures, religious clerics, and even Morsi himself have joined in calling to destroy Israel in recent weeks. Yet President Barack Obama’s administration and other Western nations have remained silent in an effort to avoid friction with Cairo’s new ruling class.

The White House’s repeated failure to condemn this blatant anti-Semitism is causing worry among Jewish leaders and Israeli officials alike.

“It’s very, very troubling that our government has remained silent on the issue as far as I can tell,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told the Washington Free Beacon. “It’s deeply disturbing and requires pressure and statements from the U.S. government and others.”

Egyptian anti-Semitism is nothing new, others observed.
However, the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise to power has amplified the hate, leaving many observers concerned that anti-Jewish prejudice will fuel the government’s policies towards Israel and even America. 

“The real problem is that a cynical government that used anti-Semitism as a tool may have been replaced by an ideological government in which anti-Semitism is deep and serious,” said Elliott Abrams, a former top National Security Council staffer in the administration of George W. Bush. “The Israelis are right to worry.”

Anti-Semitism is more “visible nowadays” following former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s “replacement by the Muslim Brotherhood,” Abrams explained.

While Mubarak may have “put some limits” on public displays of anti-Semitism, “those limits are now off,” Abrams warned.

And with the U.S. still pumping billions of dollars in aid into Egypt, some are beginning to wonder if the investment is paying off.

Cairo, they say, has become increasingly hostile to the West and has all but abandoned its once-critical role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The latest anti-Semitic exhibition comes from child preacher Ibrahim Adham who recently took to Egyptian television to call for Israel’s destruction and deem “martyrdom” a “religious duty.”

“Martyrdom on the path to Allah is a religious duty,” Adham said last week on Egypt’s Al-Rahma television station, according to a translation of his remarks by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

“Oh Allah, destroy Israel,” prays Adham as an older cleric looks on approvingly.

Experts said that Adham’s comments, while shocking, represent the norm.

“This kind of anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli, and anti-Christian approach was not born with the Muslim Brotherhood,” said one Arab affairs analyst who was not authorized to speak on record. “This racist TV channel was operating during Mubarak’s years.”

“What changed,” the source added, “is that these people are now represented in the Egyptian government and parliament.”

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Radical Islamists permeate White House

Obama has met with the Muslim Brotherhood dozens of times, has talked with Hamas representatives, instigated clandestine talks with Iran and snubbed Israel.  There are many Islamists/jihadists who have the ear of Obama and his cadre of believers, SCOTUS Clinton has as her personal assistant a known supporter of Hamas and has family ties to jihadist groups.  The White House is, for all intent and purpose the meeting place for radical islamists, jihadists and Muslim agitators of all stripes, some operating under the guise of academic credentials (Esposito, Mogahed, et al.)

Linda Sarsour is no friend of America, but she plays one in the White House.

From IPT November 1

More Radicalism From Another White House Guest

An Islamist activist honored by the White House last December as a "Champion of Change" called Zionism "racism" this week and said "nothing is creepier" than the belief in a Jewish homeland.

Linda Sarsour also posted two links on her Twitter feed to a rabidly anti-Israel video by a New York poet that accuses Israel of ethnic cleansing and mocks interfaith dialogue as selling out.
Sarsour has been invited to at least seven White House meetings since April 2010, records show. All but one were with Paul Monteiro, associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. The most recent meeting took place seven months ago. Last week, the Investigative Project on Terrorism reported on hundreds of White House meetings involving radical Islamists like Sarsour.

Sarsour, director of the Arab American Association of New York, is on record defending terror suspects, casting skepticism over law enforcement investigations and advancing conspiracy theories. Despite her access to the administration, Sarsourdescribes support for President Obama as a "lesser of two evils" proposition for Muslim voters.

She also believes there is a government conspiracy against Muslims and that the authorities were behind Malcolm X's assassination. During a Feb. 23, 2012 interviewwith Russia TV, Sarsour claimed that "Islamophobia" today is a continuation of the genocide of native Americans and the slavery of African Americans. "This has happened throughout the history of our country; our country was based on, you know, genocide on native Americans, based on slavery, racial profiling has existed for centuries in this community," she said.

During the same interview, Sarsour cast Malcolm X's assassination as part of a New York Police Department conspiracy which uses informants in the same way today. "As a matter of fact, on the chief body guard of Malcolm X was an NYPD informant," she said, "and we know that Malcolm X was assassinated in cooperation with the government, so it's very, for me it's just a continuation of history."

The occult hand of government lurks behind many corners in Sarsour's world. In May, she dismissed reports about an al-Qaida plot to blow up an airplane using a more sophisticated, more difficult to detect, underwear bomb. Rather than celebrate this outcome, Sarsour leapt to a false conclusion, claiming that in a May 8 Twitter post that it was a CIA inside job.

"Underwear bomber was the #CIA all along. Why did I already know that?! Shame on us - scaring the American people."

