Ohio State Stabbings Possible Terror Attack - Just After ISIS Calls For Random Knife Attacks And Releases Video Tutorial

Terrorism Suspected In Car-And-Knife Attack At Ohio State

[Does this mean we're start hearing about a need to ban knives and cars?]

A Somali-born Ohio State University student plowed his car into a group of pedestrians on campus and then got out and began stabbing people with a butcher knife Monday before he was shot to death by a police officer. Police said they were investigating whether it was a terrorist attack.

Eleven people were hurt, one critically.

The attacker was identified as Abdul Razak Ali Artan. He was born in Somalia and was a legal permanent U.S. resident, according to a U.S. official who wasn't authorized to discuss the case and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The FBI joined the investigation.

The details emerged after a morning of conflicting reports and confusion, created in part by a series of tweets from the university warning there was an "active shooter" on campus and students should "Run Hide Fight." The warning was prompted by what turned out to be police gunfire.

Ohio State University police Chief Craig Stone said the assailant deliberately drove his small Honda over a curb outside an engineering classroom building and then began knifing people. A campus officer nearby because of a gas leak arrived on the scene and shot the driver in less than a minute, Stone said.

Angshuman Kapil, a graduate student, was outside Watts Hall when the car barreled onto the sidewalk.

"It just hit everybody who was in front," he said. "After that everybody was shouting, 'Run! Run! Run!'"

Student Martin Schneider said he heard the car's engine revving.

"I thought it was an accident initially until I saw the guy come out with a knife," Schneider said, adding the man didn't say anything when he got out.

Most of the injured were hurt by the car, and at least two were stabbed. One had a fractured skull.

Columbus police Chief Kim Jacobs, asked whether authorities were considering the possibility it was a terrorist act, said: "I think we have to consider that it is."

Republican Vice President-elect Mike Pence called the episode "a tragic attack" and said "our prayers are with them all."

U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said the bloodshed "bears all of the hallmarks of a terror attack carried out by someone who may have been self-radicalized."

Was The Ohio State Attack Terrorism? Suspect Was Abdul Artan

Ohio law enforcement officials confirmed to NBC News Monday afternoon that Artan — an 18-year-old freshman at OSU — was the man who plowed a car into a crowd of people on campus and subsequently attacked passers-by with a butcher’s knife.

Authorities had previously confirmed that the suspect was a Somali refugee, legally residing in Ohio.

Artan fled Somalia with his family in 2007 before landing in Pakistan.

He moved to the United States in 2014, where he was granted legal, permanent status.

It should be noted that Ohio State’s online directory only lists one student with the name, Abdul Artan.

Ohio State Jihad Attacker Named Abdul Razak Ali Artan, Vehicle Used in Attack Belonged to Mohammad Ali https://t.co/sJq7byjKyPpic.twitter.com/tuAAUCPRE2

Furthermore, “The Lantern” — OSU’s campus newspaper — ran an interview with Artan just a few months ago, in which he criticized the school for not having Muslim prayer rooms on campus.

Artan’s motive is not yet known, yet authorities maintain that the attack was “done on purpose” and are treating the incident as a possible terrorist act.

ISIS Calls for Random Knife Attacks in Alleys, Forests, Beaches, 'Quiet Neighborhoods'

A new magazine issued by the Islamic State advises lone jihadists to get over any squeamishness about using knives and embrace sharp objects as "widely available" weapons of jihad in nighttime stabbing campaigns.

ISIS' Al-Hayat Media Center issued the second issue of its magazine Rumiyah, meaning Rome, in English, Turkish, German, French, Indonesian, Russian, Arabic and Uyghur. The design of the magazine is more simple than ISIS' English-language Dabiq. It's also much shorter: 38 pages compared to the 82 pages in the last issue of Dabiq.

In the first issue of Rumiyah, which debuted a month ago, jihadists were advised to target teens playing sports after school or even flower sellers hawking blooms on the street.

In the new PDF issue distributed widely via social media and Google Drive, an article on terror tactics assures would-be jihadists that "one need not be a military expert or a martial arts master, or even own a gun or rifle in order to carry out a massacre or to kill and injure several disbelievers and terrorize an entire nation."

A footnote in the article states that ISIS won't be using the term "lone wolf," but "just terror operations" -- "just" as an adjective for "justice." Al-Qaeda calls lone operations "open-source jihad."

