North Carolina Division jihadis take a page from “Sleeper Cell”

I say this because, just like in Showtime’s original series “Sleeper Cell,” a rather unassuming looking white guy was indicted as a firmly-ensconced member of a U.S.-based group of jihadis accused of supporting violent jihad overseas.

Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, was arrested Monday with his two sons and four other North Carolina men. Prosecutors accused them of military-style training at home and plotting “violent jihad” through a series of terror attacks abroad.

Recruiting him was one of their best ideas ever – they relied on people assuming he was in the business of plotting landscaping rather than a series of violent jihad attacks. It is that sort of lazy prejudice that keeps getting us into trouble.

Kudos to the unsung agents who nabbed them.

Mayors and Rabbis and Kidneys, oh my…

All kinds of wrong!

I wish it were a set-up to some joke where they all walk into a bar and there’s a competition about who’s going to get into heaven first. But it’s not, and at this point, the only one with a shot at paradise would have to be the kidney.

CBS News Blogs and The Consumerist (great pic): Scores of people in New Jersey and New York were arrested in a massive public corruption scandal, “including three New Jersey mayors, two state assemblymen and five rabbis.”

Various schemes were involved including money laundering, organ trafficking, and political corruption. Did I mention there were rabbis? And kidneys? I’m still gob-smacked about it all.

A special thanks to the many who ended up here by googling: “kidney rabbis jokes.”

Somali Islamists a threat to westerners in Kenya

Earlier this year I did some pieces on the Somali pirates who hijacked the Saudi-owned Sirius Star and the Shabab Islamists who pursued them, ostensibly to punish them for attacking a Muslim company, in reality to demand a share of the loot.

Now it seems that the Shabab have migrated to Kenya and are posing a threat to westerners there. Click here for story.

Police discover laptop related to Jakarta bombing

…although they can’t confirm, Indonesian police believe they’ve recovered a laptop belonging to one of the bombers responsible for the hotel attacks in Jakarta on Friday, July 17.  The discovered the laptop in one of the hotel rooms in the Ritz Carlton, the site of one of the attacks.

Click here for story.

Uighurs don’t make headlines in the Middle East.

Go figure. Does the Arab media think the Muslim Uighurs aren’t …Muslim enough? Maybe: after all, the Saudi Arab Times did distinguish them as “co-religionists.” Hrm, anti-Asian bias?

Or maybe, as the Time article suggests, state-sponsored publications don’t want to focus on it because of political, economic, or trade interests:

According to U.S. government statistics, China is both Iran and Sudan’s biggest trade partner, and either the main or secondary source of imports for most of the other countries in the region.

This is not to say that some of the radicals in the region haven’t noticed. This week,  “al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb this week called for attacks on Han Chinese in North Africa in retaliation for Muslim deaths.”

I’d be interested to see how this develops. Will al Qaeda and other militant groups turn their sights to China and start recruiting Uighurs en masse into their training camps (if they haven’t already)? The Chinese don’t mess around when it comes to terrorists. Or pirates, for that matter.  I have a feeling it’ll get really ugly (and hopefully entertaining).

CIA plans to take out al Qaeda brass nixed

The NYT reports that since 2001 the C.I.A. had “vague” plans to assassinate members of al Qaeda’s senior leadership.

The Rhetorican notes that the Times reported on this in 2002 (and that Congress knew about it and some say authorized it; I’m not going that far).

Anyway, the plans were never carried out and C.I.A. Director Panetta cancelled it shortly after learning about it.

Current and former officials said that the program was designed as a more “surgical” solution to eliminating terrorists than missile strikes with armed Predator drones, which cannot be used in cities and have occasionally resulted in dozens of civilian casualties.

Midwestern “Lost Boys” refugees answer “the call to jihad”?

Well, this is jacked. Anyone remember the stories of the refugee boys from the Sudan and Somalia who were resettled in random, totally alien places like Minneapolis and subsequently pursued success and college educations?

Now the NYT reports that some of them are becoming radicalized within their adoptive cities and are returning to the countries of their birth to join al-Qaeda affiliate groups like Shabaab, whose mission is to overthrow the Somali government.

The (individuals mentioned) are among more than 20 young Americans who are the focus of what may be the most significant domestic terrorism investigation since Sept. 11.

More on al Qaeda affiliate AQLIM

Another interesting article on the increased wingspan of Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQLIM or AQIM).

“Al Qaeda’s affiliate in North Africa has carried out a string of slayings, bombings and other lethal attacks against Westerners and African security forces in recent weeks that have raised fears the terrorist group may be turning a more deadly corner.”

Uighurs rise up, China cracks down, “Iranian style”

…and this has been going on for a while now. (H/T: Rhetorican)

Here’s an interesting piece on Rebiya Kadeer, “exiled chmapion of Chinese Uighurs.” She’s a former millionaire businesswoman and once was among China’s wealthiest citizens. Then she was imprisoned for 6 years, deported, and god knows what happened to her money. She’s a huge advocate for the Uighur people and now the Chinese government blames her for “the deadly weekend riots in Xinjiang that have killed at least 156 people and led to the arrests of hundreds, according to state media. But Kadeer strongly refutes those charges.”

Chinese state media claims the Uighurs rampaged in deadly unrest, the Uighurs counter that the authorities cracked down on a peaceful protest.

Wife blows MI6 chief’s cover. On Facebook.

The worst facepalm moment ever for a MI6 chief.  Step one: if you’re lucky enough to be in this line of work, then for God’s sake, marry/partner up with someone smart.

Click here for story.

H/T: Rhetorican - for the story, and for the peace of mind that having a smart “other half” brings!

AZ mother leads teenage sons in crime spree

Cynthia White Roberson - shades of Ma Barker

ABC News via AP reports that this 51- year old mother led her 12 and 14-year old sons as well as other young men on 20+ assaults and armed robberies in order to pay her rent and car loan on her gold Chevy. Like “Ma Barker,” the Missouri woman who led her four sons on a robbery spree in the early 1900s, Roberson coached and led her sons and “and five other young boys and men between 14 and 20 years old” in committing the violent crimes because she didn’t have a job.

Click here for the report.