Headline Of The Day

Homocon Guy Benson Backs Pam Geller

Fox News' right-hand-homocon is ever so pissed that Pam Geller won't be able to incite bombings on DC public transit. From the Hot Air piece he links to:

She’s forcing the state to admit that the threat of violence is so great that, as a matter of pure public safety, they’d rather give up easy revenue than take the chance of insulting “the prophet.” And, thanks to D.C.’s new policy, she’s gotten the state to spread the cost of censorship to other would-be issue-advertisers, which drives home the point to the wider public that the slippery slope on “hate speech” might be more slippery than the lefties who disdain her tend to assume.

Benson is also tweeting a link to win his new book over at the viciously anti-gay Townhall, where he is the political editor.

TEXAS: Second Dead Gunman Identified

Suspect ID'd In Geller Event Shooting

ABC News reports:

One of the suspects in the shooting in Garland, Texas, late Sunday has been identified as Elton Simpson, an Arizona man who was previously the subject of a terror investigation, according to a senior FBI official. Overnight and today FBI agents and a bomb squad were at Simpson's home in an apartment complex in north Phoenix where a robot is believed to be conducting an initial search of the apartment. Officials believe Simpson is the person who sent out several Twitter messages prior to the attack on Sunday, in the last one using the hashtag #TexasAttack about half an hour before the shooting.

Followers of ISIS had been sending messages about the event in Texas for more than a week, calling for attacks. One referenced January's Charlie Hebdo massacre in France and said it was time for "brothers" in the United States to do their part. Simpson was well known to the FBI. Five years ago he was convicted for lying to federal agents about his plans to travel to Africa, but a judge ruled the government did not adequately prove he was going to join a terror group there. As for the second suspect, the FBI is combing through files on all of Simpson's known associates in Phoenix and elsewhere, but so far there has been no word on the accomplice's identity.

ISIS Threatens Times Square Bombing

Via Vocativ:

A new ISIS rap video, subtitled in English, features some of the group’s most bloody scenes of beheading and torture, while promising suicide bombers in Germany as well as New York City’s Times Square. A terrorist is shown donning a suicide belt, with subsequent imagery showing scenes from New York’s bustling Times Square, after which the bomber, dressed in western clothes, pulls the pin. The three-minute long clip was broadcast on ISIS’s al-Hayat media network, the propaganda arm that focuses on a Western audience. Images of injured western troops being evacuated are juxtaposed with graphic scenes of beheadings and the immolation of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh, shown struggling as flames engulf him.

The video below has been heavily edited by Vocativ.

REPORT: ISIS Beheads Gay Men In Iraq

Via News 24:

ISIS has publicly beheaded three men in northern Iraq, two of them for allegedly engaging in homosexual acts, according to photos shared by sympathisers on social media on Tuesday. The jihadist group, which controls swathes of Iraq and neighbouring Syria, has carried out hundreds of executions as it has imposed its brutal version of Islamic law, many of them photographed or videotaped. The latest images did not show the claimed beheadings and their authenticity could not be independently verified. A series of photographs shows the blindfolded men kneeling in the centre of what appears to be a traffic circle with a crowd of people looking on as a masked, black-clad executioner stands by with a long, rusty blade. Accompanying captions said the trio were then executed, the third of them for alleged blasphemy.

Some reports say all three young men were accused of homosexuality, adding that two of them may have been a couple. However ISIS is known to accuse its enemies of being gay in order to "justify" their executions.

Obama Asks Congress For War Powers

Via TIME Magazine:

President Barack Obama asked Congress Wednesday to formally authorize military force against the Islamic State group, arguing the militants could pose a threat to the U.S. homeland if their violent power grab goes unchecked and urging lawmakers to “show the world we are united in our resolve to counter the threat.” The president elected on a promise to end America’s wars is sending Congress a proposed joint resolution to authorize military force against the swift rise of Islamic State extremists, who are imposing violent rule across Iraq and Syria and have brazenly killed U.S. and allied hostages in brutal online propaganda videos.

In a five-paragraph letter to lawmakers accompanying the three-page draft resolution provided to The Associated Press, Obama said the Islamic State “poses a threat to the people and stability of Iraq, Syria and the broader Middle East and to U.S. national security.” “It threatens American personnel and facilities located in the region and is responsible for the deaths of U.S. citizens James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig, and Kayla Mueller,” he said, listing the American hostages who died in IS custody. “If left unchecked, ISIL will pose a threat beyond the Middle East, including to the United States homeland.”

The president will speak about his request today at 3:30PM. I'll post a live-stream.

LGBT Groups Urge Caution In Reporting "Alleged Executions For Sodomy" By ISIS

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and MADRE, the global women’s rights group, have issued a joint statement about recent reports that ISIS has executed men on charges of homosexuality.

