BRKG Author Salman Rushdie, whose writing led to death threats, has been attacked on stage at an event in western New York.
- Thread starter somewherepress
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AlfaMan
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Which is what makes Muzzie women such effective suicide bombers. Nothing to lose, they're chattel from the moment of birth. You can pack a lot of devil's brew in a vest and on a Muzzie woman that pudgy or pregnant woman packs 100 lbs of explosive. Makes a big boom.
I remember seeing police pics of a woman who chickened out on a suicide bombing back 15 years ago in Pakistan. Her husband did go through with the bombing; it took down a hotel and killed many. She chickened out, apparently because of her children. Cops arrested her on site.
Anyway the police (maybe ISI, can't remember) took pictures of her as she was disrobed. Showed her with her muzzie dress on; she looked like a normal mid 30s muslim woman (kinda heavyset, fairly large boobs, muffin top stomach and larger backside-seems genetic ?).
Took the dress off, she's in bra and panties with the vest mounted to the front (the dress completely covered the shape of the vest-and the vest was like a forward facing backpack which hung low on the stomach) in a more liberal muzzie country she could pass as a pregnant woman easily. There was 90 pounds of devil's brew in that vest she was toting; the pull for the detonator was on her right arm (the left hand in Muzzie lore is considered haraam/unclean).
She didn't blow herself up, thankfully. She's serving a long prison sentence but in this one case she did have something to live for-her children.
The Hammer
Has No Life - Lives on TB
BREAKING: Salman Rushdie has been put on a ventilator, his agent says - NYT
View: https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1558232412752154624?t=4coqYtYnD41FRBE_YM8xmw&s=19
View: https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1558232412752154624?t=4coqYtYnD41FRBE_YM8xmw&s=19
Posted for fair use.....
www.independent.co.uk
Salman Rushdie – live: Author likely to lose eye after stabbing as police name Hadi Matar as suspect
The author, 75, was the target of a ‘fatwa’ by Iranian religious leaders over his 1988 book The Satanic Verses
Bevan Hurley
9 minutes ago
Salman Rushdie is in emergency medical care and may lose one of his eyes, after the Satanic Verses author was stabbed onstage during an event in New York on Friday.
“The news is not good,” his agent, Andrew Wylie, told reporters. “Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.”
New York State Police have named a 24-year-old man as the suspect in the stabbing.
Hadi Matar, 24, of New Jersey, was taken into custody on Friday morning after allegedly storming the stage and stabbing the author at least once in the neck and abdomen at the Chautauqua Institution, Major Eugene J. Staniszewski told a press conference on Friday afternoon. Mr Matar was taken into custody by a state trooper and sheriff’s deputy assigned to the event.
Mr Rushdie was treated by a doctor on the stage before being airlifted to an area hospital by helicopter.
Henry Reese, the co-founder of the City of Asylum organisation who was sitting next to Mr Rushdie, suffered a minor head injury, police said.
Mr Rushdie has long been the target of death threats over the publication of his 1988 book The Satanic Verses.
SALMAN RUSHDIE ATTACKED ON STAGE
Boris Johnson and JK Rowling among those who reacted to author’s stabbing
Boris Johnson and JK Rowling were among those who voiced their shock after Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed on stage in New York state.
Aisha Rimi has the story.
The author was stabbed in the neck while on stage at a literary event, according to New York Police
Salman Rushdie’s ‘feisty sense of humour intact’ despite ‘severe injuries’ - live
Author, 75, was target of ‘fatwa’ by Iranian religious leaders over 1988 book The Satanic Verses
www.independent.co.uk
Salman Rushdie – live: Author likely to lose eye after stabbing as police name Hadi Matar as suspect
The author, 75, was the target of a ‘fatwa’ by Iranian religious leaders over his 1988 book The Satanic Verses
Bevan Hurley
9 minutes ago
Salman Rushdie is in emergency medical care and may lose one of his eyes, after the Satanic Verses author was stabbed onstage during an event in New York on Friday.
“The news is not good,” his agent, Andrew Wylie, told reporters. “Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.”
New York State Police have named a 24-year-old man as the suspect in the stabbing.
