Given Enough Time, Could ISIS Get A Nuclear Weapon?

Secular Talk

The Islamic State group claims its financial situation is flourishing to the point that it is in a position to obtain a nuclear bomb within the coming year, according to the latest issue of the extremist group’s online propaganda magazine Dabiq.

An article is purportedly authored by British ISIS captive John Cantlie, and it concedes that the scenario is a “far-fetched” one, but that the militant group could actually obtain a nuclear device through Pakistan, writes the International Business Times.

“Let me throw a hypothetical operation onto the table,” writes the ISIS hostage Cantlie.

“The Islamic State has billions of dollars in the bank, so they call on their wilayah in Pakistan to purchase a nuclear device through weapons dealers with links to corrupt officials in the region,” writes Cantlie, according to the British newspaper The Independent.

http://www.ibtimes.com/isis-nuclear-weapon-islamic-state-claims-it-can-buy-nukes-pakistan-within-year-dabiq-1936029

Florida IRS Bomb Threat

A South Florida man who told the FBI his name is “Squirrel” is charged with threatening to blow up the Internal Revenue Service building in Miami.

Prosecutors say 53-year-old Morris Whitehead faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Whitehead has been jailed since his arrest last week and court records did not list an attorney for him, states CBS Miami.

Court papers show someone called the FBI Monday to say the IRS building would “go up in smoke” in two hours. Agents traced the cellphone call to a woman who said she loaned it to a man she knew as “Rabbit.”

Agents quickly found the man, who said he actually called himself “Squirrel.” The man – Whitehead – allegedly told investigators he made the IRS bomb threat call.

http://www.fbi.gov/miami/press-releases/2015/miami-dade-resident-charged-for-threatening-to-destroy-a-local-irs-building

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2015/04/26/florida-man-jailed-on-irs-bomb-threat-charge/

Misleading NYT Headline

Yesterday, the New York Times ran a story with the title Penalty Phase Opens With Image of Boston Marathon Bomber Making Obscene Gesture.

The title gives the impression that suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev walked into the courtroom at the sentencing phase of his trial and flashed the jury the middle finger.

After further reading, though, it becomes clear that this did not happen.

The jury was shown a video of suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from July 2013, three months after the bombing, when he was being arraigned.  Mr. Tsarnaev was alone in a holding cell in the video, wearing prison orange, when he walked up to a surveillance camera and angrily showed his middle finger.

The video image was the government’s opening move in the sentencing phase of Mr. Tsarnaev’s trial, which began Tuesday.

The previous phase of the trial was to establish guilt.  Mr. Tsarnaev is now in the sentencing phase of the trial, and may get the death penalty.

Louie Gohmert Wants To Bomb Iran

Secular Talk

Make no mistake, the politicians who are in power make a difference. If right-wing Representative Louie Gohmert were president, we would soon be bombing Iran.

Suicide bombers Kill 14 Outside Pakistani Churches

According to the Associated Press, Pakistani Taliban suicide bombers blew themselves up near two churches in the eastern city of Lahore on Sunday as worshippers were inside.  14 people were killed, officials said, and it was the latest attack against religious minorities in the increasingly fractured country.  Zee News of India reports that more than 80 people were injured.

In the tense aftermath, angry mobs lashed out at people they suspected were behind the attacks, and one person was burned to death, according to the Associated Press.

Christian crowds set fire to cars in a show of defiance in the country’s second largest city and the prime minister’s seat of power.

Life in Pakistan is increasingly riddled with danger for religious minorities, especially Christians. They have been targeted by extremist Sunni Muslim militants who object to their faith.

They are also discriminated against in the wider society where they can often only get menial jobs like garbage collection, and are frequently targets of blasphemy accusations, claims the Associated Press.

Militants appear to be targeting minorities more intensively recently, states the AP.  There have been attacks on a string of mosques belonging to members of the Shiite Muslim minority sect.  In 2013, twin blasts at a church in Peshawar killed 85 people.

