Jihad In America - The Perfect Day

I was going to work a bit more on this story before posting it to the site however, in light of the recent news release yesterday of the activation of hezbollah sleeper cells I thought it important to post it today. To read our related story go to Hezbollah Sleeper Cells and also The Threat of Homegrown terrorism.

Glenn Beck- The Perfect Day - Jihad In America (part 1)

Glenn Beck- The Perfect Day - Jihad In America (part 2)

Glenn Beck- The Perfect Day - Jihad In America (part 3)

Glenn Beck- The Perfect Day - Jihad In America (part 4)

Glenn Beck- The Perfect Day - Jihad In America (part 5)

Glenn Beck- The Perfect Day - Jihad In America (part 6)

Ironically today is the first day of summer and most schools are now closed for the summer vacation, but hopefully it will make people aware and give them some time to plan as to what they would do if such an event were to take place.

I would also like to take the time to say I reached out to Glenn Beck who had this on his new broadcast for permission to use these videos in the story however, I have as yet not received a reply nor do I really expect to get one. I do however feel it is extremely important to have this information readily available for people to see which is why I placed this all here.

Full credit should go to Glenn Beck and CNN.

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Hezbollah Sleeper Cells Activated

While it may not be news to those "in the know" that there are "sleeper cells" in the United States and Canada, it may be a surprise to the average person that not only do these "sleeper cells" exist, but they are large in number.

More disturbing is the ABC NEWS EXCLUSIVE REPORT: Hezbollah Poised To Strike which came out yesterday saying that Hezbollah has been activated to strike at Jewish Targets outside the middle east.

In the special report intelligence officials tell ABC News the group has activated suspected "sleeper cells" in Canada and key operatives have been tracked moving outside the group's Lebanon base to Canada, Europe and Africa.

Suspected Hezbollah operatives have conducted recent surveillance on the Israeli embassy in Ottawa, Canada and on several synagogues in Toronto, according to the officials. However, there is no credible information on a specific target, according to the officials.

Latin American is also considered a possible target by officials following Hezbollah's planning.

A senior US counter-terrorism official told ABC News, "There are concerns Hezbollah might be ready to do something along those lines."

Three US law enforcement agencies say they have been briefed on the developments by intelligence agencies.

A spokesperson for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service says the agency does not comment on the existence of ongoing intelligence operations.

Officials say the CIA, the NSA, and British and Canadian intelligence agencies began to pick up a steady stream of information - from electronic intercepts, human sources and surveillance - about a possible Hezbollah attack on Feb. 17, just days after the Beirut funeral of Mugniyah where Hezbollah leaders publicly declared they would seek revenge.

"They want to kill as many people as they can, they want it to be a big splash," said former CIA intelligence officer Bob Baer, who says he met with Hezbollah leaders in Beirut last month.

"They cannot have an operation fail," said Baer, "and I don't think they will. They're the A-team of terrorism."

Alarms were first raised in Canada, where as many as 20 suspected Hezbollah members have been under surveillance after as many as four suspected "sleeper cells" were activated, including one known as "Rashedan," intelligence officials tell ABC News. The members also received instruction to send their family members home to Lebanon, according to officials.

Meanwhile an expert in Canada, Alan Bell, an international terror expert and president of the security firm Globe Risk Holdings, has said that reports about Hezbollah's presence in North America are unsubstantiated, and the organization has no reason to attack on Canadian soil.

Bell says Hezbollah usually works in the Middle East, and they have little reason to attack in Canada as there are far easier targets elsewhere.

The only thing that has changed is that the present Canadian government is more closely aligned with Israel.

But Bell believes, "Canada is an area for Hezbollah for fundraising, recruiting and equipment and forgery of documents, etc., and if they attack inside Canada, there's a pretty good chance they're going to alienate a lot of their supporters."

In addition, Hezbollah would be very reluctant to attack on U.S. soil, as it would be seen as an attack by Iran, and give the U.S. government a reason to retaliate.

See also our related stories The Threat of Homegrown terror and Jihad In America - The Perfect Day.

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Shelter In Place

A while back I did a piece on Shelter In Place during an emergency. Usually the authorities will announce when you should shelter in place during certain emergencies.

This will generally be broadcast over the television and radio and in some cases through other means of emergency notification. The system is not perfect and a system is being worked on that will notify citizens via text messages.

I thought it very important to bring this subject up again, since during a recent conversation someone had mentioned that shelter in place is strictly for pandemic planning. This statement could not be further from the truth. In fact the very next day about fifty miles north of where I live they issued a shelter in place due to a chemical fire.

For this reason I felt it was important to make a brief post about this topic again, and will probably touch on different aspects about sheltering in place from time to time. Of all the sites I have been to the CDC Shelter in Place Facts gives some of the best examples of why you want to shelter in place. Generally speaking though it is usually when it is unsafe to go outside or to evacuate due to the conditions outside of the building you are in.

I ask people to refer to my other post on Shelter In Place for more details and additional links to excellent resources.

American Red Cross Out of Cash, Borrows Money

The American Red Cross disaster relief fund is out of cash and in need of immediate donations. The agency has already spent $15 million USD in the Midwest due to the floods and has announced that it has taken out loans to pay for shelters, food, and other disaster assistance.

The agency also stated that spending for this disaster could top $40 million USD if the Mississippi River causes more flooding in Saint Louis later this week, as the flood waters make their way down the river.

The Red Cross stated that people are currently giving less most likely due to rising food, and fuel costs in addition to the collapse of the housing market.

"The disaster relief fund today is completely depleted. The balance is zero," Jeffrey Towers, chief development officer, said in a conference call with reporters. Towers added that the Red Cross "needs immediate funds to deploy in a variety of ways to provide the scale of services that this disaster demands."

"It's a continuous series of storms and disasters that have led us to where we are today," said Joe Becker, senior vice president for disaster services. He added, "We're not going to stop serving people because we don't have the money. We'll have to redouble our fundraising efforts and present the need to America and ask them to respond."

If you can please take the time to visit the American Red Cross site to make a donation today, every little bit helps.

Source 1: Red Cross Press Release

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Unprecedented Flooding In Iowa

The flooding has affected most of the State of Iowa, including Cedar Rapids, a city that was said would never flood due to historic flooding of years past in which water never crested the banks of the river. Those years were 1851, 1966, and 1993; this year however things are different and they were wrong.

Cedar Rapids like most of the State is experiencing what the National Weather Service calls a "a historic hydrological event." Dave Koch, spokesman for the Cedar Rapids Fire Department said, about 8,000 people have evacuated their homes, and 5,500 were without electricity.

Those whose power has been lost should expect to go without for a week or more as utility companies struggle to prevent further damage to their critical infrastructure, said Scott Drzycimski, a spokesman for Alliant Energy.

The city has evacuated 25,000 people and has about 100 of its city blocks under water while most of the city's efforts to stop damage have failed, such as building up an old levee to increase its height by four feet, the water crested the levee by two feet. Efforts to keep a bridge from being washed away by placing rail cars laden with rocks also failed, the bridge wast toppled by Thursday morning.

Other areas of Iowa are also affected and the State's economy is largely Dependant on agriculture and crops that have been destroyed by the flooding.

Other States such as Wisconsin and Illinois have also been affected, though not to the same extent as Iowa.

AP Video of of Public Works Director statement

Another AP Video showing extent of damage from the air

For much more on this story please see the sources below.

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