Hadi Matar, 24, of New Jersey, was taken into custody on Friday morning after allegedly storming the stage and stabbing the author at least once in the neck and abdomen at the Chautauqua Institution, Major Eugene J. Staniszewski told a press conference on Friday afternoon. Mr Matar was taken into custody by a state trooper and sheriff’s deputy assigned to the event.
Mr Rushdie was treated by a doctor on the stage before being airlifted to an area hospital by helicopter.
Henry Reese, the co-founder of the City of Asylum organisation who was sitting next to Mr Rushdie, suffered a minor head injury, police said.
Mr Rushdie has long been the target of death threats over the publication of his 1988 book The Satanic Verses.
SALMAN RUSHDIE ATTACKED ON STAGE
- Salman Rushdie on ventilator and will likely lose an eye after attack, agent says
- Salman Rushdie ‘stabbed’ during event in western New York
- Rushdie alive ‘and getting the help he needs’, NY Governor says
- Rushdie in surgery after stabbing, literary agent says
- Stephen King and other literary figures react
Boris Johnson and JK Rowling among those who reacted to author’s stabbing
Boris Johnson and JK Rowling were among those who voiced their shock after Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed on stage in New York state.
Aisha Rimi has the story.
The author was stabbed in the neck while on stage at a literary event, according to New York Police
F’ing goat humper isn’t “from New Jersey.”
night driver
ESFP adrift in INTJ sea
One has to understand about "The Institute". I KNOW that Summerthyme understands. RELIC's sister lived with her family in the gate-house for The Institute during the OFF season for several years.
For DECADES in the 1800's it was the nucleus of the Progressive movement in the US. They did dang near ALL of the foundational writing FOR the Movement in the late 1800s as well in the first couple of decades in the 1900s.
"Security" on the Institute Grounds is something of a bad Dad-joke as it were.
EVERYBODY has to pay to get in, SOME families have permanent manses on the property and some lease for decades.
NOT surprised he got attacked there as security is just not to ANY kind of standard you would write home about.
And, yes, Lib-Central is reasonably accurate.
Saratoga, well, Saratoga has Horses and Libs and BIG manses.
Chautauqua has eggheads, writers and Libs. LOTS of Libs n eggheads.
For DECADES in the 1800's it was the nucleus of the Progressive movement in the US. They did dang near ALL of the foundational writing FOR the Movement in the late 1800s as well in the first couple of decades in the 1900s.
"Security" on the Institute Grounds is something of a bad Dad-joke as it were.
EVERYBODY has to pay to get in, SOME families have permanent manses on the property and some lease for decades.
NOT surprised he got attacked there as security is just not to ANY kind of standard you would write home about.
And, yes, Lib-Central is reasonably accurate.
Saratoga, well, Saratoga has Horses and Libs and BIG manses.
Chautauqua has eggheads, writers and Libs. LOTS of Libs n eggheads.
I'm praying they airlifted him either to Hamot Medical center in Erie, or ECMC in Buffalo. Them saying "area hospital" scares me silly... if he's in the former WCA (now a Hamot satellite, but with a *horrible* reputation), he's in big trouble. Last I knew, they didn't have an orthopedic surgeon or neurosurgeon at the hospital!
(And I researched their results in hip replacements probably 15 years ago... they had a FIFTY PERCENT satisfaction rating! HALF of the people who got their hips replaced at that hospital were "very or extremely" unhappy!)
Summerthyme
(And I researched their results in hip replacements probably 15 years ago... they had a FIFTY PERCENT satisfaction rating! HALF of the people who got their hips replaced at that hospital were "very or extremely" unhappy!)
Summerthyme
jward
passin' thru
Faytuks News Δ
@Faytuks
BREAKING: Hadi Matar, the suspect in the stabbing of Salman Rushdie is sympathetic to the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, initial investigation shows - sources tell New York Post
4:28 PM · Aug 12, 2022·Twitter for iPhone
Article:
View: https://twitter.com/Faytuks/status/1558204216707006465?s=20&t=gK-y2HWbfHKWSgW_wSqDtw
@Faytuks
BREAKING: Hadi Matar, the suspect in the stabbing of Salman Rushdie is sympathetic to the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, initial investigation shows - sources tell New York Post
4:28 PM · Aug 12, 2022·Twitter for iPhone
Article:
View: https://twitter.com/Faytuks/status/1558204216707006465?s=20&t=gK-y2HWbfHKWSgW_wSqDtw
night driver
ESFP adrift in INTJ sea
YEAH!!
