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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
3/26/2016 10:07:11 AM

BRITISH STUDENTS FOUND GUILTY OF ISIS-INSPIRED PLOT TO KILL ON LONDON’S STREETS

BY ON 3/24/16 AT 10:24 AM

Tarik Hassane pleaded guilty to having directed others in the plot to kill police, soldiers and civilians in London.
METROPOLITAN POLICE

A British court has convicted two university students of planning to kill soldiers, police and civilians on the streets of London, in a plot inspired by the Islamic State militant group (ISIS).

A jury at the Old Bailey in London on Wednesday found Suhaib Majeed, 21, of west London, guilty of conspiracy to murder and the preparation of acts of extremism.

Tarik Hassane, the 22-year-old ringleader of the ISIS-inspired cell, also of west London, admitted the same charges and of directing others to carry out the plot using encrypted social media platforms Telegram and Pidgin. Hassane is a medical student and Majeed a physics student at King’s College London.

The pair planned to ride mopeds around military barracks and a police station, shooting at authorities. Hassane had monitored the Shepherd’s Bush police station and a military barracks in west London’s White City using Google Street View.

The pair purchased a pistol and a silencer and were seeking a moped to conduct the attack from before British counter-extremism forces moved to arrest them.

The jury cleared two men, Nyall Hamlett, 26, and Nathan Cuffy, 26, who provided the firearm to the pair, of conspiracy to murder but they admitted firearms offenses.

Watch video

Hassane and Majeed were both childhood friends from Westminster City School. Hassane, known as “The Surgeon” because of his medical background, had suspected ties to Mohammed Emwazi, ISIS’s former ‘Jihadi John’ poster boy who was killed in a U.S. air strike in December 2015.

Both men grew up in the same area of west London and attended the same mosque in Ladbroke Grove. Hassane had documented how he associated with older men at the mosque during his teenage years.

According to The Guardian, he wrote that he “met some good older practising bros. Started hanging around with them...” He is suspected of traveling to Syria to pledge allegiance to ISIS in July 2014.

Scotland Yard’s head of counter-terrorism, Commander Dean Haydon, told the newspaper: “This is an elevation of complexity... committing a drive-by shooting, acquiring a firearm, silencer and ammunition, in broad daylight targeting police, military and members of the public before making their getaway.”

(Newsweek)

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
3/26/2016 10:35:20 AM

WILL THERE BE A COUP AGAINST ERDOGAN IN TURKEY?

BY ON 3/24/16 AT 11:21 AM

Kurdish people display a picture of Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a protest outside an EU-Turkey summit in Brussels on March 7. Turks—and the Turkish military—increasingly recognize that Erdogan is taking the country to the precipice. YVES HERMAN/REUTERS

This article first appeared on the American Enterprise Institute site.

The situation in Turkey is bad and getting worse.

It’s not just the deterioration in security amidst a wave of terrorism. Public debt might be stable, but private debt is out of control, the tourism sector is in free-fall and the decline in the currency has impacted every citizen’s buying power.

There is a broad sense, election results notwithstanding, that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is out of control. He is imprisoning opponents, seizing newspapers left and right and building palaces at the rate of a mad sultan oraspiring caliph. In recent weeks, he has once again threatened to dissolve the constitutional court.

Corruption is rife. His son Bilal reportedly fled Italy on a forged Saudi diplomatic passport as the Italian police closed in on him in an alleged money launderingscandal.

His outbursts are raising eyebrows both in Turkey and abroad. Even members of his ruling party whisper about his increasing paranoia which, according to some Turkish officials, has gotten so bad that he seeks to install anti-aircraft missiles at his palace to prevent airborne men-in-black from targeting him in a snatch-and-grab operation.

Turks—and the Turkish military—increasingly recognize that Erdogan is taking Turkey to the precipice. By first bestowing legitimacy upon imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan with renewed negotiations and then precipitating renewed conflict, he has taken Turkey down a path in which there is no chance of victory and a high chance of de facto partition.

After all, if civil war renews as in the 1980s and early 1990s, Turkey’s Kurds will be hard-pressed to settle for anything less, all the more so given the precedent now established by their brethren in Iraq and Syria.

Erdogan long ago sought to kneecap the Turkish military. For the first decade of his rule, both the U.S. government and European Union cheered him on. But that was before even Erdogan’s most ardent foreign apologists recognized the depth of his descent into madness and autocracy.

So if the Turkish military moves to oust Erdogan and place his inner circle behind bars, could they get away with it?

In the realm of analysis rather than advocacy, the answer is yes. At this point in election season, it is doubtful that the Obama administration would do more than castigate any coup leaders, especially if they immediately laid out a clear path to the restoration of democracy.

Nor would Erdogan engender the type of sympathy that Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi did. When Morsi was ousted, his commitment to democracy was still subject to debate.