“There will be more of such attacks,” warned Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the Taliban faction that claimed responsibility for the assault, in a statement emailed to reporters.

Arkansas Republican: Nuke ISIS

Arkansas state senator Jason Rapert took to Facebook to suggest that dropping nukes on ISIS is the best way to “quickly turn things around” in territory captured by Islamic State extremists.  Apparently, “collateral damage” did not enter his mind.

Rapert:

“With ISIS spreading all over the Middle East and Africa and Islamic Extremists carrying out violence in Europe, The United Kingdom and even in the United States, I wonder why the civilized world just sits by when we have weapons that could wipe out these barbarians where they are concentrated? I believe it is time to annihilate the strongholds and pursue the rest till we have them all captured or killed. A strategically placed nuclear weapon would save the lives of our soldiers and quickly turn things around. It is time for the insanity to be stopped.”

More here

Female Suicide Bomber Kills 10 In Nigerian Bus Station

A female suicide bomber blew herself up at a crowded bus station in the northeast Nigerian city of Damaturu on Sunday.  It was in a region that is frequently attacked by Islamist militants.  It killed 10 people and wounding 30, police said.

Witness Adamu Muhammad said he heard a loud blast and people at an area called Damaturu Motor Park and things “descended into panic.”

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram.  Boko Haram’s use of female suicide bombers has been a new trend over the past year.

The attack comes hours after members of the Boko Haram lunched an attack in the city of Gombe.  That attack was pushed back.

Jordan Unleashes Wrath On ISIS

Days after news emerged that ISIS had burned a captive Jordanian pilot to death, Jordan hit back, and vows to do more, according to CNN.

Fighter jets did airstrikes Thursday, then did a fly-over at the home of the slain 27-year-old pilot, Lt. Moath al-Kasasbeh, in the village of Ay in Karak governorate.

“This is just the beginning and you shall know who the Jordanians are,” the armed forces said in a statement on state TV.

They claimed they hit ISIS training centers, arms and ammunition depots: “All targets were completely destroyed and all the planes returned to their bases safely.”

The air mission was named “Moath the Martyr.”

State TV aired exclusive video footage of warplanes striking unspecified ISIS positions in Syria.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh later stressed to CNN that the airstrikes meant the beginning of his nation’s retaliation over the pilot’s death, but not the start of its fight against terrorism. He vowed to destroy ISIS.

There are other Middle Eastern nations taking part in the U.S.-led military coalition against ISIS. The air campaign continued with strikes elsewhere in Syria, including near Hasaka, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Raqqa.

“We are upping the ante. We’re going after them wherever they are, with everything that we have. But it’s not the beginning, and it’s certainly not the end,” Judeh said.

The pilot’s father, Safi al-Kasasbeh, told CNN that King Abdullah II had promised him that Jordan would avenge his son’s death and bombard ISIS’ de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria.

On Thursday, he said that the King told him 30 Jordanian fighter jets participated in the strikes.

Father Says Son Not Involved With Jihad

Don Lemon speaks with John Cornell, the father of Christopher Cornell, a suspect in a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol.

CNN

Attempted Bombing At NAACP Building In Colorado

According to the LA Times, a homemade explosive blew up on Tuesday outside the Colorado Springs, Colorado, chapter of the NAACP. The FBI has called it a deliberate incident.

The chapter’s offices, as well as Mr. G’s Hair Design Studios barber shop located inside the building, sustained minor damage from the explosion. No deaths or injuries have been reported.

Witnesses reported hearing a “loud boom” around 10:45 a.m. local time. “There was smoke everywhere, the building on the side was burnt,” one onlooker told local television station KDVR. The Los Angeles Times reports an improvised bomb appears to have been positioned against the outside wall of the building on South El Paso Street.

According to the FBI, it was set right next to a gasoline can, which didn’t burst during the explosion.

More:

http://www.newsweek.com/naacp-chapter-bombing-colorado-springs-deliberate-says-fbi-297399