RELIC and I talked about the chopper destination, Hamot or Buffalo. Hamot won in our estimation, by a nose as it's 5 minutes closer by air.
Not REALLY worth going to Dunkirk/Fredonia....(BT/DT/RETCHED most of the time nearby they tried to kill her step father. He survived because Mom-Out-Law was a consummate BIATCH about things. IIRC she fired 3 docs that week...)
RELIC and I talked about the chopper destination, Hamot or Buffalo. Hamot won in our estimation, by a nose as it's 5 minutes closer by air.
Not REALLY worth going to Dunkirk/Fredonia....(BT/DT/RETCHED most of the time nearby they tried to kill her step father. He survived because Mom-Out-Law was a consummate BIATCH about things. IIRC she fired 3 docs that week...)
ainitfunny
Saved, to glorify God.
TESTING.
homecanner1
Veteran Member
His ears are literally set on level with his mouth and not up by his eye sockets.
Looks borderline retarded.
Generations of inbreeding.
Looks borderline retarded.
Generations of inbreeding.
night driver
ESFP adrift in INTJ sea
You are misreading him because of the angle he's holding his head. He is quite chin-up.
Melodi
Disaster Cat
Yes, the original UK Daily Mail story was at least partly wrong, because he wasn't just knifed in the neck - the above story is what is now circulating around media here. Also, one article (sorry I didn't copy the link) listed all his awards and sales - he was a million book best seller with one book in the UK alone.
But a lot of his stuff is hard to read (to me at least) and not the sort of books that tend to do well in the US market but does tend to win literary prizes, especially things like the Booker Award.
But a lot of his stuff is hard to read (to me at least) and not the sort of books that tend to do well in the US market but does tend to win literary prizes, especially things like the Booker Award.
somewherepress
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Agent: Rushdie off ventilator and talking, day after attack
Author Salman Rushdie has been taken off a ventilator and is able to talk, a day after being stabbed as he prepared to give a lecture.
apnews.com
Author Salman Rushdie on ventilator after New York stabbing
By JOSHUA GOODMANan hour ago
1 of 19
Blood stains mark a screen as author Salman Rushdie, behind screen, is tended to after he was attacked during a lecture, Friday, Aug. 12, 2022, at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, N.Y., about 75 miles (120 km) south of Buffalo. (AP Photo/Joshua Goodman)
CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. (AP) — Salman Rushdie, whose novel “The Satanic Verses” drew death threats from Iran’s leader in the 1980s, was stabbed in the neck and abdomen Friday by a man who rushed the stage as the author was about to give a lecture in western New York.
A bloodied Rushdie, 75, was flown to a hospital and underwent surgery. His agent, Andrew Wylie, said the writer was on a ventilator Friday evening, with a damaged liver, severed nerves in his arm and an eye he was likely to lose.
Police identified the attacker as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey. He was awaiting arraignment following his arrest at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and rereat center where Rushdie was scheduled to speak.
Matar was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who emigrated from Yaroun, a border village in southern Lebanon, Mayor Ali Tehfe told The Associated Press. His birth was a decade after “The Satanic Verses” first was published.
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The motive for the attack was unclear, State Police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski said.
Rushdie’s 1988 novel was viewed as blasphemous by many Muslims, who saw a character as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. The book was banned in Iran, where the late leader Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death.
SALMAN RUSHDIE
Praise, worry in Iran after Rushdie attack; government quiet
Author Salman Rushdie stabbed on lecture stage in New York
By chance, AP reporter on scene to witness Rushdie attack
Daniel Menaker, award-winning author and editor, dead at 79
An AP reporter witnessed the attacker confront Rushdie on stage and stab or punch him 10 to 15 times as the author was being introduced. Dr. Martin Haskell, a physician who was among those who rushed to help, described Rushdie’s wounds as “serious but recoverable.”
Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, a co-founder of an organization that offers residencies to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. Reese suffered a facial injury and was treated and released from a hospital, police said. He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile.
View attachment 1660392926793.png
A state trooper and a county sheriff’s deputy were assigned to Rushdie’s lecture, and state police said the trooper made the arrest. But after the attack, some longtime visitors to the center questioned why there wasn’t tighter security for the event, given the decades of threats against Rushdie and a bounty on his head offering more than $3 million to anyone who killed him.
Matar, like other visitors, had obtained a pass to enter the Chautauqua Institution’s 750-acre grounds, Michael Hill, the institution’s president, said.
The suspect’s attorney, public defender Nathaniel Barone, said he was still gathering information and declined to comment. Matar’s home was blocked off by authorities.
Rabbi Charles Savenor was among the roughly 2,500 people in the audience for Rushdie’s appearance.
The assailant ran onto the platform “and started pounding on Mr. Rushdie. At first you’re like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then it became abundantly clear in a few seconds that he was being beaten,” Savenor said. He said the attack lasted about 20 seconds.
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Another spectator, Kathleen James, said the attacker was dressed in black, with a black mask.
“We thought perhaps it was part of a stunt to show that there’s still a lot of controversy around this author. But it became evident in a few seconds” that it wasn’t, she said.
Amid gasps, spectators were ushered out of the outdoor amphitheater.
The stabbing reverberated from the tranquil town of Chautauqua to the United Nations, which issued a statement expressing U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ horror and stressing that free expression and opinion should not be met with violence.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday’s attack, which led an evening news bulletin on Iranian state television.
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From the White House, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan described the attack as “reprehensible” and said the Biden administration wished Rushdie a quick recovery.
“This act of violence is appalling,” Sullivan said in a statement. “We are thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping Mr. Rushdie so quickly after the attack and to law enforcement for its swift and effective work, which is ongoing.”
Rushdie has been a prominent spokesman for free expression and liberal causes, and the literary world recoiled at what Ian McEwan, a novelist and Rushdie’s friend, described as “an assault on freedom of thought and speech.”
“Salman has been an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world,” McEwan said in a statement. “He is a fiery and generous spirit, a man of immense talent and courage and he will not be deterred.”
PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said the organization didn’t know of any comparable act of violence against a literary writer in the U.S. Rushdie was once president of the group, which advocates for writers and free expression.
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After the publication of “The Satanic Verses,” often-violent protests erupted across the Muslim world against Rushdie, who was born in India to a Muslim family.
At least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, including 12 people in Rushdie’s hometown of Mumbai. In 1991, a Japanese translator of the book was stabbed to death and an Italian translator survived a knife attack. In 1993, the book’s Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived.
Khomeini died the same year he issued the fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death. Iran’s current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, never issued a fatwa of his own withdrawing the edict, though Iran in recent years hasn’t focused on the writer.
The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection program, which included a round-the-clock armed guard. Rushdie emerged after nine years of seclusion and cautiously resumed more public appearances, maintaining his outspoken criticism of religious extremism overall.
In 2012, Rushdie published a memoir, “Joseph Anton,” about the fatwa. The title came from the pseudonym Rushdie used while in hiding. He said during a New York talk the same year the memoir came out that terrorism was really the art of fear.
“The only way you can defeat it is by deciding not to be afraid,” he said.
Anti-Rushdie sentiment has lingered long after Khomeini’s decree. The Index on Censorship, an organization promoting free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for his killing as recently as 2016.
An AP journalist who went to the Tehran office of the 15 Khordad Foundation, which put up the millions for the bounty on Rushdie, found it closed Friday night on the Iranian weekend. No one answered calls to its listed telephone number.
Rushdie rose to prominence with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel “Midnight’s Children,” but his name became known around the world after “The Satanic Verses.”
Widely regarded as one of Britain’s finest living writers, Rushdie was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2008 and earlier this year was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honor, a royal accolade for people who have made a major contribution to the arts, science or public life.
Organizers of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which opens Saturday in Scotland and is one of the world’s largest literary gatherings, are encouraging guest authors to read a sentence from Rushdie’s work at the start of their events.