That debate is now moot when it comes to the Turkish strongman. Neither the Republican nor Democratic front-runners would put U.S. prestige on the line to seek a return to the status quo ante. They might offer lip service against a coup, but they would work with the new regime.

Coup leaders might moot European and American human rights and civil society criticism and that of journalists by immediately freeing all detained journalists and academics and by returning seized newspapers and television stations to their rightful owners.

Turkey’s NATO membership is no deterrent to action: Neither Turkey nor Greece lost their NATO membership after previous coups. Should a new leadership engage sincerely with Turkey’s Kurds, Kurds might come onboard.

Neither European nor American public opinion would likely be sympathetic to the execution of Erdogan, his son and son-in-law, or key aides like Egemen Bağış and Cüneyd Zapsu, although they would accept a trial for corruption and long incarceration.

Erdoğan might hope friends would rally to his side, but most of his friends—both internationally and inside Turkey—are attracted to his power. Once out of his palace, he may find himself very much alone, a shriveled and confused figure like Saddam Hussein at his own trial.

I make no predictions, but given rising discord in Turkey as well as the likelihood that the Turkish military would suffer no significant consequence should it imitate Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s game plan in Egypt, no one should be surprised if Turkey’s rocky politics soon get rockier.

Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. A former Pentagon official, his major research areas are the Middle East, Turkey, Iran and diplomacy.

(Newsweek)

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
3/26/2016 10:50:16 AM

ISIS has lost Palmyra



BEIRUT — Syrian soldiers recaptured the old citadel of Palmyra overlooking the city’s ancient ruins on Friday, state media and a monitoring group said, in an offensive which could open up much of eastern Syria to government forces.

The recapture of Palmyra, which the Islamic State group seized in May 2015, would mark the biggest single gain for President Bashar al-Assad since Russia intervened in September and turned the tide of the five-year conflict in his favor.

Palmyra is the site of some of the most extensive ruins of the ancient Roman Empire, and temples and tombs were dynamited by Islamic State fighters in what the United Nations has described as a war crime.

The city controls routes east into the heartland of territory held by the militants, who have proclaimed a “caliphate” to rule over all Muslims from swaths of Syria and Iraq.



The Arch of Triumph among the Roman ruins of Palmyra

Photo: Getty Images


The scale of Friday’s fighting reflected how much of a strategic prize the city represents, with jets launching dozens of airstrikes and soldiers firing mortar barrages, while Islamic State fighters hit back with two car bombings.

Russian warplanes have continued to support the Syrian army and its allies as they push their offensive on the desert city, despite Moscow’s recent announcement that it was withdrawing the bulk of its military forces.

Beirut-based television channel Al-Mayadeen, broadcasting from the edge of Palmyra, showed a low-flying jet carry out three airstrikes against what it said were Islamic State fighters withdrawing from the old citadel back into Palmyra.

State television and Al-Manar, the television station of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, later quoted military sources saying government forces had seized the citadel, located above the ancient ruins.

ISIS militants line captured Syrian soldiers up in front of the amphitheater in Palmyra in May.Photo: Getty Images

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the citadel had been captured. It said there were 56 airstrikes between dawn and early afternoon on Friday.

A ceasefire backed by the United States and Russia covers most of Syria but not areas held by Islamic State. The first truce of its kind since war began five years ago has been accompanied this month by the first peace talks attended by Assad’s government and most of the groups opposed to him. Meanwhile, Damascus has turned its fire on Islamic State.

Moscow is the main ally of Assad’s government, while Washington and other Western countries have backed foes trying to overthrow him during five years of civil war that has killed 250,000 people and led to the world’s worst refugee crisis. Both powers are committed to fighting against Islamic State and have backed a new diplomatic push to end fighting on other fronts.

A Russian special forces officer was killed in combat near Palmyra in the last week, Interfax said, suggesting the Kremlin has been more deeply engaged in the Syrian conflict than it has acknowledged.

Islamic State suicide bombers detonated two car bombs as they tried to repulse government forces who advanced into the hotel district close to the ancient ruins, said the Observatory, which monitors Syria’s war through a network of sources.

Soldiers interviewed on Mayadeen and Syrian television said the army was completing the capture of high ground overlooking Palmyra.

A photo released on Aug. 25 shows ISIS exploding the 2,000-year-old temple of Baalshamin in

Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra.Photo: AP

‘Joy after tragedy’

Syria’s antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said that driving Islamic State out of Palmyra would be a victory for the whole world.

“After all the tragedy we have suffered in Syria for five years, and the 10 months in Palmyra after it fell … it’s the first time we feel joy,” Abdulkarim told Reuters.

“We pray for victory soon, so that the damage is limited. Palmyra, under their control, was the loss of a civilization,” he said. “The only choice is to liberate the city in any way possible.”

