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Al-Shabaab Video Threat Means Heightened Security at Mall of America
Reuters and other news outlets carry the news that the Minnesota's gigantic Mall of America is under heightened security after a video threat posted online by terrorist group Al-Shabaab. Also at CNN and CBS News. According to Reuters' version of the story: The U.S. homeland security chief said on Sunday he takes seriously a threat made by Somali-based Islamist militants against shopping malls, including the Mall of America in Minnesota, and urged people going there to be careful.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was reacting to a video released by al Shabaab appearing to call for attacks on Western shopping areas, specifically mentioning Mall of America, the West Edmonton Mall in Canada and London's Oxford Street. ... Mall officials issued a statement about the threat made by the group, saying they are monitoring events with the help of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
"Mall of America has implemented extra security precautions, some may be noticeable to guests, and others won’t be," the officials said.
They were not given good discounts .. They should shop at wall mart ..
Of one of those mall cop Segways newly equipped with ordnance mount points.
impact is what counts, and groups like Shabaab understand that even if they are incapable of rendering an attack, its the threat that counts most. Commercial targets instituting checkpoints and screening are what these groups are going for, as these hallmarks serve as a consistent reminder that Shabaabs presence is taken seriously by america as a legitimate threat they cannot proactively reduce or mitigate through normal foreign policy to a level that would permit the american "way of life."
legitimate terrorist attacks have no source, no warnings, are unpredictable and incur large-scale casualties. The boston marathon bombing is an excellent example of a functional implementation of terrorism. One or two of these every 10 years and you dont need funding or training for anything else. just send a tweet or post a youtube, and the target entity will do all the work to ensure your message and intent are expressed.
Good people go to bed earlier.
All delivery vehicle drivers will have to have be fingerprinted and pass federal background checks.
The TSA will be at all entrances doing bag checks.
"Guns are banned on these premises."
How about removing that rule as a first step? 'Gun free zones' are instant targets.
So the US thinks it can bomb the shit out of civilians (only "collateral damage" in US terms) in many countries and support oppressive regimes without someday getting it back? Think again. When you vote for the bombing criminals, you become a legitimate target.
However, these people help the US government just fine in getting support for the US government to control and repress their own population even more.
Expect more black kids to be shot...
These terrorist groups have slowly realized that the the biggest damage is not from bombs or airplanes, it is the self-inflicted damage that results. The DHS apparatus, multiple foreign wars and entanglements, loss of liberties, police militarization, "papieren, bitte" and a collective nervous breakdown are draining away the treasure and economic and social vitality of the USA. This is achieved at no cost beyond posting a video on the internet, and beheading any Americans who are stupid enough to visit them.
This is as asymmetric as warfare can get. You may say things are ok in America, but in reality it could have been much, much better..
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
I've seen a joke, maybe on a t-shirt, along the lines of "Every day a vegan skips meat, I'll eat three extra burgers." It's interesting because it exposes the question of whether the vegan is really trying to minimize animal deaths, or just seeks personal sanctity.
I wonder if a similar thing could be made with a Koran-burning machine. The machine is configured so that every time the internet has a new message from Islamicists, the machine automatically dips a Koran in pig blood, burns it, posts the video on YouTube, and sends a Tweet giving credit to the Islamicists who triggered that action.
I learned something new. I thought they had rows of small shops along their main streets. I guess I've been watching too many old British TV shows and movies. lol
Sea kelp.
Meanwhile, President Obama and the State Department are trying to bring Syrian refugees into the US. Some US lawmakers and government officials are concerned that members of ISIS might slip into the US, along with genuine refugees. For example,
"You have to have information to vet,” FBI Assistant Director Michael Steinbach, said in a Feb. 11 House homeland security hearing. “Databases don't [have] the information on those individuals, and that's the concern.”
I'm not asking the question whether armed civilians thwart crime generally; that's a different debate with evidence posited on both sides.
I'm wondering if the people who might plan an attack similar to the one at the Kenyan mall or the hotel in India and consider such an assault in the US take into consideration any risks associated with armed Americans, either carry permit holders or even those who carry illegally.
There's the risk of the assault being cut short or otherwise failing because the attackers themselves come under fire from armed civilians as well as the potential publicity failure of "armed citizens kill terrorists, stop attack" type headlines which would potentially demonstrate that against American citizens, terrorists are weaker than Americans.
I would suspect that such risks would be downplayed -- a terrorist event could be considered a "success" just from emptying an AK magazine into a crowd at a mall, even if the attacker(s) were killed immediately after opening fire. Plus there may be the belief that at best they would be up against unskilled persons who were outgunned (handguns versus rifles).