Hinting that the article is one in a forthcoming series about terror tactics, ISIS focused on the benefits of knives to help potential terrorists with the "ocean of thoughts" that "might pour into one’s mind" when considering an attack.

"Many people are often squeamish of the thought of plunging a sharp object into another person’s flesh. It is a discomfort caused by the untamed, inherent dislike for pain and death, especially after 'modernization' distanced males from partaking in the slaughtering of livestock for food and the striking of the enemy in war," the unbylined article states. "However, any such squirms and discomforts are never an excuse for abandoning jihad."

ISIS suggested a "campaign of knife attacks" in which the attacker "could dispose of his weapon after each use, finding no difficulty in acquiring another one."

"It is explicitly advised not to use kitchen knives, as their basic structure is not designed to handle the kind of vigorous application used for assassinations and slaughter," the article states, further advising "to avoid troublesome knives, those that can cause harm to the user because of poor manufacturing."

Grotesque ISIS video tutorial shows 'lone wolves' how to murder 'disbelievers' in the US, Britain and France

A new Islamic State video has issued a graphic propaganda tutorial to Muslims to murder "disbelievers" in Britain, the U.S. and France. 

The video - "Taking revenge for the Muslims" - contains instructions on how to kill while outlining footage of earlier terrorist attacks in countries including Germany, France, Finland and Russia.

One terrorist wearing a balaclava to hide his face giving the instructions calls on Muslims in France to kill in the name of Allah.

"So kill them," he says.

The video centers on “revenge” and suggests that the simplest weapons for ISIS sympathizers to use abroad is either a knife or an improvised explosive device (IED).

The terrorist teaches how to fill a man with a knife, slicing his throat and wrist.

Updates From The Middle East: ISIS Retreat Reveals Terror Plots Against Europe, Syrian Troops Capture Aleppo Stronghold From Rebels,

Islamic State retreat 'reveals terror plots against Europe'

Intelligence of attack plots across Europe is being uncovered as Islamic State’s caliphate is beaten back, the top British officer in the military coalition fighting the extremists has disclosed.

A trove of information has already been found and the capture of the Iraqi city of Mosul is expected to deliver more on the plans, finances and members of Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (Isil).

The volume of intelligence being found is so large the coalition has set up a lab in the Gulf to plunder militants’ laptops, phones and drives for their secrets and then pass them to intelligence agencies.

The capture of the Syrian town of Manbij, which acted as a gateway for jihadists travelling into Turkey and on to Europe, was an intelligence breakthrough, he said. But he warned the militants would still be able to direct plots while they remained in their capital, Raqqa.

“For as long as Raqqa is sitting there, they can orchestrate external operations. So the sooner it’s liberated or the sooner Daesh are liberated from there, the better.”

Maj Gen Jones said: “I am absolutely certain that an extraordinary amount of intelligence will come out of Mosul. We have ramped up as a coalition our ability to gather and process all that intelligence, because it will be a labyrinth of intelligence and we need to get that into the hands of intelligence agencies.”

Syrian Troops Capture Aleppo Stronghold From Rebels

Syrian government forces have retaken “full control” of the rebel-held district of Masaken Hanano in northern battlefield city Aleppo, state media said on Saturday.

State television said “the armed forces retook full control” of the largest rebel district in the east of the city, and official news agency SANA said operations were now under way to clear it of mines and bombs.

"The armed forces retook full control of Masaken Hanano after having put an end to the presence of terrorists there,” the state broadcaster said, referring to the rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

SANA said government forces, backed by its allies, also recaptured the area around the district and “army engineers are clearing it of bombs and explosives planted by the terrorists in the streets and squares.”

The capture of Masaken Hanano in the northeast of Aleppo could give the army line-of-fire control over several other parts of the city’s rebel-held east.

One-third of about 90 fires caused by arson, police estimate

Police on Sunday said that one-third of the fires raging across the country are suspected to have been set deliberately.

In a statement, the police said that they suspect between 30-40 of the 90 fires they have investigated thus far were started by arsonists.

Police also said that although much of the evidence was destroyed by the fires, they are using forensic samples to determine whether the fires were ignited intentionally.

However, police have not yet found any evidence that the arson was coordinated nationally or planned in advance. Their assessment is that the arson was local and opportunistic, the statement said.