In fact, the bomb plot was quite real. The would-be terrorist turned out to be an informant for Saudi intelligence. When he took possession of the bomb, he promptly gave it to his handlers, averting a deadly attack and giving Saudi and American intelligence a chance to dissect the latest attempt for terrorists to evade security. Because he had travel papers and seemed willing to be a suicide bomber, theWashington Post called the informant "a perfect dangle, in the parlance of spycraft, and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula took the bait."

That, to Sarsour, is bad.

But it fits with her view that there is "War on Islam" led by the United States. That narrative is considered among the most effective messages in radicalizing young Muslims.

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Brotherly love in North Carolina

After his conviction of being a jihadist and sentenced to 45 years in prison, younger brother decided to follow sura 47 verse 4 where it says "... when ye meet in battle those who disbelieve, then it is smiting of the necks..."

From Reflector November 2 by Michael Biesecker

Brother pleads guilty in beheading plot

RALEIGH — The younger brother of a North Carolina terror suspect serving 45 years in prison for plotting to attack a Marine base pleaded guilty Thursday to plotting to behead government witnesses who testified against his sibling.

Shkumbin Sherifi, 22, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to a single count of conspiracy to commit murder for hire along with a co-defendant, former special education teacher Nevine Aly Elshiekh, 47, of Raleigh.

Prosecutors offered a plea deal to both, agreeing to drop eight other counts in exchange for testimony against Hysen Sherifi at his upcoming trial, set to begin Monday.

Authorities say Hysen Sherifi, 28, asked another inmate to help him hire a hit man and then recruited his brother and Elshiekh to deliver a $5,000 down payment for the first murder.

But the fellow inmate Sherifi approached contacted the FBI instead, allowing federal agents to set up an elaborate sting that included a confidential informant posing as the representative of a shadowy assassin named Treetop. That informant took the money and later provided faked pictures appearing to show the targeted witness beheaded and lying in a shallow grave.

Shkumbin Sherifi and Elshiekh were both videotaped meeting with the made-up hit man's helper and federal agents say the school teacher hocked her gold jewelry to help finance the beheading. Each faces up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines when they are sentenced in February.

The younger Sherifi's defense lawyer, James Payne of Shallotte, said his client's decision to become a government witness had been a tough one.

"Obviously, this is his brother and this is a difficult time for Shkumbin, but he is ready to step forward and take responsibility for his actions," Payne, a retired Marine, said after the hearing.

The Sherifi family fled Kosovo in 1999 during a brutal sectarian war between Serbs and ethnic Albanians. A naturalized U.S. citizen, Shkumbin Sherifi lived at home with his parents and sisters, occasionally taking classes at a nearby community college and recording vengeful rap music in his native Albanian. Earlier deemed a flight risk by a federal judge, Sherifi will remain in detention until sentencing.

Elshiekh will remain free on bond pending sentencing. She and her lawyer declined comment as they walked out of the courtroom.

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Benghazi investigator accepts Islamophobia as the root problem in America

Muslims are all peaceful and benign, while Americans are racist thugs bent on rounding up every last Muslim.  We are filled with the hate of misunderstanding, making us all Islamophobes, he says.

Clueless knucklehead.

From Front Page Mag November 2 by Matthew Vadum

Benghazi Investigator Slams America and ‘Islamophobes’

America is a seething hotbed of “Islamophobia,” filled with ignorant racist rubes who irrationally fear the benign Muslim religion, according to the Obama administration’s lead investigator into the Benghazi atrocities.

So said former Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering in more polished, diplomatic language during an Oct. 23 panel discussion at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The talk was on “what role the faith community can play in fighting Islamophobia,” a make-believe mental illness that Islamists would love to have listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Radical Islam’s stateside defenders frequently accuse anti-terrorism hawks of “McCarthyism,” hurling the epithet “Islamophobe” the same way American leftists use the word “racist” to shut down debate.

Pickering’s pontifications came two and a half weeks after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton named him to head a State Department “Accountability Review Board” tasked with examining the circumstances surrounding the deaths on Sept. 11, 2012, the 11th anniversary of 9/11, of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, information management officer Sean Smith, and security personnel Glen Doherty, and Tyrone Woods at the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.
At last week’s panel discussion, Pickering piously but incorrectly invoked the Holocaust to argue that American Muslims were somehow in danger.

“I’m not great at quotations,” he said, foreshadowing a misattribution to come.

“Perhaps it was [German theologian and dissident] Dietrich Bonhoeffer who said of the Nazis, when they came for the Jews, I didn’t speak up. I was not a Jew. When they came for the Catholics, I didn’t speak up, I was not a Catholic. When they came for us, no one spoke up. There was no one left to do so,” Pickering said, paraphrasing famous, poignant verses actually spoken by Third Reich-era German pastor Martin Niemoller.

Pickering said that Americans’ lack of familiarity with Islam –and not Islamic terrorist attacks on Americans— fuels hostility toward Muslims.

“Data shows that those Americans who do not know Muslims, who do not know much about Islam, are the ones who harbor the greatest feelings of prejudice,” he said.

There is a “strong, continuing, and perhaps, in an unfortunate way in some areas, growing, prejudice against Muslims and Islam,” he said.