We are living in Brazil.
The movie is dated but poignant. I recommend it to everyone over the age of 12.
I wonder why it hasn't happened already. Despite the panopticon and run of the mill police misbehavior, America still seems like a place where you can move around pretty freely without many obstacles.
Obtaining weapons isn't hard and I doubt there is a terror group out there worth their jihad who wouldn't also know how to convert a semi-automatic-only assault rifle into full auto capable fire, either via either illegal trigger group replacement or modification.
Crowd events are frequent and places like malls are often crowded, providing ample targets for assaults on civilians. Many significant industrial sites like oil refineries or power plants aren't well guarded (nuclear plants may be an exception) and even if a handful of key infrastructures like bridges and tunnels are well guarded, many aren't.
It just doesn't seem like there would be many barriers, require that much skill or planning to do what they have threatened. In terms of terror, the payoff seems immense.
So why hasn't it happened? Is the panopticon that good? Are they just burying all the stories of thwarted attempts?
Big malls like Mall of America already have rapid response security teams made up of former SWAT and military. They're well armed, armored, and trained. They're just usually not visible since they would be off-putting to customers.
And it's time to turn these fuckers' homeland into a glass land. The rest of the world has put up with their bullshit long enough.
Other countries are ready to do it. The US needs to lead and get it done NOW.
Made me think of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
I was here when they evacuated. Hope it's not related.
http://m.19actionnews.com/19actionnews/db_330498/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=o8DTK7dm
The Westgate mall attack wasn't a bomb. It was armed gunmen, and 67 people ended up dead with over 175 wounded.
legitimate terrorist attacks have no source, no warnings, are unpredictable and incur large-scale casualties.
There are few things which irritate me more than the geek who thinks he has won his argument by quoting from a dictionary of his own invention or an etiquette guide like Emily Post.
That is what makes "legitimate" the key word here.
In real life, terrorists often telegraph their attacks, make a point of being easily identifiable by their victims. and choose targets both great and small.
Malala: The girl who was shot for going to school
Tiffany rumored to be forming a new flash mob group called "Al-Shama-lama-ding-dong"
For you kids, a "mall" is a place where they have stores. Think amazon.com except you have to drive to it, and they never actually have what you want there. The concept might have been more successful if it wasn't for that last bit.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
This looks to be a "home grown" "event" manufactured by DHS to secure funding by Congress.
SDHS Johnson knows if he and DHS are responsible for manufacturing the video, leading to his appearance on the Sunday Talking Head Shows and no one in the Obama Admin. will stand against him, not at least after the 2016 election.
SDHS knows that DHS is illegal terror agency of the US Fed and that is what scares the shit out of him.
To justify the DHS existence and his, he needs a real terror event, so DHS comes to its own rescue.
Very convient.
PS. ISIL/ISIS is making too many enemies out of the other countries that surround it and those countries are legitimately at war with ISIL/ISIS. We do not need Johnson and his DHS to terrorize USA any longer.
I hear that such folks exist, but they seem to be as rare as a transsexual US Navy SEAL riding a unicorn at the front of a 4th of July parade. Muslims will not listen to goddamned Methodists from Ohio. They will only listen to other Muslims.
Unless other Muslims take to the streets and condemn these threats and actions from the Islamic State . . . ain't nothing gonna happen!
So, if you are Muslim, will you tolerate these extremists in you Mosque . . . ? As long as that problem isn't solved, the rest of us will live in fear of you.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
It's a ruse.
If ISIS really planned to attack the MOA, why would they give the authorities advance notice? Their primary weapon is FEAR, and they want to use FEAR to prevent people going to the MALL to spend money, thus affecting commerce and the economy. Their rallying cry is "death to America". You don't accomplish that by blowing up America one mall at a time. That would never be effective.
The 9-11 attack was not on a tourist location. it was on the WTC, which is a center of commerce. They don't need to blow up the malls, just threaten to and the shoppers will stop coming.
I would call their bluff, and go shopping anyway. Besides, the Mall of America has an amusement park in it.
Targeting a mall for a mass shooting or bombing would cause a big reaction, but if a video surfaces of soccer mom kidnapped and beheaded inside the United States all hell will break loose. 9/11, bombings, mass shootings...those are all terrible but they're a little more abstract psychologically because they affect a group of random people. The idea that a van could pull up next to you while walking the dog on the other hand is something that you might find difficult to stop thinking about. They've tried this in other countries (Australia, I think?), so unless there's some radical shift in sentiment (or existence) among terrorist groups it's only a matter of time.
Buy your next Linux PC at eightvirtues.com
I'm going to the Mall today.