“Many of the incidents were caused by normal reasons, like weather or an electrical short circuit. But a serious number were caused by arson,” a spokesperson said. Many fires starting over a small area is an indicator of possible arson, he added.

“We are setting up a nationwide team to centralize the local details and are trying to find a connection,” the spokesperson said. “We are trying to understand who is behind the arson, and we are trying to reach them.”

Popocatépetl volcano erupts, sending ash 3 miles into sky

A volcano in Mexico erupted, sending ash three miles into the air and prompting warnings from government officials for tourists and residents to stay away.

The Popocatépetl volcano, located in Pueblo state, erupted with a billowing cloud of dark ash billowing into the morning sky Friday. In the 24 hours since the eruption started, Mexican officials said there have been 129 exaltations of ash, three explosions and one measurable earthquake, a magnitude-1.8 tremor.

19 volcanic eruptions last week: We are within a serious period of volcanic unrest

There have been at least 19 eruptions last week.

Are there still any people around saying that the seismic activity isn’t high around the world?

Here are the following eruptions and ash emissions as mentioned in the weekly report by the Global Volcanism Program (GVP) of the Smithsonian Institution from 16-22 November 2016.

Ulawun, Papua New Guinea: 16-18 November.

Turrialba, Costa Rica: plumes containing minor amounts of ash during 19th November.

Suwanose-jima, Ryukyu Islands: 16-17 and 20-21 November.

Sinabung, Indonesia: 20th November.

Sheveluch, Kamchatka Peninsula: 11-18 November.

Sangay, Ecuador: 16-17 November.

Nevados de Chillan, Chile: 18th November.

Nevado del Ruiz, Colombia: 16th November.

Kliuchevskoi, Kamchatka Peninsula: 17th November.

Kilauea, Hawaii: lava flows during 16-22 November.

Fuego, Guatemala: 16-17 and 19-22 November.

Dukono, Indonesia: 16th and 18-22 November.

Zhupanovsky, Kamchatka Peninsula: 20th November.

Ubinas, Peru: 17th November.

Sabancaya, Peru: 16-21 November.

Unknown source: pumice raft observed floating near Minerva Reef in the South Pacific during 15-16 November. The source of the pumice is unknown but thought to originate from either Monowai or Havre seamounts.

Langila, Papua New Guinea: 16th November.

Kerinci, Indonesia: 16-19 and 21st November.

Copahue, Chile-Argentina Border: 16-18 and 21-22 November.

Ron Paul Lashes Out At WaPo's Witch Hunt: "Expect Such Attacks To Continue"

The Washington Post: Useful-Idiot Shills for a Failed, Frantic Status Quo That Has Lost Control of the Narrative

Dear Clinton supporters: Recount won't matter (Opinion)

SHE'S BAAAACK! Ten radical ways the lawless left is planning to put Hillary Clinton back into the White House on January 20

Articles: Trump Won, but We're Not Done!

Skirmishes Increase Around Golan Heights: ISIS Opened Fire Across Border At IDF Patrol, Israeli Airstrikes Kill 4 ISIS Members

ISIS Affiliated Syrians Fire on IDF Patrol on Golan Heights

A group of four armed men, reportedly connected to the Islamic State, opened fire across the Syrian border at an IDF patrol in the southern Golan Heights early Sunday.

Soldiers returned fire and killed the attackers, and Israeli fighter jets attacked targets inside Syria.

No injuries to Israeli forces were reported.

In addition, a mortar hit the area, but it is not clear if the shell landed on the Israeli or Syrian side of the border. IDF officials said they believe the incidents were part of the Syrian civil war and hit Israel in error.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement that “the IDF will not tolerate any violation of Israel’s sovereignty and will respond harshly to any attempt to violate it.”

IDF airstrike kills 4 IS-affiliated terrorists in Syria after clash

An Israeli airstrike killed four members of an Islamic State-affiliated terrorist group in southern Syria on Sunday morning, following a clash near the border, the army said.

No Israeli soldiers were injured in the exchange, the army added.

Soldiers from the Golani Brigade’s reconnaissance unit had crossed the security fence with Syria to conduct an “ambush operation,” while remaining inside Israeli territory, when they came under attack from small arms fire, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said.

They returned fire, but soon came under attack from mortar shells.

In response, the Israel Air Force targeted a truck “that had some sort of machine gun on top of it” and killed the four terrorists who were riding in it.

“It was a short exchange, but it was productive,” IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said.