“We are inspired by his courage and are thinking of him at this difficult time,” festival director Nick Barley said. “This tragedy is a painful reminder of the fragility of things we hold dear and a call to action: We won’t be intimidated by those who would use violence rather than words.”
The Chautauqua Institution, about 55 miles (89 kilometers) southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, has served for more than a century as a place for reflection and spiritual guidance. Visitors don’t pass through metal detectors or undergo bag checks. Most people leave the doors to their century-old cottages unlocked at night.
The center is known for its summertime lecture series, where Rushdie has spoken before.
At an evening vigil, a few hundred residents and visitors gathered for prayer, music and a long moment of silence.
“Hate can’t win,” one man shouted.
mzkitty
I give up.
Aug 13, 2022
MAYVILLE — A 24-year-old New Jersey man is being held without bail in the Chautauqua County Jail after being charged with second-degree attempted murder on internationally known author Salman Rushdie.
The attack took place during a lecture before 11 a.m. Friday at the Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater. A bloodied Rushdie, 75, was flown to a hospital and underwent surgery. His agent, Andrew Wylie, said the writer was on a ventilator Friday evening, with a damaged liver, severed nerves in his arm and an eye he was likely to lose.
Hadi Matar of Fairview was arraigned Saturday morning in the jail. In addition, he is being charged with second-degree assault on Harry Reese, 73, who also was on stage with Rushdie at the event.
“We’re still piecing things together and looking at the evidence,” said Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt, who said his office is in the process search warrants for additional “evidence” in the investigation.
Matar is being represented by Ned Barone, Chautauqua County public defender.
Attacker charged with attempted murder, assault
MAYVILLE — A 24-year-old New Jersey man is being held without bail in the Chautauqua County Jail after being charged with second-degree attempted murder on internationally known author Salman Rushdie. The attack took place during a lecture before 11 a.m. Friday at the Chautauqua Institution...
www.observertoday.com
jward
passin' thru
Mike
@Doranimated
Rushdie’s assailant is reportedly a 24 year old Shi’ite immigrant from South Lebanon by the name of Hadi Matar. His fake driving license carried the name Hassan Mughniyah (in honor of HASSAN nasrallah + imad MUGHNIYAH?). His FB page expresses love for the Islamic Republic.
View: https://twitter.com/Doranimated/status/1558446762347610112
@Doranimated
Rushdie’s assailant is reportedly a 24 year old Shi’ite immigrant from South Lebanon by the name of Hadi Matar. His fake driving license carried the name Hassan Mughniyah (in honor of HASSAN nasrallah + imad MUGHNIYAH?). His FB page expresses love for the Islamic Republic.
View: https://twitter.com/Doranimated/status/1558446762347610112
energy_wave
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Rushdie might lose an eye after all this.
Walrus Whisperer
Hope in chains...
I pay attention to ears too.it means something..
Ragnarok
On and On, South of Heaven
The judge didn't let him out on bail... Amazing...
Suspect in Salman Rushdie stabbing, pleads not guilty to attempted murder, assault
The DA told Judge Marilyn Jerace about the 1989 fatwa, or religious edict, against Rushdie by the Iranian government under then leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
“That plays an important role for bail consideration because his resources don’t matter to me … the agenda that was carried out yesterday is something that’s adopted and sanctioned by larger groups and organizations well beyond jurisdictional borders of Chautauqua County. Even if this court sets a million dollar bail, we stand a risk that this bail could be met because of that,” the prosecutor contended.
Jerace sent Matar to jail without bail. He is due back in court Friday for a preliminary hearing
nypost.com
Suspect in Salman Rushdie stabbing, pleads not guilty to attempted murder, assault
The DA told Judge Marilyn Jerace about the 1989 fatwa, or religious edict, against Rushdie by the Iranian government under then leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
“That plays an important role for bail consideration because his resources don’t matter to me … the agenda that was carried out yesterday is something that’s adopted and sanctioned by larger groups and organizations well beyond jurisdictional borders of Chautauqua County. Even if this court sets a million dollar bail, we stand a risk that this bail could be met because of that,” the prosecutor contended.
