Good evening (it’s still Monday night for those of us in the west at least). Let’s start off tonight by remembering when Barack Obama and the democrats complained about so-called domestic spying under the Bush administration? Well, a team of organizations went after the FBI for watching possibly terrorist Islamic organizations. The FBI responded by saying they don’t need to already believe an organization is breaking the law in order to begin preliminary spying on that organization. Now I’ll be blunt: I think this IPS news service is bunk. But it makes me laugh to remember that using modern technology to gather information about terrorists was supposedly a horrible thing when George Bush did it, but now that Barack Obama is using actual live, in-person spies you have to go to radical fringe groups to find out it’s even happening and see the progressive outrage. Wouldn’t it be easier, safer, and more respectful of our rights just to tap the phones of foreign terrorists, than to send people into houses of worship on false pretenses? Moving on to more actions that would be screamed out as a gross disrespect of the Bill of Rights if Bush did it, but since Obama’s doing it you don’t hear a word from the left: the FTC wants to control speech online . According to Reason, we have to hope that the FTC will show forbearance and not use the power it’s claiming to its fullest extent. Hmm, where have we heard that before? In a great disappointment to some, iOS jailbreaks have been newly affirmed to be legal under the DMCA, but the leading iOS jailbreak developers are choosing not to break version 4.0.2 , essentially allowing Apple’s new fixes to win out, and give Apple the control over the platform the firm seeks. Just another case of having the right to do something, but without the something being the right thing to do. One last item tonight: Facebook’s already been under a great deal of pressure and criticism for failing to respect the community, but the firm is yet deciding to go after an organization of teachers to shut it down , siccing a team of corporate lawyers after them, rather than find some benevolent way to fix it while looking like the good guys. Apparently Facebook thinks they can do what they want with your data and that they need to own the word book despite its long history in the English language. I can’t conceive of how this is the right move when Google is surely going to make another run at promoting Google Buzz when possible.
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Tech at Night: FBI, Facebook, FTC, Free Speech, Apple
An honest Muslim. How refreshing…. NEW YORK (AP) – A man accused of plotting to bomb New York synagogues and shoot down military planes ranted against Jews and mused about “taking down” targets in the United States, according to audio tapes played Monday at his federal trial. The tapes were secretly recorded by a paid informant testifying against James Cromitie and three other men who were arrested in 2009 on their way to the synagogues. The informant, Shahed Hussain, met Cromitie in 2008 after being sent by the FBI to infiltrate a Newburgh, N.Y., mosque. While wearing a wire, he later taped conversations they had during meals at restaurants and in meetings at his home. “Muslims want to take the U.S. down,” Cromitie says on one tape played for the jury. “Believe me, we can do it with our regular Muslims here.” Cromitie also bemoans American military ventures in the Middle East. “What do we do to make it stop?” he says. “We start taking things down here, you understand?” He adds: “I will kill 10 million (Jews) before I kill one Muslim.”
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Muslim Convert Ringleader Who Plotted to Bomb NY Synagogues Says: “Muslims Want to Take the U.S. Down”…
Islam, Anti-Semitism, Anti-Americanism, Being Muslim thugs We had nothing to do with it, we swear. Prosecutors alleged the men planted explosives outside a synagogue and Jewish community center in the Riverdale section of the Bronx in May 2009. They also hoped to use Stinger missiles to shoot down military aircraft at Stewart Airport in Newburgh later that night, prosecutors said. Inert explosives and nonworking missiles were provided to the men by the FBI informant as part of a sting operation, prosecutors said. “This was their chance and the evidence will show the defendants leapt at it,” said Hickey. Briccetti, the lawyer for defendant Cromitie, countered that the plot was engineered solely by the government informant . Hussain egged Cromitie on to say “vile” and “hateful” things about Jews and America , Briccetti said. He also promised financial rewards, including giving Cromitie a BMW automobile after the attack , according to the defense attorney.
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“Alleged” Synagogue Bombers: The FBI Made Us Do It. Well, that and the BMW.
CAIR comes to his defense claiming he was “racially profiled” in 3..2..1… HOUSTON — A traveler from India has been arrested on a weapons charge at Bush Intercontinental Airport, and police said the man was carrying extremist books that refer to “jihad” and “infidels,” Local 2 Investigates reported Friday. “He had a ton of books,” said one law enforcement official involved in the lunch-hour arrest. The man also had a large amount of cash and a portable computer storage device capable of holding documents and data, officials said. Police identify the passenger as Vijay Kumar, a resident of Mumbai, India. He has been booked into a Houston jail on charges of possession of a prohibited weapon after brass knuckles were found in his checked luggage. Law enforcement officials involved in the arrest said that Kumar was pulled out of the Terminal E security screening line for a closer look after TSA behavioral detection officers noticed he was sweating and fidgeting. Officers said they then found the brass knuckles, as well as several books and diagrams in his carry-on luggage, including one book titled, “New Voices of Islam,” and another espionage publication called “Spycraft.” Officers said many of the books were written in Arabic, but they did notice English publications that refer to “jihad” and “infidels.” They also found diagrams that purport to describe U.S. military weaponry, according to law enforcement officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. FBI agents were called to the screening area where Kumar was being arrested. Agents are trying to determine the contents of a flash drive, or thumb drive, that was confiscated as he was arrested. Investigators said that Kumar claimed he was in Houston for some sort of “Islamic seminar.” In addition to the publications, thumb drive, and the brass knuckles confiscated by police, investigators said that Kumar had a large amount of cash that had not been declared to Customs officials as part of his travel. Investigators told KPRC Local 2 Investigates that at least $8,000 in U.S. bills were found, along with thousands of dollars in a foreign currency. Federal law requires passengers to declare any time they are traveling with $10,000 or more, and officers point out there was no such declaration in this case. H/T: Jihad Watch
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Indian Muslim Man Arrested in Houston Airport Carrying Brass Knuckles, Jihadist Literature, Large Amount of Cash, Claimed to be in Town for “Islamic…
A federal jury convicted Governor Rod Blagojevich yesterday of one single count, remaining undecided on the other 23. And for that one guilty charge, we can thank Justice Scalia. No, Justice Scalia had nothing to do with the Blagojevich case. But in a way, he had everything to do with it. Governor Blagojevich was convicted of making false statements to federal agents. He told the FBI that he did not track campaign contributions and kept a “firewall” between his campaign and his official duties as Governor. In other words, federal agents asked him if he broke the law — and just like any child who is caught with his hand in the cookie jar — he said “no.” Before 1998, this decision might have been different. Until then, federal courts routinely excused people for what they called the “exculpatory no.” If a federal agent came to your house and asked if you did something illegal, and you said “no,” you were off the hook for making false statements.
