A self-described “born-again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ” has been arrested on suspicions of damaging dozens of statues at six New Jersey parishes in July. Curtis Condell, 41, has been charged with bias intimidation and criminal mischief.
Read more at www.catholicculture.org
New York cracks down after "credible" 9/11 threat
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New York police amassed a display of force on Friday including checkpoints that snarled traffic in response to intelligence about a car or truck bomb plot linked to the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Officers armed with automatic weapons were stationed at city landmarks including Wall Street, Times Square and the September 11 memorial site where the Twin Towers once stood.
U.S. officials called the threat "credible but unconfirmed" and timed to the anniversary of the hijacked plane attacks that killed 2,995 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
There was reason to believe threat may be linked to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, a U.S. official told Reuters on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
New Yorkers who have grown accustomed to bag searches at subway stations and random displays of police presence encountered increased vigilance after the threat, which prompted President Barack Obama to order a redoubling of U.S. counterterrorism efforts.
A manhunt was under way for two or three suspects, U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity. One said there could be a link to Zawahri, who took the reins of al Qaeda after Osama bin Laden was killed in May in a U.S. raid in Pakistan.
Near the site known as Ground Zero, where a new World Trade Center is under reconstruction and Obama will attend Sunday's commemoration, police established a checkpoint behind the historic Trinity Church, stopping vehicles, opening the cargo bays of trucks and checking drivers' licenses.
Similar checkpoints went up at Times Square, Columbus Circle on the southern edge of Central Park and outside the Macy's department store in midtown, creating traffic jams all over Manhattan.
"I think for our safety it is good," Eva Kurzawska, 57, said as she watched irritated drivers a checkpoint in midtown.
"The commute on the train this morning was horrible but it was worth it because we are being protected," said Mario Vigorigo, 42, a wireless manager from Brooklyn.
Sam Ginzburg, a senior trader at First New York Securities, said warnings of a potential attack was one factor unnerving traders before the weekend. "There is an extreme amount of negativity," he said as U.S. stocks fell on Friday.
A senior law enforcement official told Reuters police patrols and security will be stepped up beginning at 3 p.m. EDT to coincide with the evening rush hour. The operation will involve a "big show of force" which will include teams of officers armed with heavy weapons.
While the rush-hour operation had been planned some time ago, the forces and tactics deployed were increased after authorities received the intelligence threat this week.
'TERRORISM IS THEATER'
The intelligence included possible threats of attacks targeting subways or commuter trains or possible car bomb attacks in New York or Washington, U.S. officials said.
"We have to be concerned. Terrorism is theater and this is a stage, right now probably the world's biggest stage," New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told CNN.
"We have the opening of the 9/11 memorial, the president and two former presidents here, obviously a lot of high profile public officials will be here, so we have to be concerned," Kelly said.
In addition to the vehicle checkpoints, police would assign additional officers to cover bridges and tunnels, increase bag searches in the subway system, deploy radiation detectors and employ bomb-sniffing dogs, Kelly told NY1 television.
Vice President Joseph Biden said on ABC's "Good Morning America" program on Friday morning, "We don't have the smoking gun but we do have talk about using a car bomb."
A counterterrorism official said the threat information came from Pakistan's tribal areas.
Documents discovered in Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after he was killed in a raid in May by Navy SEALs, highlighted his persistent interest in attacking the United States around the anniversary of the 2001 attacks. But it is unclear if the plans ever evolved beyond aspiration.
(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball in Washington; Michelle Nichols, Edward Krudy, Brian Snynder and Jennifer Marostica in New York; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
Read more at news.yahoo.com
Influence of Obama's brother Abongo felt in Washington
IRS delivers response to tax-exempt designation request in 30 days
President Obama's half-brother, who runs a foundation that collects funds in the United States, was able to get approval of a tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service in an unheard-of time period of only a month, records reveal.
Barack Obama's half-brother Abongo Malik Obama, also known as "Roy" Obama, appears to have received the sudden IRS approval to operate as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization in only 30 days. The result was made retroactive for three years.
The Barack H. Obama Foundation, which runs out of a commercial mail drop in Arlington, Va., has solicited tax-deductible contributions on the Internet since 2008.
But it first submitted an application for its tax exemption in May and was granted the status in June, according to records.