The incident occurred at approximately 8:30 a.m., east of the Avnei Eitan community in the southern Golan Heights, the army said.

According to the IDF, the four men were members of the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army, formerly known as the Yarmouk Martyrs’ Brigade, a terrorist group in Syria that is connected with the Islamic State.

“The army will not tolerate any impairment to its sovereignty and will respond severely to any attempt to damage it,” the army said in a statement.

The army would not go into details about the Golani reconnaissance unit’s ambush, saying only that it was “planned by operational intelligence.”

The incident was the first major confrontation between Israeli forces and Islamic State affiliated terrorists in the Golan, though Israel has clashed with other fighters on the Syrian side of the border several times.

The Syrian Golan has been the site of intense fighting in recent years between Assad regime forces and the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate, though the front on the border with Israel has quieted in recent months after seeing intense bouts of violence.

Israeli officials fear Hezbollah and Iran’s al-Quds Force are aiming at using the area to open a new front against Israel in any future conflict.

Washington Post Disgracefully Promotes a McCarthyite Blacklist From a New, Hidden, and Very Shady Group

THE WASHINGTON POST ON THURSDAY NIGHT promoted the claims of a new, shadowy organization that smears dozens of U.S. news sites that are critical of U.S. foreign policy as being “routine peddlers of Russian propaganda.” The article by reporter Craig Timberg – headlined “Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say” – cites a report by a new, anonymous website calling itself “PropOrNot,” which claims that millions of Americans have been deceived this year in a massive Russian “misinformation campaign.”

The group’s list of Russian disinformation outlets includes WikiLeaks and the Drudge Report, as well as Clinton-critical left-wing websites such as Truthout, Black Agenda Report, Truthdig and Naked Capitalism, as well as libertarian venues such as Antiwar.com and the Ron Paul Institute.

This Post report was one of the most widely circulated political news articles on social media over the last 48 hours, with dozens, perhaps hundreds, of U.S. journalists and pundits with large platforms hailing it as an earth-shattering exposé. It was the most-read piece on the entire Post website after it was published on Friday.

Yet the article is rife with obviously reckless and unproven allegations, and fundamentally shaped by shoddy, slothful journalistic tactics. It was not surprising to learn that, as BuzzFeed’s Sheera Frenkel noted, “a lot of reporters passed on this story.” Its huge flaws are self-evident. But the Post gleefully ran with it and then promoted it aggressively, led by its Executive Editor Marty Baron:

In casting the group behind this website as “experts,” the Post described PropOrNot simply as “a nonpartisan collection of researchers with foreign policy, military and technology backgrounds.” Not one individual at the organization is named. The executive director is quoted, but only on the condition of anonymity, which the Post said it was providing the group “to avoid being targeted by Russia’s legions of skilled hackers.”

In other words, the individuals behind this newly created group are publicly branding journalists and news outlets as tools of Russian propaganda – even calling on the FBI to investigate them for espionage – while cowardly hiding their own identities. The group promoted by the Post thus embodies the toxic essence of Joseph McCarthy but without the courage to attach their names to their blacklist. Echoing the Wisconsin Senator, the group refers to its lengthy collection of sites spouting Russian propaganda as “The List.”

The credentials of this supposed group of experts are impossible to verify, as none is provided either by the Post or by the group itself. The Intercept contacted PropOrNot and asked numerous questions about about its team, but received only this reply: “We’re getting a lot of requests for comment and can get back to you today =) [smiley face emoticon].” The group added: “We’re over 30 people, organized into teams, and we cannot confirm or deny anyone’s involvement.”

Thus far, they have provided no additional information beyond that. As Fortune’s Matthew Ingram wrote in criticizing the Post article, PropOrNot’s Twitter account “has only existed since August of this year. And an article announcing the launch of the group on its website is dated last month.” WHOIS information for the domain name is not available, as the website uses private registration.

More troubling still, PropOrNot listed numerous organizations on its website as “allied” with it, yet many of these claimed “allies” told The Intercept, and complained on social media, they have nothing to do with the group and had never even heard of it before the Post published its story.

At some point last night, after multiple groups listed as “allies” objected, the group quietly changed the title of its “allied” list to “Related Projects.” When The Intercept asked PropOrNot about this clear inconsistency via email, the group responded concisely: “We have no institutional affiliations with any organization.”

