Anonymous: ISIS Will Attack at Eight Locations on Sunday

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Our heroes?

Are we about to experience a coordinated set of terrorist attacks? The hacker group Anonymous claims that that is the plan. Their aim is first to warn and second to disrupt. As Sunday morning is now breaking in Paris, presumably we'll know soon. From International Business Times:

Anonymous, the loose collective of online activists, said Saturday it has uncovered information about Islamic State group attacks in Paris as well as at locations in the U.S., Indonesia, Italy and Lebanon, all apparently set for Sunday. OpParisIntel, a group within Anonymous, released a statement saying it had collected information about imminent attacks by the militant group -- aka Daesh, ISIL and ISIS -- in the French capital a little more than a week after a series of coordinated attacks there left 130 dead and hundreds injured. 

Anonymous also said the Islamic State group is planning an assault at the WWE Survivor Series event scheduled to take place in the Philips Arena in Atlanta Sunday at 7.30 p.m. EST, as well as attacks at multiple events in Paris. 

The collective published the list of potential targets alongside a statement: "The goal is to make sure the whole world, or at least the people going to these events, know that there have been threats and that there is possibility of an attack to happen. Another goal is to make sure Daesh knows that the world knows and cancels the attacks, which will disorientate them for a while." 

The targets listed by Anonymous are as follow:

• Cigales Electroniques with Vocodecks, RE-Play & Rawtor at Le Bizen (Paris)
• Concrete Invites Drumcode: Adam Beyer, Alan Fitzpatrick, Joel Mull at Concrete (Paris)
• Demonstration by Collectif du Droit des Femmes (Paris)
• Feast of Christ the King celebrations (Rome/Worldwide)
• Al-Jihad, One Day One Juz (Indonesia)
• Five Finger Death Punch (Milan)
• University Pastoral Day (Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Lebanon)

According to Anonymous: "We only appeared now because our goal was to remain undercover and report everything to the right authorities and let them take all the action. But when authorities do not take action, Anonymous does. This part of the op started last Monday and has [been] and will be active 24 hours a day as long as the op is going on." 

Speaking to International Business Times, Anonymous said it had passed proof to the MI5 intelligence agency in the U.K., the CIA and FBI in the U.S., and the Australian government but that it has no plans to release the proof publicly. "If we share the proof [publicly], everyone will start calling it fake because screenshots can be edited and accounts can be deleted. We have purposely not shared account links publicly because they would be shut down immediately and then no one would believe the proof." 

Anonymous declared war on the Islamic State group last week, vowing to track it down online as part of its Operation Paris (or OpParis). It has since released a guide for all those looking to take part in the operation, which already has identified tens of thousands of Twitter accounts it said are associated with the militant group while also taking some websites offline. The Islamic State group has responded to the threat by Anonymous, warning of a retaliatory attack on the activist group.

Brussels On Maximum Alert, Metro Shut Down, Government Asks Citizens to Avoid Crowds

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Reuters, 7:03 AM local time:

Belgium raised the alert status for its capital Brussels to the highest level on Saturday, shutting the metro and warning the public to avoid crowds because of a "serious and imminent" threat of an attack. 

A week after the Paris attacks carried out by Islamic State militants, of whom one suspect from Brussels is at large and said by authorities to be highly dangerous, the city was placed on the top level "four" in the government's threat scale after a meeting of top ministers, police and security services. 

"The advice for the population is to avoid places where a lot of people come together like shopping centres, concerts, events or public transport stations wherever possible," a spokesman for the government's crisis centre said. 

He declined to say what specifically prompted the new alert. 

A statement on the centre's website said it had recommended closing the underground rail network until Sunday and the municipal transport authority tweeted that stations on the four main metro lines were closed "by order of the police". 

The crisis centre website said it was calling on local authorities to cancel large events, urge people to avoid crowds, postpone soccer matches, close the Brussels metro for the weekend and stepping up the military and police presence.

Read the rest here.

The New Mexico: French Anti-Terror Captain Gives Interview Wearing Bataclava

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In Mexico and other Central American countries, anti-drug cartel police commonly wear balaclavas or face masks so as to preclude retaliation against them or their families.

France is the new Mexico.

That this is the new normal in a "First World" nation is of course obscene.

But it will get worse.

