Day: November 2, 2015

ISIS in America – Majority of 900 Investigations Involve Links to ISIS

The U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee has provided a report on November 2, 2015, on the growing threat of the ISIS terrorist organization to Western nation targets, including the United States of America.  It states “vast majority of the 900 active homegrown extremist investigations involve links to ISIS.”  The Homeland Security Committee maintains a terrorist threat map for the United States of America.  In the Committee’s October report, it stated that 17 out of the 61 planned ISIS plots against Western targets were focused on the USA.  In the November report, it increased that total number by 1 to 62 ISIS plots with 18 plots in the USA.

The U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee November 2015 reporting and Terror Threat Snapshot states:

— “ISIS is fueling an unprecedented tempo for law enforcement authorities combating the homegrown Islamist extremist threat. The vast majority of the 900 active homegrown extremist investigations involve links to ISIS. Authorities have already arrested nearly 60 individuals this year in ISIS-related cases.”

— “ISIS’s global expansion has unleashed a wave of violence around the world – including against Western targets. From July through September this year, ISIS-affiliated groups launched around 12 attacks every day killing more than 30 people worldwide. ISIS’s calls for attacks are resonating with its  supporters in the West. ISIS has directed or inspired 62 plots to attack Western targets, including 18 inside the United States.”

— “Al Qaeda and its affiliates are regenerating their terror networks and capitalizing on power vacuums.Al Qaeda is exploiting the diminished American troop presence and weak local security forces in Afghanistan in order to rebuild its sanctuary. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has captured additional territory in Yemen amidst the ongoing war there.”

— “Foreign fighters converging on the battlefields in Syria and Iraq pose a continuing threat to the United States and our allies. A French fighter returnee reportedly described Syria as a “factory of jihadists” trained to launch external attacks in the near future. A recent House Homeland Security Committee bipartisan task force found that security weaknesses overseas are enabling fighters to travel more freely.

— “The massive refugee flows out of Syria remain vulnerable to terrorists seeking to exploit the crisis to infiltrate the West. American national security officials cautioned during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on October 21 that our limited intelligence picture of the conflict zone in Syria has the potential to undermine the integrity of the U.S. refugee resettlement screening process.”

— “Guantanamo Bay detainees transferred overseas continue to pose a threat to U.S. national security interests. Nearly one in three detainees released from the facility have rejoined or are suspected of having rejoined Islamist terror groups. The Obama Administration transferred two more detainees out of Guantanamo in October.”

— “The world’s leading state sponsor of Islamist terror, Iran, continues to sow instability and is poised to gain additional resources in the coming months as a result of sanctions relief. Iran has ramped up its military involvement in Syria in conjunction with its proxies, the Assad regime, and Russia. The Obama Administration is preparing to provide Iran with additional sanctions relief under the terms of the nuclear agreement, meanwhile, the Iranian parliament vowed that the “martyr-nurturing nation of Iran” will continue chanting “Death to America.”

— “Al Qaeda and its affiliates are regenerating their terror networks and capitalizing on power vacuums. Al Qaeda is exploiting the diminished American troop presence and weak local security forces in Afghanistan in order to rebuild its sanctuary. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has captured additional territory in Yemen amidst the ongoing war there.”

— “Foreign fighters converging on the battlefields in Syria and Iraq pose a continuing threat to the United States and our allies. A French fighter returnee reportedly described Syria as a “factory of jihadists” trained to launch external attacks in the near future. A recent House Homeland Security Committee bipartisan task force found that security weaknesses overseas are enabling fighters to travel more freely.
The massive refugee flows out of Syria remain vulnerable to terrorists seeking to exploit the crisis to infiltrate the West. American national security officials cautioned during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on October 21 that our limited intelligence picture of the conflict zone in Syria has the potential to undermine the integrity of the U.S. refugee resettlement screening process.

— “Guantanamo Bay detainees transferred overseas continue to pose a threat to U.S. national security interests. Nearly one in three detainees released from the facility have rejoined or are suspected of having rejoined Islamist terror groups. The Obama Administration transferred two more detainees out of Guantanamo in October.”