In his article, the Post’s Timberg did not include a link to PropOrNot’s website. If readers had the opportunity to visit the site, it would have become instantly apparent that this group of ostensible experts far more resembles amateur peddlers of primitive, shallow propagandistic clichés than serious, substantive analysis and expertise; that it has a blatant, demonstrable bias in promoting NATO’s narrative about the world; and that it is engaging in extremely dubious McCarthyite tactics about a wide range of critics and dissenters.

The Washington Post should be very proud: it staked a major part of its news story on the unverified, untestable assertions of this laughable organization.

One of the core functions of PropOrNot appears to be its compilation of a lengthy blacklist of news and political websites which it smears as peddlers of “Russian propaganda.” Included on this blacklist of supposed propaganda outlets are prominent independent left-wing news sites such as Truthout, Naked Capitalism, Black Agenda Report, Consortium News and Truthdig.

Also included are popular libertarian hubs such as Zero Hedge, Antiwar.com and the Ron Paul Institute, along with the hugely influential right-wing website the Drudge Report and the publishing site WikiLeaks. Far-right, virulently anti-Muslim blogs such as Bare Naked Islam are likewise dubbed Kremlin mouthpieces. Basically, everyone who isn’t comfortably within the centrist Hillary-Clinton/Jeb-Bush spectrum is guilty. On its Twitter account, the group announced a new “plugin” that automatically alerts the user that a visited website has been designated by the group to be a Russian propaganda outlet.

EVEN MORE DISTURBING than the Post’s shoddy journalism in this instance is the broader trend in which any wild conspiracy theory or McCarthyite attack is now permitted in U.S. discourse as long as it involves Russia and Putin – just as was true in the 1950s when stories of how the Russians were poisoning the U.S. water supply or infiltrating American institutions were commonplace. Any anti-Russia story was – and is – instantly vested with credibility, while anyone questioning its veracity or evidentiary basis is subject to attacks on their loyalties or, at best, vilified as “useful idiots.”

Two of the most discredited reports from the election season illustrate the point: a Slate article claiming that a private server had been located linking the Trump Organization and a Russian bank (which, like the current Post story, had been shopped around and rejected by multiple media outlets), and a completely deranged rant by Newsweek’s Kurt Eichenwald claiming that Putin had ordered emails in the WikiLeaks release to be doctored – both of which were uncritically shared and tweeted by hundreds of journalists to tens of thousands of people, if not more.

The Post itself – now posing as warriors against “fake news” – published an article in September that treated with great seriousness the claim that Hillary Clinton collapsed on 9/11 Day because she was poisoned by Putin. And that’s to say nothing of the paper’s disgraceful history of convincing Americans that Saddam was building non-existent nuclear weapons and had cultivated a vibrant alliance with Al Qaeda. As is so often the case, those who mostly loudly warn of “fake news” from others are themselves the most aggressive disseminators of it.

Indeed, what happened here is the essence of fake news. The Post story served the agendas of many factions: those who want to believe Putin stole the election from Hillary Clinton; those who want to believe that the internet and social media are a grave menace that needs to be controlled, in contrast to the objective truth which reliable old media outlets once issued; those who want a resurrection of the Cold War. So those who saw tweets and Facebook posts promoting this Post story instantly clicked and shared and promoted the story without an iota of critical thought or examination of whether the claims were true, because they wanted the claims to be true. That behavior included countless journalists.

So the story spread in a flash, like wildfire. Tens of thousands of people, perhaps hundreds of thousands or even millions, consumed it, believing that it was true because of how many journalists and experts told them it was. Virtually none of the people who told them this spent a minute of time or ounce of energy determining if it was true. It pleased them to believe it was, knowing it advanced their interests, and so they endorsed it. That is the essence of how fake news functions, and it is the ultimate irony that this Post story ended up illustrating and spreading far more fake news than it exposed.

Mainstream Media Labels Alternative Media As 'Sophisticated Russian Propaganda Tools'

It's getting harder and harder not to laugh at this stuff...If the stakes weren't so high, some of these happenings recently would be bordering on hilarious. But sadly, what we are seeing are the early stages and attempts of censorship and only state-approved media outlets:

Mainstream Media Desperation: Labels Alternative Media Sites As “Sophisticated Russian Propaganda Tools” 

It's interesting how the dying rags and television outlets claw and scrape at anything as citizen journalists expose the corruption and criminal activity in government and the media's complicity in that corruption. While many propaganda outlets like The New York Times and The LA Times have saw fit to label sites like ours as "fake news," it's The Washington Post that has gone a step further in its "blame the Russians for 'fake news'" by labeling alternative media as "sophisticated Russian propaganda tools."