From NBC News via the Daily Mail:

The commando leader who led the police assault on the Bataclan concert hall (inset bottom right, the aftermath of the massacre) following Friday's massacre in Paris has described the 'Hell on earth' his team found as they stormed the building. Jeremy (left, wearing a balaclava, stands next to the shield used by his elite unit during the raid), the captain of the commando team, spoke to NBC News on the condition that his last name was not used. Jeremy said his team had to ignore the desperate pleas of dying victims of the sickening mass murder as they hunted down the jihadis. The terrorists were hiding in a back room with 20 more hostages, but the elite unit were eventually able to get close enough to engage the ISIS jihadis, who blew themselves up using suicide vests.

Grinch Who Stole Christmas: Pope Calls Christmas a Charade Because War and Hate Still Exist*

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A light moment as Pope and allies plot to kidnap Santa and take him to Halloweenland 

In that case, of course, Christmas has always been a charade.

Perhaps that's what he means.

Full disclosure: Due to the continued prevalence of youth unemployment, my family hasn't celebrated Christmas for years. Instead, we sit around the dining room table, eating hard bread and reciting passages from La Repubblica.

Vatican City (AFP) - Christmas festivities will seem empty in a world which has chosen "war and hate", Pope Francis said Thursday. 

"Christmas is approaching: there will be lights, parties, Christmas trees and nativity scenes ... it's all a charade.* The world continues to go to war. The world has not chosen a peaceful path," he said in a sermon. 

"There are wars today everywhere, and hate," he said after the worst terror attack in French history, the bombing of a Russian airliner, a double suicide bombing in Lebanon, and a series of other deadly strikes. 

"We should ask for the grace to weep for this world, which does not recognise the path to peace. To weep for those who live for war and have the cynicism to deny it," the Argentine pontiff said, adding: "God weeps, Jesus weeps". 

The sermon threw a shadow over the start of the festive season at the Vatican, where a giant Christmas tree was unveiled. 

The 25-metre (82-foot) high pine hails from former pope Benedict XVI's homeland, the German state of Bavaria. 

The tree, which will be decorated in time for the start of the Vatican's Holy Year on December 8, will be festooned with ornaments made by children from cancer wards in hospitals across Italy. 

This year's nativity scene will be made up of 24 life-size figures, sculpted from wood and hand-painted. 

In a nod to Pope Francis's humble style, alongside the figures from the story of Jesus's birth will be sculptures of ordinary people, including a man supporting an elderly person in need.

I love the line, "The sermon threw a shadow over the start of the festive season at the Vatican."

On the bright side, after 2,000 years, ordinary people have finally been allowed a presence in the creche.


*It should be noted that the English excerpts posted on the official Vatican Radio do not include the word "charade". Whether this is due to embarrassment or a different interpretation of the Italian is unclear.

BREAKING: U.S. Special Forces Storm Radisson Hotel in Mali; Jihadists Hold 100+ Hostages

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From the Daily Mail:

Jihadists kill three as they go 'floor to floor' screaming 'Allahu Akbar' during AK-47 rampage at Mali hotel and take 170 hostages before freeing those who could recite the Koran

• Radison Blu hotel under attack by jihadists armed with AK-47s and hand grenades in Malian capital of Bamako
• Up to 10 gunmen have taken dozens of hostages inside the Radisson hotel while 80 people have escaped unharmed
• Gunmen spoke in English and tested hostages' knowledge of the Koran before allowing Muslim hostages to leave
• U.S. embassy confirms government employees are among the terrified hostages trapped inside the Radisson Blu hotel
• US Special Forces lead elite operation to clear the building one floor at a time amid deadly hostage crisis
• At least three people have been killed including one French national and US embassy have urged American nationals to 'shelter in place' from attack

Armed jihadists have killed at least three people in a deadly shooting rampage and taken 170 hostages at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali. 

Automatic weapons fire has been heard on the seventh floor of the 190-room hotel, where it is thought as many as 10 militants have been going floor to floor and taken 140 guests and 30 members of staff hostage. 

Witnesses described how the gunmen allowed around 20 hostages to leave safely after they proved they were able to recite verses of the Koran to the militants. US and French Special Forces have reportedly stormed the hotel and have began to clear the building one floor at a time. 

The US embassy has confirmed that several American government personnel are trapped inside the besieged hotel. 

No group has claimed responsibility for the hotel attack, which is frequently used by Air France crew, although Al Qaeda affiliated militants have previously carried out attacks in Mali. 

Several witnesses have claimed that the gunmen entered through the gates of the hotel in a car with a diplomatic number plate before opening fire with AK-47s and throwing grenades inside the building. The gunmen were also speaking to the hostages in English, according to one freed hostage. 