— “The world’s leading state sponsor of Islamist terror, Iran, continues to sow instability and is poised to gain additional resources in the coming months as a result of sanctions relief. Iran has ramped up its military involvement in Syria in conjunction with its proxies, the Assad regime, and Russia. The Administration is preparing to provide Iran with additional sanctions relief under the terms of the nuclear agreement, meanwhile, the Iranian parliament vowed that the “martyr-nurturing nation of Iran” will continue chanting ‘Death to America.'”

TerrorThreatSnapshot_November_Social-Media

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands in support of our universal human rights for all, and we stand in defiance against those, including terrorist and hate groups, which seek to attack such universal human rights, dignity, and security for all

We Are NOT Anonymous – Racist Hatred Won’t be Stopped by More Hatred

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) promotes the universal human rights of all people, including those we disagree with, and whose ideological views we reject.  We can disagree with and reject extremist views and anti-human rights views, while not sinking to a level of extremism and hatred ourselves.  While we have had our own bitter experience being attacked by such extremist groups, we do not believe the answer to hate is more hate.

We do not have to silently and passively “tolerate” extremist views, and we can defiantly use our freedoms and our free speech to disagree with and reject such extremist and hate views.  This includes, of course, the most aggressive enemies of human rights and of R.E.A.L. in particular.  We have long been a target of white supremacist and other extremist hate groups, both organizationally and individually.  We understand the frustration and the desire to undermine such groups arguments and their activism in spreading hatred.  We have stood many times, and will stand many times again in defiance of such views.

But defiance of views we reject is not hatred.  Even those whose views we reject are still our brothers and sisters in humanity.  Perhaps it is understandably difficult for us to “love” those who “hate” us.  Yet when we respond to hate with hate of our own, we are giving strength and courage to the enemies of human rights, not undermining and defying their objectives.

So we will not be reporting on or discussing the efforts by the extremist group Anonymous to “hack” the computers and systems of the enemies of human rights.  We understand the frustration of such individuals in their frustrated belief that the enemies of human rights can act with impunity.

Anonymous is wrong.  The enemies of human rights have never acted with impunity, and there have been those who have stood up to them and will continue to stand up to them – no matter who they are or where they promote racial and extremist hatred.   The slogan on Anonymous is “EVILdoneEVILdo.”  At R.E.A.L., we will Fear No Evil, and we have the ethics that two wrongs do not make a right.

We at R.E.A.L. have found that the public statements of the enemies of human rights speak volumes as to the challenge that they present.  We don’t have to “hack” their computers or reveal “hidden secrets,” because the racist and extremist views that these groups and individuals have are publicly known.  If we only challenged such publicly known racist and extremist views, we could find ourselves busy every hour of every day.

Yet the hacker group Anonymous feels the need to break into these extremists’ Twitter accounts, computer networks, etc.  and “reveal” their true identities, personal information, family information, telephone numbers, vehicle information, and other information which is totally unnecessary to reject anti-human rights views.  Of what human rights value is it to reveal alleged extremists’ telephone numbers, vehicle information, personal addresses, and names and details of family members (which may be totally innocent of the anti-human rights views of such extremists)?

In fact, R.E.A.L. has been the target of such hacker attacks from white supremacists and other groups.  They have gone after personal information on our families, addresses, telephone numbers.  They did so because we DARED to defy their white supremacist and extremist views.

White supremacist and other extremist hackers didn’t and won’t STOP US FROM DEFENDING HUMAN RIGHTS.  Their death threats didn’t and they won’t silence our free speech to defend the universal human rights for all people.

So we know the similarly wrong tactics of Anonymous will not stop those whose hatred of human rights will just be fueled by these hacker attacks.

When R.E.A.L. sees the  hacker group Anonymous doing the same thing, all this demonstrates to us is that they are just as willing to use such irresponsible tactics as those who are the enemies of human rights.  As we have said then, and we say again – we are not afraid – we will defend the universal human rights of our fellow human beings with real courage.