The Washington Post reports:

Russia's increasingly sophisticated propaganda machinery — including thousands of botnets, teams of paid human "trolls," and networks of websites and social-media accounts — echoed and amplified right-wing sites across the Internet as they portrayed Clinton as a criminal hiding potentially fatal health problems and preparing to hand control of the nation to a shadowy cabal of global financiers. The effort also sought to heighten the appearance of international tensions and promote fear of looming hostilities with nuclear-armed Russia.

Two teams of independent researchers found that the Russians exploited American-made technology platforms to attack U.S. democracy at a particularly vulnerable moment, as an insurgent candidate harnessed a wide range of grievances to claim the White House. The sophistication of the Russian tactics may complicate efforts by Facebook and Google to crack down on "fake news," as they have vowed to do after widespread complaints about the problem.

There is no way to know whether the Russian campaign proved decisive in electing Trump, but researchers portray it as part of a broadly effective strategy of sowing distrust in U.S. democracy and its leaders. The tactics included penetrating the computers of election officials in several states and releasing troves of hacked emails that embarrassed Clinton in the final months of her campaign.

Who is trying to destroy a democracy? These guys can't even understand a basic premise here and that is that America is a republic. In fact, our Constitution states that it is supposed to guarantee a republican form of government.

Interestingly enough PropOrNot's report that was given to the Post listed more than 200 websites, which they claim push Russian propaganda to about 15 million Americans. Among those is a site I am the editor-in-chief at, FreedomOutpost.com. Other sites listed have carried some of my articles such as InfoWars.com, DCClothesline.com and TheDailySheeple.com. Here's the list.

Please note that our criteria are behavioral. That means the characteristics of the propaganda outlets we identify are motivation-agnostic.For purposes of this definition it does not matter whether the sites listed here are being knowingly directed and paid by Russian intelligence officers, or whether they even knew they were echoing Russian propaganda at any particular point: If they meet these criteria, they are at the very least acting as bona-fide "useful idiots" of the Russian intelligence services, and are worthy of further scrutiny.

Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge, which was also on the list of "Russian propaganda," commented, "While this latest spin on the so-called 'narrative' will certainly backfire, and accelerate the demise of the mainstream media's efforts to maintain credibility and control of the American mindset – which it painfully lost with their lies during the presidential campaign – not to mention 'eyeballs' and ad revenue, we remain fascinated by the so called 'liberal left's' relentless charges that Trump will unleash a massive censorship assault on the 'free press' when the 'free press' itself is doing everything in its power to squash dissenting voices. To which all we can add is that it is a good thing that said 'power' is declining with every passing day."

I agree with Durden's comments and would also add that you really should watch the following video of the interview with former KGB member Yuri Bezmenov, in which he details how the Marxists planned to defeat that West without firing a shot. Pay close attention around the 7:20 mark when he is asked, "What do we do?" You may be quite surprised.

Clintons Confirm Participation In Recount Plan, Despite No "Actionable Evidence Of Hacking"

This morning Hillary Clinton's campaign general counsel, Marc Elias, confirmed what we all knew already, namely that Jill Stein is likely acting at the direction of the Clintons in her recount efforts in WI, MI and PA.  The discovery came after Elias posted a note to Hillary voters this morning on Medium confirming that they would participate in Stein's recount efforts even though the Clinton campaign itself had decided against a recount because they had "not uncovered any actionable evidence of hacking or outside attempts to alter the voting technology."  This approach seems to align perfectly with the strategy we laid out two days ago:

We joke, of course, as Jill Stein's effort to raise money for recounts in WI, PA and MI is obviously being done on behalf of the Hillary Clinton campaign.  It's a very clever approach (we would expect nothing less) as it allows Hillary to maintain the high road as the gracious loser while allowing someone else to play the bad guy...typical Clinton politics really.

That said, since Jill Stein decided to act "completely independently" to waste the money of a bunch of donors the Hillary general counsel figures they might as well participate despite the fact that "the number of votes separating Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the closest of these states—Michigan—well exceeds the largest margin ever overcome in a recount."