'I heard them say in English 'Did you load it?', 'Let's go,' revealed Guinean singer Sekouba 'Bambino' Diabate, who was freed by Malian security forces. 

'I wasn't able to see them because in these kinds of situations it's hard. I woke up with the sounds of gunshots and for me, it was just small bandits who came in the hotel to claim something. After 20 or 30 minutes, I realized these are not just petty criminals,' said Mr Diabate. 

The hotel's head of security, Seydou Dembele, said two private security guards had been shot in the legs in the early stages of the assault. 

'We saw two of the attackers. One was wearing a balaclava. The other was black-skinned. They forced the first barrier,' Dembele told Reuters. 

Within minutes of the assault, police and then soldiers had surrounded the hotel and were blocking roads leading into the neighbourhood. 

Two Malians and one French national have been killed while two workers for Turkish Airlines and 10 Chinese nationals are thought to be among the hostages. 

12 members of the Air France crew have been released from the hotel following a raid by Malian special forces while five other Turkish Airlines employees have managed to escape from the hotel, Turkish officials confirmed. 

'The whole of the Air France team is now in a safe place,' an Air France statement said, indicating it was in 'constant contact' with its team of two pilots and 10 cabin crew members. 

US Special Forces have reportedly been assisting with the rescue operation to clear the building of hostages and take out the armed jihadis. 

The French intelligence service has also been providing invaluable logistical support for the operation and have confirmed they have dispatched a unit of special forces to Bamako. 

Our special forces have freed hostages and 30 others were able to escape on their own. We have sealed all the exit points of the hotel, so be assured none of the hostage takers will be able to escape.' Security Minister Salif Traore told AFP. 

The Rezidor Hotel Group confirmed it is 'aware of the hostage-taking that is ongoing at the property today.'

'As per our information, two persons have locked in 140 guests and 30 employees,' the statement said. 

'Our safety and security teams and our corporate team are in constant contact with the local authorities in order to offer any support possible to re-instate safety and security at the hotel,' it added. 

The US embassy in Bamako has urged embassy staff to seek cover from the attack, tweeting that all Americans in Mali should 'shelter in place'.

Malian Special Forces have been seen outside the hotel and are assessing the situation while France's national security service have confirmed that about 40 members of the French National Gendarmerie Intervention Group are en route to Bamako. 

A spokesman for the service said they are heading from two different units of special police forces trained for emergency situations. British Special Forces are in Mali and also expected to head towards Bamako to help with the terror operation. 

Michael Skapoullis, who escaped the besieged hotel today, told the BBC: 'We live in a complex near the Radisson hotel. Every day I go to the [Radisson] gym from 6 to 8 in th emorning. 

'Today, after 7-ish, it was extremely quiet, there were two people inside the gym. They left and I was a bit worried. 

'We had the music on all the time at the gym so I didn't hear any gunshots. I left the gym and I tried to go in the lobby. 

'I opened the lobby door slowly, slowly, and I saw bullets on the ground. So I closed the door of the lobby and I went door to door, I went back in the gym, and from the gym I left the hotel. 

'Outside the hotel, there were police and military crew who escorted me and brought me to my house.' 

The horrific terror attacks comes just a few days after ISIS gunmen massacred 129 people on the streets of Paris. 

Suicide bombers targeted the Stade de France, cafes and restaurants as well as taking dozens of hostages at a death metal concert at the Bataclan theatre.
The co-ordinated attack was later claimed by ISIS, leading to a mass police hunt for one of the surviving gunmen and the ringleader of the deadly attack. 

Fears remain that the attack in Bamako may be linked or inspired by the Paris attack, where French nationals were targeted for the government's decision to carry out air strikes against ISIS. 

French president Francois Hollande says France is ready to help Mali with all means necessary in the wake of the hotel attack in the capital, Bamako.
Hollande asks all French citizens in Mali to make contact with the French Embassy there 'in order that everything is made to offer them protection.' 

'We should yet again stand firm and show our solidarity with a friendly country, Mali,' Mr Hollande said in a short statement. 

In Belgium, Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said there were four Belgians registered at the attacked hotel but it's unclear if they were taken hostage by the gunmen or not. 

Reynders also said there are '15 hostages who have been freed after an intervention' but didn't provide more details. 

In response to the terror attack in Bamako, Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has cut short its tip to Chad where he was attending a meeting of regional leaders. 