I'll be there from about 4pm until about 8.
See you there, bitches.
-Styopa
There aren't enough shishkabob joints in malls, nothing but burgers.
Nefariously good Al-Shabaab El-Kebabs now at your nearest mall! We shall threat you with some delicious weight gain!
I've always said that if I were a terrorist organization, my next move (after 9/11) would be: At 12:30 on Christmas eve, I would sent 50 different martyrs to a mall in each state, with a bomb in a backpack. The martyr would be instructed to go to the food court at 12:30 and detonate at exactly that time. On the news, the stories would pour in from every state in the union - and terror would ensue. People would be afraid to go to shopping malls, and the economy would take a massive beating.
because they would not renew the lease of Famous Dave's BBQ. thus, it's no longer a destination
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
DHS is walking-down Johnson's earlier accusations of a "Threat" to Mall of America.
However, Johnson is keeping on talking.
Now is says he "hears" Muslims in America telling him they are mad that ISIL/ISIS has "stollen" their "Religion."
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/02/22/homeland-security-chief-muslims-in-u-s-resent-islamic-state-attempting-to-hijack-their-religion/
Maybe those "Muslims" are just voices in Johnson's head; which by the way makes him unfit to serve and must be removed quickly and by force.
Johnson, like Obama, seems not to realize that "Muslim" is a ethnic distinction and Islam is a religion.
Why does Obama have to hire such idiots?
Ipso facto.
An idiot is as an idiot does.
Just take the sack same tack as then and kill every single muzzie. Problem solved.
In Panama they have a military police man assigned to ... Bimbo bread trucks.
And that is just the start.
There are guns everywhere here.
Before you enter the mall...two guys on an attack motorbike with fully automatic weapons at the ready are driving around you.
As you enter the parking lot...Police are at every corner and entrance.
As you enter the mall...Security Mall Guards, have...you guessed it..guns.
When you enter stores, some not all, like banks and so forth, have a guy with a metal detector and a gun.
Then there are guys walking around with radios, ready to call in the least bit of disturbance.
Cameras EVERYWHERE.
So there is where you are going America.
Enjoy your new prison.
Calling all whackjobs on the planet - you too can have fame and fortune (well maybe not fortune) if you become a martyr for our whackjob religion. All new martyors are guarenteed 99 virgins (goats) if they successfully complete a mission. Please tell your friends of our offer. You'll get bonus virgins (goats) if your friends sign up. We realize you're a little lacking in the IQ department so significant technical training is provided (dancing goats). Please ignore our horrible spelling our school stopped at grade 5 (why go further just to grow opium and tend goats?). Be careful on the way to heaven - no bending over allowed (that's what the goats are for). Praise Allah (or whatever the fucking retards name is).
so they could mind control you more
stay classy slashdot
... our strength.
A small thought experiment: If we define an operational terrorist as being, on average, one year from carrying out an attack then looking at the number of attacks will tell us how many there are. If terrorists are literally "one in a million" then we would expect one attack per day. At 50 or so one attack per week. How many do we get? Durring 2004-2013: anywhere from 5-24 per year (Global Terrorism Database). About one or two a month, on average. Most of those don't actually kill anyone, like eco-terrorists setting fire to a car dealership. Under two dozen lethal events over a 10 year span, about a dozen mass injury, and two mass fatality. So how many bloodthirsty, lethal, capable terrorists are there here at any one time? A couple dozen maybe? Probably less. In a country of 318 million. The good news is the odds of being killed by a terrorist is astonishingly small. The bad news is that a million-plus names on a watchlist is a REALY big haystack for a very small number of needles.
I'd promote this type of behavior, tax them for the use of their monitoring vpn tag like so.
Now I know who to pay attention to.
Your government, any government, will operate in a similar fashion.
MOA already has had some not-so-typical "security" in place -- they have had license-plate recognition cameras at all entrances and exits for a couple years now. The sleek-looking camera heads with two lenses, one for each lane, are fairly easy to notice as you're driving in, mounted about 12' up on poles or a wall. I've always found that sort of technology completely creepy in actual use. A government building, perhaps... but a mall in Minnesota?
...or are they just trying to glean some more marketing information? We don't know.
How long are the records kept? Why were they installed? Are they sharing information with local police to try to catch people with an outstanding traffic warrant?
I'd guess they'll take this opportunity to install facial recognition cameras in the transit station, so they can build themselves a database on who takes the light rail in from Cedar/Riverside and where they train their eyes while walking around in Camp Shoot Me. We'll be living in fear in no time, just the way we like it!
The Castle that's in the logo of every Disney picture. And then the Fortress of Solitude, and....
mark