Jerace sent Matar to jail without bail. He is due back in court Friday for a preliminary hearing
Hadi Matar, suspect in Salman Rushdie stabbing, pleads not guilty to attempted murder, assault
The suspect in the upstate stabbing of writer Salman Rushdie was charged with attempted murder and assault and is being held without bail, according to the Chautauqua County District Attorney.
nypost.com
Hummm......
Posted for fair use.....
www.vice.com
MP
By Mitchell Prothero
August 14, 2022, 12:11pm
The 24-year-old man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie had been in direct contact with members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on social media, European and Middle Eastern intelligence officials told VICE World News.
Hadi Matar has been charged with attempted murder after Rushdie, 75, was repeatedly stabbed on stage ahead of a speaking event in Chautauqua, New York, on Friday. On Sunday, Rushdie’s son Zafar Rushdie said his father was in a critical condition and had sustained “life-changing” injuries but had been taken off a ventilator and had been able to speak.
View: https://twitter.com/ZafRushdie/status/1558824251884445698?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1558824251884445698%7Ctwgr%5Eb572e3497247873efaf82634ed66d5fac9b8dcfb%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vice.com%2Fen%2Farticle%2F88qxvz%2Fsalman-rushdie-hadi-matar-revolutionary-guard
A NATO counterterrorism official from a European country said the stabbing had all the hallmarks of a “guided” attack, where an intelligence service talks a supporter into action, without direct support or involvement in the attack itself.
“Close scrutiny needs to be paid to his communications,” said the NATO official, who was not authorised to speak on the record. “More investigation will reveal more information on the exact nature of the links.”
There’s no evidence Iranian officials were involved in organising or orchestrating the attack on Rushdie. Security officials who confirmed the social media contact would not elaborate on the nature of the communications because investigations are ongoing. They would not disclose who initiated the contact, when it took place, or what was discussed.
A Middle Eastern intelligence official said it was “clear” that at some point prior to the attack, Matar had been in contact with “people either directly involved with or adjacent to the Quds Force,” referring to the Revolutionary Guard’s external operations force.
“It’s unclear the extent of the involvement, if this was a directly supported assassination attempt or if it was a series of suggestions and directions in picking a target,” said the official, who could not speak on the record for diplomatic reasons.
Rushdie lived under police protection for more than a decade following the 1988 publication of his novel Satanic Verses, which enraged much of the Islamic world with what was widely seen as a heretical depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran’s supreme leader, issued a fatwa – a religious edict – in 1989 offering a multimillion-dollar reward for Rushdie’s murder.
But in the ensuing decades Iran has rarely mentioned the situation, and over time, concerns for the author’s safety faded.
“A 24-year-old born in the United States did not come up with Salman Rushdie as a target on his own,” the Middle Eastern intelligence official said. “Even an avid consumer of Iranian propaganda would have some difficulty finding references to Rushdie compared to all the other, modern enemies, designated by the regime.”
Matar’s family hail from the South Lebanese town of Yaroun, an area deeply sympathetic to Iran and its local proxy Hezbollah.
There's no indication thus far that Matar had joined the group or received military training on visits to Lebanon. On Saturday, Hezbollah officials asked local journalists to stop visiting the village, according to local media reports.
“Most of the families in Yaroun support the resistance, there is no question of this relationship,” said a mid-level Hezbollah commander from a nearby village that cannot be named for security reasons. “But this boy has nothing to do with Hezbollah. We don’t know him and do not want to be drawn into international intrigues involving people we don’t know.”
A senior Lebanese security official said the US had requested additional information on the possibility of Matar’s travels to Lebanon in an effort to determine if he had received military training from Hezbollah, which maintains a powerful military training infrastructure in both Lebanon and neighbouring Syria.
“There is a lot of interest in this boy from the Americans and we will do our best to provide any information that can help their investigation,” said the senior Lebanese security official, who refused to be identified for diplomatic reasons.
“There’s a limit to our ability to assist, I don’t think it’s realistic to expect someone to admit to training him to carry out an assassination, the involved groups have a long history of keeping secrets.”