The Mali presidency said on Twitter that Mr Keita will be back to Bamako 'in the next hours'. 

Mali, a former colony of France, has been battling several terror groups, predominantly located in the north of the country.

French special forces have been assisting the Malian army in their long standing counter-terrorism operation against militants from Ansar ad-Din, al-Qaeda in the Maghreb and Tuareg rebels.

The shooting in Mali follows a nearly 24-hour siege and hostage-taking at another hotel in August in the central Malian town of Sevare. 

Four soldiers, five UN workers and four attackers were killed in the deadly attack, thought to have been carried out by Al-Qaeda linked militants. 

Islamist groups have been waging attacks in Mali despite a June peace deal between former Tuareg rebels in the north of the country and rival pro-government armed groups. 

Northern Mali fell in March-April 2012 to Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist groups long concentrated in the area before being ousted by an ongoing French-led military operation launched in January 2013. 

Despite the peace deal, large swathes of Mali remain beyond the control of government and foreign forces. 

Allen Ginsberg's Harsh Words for Islam and Muhammad (Strong Language)

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Starving

Hysterical

Naked

Yes, that Allen Ginsberg.

He was a flawed human being, like the rest of us. But I won't be speaking of his flaws here. One day, he defended another human being.

I don't think he was a great poet, but he also wasn't a hack. Parts of Howl are brilliant, whatever you may think of the message.

In 1971 Ginsberg wrote a poem called September on Jessore Road, which had a fair amount of impact in drawing attention to the state-sponsored genocide of Bengalis--Hindus, Muslims and others--by the Pakistan army and allied Islamist militias in Bangladesh. Estimates of those killed vary widely but a million or more deaths is reasonable. It is one of the largest recorded massacres of innocents by Muslim soldiers, militia and terrorist groups in history, and it was a liberal cause celebre for a few years. But it is now almost forgotten.

Ginsberg was a leftist. But though he often equated the "violence" of both communism and capitalism, he wasn't afraid to denounce the policies of communist states. And this got him into a bit of trouble. Wikipedia has a neat summary:

Ginsberg travelled to several communist countries to promote free speech. He claimed that communist countries, such as China, welcomed him because they thought he was an enemy of capitalism, but often turned against him when they saw him as a trouble maker. For example, in 1965 Ginsberg was deported from Cuba for publicly protesting at the persecution of homosexuals and referring to Che Guevara as "cute". The Cubans sent him to Czechoslovakia, where one week after being named the Král majálesu ("King of May" – a students' festivity, celebrating spring and student life), Ginsberg was labelled an "immoral menace" by the Czechoslovak government because of his free expression of radical ideas, and was then deported on May 7, 1965 by order of the state security agency. Václav Havel points to Ginsberg as an important inspiration in striving for freedom.

Deported from Cuba for calling Che Guevara "cute". I love it.

Cuba, by the way, would soon begin deporting homosexuals to concentration camps (following the Catholics), while most of the Western left still salivated over the revolution.

By all accounts, Ginsberg was friendly and charitable in his personal relations. As far as I can tell, most people that met him liked him and that included his cultural or political "opponents".

Here's a nifty clip from Firing Line where Ginsberg surprises William F. Buckley with a poem (that he proudly confesses was composed on LSD). Buckley blurts out "I kind of like that," and both men seem to be richly enjoying themselves.

The anecdote of the title comes from a 2010 piece in Reason Magazine by Mark Goldblatt. Read the whole article if you can, but here's the most relevant excerpt. I in turn was alerted to it by Kathy Shaidle:

I got to know the poet Allen Ginsberg towards the end of his life. Not very well, just a nodding acquaintance, but after he died I attended a memorial in his honor at the City University Graduate School. At that service, his personal assistant related a story about Ginsberg’s reaction to the death sentence pronounced on the novelist Salman Rushdie by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989. Rushdie’s “crime,” you’ll recall, was writing a provocative, perhaps even blasphemous novel inspired by the life of Muhammad called The Satanic Verses. 

