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Two Men on United Flight from Chicago Arrested on 'Preparation of a Terrorist Attack'

Re: Two Men on United Flight from Chicago Arrested on 'Preparation of a Terrorist Att

Read my post again. Notice I said "he may be exaggerating" - still, the article I posted claims the number has gone up.

And that article doesn't provide a source for the claim.
 
Re: Two Men on United Flight from Chicago Arrested on 'Preparation of a Terrorist Att

And that article doesn't provide a source for the claim.


Okay, I'll explain it to you.

un·prec·e·dent·ed   [uhn-pres-i-den-tid] Show IPA
–adjective
without previous instance; never before known or experienced; unexampled or unparalleled: an unprecedented event.

From my link:

WASHINGTON - The unprecedented number of death threats against President Obama, a rise in racist hate groups, and a new wave of antigovernment fervor threaten to overwhelm the US Secret Service, according to government officials and reports, raising new questions about the 144-year-old agency’s overall mission.
 
Re: Two Men on United Flight from Chicago Arrested on 'Preparation of a Terrorist Att

Okay, I'll explain it to you.

un·prec·e·dent·ed   [uhn-pres-i-den-tid] Show IPA
–adjective
without previous instance; never before known or experienced; unexampled or unparalleled: an unprecedented event.

From my link:

WASHINGTON - The unprecedented number of death threats against President Obama, a rise in racist hate groups, and a new wave of antigovernment fervor threaten to overwhelm the US Secret Service, according to government officials and reports, raising new questions about the 144-year-old agency’s overall mission.

Thanks, that definition of "unprecedented" was very helpful in divining the source for that article's claim, which is what I asked you for.

edit: Because I don't want to waste any more time with this, I'll be clear.

Last year, there were many stories about how Obama was facing a dramatic increase in the number of death threats. The only known source for these claims was a book written by said newsmax contributor. That report went unchallenged for several months, until the head of the Secret Service was asked about it at a hearing. He said that the report was completely false and that there had been no substantial increase in death threats against Obama. The newsmax guy has said that the secret service is lying, but has provided nothing to support his claims.

You were aware of the early stories, but not of the later corrections. I pointed out the later corrections. You're saying that the secret service guy is lying, and as evidence, you're citing earlier articles. Those articles list no source for the claim that Obama is facing substantially increased death threats. Given that those articles contain no source AND THE SECRET SERVICE HAS SAID THAT'S COMPLETELY FALSE, I think it's entirely unreasonable to continue arguing that this actually happened.
 
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Re: Two Men on United Flight from Chicago Arrested on 'Preparation of a Terrorist Att

Apropos of nothing whatsoever, since when has reasonableness been rampant on this forum?

:mrgreen:
 
Re: Two Men on United Flight from Chicago Arrested on 'Preparation of a Terrorist Att

That was a funny you pulled with the Abdul, Hussein remark.
This could be serious though. The way I'm reading it is the attack would have been successful if it hadn't been a dry run.



U.S. officials said the two appeared to be travelling with what were termed "mock bombs" in their luggage. "This was almost certainly a dry run, a test," said one senior law enforcement official.
What happens when a guy named Hussein calls in from Air Force One and says he's taken charge of the plane? :confused: :lamo
 
Re: Two Men on United Flight from Chicago Arrested on 'Preparation of a Terrorist Att

Thanks, that definition of "unprecedented" was very helpful in divining the source for that article's claim, which is what I asked you for.

Divining? In your quest to be right, you are now going to be facetious? The definition was a Webster's definition, can't be any clearer than that.

edit: Because I don't want to waste any more time with this, I'll be clear.

Yes, I see that you want to be clear, clear that my allegations are wrong and that yours are right.

Last year, there were many stories about how Obama was facing a dramatic increase in the number of death threats. The only known source for these claims was a book written by said newsmax contributor......
No, that is not correct. The Secret Service, way back in 2008, before Obama was even elected, but was running for President, requested more money. Hmmmm..that sort of implies an increase in something.

In a short item, the Associated Press reported that "the Secret Service has asked for an extra $9.5 million to cover unexpected costs of protecting the presidential candidates during what has turned into a historic year for the agency’s campaign security job."
Also incurring additional costs for the Secret Service, the AP noted, is Obama's decision "to accept the Democratic nomination at Denver’s Invesco Field at Mile High -- an open-air, 76,000-seat stadium -- instead of the 20,000-seat Pepsi Center, which is the site of the party’s national convention."

The main reason for the significant jump in protective expenses -- even before the new request is tacked on -- stems from the length and the leading players in the fight for the Democratic nod.


You were aware of the early stories, but not of the later corrections. I pointed out the later corrections. You're saying that the secret service guy is lying, and as evidence, you're citing earlier articles.
I never said the Secret Service guy was lying, just merely suggested that we haven't had official "numbers" posted by them. And like I said, Kessler was more than likely exaggerating, being that he also claimed that Obama was designating more officials for protection than Bush, when it turns out the opposite is true.

Those articles list no source for the claim that Obama is facing substantially increased death threats. Given that those articles contain no source AND THE SECRET SERVICE HAS SAID THAT'S COMPLETELY FALSE, I think it's entirely unreasonable to continue arguing that this actually happened.
The Secret Service has indicated that the number is no where what Kessler claims, but they did not give exact numbers for each president, and being with all the racists in the country, it is not hard to imagine that Obama would receive more.

The Secret Service has also refrained from discussing them in detail due to the risk of copy-cats, so it is clear that they are not going to release exact numbers.

I also don't want to discuss this any further, it is a moot point since we don't have access to the exact numbers. We each can deduct what we want.
 
Re: Two Men on United Flight from Chicago Arrested on 'Preparation of a Terrorist Att

Regarding this discussion of the Secret Service.

It seems obvious to me that, regardless of whether they got an unusual number of death threats against Obama (before and/or after he was elected), no sane protection detail is going tell potential enemies they are possibly overworked/busy/numbed/whatever due to large numbers of death threats that need examining/investigating.
 
Re: Two Men on United Flight from Chicago Arrested on 'Preparation of a Terrorist Att

In case people haven't read...

BBC News - Yemeni flight pair not planning attack, cautions US

US officials believe the two men did not know each other and were not travelling together.

One of the men had earlier been stopped by airport officials on a connecting flight from Birmingham, Alabama.

He was found to be carrying $7,000 in cash and when his luggage was searched, officials found a mobile phone strapped to a medicine bottle, as well as knives and watches.

The luggage was cleared for the flight after it was not judged to be a threat but there was speculation that the chain of events could have been a dry-run for a terror attack, testing the US flight security operations.

Customs authorities said it was not uncommon for people travelling to the countries like Yemen to be carrying large amounts of cash and that valuable items are often found bundled together.
 
Re: Two Men on United Flight from Chicago Arrested on 'Preparation of a Terrorist Att

Customs authorities said it was not uncommon for people travelling to the countries like Yemen to be carrying large amounts of cash and that valuable items are often found bundled together.

Apparently, the Yemenese(sp?) version of OBL has an upset stomach, and he REALLY didn't want the pepto courier to lose the bottle – thus the cell.

The cash is probably bribe money to get through the varied checkpoints, allowing the highly valuable medicine to reach its destination intact.

:mrgreen:
 
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