Tag Archives: Attack

Featured, International

Breaking, Developing: Paris Under Attack; Dozens Killed, Hundreds Held Hostage

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Update, November 13, 5:47 p.m.: The death toll has climbed to 60, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.

Update, November 13, 6:31 p.m.: 5 more explosions and reports of automatic gunfire at theater with 100 hostages. Hostages possibly being killed one by one.

Update, November 13, 8:19 p.m.: France Declares State of Emergency, Military Enacts Full Control

Paris- Paris is under attack in at least three simultaneous attacks. As of this posting (and that number continues to change), at least 35 people are dead and possibly another 100 hostages are being held after three separate violent attacks.

paris hostage shooting map

Police say the gunmen—as many as six—were armed with kalashnikovs and grenades. They are all currently on the loose.

At least one of the gunman opened fire at a restaurant near a soccer stadium.  The soccer game between France and Germany was taking place at the time.  Early reports indicate that a Kalishnikov rifle and grenades were used in at least one attack.

Paris’s deputy mayor says it is too early to say if the attacks were coordinated acts of terror, but that it looks that way. US officials state the attacks were coordinated.

Truth in Media will provide updates as the story is developing.

Featured, Technology, US

President Obama signs cyber-security executive order

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While visiting Stanford University on Friday, President Obama announced he was signing an executive order meant to encourage the sharing of information, regarding cyberthreats, between private sector companies and the government.

The order was signed at the first summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection, which focused on consumer protection and private-public partnerships against cyberthreats.

While at the summit, the president likened the internet to the “Wild West,” and said the public are looking to the government for protection against cyber attacks. President Obama also called these cyber attacks one of the greatest threats to national security, safety, and economic issues.

“Everybody is online, and everybody is vulnerable,” said President Obama, according to NBC News. “The business leaders here want their privacy and their children protected, just like the consumer and privacy advocates here want America to keep leading the world in technology and be safe from attacks.”

However, groups in Silicon Valley are not jumping on board with the president’s push for new digital securities.

Ben Desjardins, the director of security solutions with the cyber-security firm Radware, said, “The new proposals face significant headwinds, both legislatively from Congress and cooperatively from heavyweights in the tech sector.”  Desjardins also said many companies in Silicon Valley already feel “burned” by the government after the companies learned of the various government surveillance programs through the Snowden leaks.

Scott Algeier, the executive director of the nonprofit organization Information Sharing and Analysis Center, also said this new executive order sounds like a federal takeover of information sharing among people and companies in the private-sector.

The White House has said the executive order is only a framework, and with it the White House aims to allow private companies access to otherwise classified cyber-threat information and ensure information sharing is strongly secure, all while protecting the civil liberties of citizens.

The text of the executive order can be found here for more details.

Foreign Policy, International, US

NYPD on alert after ISIS video release

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The New York Police Department is on high-alert after ISIS re-released a propaganda video which tells people to murder “intelligence officers, police officers, soldiers and civilians” throughout the US.  

The specific propaganda video was originally released in September 2014, but following the events in France last week, the NYPD is taking the resurgence of the video seriously.

An internal memo released throughout the NYPD told officers to “remain alert and consider tactics at all times while on patrol,” according to FOX News. Similarly, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, a police union in New York City, sent out an email to union members which reads, “Pay attention to your surroundings. Officers must pay close attention to approaching vehicles . . . Pay close attention to people as they approach. Look for their hands.”

However, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner for counterterrorism, John Miller, said according to CNN, “I don’t think that we are under any more threat … or any less threat than we were the day before.” Miller also said the NYPD has not detected any specific threats in New York City, but the NYPD has stepped up their police presence at central locations throughout the city, such as in Times Square.

Mayor Bill de Blasio told the citizens of New York City to also be on the lookout for anything suspicious. “We are the number one terror target, and that has created in us a sense of vigilance every day,” said de Blasio according to CBS New York. “There is no down day. There is no day when we’re less vigilant. We’re vigilant every day,”

The NYPD was not the only agency to take notice after the video resurfaced.

The FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are also taking the video seriously. These agencies released a nationwide bulletin to law enforcement offices with similar warnings found in the NYPD memo as well as the union released email.

Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said he hopes intelligence agents in the U.S. are prepared and ready to prevent attacks similar to those carried out in France last week. “What we have to do,” said Menendez, “is be able to create a sense in communities of the importance of high alert, of vigilance, of being able to share information.”

Politics, US

Charges for Oklahoma beheading suspect emerge as details come to light

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Days after Alton Nolen attacked two women after losing his job, murder charges are expected to be filed against him on Monday.

Nolen lost his job at Vaughan Foods in Oklahoma last Thursday and after this, Nolen reportedly went to his former workplace and carried out acts of violence against his co-workers.