Abongo Malik Obama continues to serve as the founder and president of the Barack H. Obama Foundation, which, since it was set up in 2008, has asked for tax-deductible contributions on the Internet, listing addresses and telephone numbers both in the U.S. and Kenya, but without disclosing the group lacked an IRS determination letter.
This week, the IRS confirmed to WND that the Barack H. Obama Foundation received a determination letter in June, awarding the group tax-exempt 501(c)3 status, retroactively to 2008.
When did the foundation file with the IRS?
Yet, as recently as last May, Alton Ray Baysden, a former State Department employee and director of the Barack H. Obama Foundation, at whose home the charity was founded in 2008, told the New York Post that the foundation had neglected to apply for tax-exempt status with the IRS.
"We haven't been able to find someone with the expertise to do this," Baysden told New York Post reporters Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein for a story published May 8.
"We are scouting for an executive director, someone who knows how to register the charity," he said.
The New York Post also reported that the foundation was not registered in Virginia at the time the article was written in May, despite a Virginia legal requirement that an organization register before soliciting donations in that state.
"Since one of the Obama Foundation's founders and directors, Mr. Alton R. Baysden, stated publicly in May 2011 that the foundation had not even applied for tax-exempt status, it is inconceivable that the IRS can now claim that the status was granted in June 2011, retroactive to 2008," Ken Boehm, the head of the National Legal and Policy Center, told WND.
In May, Boehm's group, also a 501(c)3 organization, filed an official complaint with the IRS asking for an investigation of why the Barack H. Obama Foundation was being allowed to solicit tax-deductible contributions from the public even though the foundation had not applied for or received an IRS determination.
"This appears to be political favoritism to the president's brother," Boehm told WND. "It cries out for an investigation."
Boehm said that receiving an IRS determination letter typically takes as long as six months after an organization seeking tax-exempt status has filed a formal application with the IRS.
The concern of the National Legal and Policy Center was that the foundation may have violated federal and/or state postal and tax laws by soliciting via the Internet and U.S. mail tax-deductible contributions without having made required filings and without having received necessary IRS tax-exempt determinations.
An automated voice message machine answered a WND phone call to the foundation's headquarters in Arlington, Va., to seek comment. WND received no return phone call.
Foundation's limited financial reporting
An IRS Form 990-EZ required for tax-exempt organizations was filed on May 23, only days before the IRS determination letter was sent.
The Form 990-EZ appears to have been hand-written by Abongo Malik Obama himself, complete with an unorthodox page of calculations evidently included to evidence the amounts entered into the form.
The form reported the foundation had received $24,250 total gross income for 2010, derived from contributions, gifts and grants.
"We were not very successful this year because of limited contributions," Abongo Malik Obama reported on the Form 990. "The Foundation sponsored a Youth Tournement (sic) and embarked on construction of community bridges."
The Form 990 listed Samuel Andika Obiero of Arlington, Va., and Andrew Mboya of Hackensack, N.J., as directors, in addition to Abongo Malik Obama.
The Form 990, filed only 12 days after the New York Post article referenced above was published, did not list Baysden as a director.
First page of foundation form 990
GuideStar.org, the private website that posts for public view IRS documents regarding nonprofit organizations, said for the Barack H. Obama Foundation no audited financial statements were available.
WND was unable to find any financials for the Barack H. Obama Foundation, going back to its origin in 2008, other than the five-page Form 990 filed for 2010.
As seen in Exhibit 1, the website homepage of the Barack H. Obama Foundation prominently features a photograph of Barack H. Obama Sr. and a statement that the foundation is "a fully tax-exempt (501(c)3) charitable organization."
Exhibit 1, Homepage of the Barack H. Obama Foundation
Born in Kenya to Kezia
Born in Kenya, on March 15, 1958, Abongo Malik "Roy" Obama was the first child born to Barack Obama Sr.
The son of Kezia, Obama Sr.'s first wife, Abongo Malik "Roy" Obama was only 18 months old when Barack Obama Sr. arrived in New York on a BOAC flight on Aug. 8, 1959, in transit from Kenya to begin his undergraduate studies at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.
Having abandoned Kezia in Kenya, Obama Sr. subsequently married Stanley Ann Dunham, Barack Obama Jr.'s mother, while in Honolulu.