Mayadeen and Al-Manar showed footage of the ancient city on Friday. It was not possible to assess from the long-range shots what damage had been inflicted, but colonnades and several structures appeared to be still standing.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has set out a common blueprint for a political process aimed at ending the civil war, and said on Thursday talks would tackle the divisive issue of a post-war transition when the warring sides gather again next month.

Progress has been slow, with the government delegation and its opponents disagreeing fundamentally on the terms of such a transition, including whether Assad must leave power.

(New York Post)

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
3/26/2016 3:11:56 PM
Graphic video shows attacker killing British tourist in San Francisco


Warning: A British tourist's killing on a San Francisco street is caught on dramatic video.

By Shelby Grad

MARCH 26, 2016

San Francisco police released a dramatic video showing an attacker fatally stabbing a British tourist in a bustling section of the city.

The incident occurred Feb. 18 on Post Street near San Francisco's Civic Center. The video shows a robber chasing and then attacking the 44-year-old tourist in the middle of the street.

The tourist died Thursday, officials said.

Authorities said police were looking for two suspects and asked anyone who was in the area of Post between Franklin and Gough streets to contact police.

Police told the San Francisco Chronicle that the victim was stabbed in the head after a man and woman tried to steal his messenger bag. The police said the two scuffled over the messenger bag before the stabing. The Chronicle said the man was walking near his niece's home.

The video shows a brazen attack. One car driving down the street stopped as the incident was occurred, but that didn't deter the suspect.

shelby.grad@latimes.com

(Los Angeles Times)

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
3/26/2016 3:31:25 PM

9 face murder charges in recorded after-school brawl in Georgia

Updated 0225 GMT (1025 HKT)
March 26, 2016


9 face murder charges in after-school brawl 01:38

(CNN) It started out as a fistfight. Two girls -- emboldened by bystanders alternately yelling out support or derision -- went toe to toe in the residential street before they tumbled to the ground.
It only got uglier from there.
A two-minute cell phone video shot by a witness last week in Hephzibah, Georgia, captures the chaos as others join the fray, many wielding bats, pipes and fists. The driver of a black car targets two young men, narrowly misses them, and backs up on the subdivision lawn, striking another vehicle.
In the end, an 18-year-old boy was mortally wounded.
The sheriff in Richmond County, also home to nearby Augusta, has accused nine people -- including six high school students -- of murder. He told CNN affiliate WJBF that any person who participates in a felony that results in loss of life can be charged with that crime.
    "Every person who was involved in this type of foolish behavior are going to be charged with the most severe crime that we can possibly charge them with," Sheriff Richard Roundtree told WRDW, another affiliate.
    The disturbing video, shot March 18, captured the screams of onlookers and participants during the after-school brawl. A young man used a bat or pipe to strike the vehicle that eventually came charging. At one point, a teen holding his bloodied upper shoulder runs from a porch toward the street.
    A girl, her voice hoarse from the effort, screams, "Call 911."
    As many as 50 people -- many of them students at Glenn Hills High School in Augusta -- participated in the brawl that resulted in the death of Demajhay Bell, WRDW reported, citing officials.
    Bell was stabbed in the neck and died two days later, the affiliate reported.
    Richmond County District Attorney Ashley Wright told CNN that none of the defendants has entered a plea because the charges must first be presented to a grand jury for possible indictment. All nine are being held without bond, pending a hearing, she said.
    WJBF reported a 10th person is being sought, and that all are facing additional charges of aggravated assault.
    According to Roundtree, the dispute began as high school "drama."
    "That drama that happens in high school, and everybody has gone through it," the sheriff told WRDW. "But when the adults get involved, that's always a bad thing."
    A spokesman for the Richmond County school system, however, told CNN that reports of the altercation beginning at school are "unsubstantiated."
    "(The brawl) did involve students from school, but reports that the incident began at school are unsubstantiated," said Kaden Jacobs. "According to our investigation and the information available at this time, it seems to us that this began due to Facebook posts."
    Jacobs told CNN that six current Glenn Hills High School students have been charged: Quiasha Henley, A'Lexis Cain, Tyteanna Thomas and Myah Dunbar, all 18, as well as Terry Lee Daniels and Raheem Jobes, both 19.
    All have been suspended pending tribunal hearings, according to Jacobs.
    He said that Bell dropped out of Glenn Hills in September.
    The other three charged, according to WJBF, are Quiauna Henley, 35, Eyvette Lashawn Byrd, 39, and Demetrius Lamont Harris Jr., 21.
    It was unclear whether any had retained defense attorneys, and CNN was unable Friday to reach any family members for the nine.
    A message left for Bell's mother was not immediately returned.
    Roundtree said the community can't tolerate such violence.
    "It was a series of events that led to it. It wasn't just one incident of a violent act against an individual," he told WRDW. "This was a coordinated, conscious effort."

    "Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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