Because we had not uncovered any actionable evidence of hacking or outside attempts to alter the voting technology, we had not planned to exercise this option ourselves, but now that a recount has been initiated in Wisconsin, we intend to participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides. If Jill Stein follows through as she has promised and pursues recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan, we will take the same approach in those states as well. We do so fully aware that the number of votes separating Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the closest of these states—Michigan—well exceeds the largest margin ever overcome in a recount. But regardless of the potential to change the outcome in any of the states, we feel it is important, on principle, to ensure our campaign is legally represented in any court proceedings and represented on the ground in order to monitor the recount process itself.

Of course, Clinton's failure to find any evidence of vote tampering was not for a lack of trying.  Elias also highlighted the five steps they took, including having "lawyers and data scientists and analysts combing over the results to spot anomalies that would suggest a hacked result," to come up with some reason to launch their own election challenge.  Why is it so hard to believe that Hillary simply lost the election?

For those who missed it, here is what we posted yesterday about the recount effort in Wisconsin.

It's official, the Wisconsin Election Commission just confirmed that a recount petition has been filed by Jill Stein just ahead of the 5pm deadline. 

Per a press release posted to the Commission's website, the recount will start late next week after the appropriate personnel have been assembled and after Stein pays the recount fee.  While no expectations were given for a completion date, the Commission noted that the federal deadline for all recounts is December 1

Of course, while Stein reiterates numerous allegations of foreign hacking that were well circulated, yet never officially linked to a specific source, before the election, her petition doesn't offer a single shred of actual, tangible evidence that the election results in Wisconsin were in anyway tampered with.  

Even her so-called "computer science expert" offers up nothing more than baseless theories on "plausible" explanations of how the Wisconsin results may have been hacked.  Sure, because it's just so impossible to believe that a flawed candidate with multiple ongoing FBI criminal investigations may have simply lost the election.    

Let Go…Please!

The fact that many of you have even taken to streets to protest and have engaged in civil disorders, attempted against your fellow American civil liberties; the fact that you have rioted, looted, burned other’s people’s properties, and outright disregarded law and order, as your way of protesting against Donald Trump’s victory just goes to prove the point that a great majority of your fellow citizens, those of us who voted for Donald Trump, knew better. Your post-election conduct is but a telltale sign of what you are all about; of what the rest of us were spared by having elected Donald Trump as our next president and the very reason why we elected Donald Trump.

The point I am trying to make, I guess, is, in a way, I am glad we are all being exposed to what your “progressive liberalism”  is really all about regardless of what the pseudonym of choice is used by your well-organized, coherent, and incontrovertible Marxist coalition.  It is now self-evident what you are all made up of.  Actions speak louder than words. Your actions make it clear to me that, in fact, November 8th, 2016, was not your ordinary presidential elections, as we have known them to be, ever since the beginning of the Republic.  The truth is, whether or not we realize it, as of late, our nation was engaged in subliminal war – an ideological war; a class war; a racial war; a silent war; a cultural revolution, which right up until November 8th, 2016, many of you, our enemies, took for granted you were going to win, much in the same way you had won back in 2008 and in 2012, were it not for the fact that, this time around, we stopped you cold on your tracks as most Americans woke up and smelled the coffee. 

What we are dealing with here is an exceedingly powerful movement, all out, to re-invent our Constitutional Republic. At the heart of this political controversy is the fact that Neo-Marxism comes under the broader framework of the New Left, which can be traced, primarily, as an offshoot or spinoff of a befuddled Communist ideology – a dissenting branch of the Communist party, mainly, in conflict with the flaws of this system, with the authoritarian and repressive nature associated with this ideology.

Jill Stein Advocate Slams Recount Decision: "Shameful Support For War Goddess Hillary"

Jill Stein for Hillary?

Shameful! What’s going on? Why did her campaign announce its “intent to file for a recount of votes in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, leading a multi-partisan effort to check the accuracy of the machine-counted vote tallies in these states in order to ensure the integrity of our election?”

Did she forget Hillary criticizing Trump’s possible refusal to accept electoral results when asked, calling it “a direct threat to our democracy?”

Does she support what war goddess, racketeer, perjurer Hillary stands for? Does she oppose Trump wanting normalized relations with Russia - crucial to prevent the threat of possible nuclear war with Hillary empowered as US military commander-in-chief.