In September 1962, Obama Sr. abandoned Stanley Ann Dunham and his second son, Barack Obama Jr., as he headed for Cambridge, Mass., to begin graduate studies in economics at Harvard University.
As WND previously reported, Barack Obama Sr., on Aug. 17, 1962, in filling an Immigration and Naturalization form requesting to extend his temporary stay in the United States, listed Roy Obama as his only child, neglecting to list Stanley Ann Dunham as his wife or Barack Obama, Jr. as his son.
A convert to Islam
Abongo Malik "Roy" Obama is a major character in Obama’s autobiography, "Dreams from My Father."
A key passage in the autobiography concerns Obama's reaction to his half-brother when Roy joins Barack to be the best man at his wedding to Michelle.
Noting that Roy had converted from Christianity to Islam, Obama wrote on page 441 that Roy had "sworn off pork and tobacco and alcohol."
Obama continued: "Abongo's new lifestyle has left him lean and clear-eyed, and at the wedding, he looked so dignified in his black African gown with white trim and matching cap that some of our guess mistook him for my father."
Pointedly, Obama observed that Roy was "prone to make lengthy pronouncements on the need for the black man to liberate himself from the … influences of European culture."
As seen in Exhibit 2, Roy Obama was featured in a family portrait taken in one of Obama's earlier trips to Kenya, before he returned in 2006, as U.S. senator.
Exhibit 2, Obama family portrait taken in Kenya, Abongo Malik "Roy" Obama stands to Barack Obama Jr.'s immediate left
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Roy Obama surfaced, dressed in African garb and holding a photograph of Barack Obama, also wearing African garb, as seen in Exhibit 3.
Exhibit 3, Abongo Malik "Roy" Obama displays a 1980s-era photograph of Barack Obama in Kenya, wearing African garb
Roy Obama in Kenya, in a more recent photograph continues to display the 1980s-era photo of Barack Obama Jr. in Kenya wearing African garb.
Roy Obama still displays a 1980s-era photograph of Barack Obama in Kenya, wearing African garb
Earlier this year, Roy Obama caused a scandal in Kenya when at 52 years old he took as his third wife a 19-year-old girl.
According to "The Voice," an African news magazine in the Netherlands, Obama claimed that he is legally married to the woman and that the mother of the teenager had given her permission.
The mother, however, told the news magazine that here daughter abandoned her "to live with a man old enough to be her father."
A valid Social Security number
WND has determined that he has a valid Social Security number, issued in Washington, D.C., between 1985 and 1987, and associated with both the names "Roy Obama" and "Abongo Malik Obama," names that he appears to use interchangeably in the U.S.
A private investigative report commissioned by WND shows that Roy Obama has been identified since 1988 with 22 different rental addresses in the Washington, D.C., area, including addresses in Prince Georges County and Montgomery County, Md.
According to a recent report in the Los Angeles Times, Roy Obama, a frequent traveler between the U.S. and Kenya, has declared himself to be the "president" of Kyangoma-Koeglo, the family's ancestral village in Kenya.
WND was not able to determine the legal status of Roy Obama to live and work in the U.S.
Clergy Insulted By Speaking Ban At Sept. 11 Events
Audio for this story from Morning Edition will be available at approx. 9:00 a.m. ET
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is banning clergy-led prayer at this weekend's events marking the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The mayor's office says he wants to avoid disagreements over which religious leaders participate. Some religious groups are calling the ban a sign of prejudice against religion.
Around the Nation
Clergy Insulted By Speaking Ban At Sept. 11 Events
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is banning clergy-led prayer at this weekend's events.
This obnoxious Ron Paul supporter (or as we more accurately call ‘em, PaulNuts) is sooooo typical. Gets stopped by Gallatin County, Montana sheriff’s deputies and lectures ‘em about the Constitution and the First Amendment. Oh, and he makes sure we know who he’s supporting for Prez . . . several times. I give a lot of credit to photogenic Deputy Sheriff Doug Lieurance, who has a good sense of humor through it all. Nice catch and great narration by YouTuber, “Rividude.” Gotta watch. . .
See more at www.debbieschlussel.com
Brightest supernova in 25 years dazzles US scientists
California astronomers have found the closest, brightest supernova of its kind in 25 years, catching the glimmer of a tiny self-destructing star a mere 21 million light years from Earth and soon visible to amateur skywatchers.