IGLHRC and MADRE caution concerned members of the media, representatives of foreign governments and people of conscience generally in the strongest possible terms against assuming that the men identified as ‘gay’ and against assuming the men engaged in homosexual acts. Other than the photos themselves, very little is known about these executions. IGLHRC has tried to independently verify the events that occurred with little success to date. Without credible evidence, it is crucial to exercise extreme caution in how the event is reported and how the men are described.

At this time, to publicly call Iraqi men “gay” can only do harm. If the men did not identify as gay, the allegation is inaccurate and obscures the Islamic State’s motivation for publicly labeling them as such. If the men indeed identified as gay, extreme caution should be exercised and consultation held with those they loved. If the men identified as gay, widespread publicity potentially exposes their families, loved ones and intimate partners to harm. Honor killings are pervasive in Iraq, so the safety of those most affected must be a paramount concern.

Furthermore, to assume that the executions were for sodomy solely on the basis of information from the Islamic State is dangerous. Without evidentiary basis or independent confirmation, this sweeping allegation could be applied to anyone the Islamic State seeks to discredit—including human rights activists and anyone opposed to the Islamic State. Accusing opponents of homosexuality is a tried and true tool used to discredit political adversaries throughout the world.

Accuracy is absolutely needed to moderate the level of fear of LGBTI Iraqis living in areas controlled by the Islamic State. During the anti-emo killings in 2012, rumors circulated alleging that upwards of a thousand people had been killed for perceived gender and sexual non-conformity, while the documented number was nearer ten. In response, IGLHRC interviewed LGBTI Iraqis and found that some fled the country, were shunned, isolated themselves at home too afraid to venture into the streets, and experienced high levels of suicidal ideation. The stakes today are high enough; allies in the media, foreign governments, and among concerned friends globally must understand accurately what occurred and avoid risky inflations of the threat level.

In recent posts about these reports I have described the victims as "allegedly gay" and of having been "accused of being gay." I've also excerpted press accounts which note that Islamists sometimes accuse their political enemies of being homosexuals in order to "justify" their executions. Hit the top link for more about this issue.

IRAQ: ISIS Executes Two Men Accused Of Being Gay By Hurling Them Off Roof

Via Radio Free Europe:

The Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq has published photographs that appear to show a man being thrown from the roof of a tall building apparently in Mosul, as punishment for being gay. The graphic photographs were uploaded to the Justpaste.it website on January 15 and shared on social media. One photograph, taken from the top of the building from where the man was apparently pushed to his death, shows a large crowd gathered in the public square below.

Another image shows a man with his face covered by a black balaclava, reading out the sentence imposed on the man under the IS group's version of Shari'a law. The caption to the photograph says that the verdict was issued by a Shari'a court in "Wilayat Nineveh," IS's name for Mosul and its environs.

Another image shows the victim being held by another man, apparently his executioner, on the edge of a rooftop. Text accompanying the photograph says that the man is being punished with "Hadd," meaning a punishment that is determined in the Koran and the Hadith for crimes considered to go against the rights of God. The caption noted that the man had committed the crime of the practices of the "people of Lot," a euphemism for sodomy, and that he must be killed by being "thrown from a high place."

According to the above-linked report, ISIS yesterday also stoned a woman to death after accusing her of adultery. (Tipped by JMG reader Zachary)

LIVE VIDEO: French Terrorists Killed

FRANCE: Paris Police Surround Gunmen In Two Separate Hostage Standoffs

Via CNN:

French authorities waged two intense standoffs with gunmen in and around Paris early Friday afternoon -- one involving the two brothers wanted in the Charlie Hebdo massacre and the other a hostage situation at a kosher grocery store near eastern Paris' Porte de Vincennes. It was not immediately known if the two situations were related, but both underscored France's nightmare and anti-terrorism fight.

The hostage situation spurred police anti-terror units and the French internal security directorate, known as the DGSI, to race to the scene in eastern Paris, the city's prosecutor's office said. Hostages were taken after a shooting there or nearby. CNN affiliate France 2 aired live video of police tactical teams getting into position at the scene of the standoff.

Meanwhile, law enforcement officers had also surrounded a building about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast in the town Dammartin-en-Goele. Authorities have expressed a high degree of certainty that they have surrounded the Kouachi brothers -- the suspects in Wednesday's killing of 12 people at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo -- in Dammartin-en-Goele, which is northeast of Paris and a few miles from Charles de Gaulle Airport. Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre Henri Brandet tweeted that it's not confirmed whether or not the brothers are holding anyone hostage.

All US cable news outlets are covering the situation live.