Anonymous  does not help the ongoing cause of fighting for human rights this way.  Anonymous only undermines the good work that those who challenge racists and extremist groups are doing to show that anti-human rights views and values have no place in democracy which values human rights and compassion for our public.

We may not control the actions of others, but we certainly can control our own actions and words.

The example we set defines our own values and principals.   We believe in the ethical mathematics that two wrongs do not make a right.

We are NOT Anonymous.

We are freely and openly Responsible for Equality And Liberty.

Even, and especially, when it is difficult to do so.

We offer an outstretched hand to all of our brothers and sisters in humanity, and we urge those burdened by the hate of anti-human rights views to drop such burden, and rejoin the family of humanity and respect for all.

Every day is another good day to demonstrate what it means to truly be RESPONSIBLE.

Volunteers Offer an Outstretched Hand, Not an Upraised Fist - to White Nationalism and Anti-Semitic Group Leader - Choose Love, Not Hate
Volunteers Offer an Outstretched Hand, Not an Upraised Fist – to White Nationalism and Anti-Semitic Group Leader – Choose Love, Not Hate

Human Rights Campaigns and Anonymous’ “Do Evil” Campaign

When we are publicly responsible as citizens of humanity for our universal shared human rights, the most powerful action is to be responsible as ourselves, with real names, real faces, and a real sense of personal responsibility.  Such genuine supporters of our shared human rights fight hundreds of diverse battles in defense of human rights and dignity for people of different identity groups, ethnic groups, races, nationalities, genders, religions, and beliefs – as part of a shared commitment to our Universal Human Rights.

We don’t wear masks to hide behind.  We walk in the streets, unashamed, unafraid, and honest with our names, our identities, and our shared values of human rights and dignity for all.  We are Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), volunteers helping many different human rights causes around the world.

This is very different than the planned “Anonymous” hacker extremist group.  It is understandable that some frustrated people may think that people like “Anonymous” might make a difference with their hacker campaigns.  But their are misled and misguided – because the difference the “Anonymous” hacker group really seeks to make is a negative difference – one to promote hatred and contempt.  R.E.A.L. rejects the idea that hate will defeat hate, as we have stated in our response regarding the misguided “Anonymous” campaign against racist members of the Ku Klux Klan which has targeted innocent people, and which undermines efforts by human rights groups that seek to gain public rejection of racist ideologies of hate.

But what really identifies the corruption in the extremist group “Anonymous” is their promise to “Do Evil,” as part of the Anonymous slogan “EVILdoneEVILdo.”

Where in our shared Universal Human Rights, do we have a “right” to “Do Evil”?  What human rights group bases its public awareness campaigns and efforts to challenge and defy extremists on a slogan to “Do Evil”?

For those Responsible for Equality And Liberty – we will FEAR NO EVIL – not from the racist Ku Klux Klan, not from Anonymous, and not from any extremist group.

Of course, we all know the answers to this.  Members of Anonymous have written to R.E.A.L. stating, “there’s so many racists. You’re not doing a good job.”  We have and we will continue to defy racist hatred and extremist ideologies.  But we have no illusions over the long struggle against racism and hatred.  It will continue in corners, despite our best near-term efforts.  The struggle against racism is not in one short-term, sweeping victory.  That can’t and won’t happen.  Any adult knows this.  Our long-term efforts will continue to challenge those who defy our shared human rights – from any area.

For that, we need to respect human rights ourselves.  For that, we cannot fight hate with hate, or evil with evil.  A human rights crusade can never be based on “evil,” because when it does – it is not a human  rights crusade at all.

We don’t need masks.  We don’t need to be “Anonymous.”

We have nothing to hide or be ashamed of.  We are openly and publicly, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)

R.E.A.L.'s Orange Ribbon Campaign for Equality And Liberty
R.E.A.L.’s Orange Ribbon Campaign for Equality And Liberty