The discovery, announced on Wednesday, was made in what was believed to be the first hours of the rare cosmic explosion using a special telescope at the Palomar Observatory near San Diego and powerful supercomputers at a government laboratory in Berkeley.
The detection so early of a supernova so near has created a worldwide stir among astronomers, who are clamouring to observe it with every telescope at their disposal, including the giant Hubble Space Telescope.
Scientists behind the discovery at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley say the extraordinary phenomenon – labelled by the rather obscure designation PTF 11kly – will likely become the most-studied supernova in history.
"It is an instant cosmic classic," said Peter Nugent, the senior scientist at UC Berkeley who first spotted it.
PTF 11kly occurred in the Pinwheel Galaxy, located in the Ursa Major constellation, better known as the Big Dipper. At a distance of roughly 21 million light years, that puts it, on a cosmic scale, practically "in our backyard," Nugent said.
By comparison, most supernova found with the 48-inch Palomar telescope are about 1 billion light years away and far too faint for the general public to see, Nugent said.
Initially detected on August 24, the PTF 11kly has literally grown brighter by the minute and was already 20 times more luminous in just one day.
It is expected to reach its peak sometime between September 9 and 12, when it will become visible to stargazers using a good pair of binoculars or small telescope.
It will appear, bluish-white, just above and to the left of the last two stars in the Big Dipper handle.
"There are billions of stars in a galaxy. This supernova will outshine them all this weekend," Nugent told Reuters.
Supernovae of this type, classified as a "Type 1a" event, occur when a superdense white dwarf star, about the size of Earth but containing somewhat more mass than our own sun, explodes like a gargantuan thermonuclear bomb.
The blast hurls matter in all directions at nearly one-tenth the speed of light – matter that ultimately will form the building blocks of other stars and planets.
Such events, accounting for about one in five of all supernovae, are also used by scientists in measuring the expansion of the universe.
Similar supernovae are known to have occurred in the Pinwheel Galaxy at least three times before – in 1909, 1951 and 1970. But instruments available to observe this one are far more sophisticated, and its early detection is giving scientists an unprecedented glimpse of such phenomena.
For astronomers, the royal straight flush of supernovae are those occurring in our own galaxy, which last happened in 1572 and was visible with the naked eye for months, Nugent said.
Records from antiquity indicate that an even more spectacular supernova in the Milky Way lit up the sky in 1006 A.D., Nugent said.
Mexico man accused of locking up, abusing girls for 7 years
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexico City man was arrested on Tuesday accused of imprisoning and abusing two teenage girls for seven years, fathering five children with them and beating one to death along with one of her babies.
The gruesome news story shocked Mexicans already pummeled by daily images of drug cartel violence.
Jorge Iniestra, 32, a part-time taxi driver started a relationship with a school worker in 2004 but soon fixated on her two young daughters, authorities said.
He pulled the girls out of school and blocked them from going outside, eventually locking them in a single, filthy room in his mother's house.
"He kept them totally hidden with the windows covered with wooden planks," Mexico City's attorney general Miguel Mancera said at a news conference.
"The conditions were absolutely horrible in the room where he kept the girls. They had to use the bathroom there and their brother had to clean everything up by hand," Mancera said.
Iniestra had five children with the girls and forced their younger brother to work collecting cardboard and selling candies outside the school, beating him with a belt or tying him up naked if he did not bring back enough money.
Prosecutors say Iniestra beat one of the girls to death and then smothered a three-month-old baby they had together, leaving the bodies for more than a month in the fetid room.
With the help of his brother, Iniestra eventually dumped the bodies on a highway, they said.
Police arrested Iniestra's mother and his brothers and sisters, along the girls' mother, Clara Tapia, for covering up the abuse and making sure the girls did not escape.
Although the city's attorney general's office said Tapia was so terrorized that she turned over her entire savings and debit card to Iniestra, she eventually lodged a complaint with police that led to the children's rescue.
The youngest surviving child, a three-month-old baby, was taken to the hospital with blunt head trauma from Iniestra's beatings. The other victims, a now 21-year-old girl and three young children -- two, four and five years old -- were sent to protective custody.
Mancera said Tapia and her daughters were suffering from "Stockholm Syndrome," when captives identify with their kidnappers, because they defended Iniestra's behavior when questioned by prosecutors.