FRANCE: Neo-Nazi National Front Party Sees Opportunities In Wake Of Attack

France's neo-Nazi National Front Party is already working to capitalize on nationalistic and racist sentiment in the wake of yesterday's terror attack by Islamic extremists. Via Slate:

For the first seven hours after the attack on the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, the National Front, France’s far right political party, kept an old feature about the influx of Roma and “gypsies” into French cities on its website. Then, shortly after noon, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the increasingly popular party with the slogan “The French Come First,” appeared in front of three French flags and hammered out her demands—and a selfless offer. It is time for “frank and clear responses” against “inaction and denial,” she declared. In other words: The country’s two main political parties have failed to stem the Islamist tide, and you the voters now have all the evidence you need that France requires new leadership. “I intend to assume this vital responsibility so France can defend itself in the war that has been declared upon her,” she continued. Marine Le Pen told a talk show host on Thursday morning she was “still waiting for her phone to ring” with an invitation from the prime minister to participate in Sunday’s national unity march. But Le Pen’s phone has remained silent. Government leaders are gambling that they don’t need her and can keep the National Front at a safe distance from its street-level display of strength and solidarity. For now, she will continue to taunt them from the other side of the barricades.

PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: Last month the Kremlin lent the National Front €9M in the first installment of a reported €40M payment presumably meant to help tilt France's government to the far right. The National Front is a backer of the anti-gay Manif Pour Tous and has supported its numerous, vicious and often violent rallies, as have hate group leaders Brian Brown and Tony Perkins.  Founder Jean-Marie Le Pen has been convicted six times for inciting racial hatred, including for denying that the Holocaust took place. Last year he "joked" that his critics, who include Madonna, will be in the next "batch" headed for the gas chambers.  He has also "joked" that ebola is the "solution" to Europe's immigration problems. In 2013 Le Pen's daughter, Marine Le Pen, herself a failed candidate for France's presidency, praised the man who committed suicide at Notre Dame Cathedral in protest of same-sex marriage. In February of last year Le Pen's granddaughter, 24 year-old Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, led a massive anti-gay march through the streets of Paris. In January of last year the youth leader for the National Front called for France to institute anti-gay laws similar to those in Russia.

Bill Donohue Takes His "French Writers Had It Coming" Crusade To Fox News

Since declaring that the French victims of terrorism had it coming to them for insulting religion, Catholic League head Bill Donohue has been strongly denounced by the Washington Post and numerous other outlets, even the right-wing National Review. But last night Donohue got a sympathetic ear on that bastion of free speech, Fox News.

FRANCE: Three Paris Terrorists Identified

Via the New York Times:

Officials said late Wednesday that the suspects had been identified and that two were brothers. They were identified as Said and Cherif Kouachi, 32 and 34, and Hamyd Mourad, 18. French news reports said the brothers had been born in Paris, raising the prospect that homegrown Muslim extremists were responsible. The assault threatened to deepen the distrust of France’s large Muslim population, coming at a time when Islamic radicalism has become a central concern of security officials across Europe. Officials and witnesses said at least two gunmen carried out the attack with automatic weapons and an unusual degree of military-style precision. President François Hollande of France called it a display of extraordinary “barbarism” that was “without a doubt” an act of terrorism. He declared Thursday a national day of mourning.

Via the Jerusalem Post:

Police issued a document to forces across the region saying the three men were being sought for murder in relation to the Charlie Hebdo attack. The document, reviewed by a Reuters correspondent, named them as Said Kouachi, born in 1980, Cherif Kouachi, born in 1982, and Hamyd Mourad, born in 1996. The police source said one of them had been identified by his identity card which had been left in the getaway car. The Kouachi brothers were from the Paris region while Mourad was from the area of the northeastern city of Reims, the government source told Reuters. Anti-terrorism police were preparing an operation in Reims, the police source said, declining to give more details. The police source said one of the brothers had previously been tried on terrorism charges. Cherif Kouachi was charged with criminal association related to a terrorist enterprise in 2005 after he had been arrested before leaving for Iraq to join Islamist militants. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2008, according to French media.

Via the Associated Press:

A tweeter from al-Qaida's Yemeni branch, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, who communicated Wednesday with The Associated Press, said the group is not claiming responsibility, but said it might have inspired the attack. In 2013, al-Qaida magazine Inspire specifically threatened Charb and included an article titled "France the Imbecile Invader." Two police officials named the three suspects as Frenchmen Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi, who are brothers and in their early 30s, as well as 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad, whose nationality wasn't immediately clear. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive and ongoing investigation. Cherif Kouachi was convicted in 2008 of terrorism charges for helping funnel fighters to Iraq's insurgency, and sentenced to 18 months in prison. During his 2008 trial, he told the court he was motivated by his outrage at television images of torture of Iraqi inmates at the U.S. prison at Abu Ghraib.