Nolen reportedly drove to the Vaughan Foods processing plant, and rammed his car into another vehicle at the entrance before he entered the building.  Upon entering, it is believed he grabbed a knife, similar to those used on the production floor of Vaughan Foods, and beheaded 54-year-old Colleen Hufford, an employee at Vaughan Foods.

Then, Nolen supposedly attacked 43-year-old Traci Johnson, another employee in the plant, before he was stopped by gunfire.  Mark Vaughan is the company’s chief operating officer as well as a reserve deputy sheriff for Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Department, and it was only after he shot Nolen the attack stopped.

Moore Police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis told the LA Times, detectives will recommend prosecutors to charge Nolen with first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon.

After he was released from prison in 2013 on drug related charges, Nolen reportedly became more religious and co-workers at Vaughan Foods said he had tried to convert them to Islam.

A Facebook page under the name “Jah’Keem Yisrael,” was used by Nolen before the attacks according to CNN.  The page contains pictures of Nolen as well as posts and pictures regarding Islam and the Quran.  Some of these pictures are of al-Qaeda chiefs as well as the 9/11 attacks.

There were also disturbing posts on this Facebook page.  One post reportedly showed a beheaded man with the quote, “I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their fingertips off them.”

The Oklahoma Conference of Churches made a statement Saturday saying, “The Islamic Community of Oklahoma has consistently condemned all violence — most especially acts of violence ostensibly carried out in the name of Islam… Along with our Muslim brothers and sisters we affirm that true Islam is, in fact, a religion of peace and that those inflicting violence in the name of Islam are perverting Islam for their own ends.”

After undergoing surgery, Nolen spoke to investigators on Friday, but no details have emerged form these interviews.

International, Politics

Christians Suffer In The New Middle East

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In the wake of civil wars, regime changes and emboldened Islamic extremism, Christians are facing a new environment in the Middle East. Christianity has a rich history in the Middle East. Its roots dig deep into the soil. However, those roots are now drying up.

Syria has been home to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, which dates back 2 millennia. There are even Christians in some villages of Syria that speak Aramaic, which was the language Jesus was said to have spoken. The apostle Paul is said to have been converted to Christianity while on the road to Damascus. At one point Christians composed 30% of Syria’s population. Today they compose only 10% of Syria’s 22 million. Christians in Syria have always been among the minority. However, they were long protected under Hafez al-Assad, who was president between 1971 and 2000, and by his son Bashar. Since the Syrian civil war began 2 years ago hundreds of thousands of Christians have been forced to exodus. It is estimated that more than 1,000 Christians have been slaughtered, entire Christian villages have been wiped out and more than 40 churches have been destroyed or damaged. Many fear that Christians will find no refuge in Syria if the rebels are successful in overthrowing Assad, who has long protected them.

Egypt is the home of many stories within the Christian bible. Coptic Christians compose approximately 10% of Egypt’s 90 million. They have come under vicious attack at the hand of the Muslim Brotherhood. After the ousting of President Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s leader, extremists within the Brotherhood set fire to hundreds of Christian churches, businesses, schools and homes. Many Christians were beaten to death in the middle of the street. A mob even set fire to and destroyed a Seventh-day Adventist church in Assiut, which is a town 200 miles from Cairo.

Under former president Mubarak, Egypt’s Christians were protected. The former dictator would even pass laws, which favored them and their religion. Mubarak did at times face tensions with the Copts, but balance was most always achieved. Mubarak would even perform favors for the pope. In fear of their lives, Christians have been forced to exodus from Egypt, thus ending their 2,000 year presence in the country. 

Iraq is also home to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities. In fact, Christians had placed their roots in the area before Islam even became a religion. Former president Saddam Hussein never favored the Christians; however, he certainly never targeted them. Once Hussein was removed from power the target was drawn on Iraq’s Christians. Hundreds of thousands of Christians were forced to exodus to Syria. Now those same Christians in Syria are forced to exodus again. Before Hussein’s demise there were more than 800,000 Christians in Iraq. It is now estimated that there are less than 400,000. In 2010, 58 Christians were killed and 120 taken hostage during a siege on a Catholic church in Baghdad.

This pattern is repeated again and again in Libya, Tunisia and other countries where the “Arab Spring” has taken hold. It is interesting to note that pro-democracy is not always a good thing. In America our Founding Fathers set forth a representative democracy, which is also referred to as a Republic. In a Republic minority rights are protected against the majority. Direct democracy, as seen in the Middle East, destroys the rights and protections of the minority class. The old regimes of the Middle East took a play from the book of Darius The Great, the king of the Persian Empire at its peak. Darius’ success was rooted in religious freedom and tolerance of minorities. The relative stability the Middle East has known for years had roots in this tolerance. As those roots dry and burn, stability is no where in sight. As the Middle East continues its renaissance, which has roots in Islamic extremism those of minority faiths such as Judaism, Christianity and Baha’i see little hope of peace.