Though I might be screwing up a few details, the gist of the story was as follows: Soon after news of the fatwa broke, Ginsberg and his assistant climbed into the back seat of a taxi in Manhattan. After a glance at the cab driver’s name, Ginsberg politely inquired if he was a Muslim. When the cabbie replied that he was, Ginsberg asked him what he thought about the death sentence on Rushdie. The cabbie answered that he thought that Rushdie’s book was disrespectful of Islam, and that the Ayatollah had every right to do what he had done. At this point, according to his assistant, Ginsberg, one of the gentlest men ever to walk the planet, flew into a rage, screaming at the cabbie as he continued to drive, “Then I shit on your religion! Do you hear me? I shit on Islam! I shit on Muhammad! Do you hear? I shit on Muhammad!” Ginsberg demanded that the cabbie pull over. The cabbie complied, and, without paying the fare, Ginsberg and his assistant climbed out. He was still screaming at the cabbie as the car drove off.

My own interpretation is that Ginsberg knew or cared little about Islam per se. But he knew what had happened to Rushdie (whether they were personally acquainted, I have no idea), and was sticking up for a comrade. How could anyone do this? How could any religion do this? How could anyone not aggressively oppose it?

No True Scotsman

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Anthony Flew

I love logical fallacies. Stop snickering. It's not because I like to use them. Rather, I believe that categorizing all the ways that our thinking can go wrong and then attaching silly or Latin names to them, along with evocative examples is itself, well, entertaining and funny.

Over at What's Up With Francis-Church, Catholic journalist Hilary White wrote an apropos and humorous post about the phenomenon of taking the latest Muslim atrocity and saying, "that has nothing to do with Islam" or "no true Muslim would do that" or some such. It's so pervasive in our culture right now that most of the time you don't even notice it, like bad air in Beijing or whatever.

Hilary White even references a video where various people claim that the fact that the Paris attacks were terrorist attacks proves that no true Muslim could have been responsible for them.

She then reminds us of the No True Scotsman fallacy.

As fallacies go it's fairly recent, or at least its explicit identification is. It was coined in 1975 by Anthony Flew, who everybody hates because he was a flaming right-wing atheist. That he became a sort of deist in his final book appeased few.

From his Thinking about Thinking:

Imagine Hamish McDonald, a Scotsman, sitting down with his Glasgow Morning Herald and seeing an article about how the "Brighton (England) Sex Maniac Strikes Again". Hamish is shocked and declares that "No Scotsman would do such a thing". The next day he sits down to read his Glasgow Morning Herald again; and, this time, finds an article about an Aberdeen (Scotland) man whose brutal actions make the Brighton sex maniac seem almost gentlemanly. This fact shows that Hamish was wrong in his opinion, but is he going to admit this? Not likely. This time he says: "No true Scotsman would do such a thing".

The compilers at Wikipedia put it thus:

No true Scotsman is an informal fallacy, an ad hoc attempt to retain an unreasoned assertion. When faced with a counterexample to a universal claim ("no Scotsman would do such a thing"), rather than denying the counterexample or rejecting the original claim, this fallacy modifies the subject of the assertion to exclude the specific case or others like it by rhetoric, without reference to any specific objective rule ("no true Scotsman would do such a thing"). 

Philosophy professor Bradley Dowden explains the fallacy as an “ad hoc rescue” of a refuted generalization attempt. The following is an example of the fallacy: 

Person A: "No Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge." 

Person B: "But my uncle Angus likes sugar with his porridge." 

Person A: "Ah yes, but no true Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge."

In her piece, Hilary White substitutes "Muslim" for "Scotsman". Apologies, Muslims.

I should say, though, that as funny and appropriate as the point is, its not even strong enough. It's not that Muslims are just like everyone else, occasionally committing terrorist acts, etc. It's that this (committing terrorist acts) is one of the essential points of Islam. Muhammad was, among other things, a terrorist—who massacred Christians and Jews (and then raped their wives), ordered the assassination of opponents (including female poets), and all the rest. Or at least he was, according to the Koran and the Hadith (the "official" sayings and deeds of Muhammad).

So I suppose we could coin a new fallacy:

Islamilliteracy

Islamilliteracy: Pontificating about Islam—including making definitive claims about what Islam really means and Muslims really are—without having actually read the Koran or having familiarity with the most well-known and well-taught or cited Hadith.

We could add, "or without knowing anything about Islamic history beyond skimming Karen Armstrong, John Esposito or the most recent offering from the Paulist Press," but that would be piling on.

Fallacies are funny. They can also get you killed. Or rather, they can get other people killed.

Everyone is prone to the occasional fallacy, I suppose. What bothers me is when they smirk while doing so.

Especially when they smirk against the background of some twenty-something rock-and-roll fan, begging for the life of his girlfriend before seeing her throat slit. And then getting an answering spray of bullets in the chest.