Bill Donohue: Those French Writers Had It Coming To Them For Insulting Religion

"Killing in response to insult, no matter how gross, must be unequivocally condemned. That is why what happened in Paris cannot be tolerated. But neither should we tolerate the kind of intolerance that provoked this violent reaction. Those who work at this newspaper have a long and disgusting record of going way beyond the mere lampooning of public figures, and this is especially true of their depictions of religious figures. For example, they have shown nuns masturbating and popes wearing condoms. They have also shown Muhammad in pornographic poses. While some Muslims today object to any depiction of the Prophet, others do not. Moreover, visual representations of him are not proscribed by the Koran. What unites Muslims in their anger against Charlie Hebdo is the vulgar manner in which Muhammad has been portrayed. What they object to is being intentionally insulted over the course of many years. On this aspect, I am in total agreement with them. Stephane Charbonnier, the paper’s publisher, was killed today in the slaughter. It is too bad that he didn’t understand the role he played in his tragic death. In 2012, when asked why he insults Muslims, he said, 'Muhammad isn’t sacred to me.' Had he not been so narcissistic, he may still be alive." - Bill Donohue, writing for the Catholic League.

Obama & Kerry Condemn Attack In Paris

Via CNN:

President Barack Obama strongly condemned the terror attack in Paris on Tuesday that claimed 12 lives and praised France for standing "shoulder to shoulder" in the fight against terrorism. Obama said in a statement that the U.S. would provide "any assistance" to "America's oldest ally" in bringing the terrorists to justice. Obama was briefed on the attack against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Tuesday morning and senior U.S. national security officials have been in touch with their French counterparts. Three gunmen burst into the magazine's headquarters on Tuesday morning and also fired at police officers in the streets outside while shouting "Allahu Akbar" -- God is Great in Arabic. "Time and again, the French people have stood up for the universal values that generations of our people have defended," Obama said. "France, and the great city of Paris where this outrageous attack took place, offer the world a timeless example that will endure well beyond the hateful vision of these killers."

Secretary of State John Kerry addressed the French people directly -- in both English and French -- expressing American solidarity in the face of the attacks. "We stand with you in solidarity and in commitment both to the cause of confronting extremism and in the cause which the extremists fear so much and which has always united our two countries: freedom," Kerry said in a press conference. "No country knows better than France, that freedom has a price because France gave birth to democracy itself." Kerry made similar remarks in French, proclaiming that terrorists who claim the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is dead, are wrong. "Le pouvoir de la liberte d'expression vainquera dans la lutte contre l'obscurantisme," he said, meaning "The power of freedom of expression will be victorious in the fight against darkness." The Department of Homeland Security is "closely monitoring" the situation in Paris, a senior official from the department said in a statement.

FRANCE: Twelve Killed By Terrorists At Paris Offices Of Satire Magazine

Via the BBC:

Gunmen have shot dead 12 people at the Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in an apparent militant Islamist attack. Four of the magazine's well-known cartoonists, including its editor-in-chief, were among those killed, as well as two police officers. A major police operation is under way to find three gunmen who fled by car. President Francois Hollande said there was no doubt it had been a terrorist attack "of exceptional barbarity". The masked attackers opened fire with assault rifles in the office and exchanged shots with police in the street outside before escaping by car. They later abandoned the car in Rue de Meaux, northern Paris. Witnesses said they heard the gunmen shouting "we have avenged the Prophet Muhammad".

Much of northern Paris is on lockdown as police seek the attackers, who are said to have spoken "unaccented fluent French." The US Embassy in France has change their Twitter profile photo in solidarity. US Secretary of State John Kerry will issue a statement shortly.

AUSTRALIA: Grieving Partner Of Murdered Hero Cafe Manager Speaks Out

Via Australian television:

Siege victim Tori Johnson's partner has thanked Australia and the world for the outpouring of support for the family that has come in the wake of the Martin Place tragedy. Thomas Zinn read an emotional statement directly to viewers on the TODAY Show this morning, speaking of the family's pride in the strength of the community. "As you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for our family," he said. "We are experiencing unimaginable grief but when we look at the sea of flowers with all the heartfelt messages, and the crowds of supports at Martin Place, we know this grief is shared by the country and the rest of the world." He extended particular thanks to the police and emergency services who worked tirelessly to resolve the siege and supported the family during those horrible hours. He also offered Mr Johnson's family's love to the family of the other siege victim, barrister Katrina Dawson.

Johnson's father speaks in the final clip below. The "sea of flowers" at the site of the murders will be composted and used as part of the landscaping for a planned memorial.

Another Beheading By ISIS

French tourist seized in Algeria is seen beheaded in a video circulated by a group aligned with ISIS, SITE says. http://t.co/A5CqfqFtNg
— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) September 24, 2014

Islamist Christianist Quote Of The Day

Details.