I supported Stein, believed in her, wrote glowing articles about her campaign, her advocacy for world peace, equity and justice. Was I wrong? Did I misjudge her? Is she against what she claims to stand for?

Claiming “we deserve some confidence in the outcome of this election” misses the crucial point. Hillary as president risks possible cataclysmic nuclear war with Russia.

Trump want normalized ties, both countries cooperating in combating terrorism. That’s the core issue aside from all others - including the nonexistent integrity of America’s electoral system. 

Failure to understand it shows poor judgment on Stein’s part at the least - recklessness at worst. And why did Sputnik News publicize her effort? Surely it knows Putin prefers Trump over Hillary. So do I.

Will recounts be held in the three states in question? Doubtful but we’ll see. Either way won’t matter. On January 20, Trump’s inauguration will proceed as scheduled.

Electoral voters ‘deluged’ with death threats in multiple states

One of Michigan’s 16 electors who will be called upon to cast a vote validating the election of Donald Trump in the Electoral College has testified on video that he and others in the state are receiving “dozens and dozens of death threats” from Hillary Clinton supporters urging them to switch their votes to Clinton.

On Dec. 19 the Electoral College will convene to cast their votes for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, with each state’s electors pledged to vote for the candidate elected on Nov. 8 in their state.

But more than a dozen states have no laws making it illegal for the electors to change their vote while others have only a minor penalty such as a fine for doing so. If Clinton’s supporters can get enough of the 163 electors from states where Trump both won and votes can be legally switched on Dec. 19, Hillary Clinton becomes the next president of the United States.

Fox News reported Friday that Arizona electors are also being harassing and threatened by Clinton supporters.

“Arizona’s presidential electors are reportedly being hit by a flood of emails and phone calls demanding they defy the voters in their state and choose Hillary Clinton instead of President-elect Donald Trump — as part of a last-gasp bid to overturn the election,” Fox reported.

Clinton-backers are targeting roughly 160 Republican electorates in the 15 states that Trump won and don’t have laws bounding the electorates to the winner: Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.

Some electors could change their minds and cast votes for Clinton, a prospect that political analysts say is unlikely since candidates tend to recruit the most loyal supporters to be electors.

But that doesn’t stop the Clinton supporters from trying.

“We are calling on the electors to ignore their states’ votes and cast their ballots for Secretary Clinton,” the Change.org petition said. “Mr. Trump is unfit to serve. His scapegoating of so many Americans, and his impulsivity, bullying, lying, admitted history of sexual assault, and utter lack of experience make him a danger to the Republic.”

While some lobbying is peaceful, other electors report receiving intimidating emails or messages, while to possibility of bribery is also feared.

“Hearing from them that they are also receiving threats, I’m interested in getting a consensus from the group … and seeing if it’s something that we should report to the police,” Sarah Anderson, the Michigan Republican Party spokeswoman, told the News. “It’s obviously something that we’re taking very seriously.”

Clinton Recount Plan Draws Sore Loser Jibe From Team Trump

Hillary Clinton’s campaign will participate in vote recounts of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan if they take place, drawing a rebuke from Donald Trump’s team that the Democrat is being a “sore loser” and part of a “ridiculous” effort.

If Green Party candidate Jill Stein initiates recounts in those states as she intends, the Clinton campaign “will participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides,” Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias said Saturday in a post on the blogging website Medium.com. He added that he doesn’t expect the action to overturn Trump’s election.

Trump hit back, saying in a Saturday night tweet: “The Green Party scam to fill up their coffers by asking for impossible recounts is now being joined by the badly defeated and demoralized” Democrats.

Earlier, the president-elect focused on Stein, not Clinton, in a response. “The people have spoken and the election is over, and as Hillary Clinton herself said on election night, in addition to her conceding by congratulating me, ‘We must accept this result and then look to the future,”’ he said in a statement.

Kellyanne Conway, who was Trump’s campaign manager and is now a senior adviser, was less conciliatory. “What a pack of sore losers,” she said in a statement. “After asking Mr. Trump and his team a million times on the trail, ‘Will HE accept the election results?’ it turns out Team Hillary and their new BFF Jill Stein can’t accept reality.”

“Rather than adhere to the tradition of graciously conceding and wishing the winner well, they’ve opted to waste millions of dollars and dismiss the democratic process. The people have spoken. Time to listen up. #YesYourPresident,” Conway said.