(Reporting by Mica Rosenberg; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)
West York woman, 40, charged with sexual contact with teen boy
A 40-year-old West York woman faces of number of charges stemming from an alleged sexual relationship with a teenage boy.
According to borough police, Greta L. Irizarry of the 1000 block of West Princess Street is charged with statutory sexual assault, indecent assault with a person under the age of 16, unlawful contact with a minor and corruption of minors.
She was arraigned at central booking and remains in York County Prison in lieu of $2,500 bail.
According to her arrest affidavit, Irizarry had sex with the 15-year-old at least two to three times in the bedroom of her West York home.
Statements: Police were notified to the alleged incidents after the victim went to Irizarry's ex-husband, Steve Irizarry, and told him about the relationship, the affidavit said.
Steve Irizarry in turn went to police, and the teen met with police on Friday at the borough police station and gave a written statement about the relationship, according to the affidavit.
Also on Friday, police picked up Greta Irizarry from her home and took her to the West York police station for questioning.
At the station, she gave a written statement, admitting she had sexual intercourse with the teen, the affidavit said.
Amy Eyster, senior deputy prosecutor with the special crimes unit of the York County District Attorney's Office, advised police on which charges to file.
- Reach Greg Gross at 505-5434 or ggross@yorkdispatch.com.
York City police ask city council to fund license plate cameras
Smile, your car's license plate is on candid camera.
The York City Police Department is asking the city council to approve the purchase of cameras that automatically photograph license plates, identify vehicles' owners and their criminal information, and transmit the information to a patrol car's laptop computer in seconds.
The technology, already in use in other areas of York County, makes police more effective in catching people with outstanding arrest warrants, finding stolen vehicles, and getting drugs and illegal guns off the streets, city police Chief Wes Kahley said.
A measure to allow the police department to move funds so it can purchase the cameras was on the council's Tuesday meeting agenda, but council members will not take action on the matter until their Sept. 20 meeting.The infrared camera units cost about $26,000 each and can take pictures in almost any weather or light.
They typically mount on each side of tail end of a police cruiser, taking pictures of every vehicle that passes it, and would primarily be used for warrant details, Kahley said before Tuesday's meeting.
Effectiveness: Many times police will park near a stop light and randomly run the license plates of cars that are stopped in the hope of catching those wanted on warrants or other outstanding legal issues. But that involves a lot of wasted time, Kahley said.
"To give you an idea during the month trial period we did five (warrant) details, and in those details we arrested 41 people and served 96 warrants," Kahley said. "Also during those details we took guns off the street, we took drugs off the street, and located several stolen vehicles right away."
Another bonus is that the system dumps the information garnered by running the license plates into a national database for future use.
That is how the police located one of the suspects in the June murder of 26-year-old Alejandro Garcia-Castro at a party on West Poplar Street, Kahley said.
"We searched that database and found a picture of the vehicle we were looking for outside the gentleman's home," Kahley said.
Civil liberty concerns: David Moser, chairman of the Libertarian Party of York County, issued a press release Monday saying the cameras are indeed effective, but their misuse in other areas of the country - such as tracking down individuals with overdue library fees-raises the issue of how York should conduct oversight of such a program.
"Where do we draw the line with this? It is obviously an effective tool for what they are stating, but will it be used for things that citizens are comfortable with? That council members are comfortable with?" Moser said. "Who is going to have access to the data that is generated?"
But Kahley said the civil liberty issues are moot because the pictures are taken in a public place where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.
In fact, Kahley said, businesses such as car repossession companies contract with utility providers or other businesses that have fleets to mount the cameras and use them on their behalf.
"I think a lot of people would be surprised to know how many of these cameras are out there in York County being used right now, and it is not always police," Kahley said. But Moser countered the primary concern is not with the pictures, but with the data that is generated and stored using taxpayer money.
"How will this information be stored, and who will have access to it?" Moser said. "We have to be careful about what we ask for, and there are lot of questions that need to be asked and addressed before we decide whether to do this."
Kahley said he wants two camera systems, and has some grant money and funds left over from another project so their purchase won't add to the budget.
However, the city council still needs to approve moving the money within the municipal budget to enable the purchase.
- Reach Charlie Lardner at 505-5439 or clardner@yorkdispatch.com.