However, he added that veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have so far avoided embracing this anti-Islamic bigotry. “Many of the soldiers are still serving and I think that also is helpful because they understand that as loyal Americans that kind of prejudice is not to be expressed.”

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"One in five say Muslim men should be allowed to follow their religion in America and have more than one wife, and 58 percent said criticism of their religion or of Muhammad should not be allowed under the Constitution"

A new poll also shows one in eight Muslims in America believe blasphemy against Islam should be punishable with death.

Welcome to 21st century Islam.

From WND October 31 by Bob Unruh

GUESS WHO U.S. MUSLIMS ARE VOTING FOR

Nearly half of 600 Muslim-American citizens polled who plan to vote in the 2012 presidential election believe parodies of Muhammad should be prosecuted criminally in the U.S., and one in eight say the offense is so serious violators should face the death penalty.
The results came in a groundbreaking scientific poll for WND by the public-opinion research and media consulting company Wenzel Strategies. It was taken Oct. 22-26 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.98 percentage points.

The poll also found 40 percent of Muslims in America believe they should not be judged by U.S. law and the Constitution, but by Shariah standards.

And the big winner among Muslim-Americans in the presidential election is Barack Obama, the poll found. More than 72 percent said they are definitely supporting Obama, and another 8.5 percent are leaning that direction. Only 11 percent are for Romney.

Nearly 55 percent of the American Muslim voters say the U.S. is on the right track, and another 13 percent are uncertain. Virtually all of the respondents (98 percent) are American citizens and 97 percent are registered to vote.

“Almost half of those Muslims surveyed – an astonishing 46 percent – said they believe those Americans who offer criticism or parodies of Islam should face criminal charges,” said pollster Fritz Wenzel in an analysis of the survey’s results.

“Even more shocking: One in eight respondents said they think those Americans who criticize or parody Islam should face the death penalty, while another nine percent said they were unsure on the question,” he said.

Wenzel said even the 9 percent “undecided” on that particular question is alarming.

“Seldom in survey research does a response of ‘not sure’ carry such significance, but the response to this question certainly is a surprise, given the severity of the question, and offers insight into the conflict that some Muslims appear to face in making the ideals under-girding American society fit into their religious lifestyle,” he said.

Wenzel’s poll said 7.2 percent of the respondents said they “strongly agree” with the idea of execution for those who parody Islam, and another 4.3 percent said they somewhat agree.

While 80 percent said that they somewhat or strongly disagree with the idea, when those who said they were not sure are added, one in five Muslims across America cannot say they believe Christians or others who criticize Muhammad should be spared the death penalty.

More Muslim women (10.4 percent) than Muslim men (4.9 percent) said they strongly agree with the idea, while 12.4 percent of the women and 7.1 percent of the men were uncertain about the issue involving Muhammad.

Four in 10 said Muslims in America should not be judged by U.S. law and the Constitution, but by Islamic Shariah law.

“A much smaller percentage said they think the U.S. should establish an entirely separate court system to adjudicate matters involving Muslims,” Wenzel said.

While the respondents overwhelmingly lean toward the Democratic Party and like the direction Barack Obama, who repeatedly has praised Islam around the world, is leading this nation, they also have a fundamental conflict with American life, expressing objections to the freedom of speech and religion guaranteed in the Constitution.

American Muslims, Wenzel said, “show signs of ambivalence toward the U.S. Constitution generally and the First Amendment specifically.”

“These survey findings show a community in conflict with the foundations of our nation, as many Muslims favor and enjoy the freedoms offered by the U.S. Constitution, including participation in elections here, but at the same time significant percentages want to be treated differently than the average non-Muslim when it comes to legal matters,” he said.

“While 39 percent of Muslims said they believe existing U.S. courts should consult Shariah law when adjudicating cases involving Muslims, a plurality of 45 percent said they do not agree with this idea. Asked if the U.S. should establish separate courts based solely on Shariah law to adjudicate cases involving Muslim, 21 percent said it should. Two-thirds of respondents – 66 percent – said that separate courts are not necessary to adjudicate Muslims.”

While 9 of 10 of the Muslim respondents said they agree with the First Amendment, they are also in conflict with it, Wenzel said, citing evidence in answers to “another question in the survey which found that one-third of Muslims – 32 percent – believe Shariah should be the supreme law of the land in the United States,” Wenzel said.

“Another shocking finding from the survey is how Muslims view the religious freedoms of Christians. Asked whether U.S. citizens who are Christians have the right to evangelize Muslims to consider other faiths, just 30 percent agreed Christians have such a right. Another 42 percent said they do not have such a right, while 28 percent said they were unsure on the question.”

One in five say Muslim men should be allowed to follow their religion in America and have more than one wife, and 58 percent said criticism of their religion or of Muhammad should not be allowed under the Constitution.

While 43 percent said they disagreed with the idea of Christians evangelizing Muslims, another 27 percent said they were undecided. Only 19 percent said they “strongly agree” with the idea that Americans have a right to invite Muslims to consider another faith.

Nearly one in three said Israel either has no right to exist or they were uncertain whether it does.

Do these numbers make you more uneasy concerning Islam and Muslims in America?  Yeah, me too.

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