The Middle Eastern intelligence official said that a handful of Quds Force members taking the chance to inspire and direct an attack would not require high-level approval from the Iranian regime, where the internal security forces from the Revolutionary Guard Corps and military intelligence are often open rivals, directed by political factions.
They said that since the death in 2008 of Imad Mughniyeh – a Hezbollah commander who directed external operations – there had been a “certain sloppiness” in Iranian and Hezbollah operations.
“There seems to be a process where individual members of various agencies plan and activate their own operations, like the recent Bolton thing, where Iranian guys are offering money to hit men, acting like John Wick is a real thing,” the official said, referencing an indictment unsealed last week that accused a member of the Quds Force of attempting to pay $300,000 to assassins he believed worked for a Mexican drug cartel to target former National Security Adviser John Bolton.
In a court appearance on Saturday, Matar pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault. He was ordered to be held without bail.
At a press briefing on Monday, Iran’s foreign ministry said Rushdie “and his supporters are to blame for what happened to him.”
Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said Iran had no information about Matar except what had already appeared in news reports.
Posted for fair use.....
Salman Rushdie Stabbing Suspect ‘Had Contact With Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’
Intel officials told VICE World News Hadi Matar had been in contact with members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. There’s no evidence Iran was involved in organising the attack.
www.vice.com
Salman Rushdie Stabbing Suspect ‘Had Contact With Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’
Intel officials told VICE World News Hadi Matar had been in contact with members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. There’s no evidence Iran was involved in organising the attack.MP
By Mitchell Prothero
August 14, 2022, 12:11pm
The 24-year-old man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie had been in direct contact with members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on social media, European and Middle Eastern intelligence officials told VICE World News.
Hadi Matar has been charged with attempted murder after Rushdie, 75, was repeatedly stabbed on stage ahead of a speaking event in Chautauqua, New York, on Friday. On Sunday, Rushdie’s son Zafar Rushdie said his father was in a critical condition and had sustained “life-changing” injuries but had been taken off a ventilator and had been able to speak.
View: https://twitter.com/ZafRushdie/status/1558824251884445698?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1558824251884445698%7Ctwgr%5Eb572e3497247873efaf82634ed66d5fac9b8dcfb%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vice.com%2Fen%2Farticle%2F88qxvz%2Fsalman-rushdie-hadi-matar-revolutionary-guard
A NATO counterterrorism official from a European country said the stabbing had all the hallmarks of a “guided” attack, where an intelligence service talks a supporter into action, without direct support or involvement in the attack itself.
“Close scrutiny needs to be paid to his communications,” said the NATO official, who was not authorised to speak on the record. “More investigation will reveal more information on the exact nature of the links.”
There’s no evidence Iranian officials were involved in organising or orchestrating the attack on Rushdie. Security officials who confirmed the social media contact would not elaborate on the nature of the communications because investigations are ongoing. They would not disclose who initiated the contact, when it took place, or what was discussed.
A Middle Eastern intelligence official said it was “clear” that at some point prior to the attack, Matar had been in contact with “people either directly involved with or adjacent to the Quds Force,” referring to the Revolutionary Guard’s external operations force.
“It’s unclear the extent of the involvement, if this was a directly supported assassination attempt or if it was a series of suggestions and directions in picking a target,” said the official, who could not speak on the record for diplomatic reasons.
Rushdie lived under police protection for more than a decade following the 1988 publication of his novel Satanic Verses, which enraged much of the Islamic world with what was widely seen as a heretical depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran’s supreme leader, issued a fatwa – a religious edict – in 1989 offering a multimillion-dollar reward for Rushdie’s murder.
But in the ensuing decades Iran has rarely mentioned the situation, and over time, concerns for the author’s safety faded.
“A 24-year-old born in the United States did not come up with Salman Rushdie as a target on his own,” the Middle Eastern intelligence official said. “Even an avid consumer of Iranian propaganda would have some difficulty finding references to Rushdie compared to all the other, modern enemies, designated by the regime.”
Matar’s family hail from the South Lebanese town of Yaroun, an area deeply sympathetic to Iran and its local proxy Hezbollah.
There's no indication thus far that Matar had joined the group or received military training on visits to Lebanon. On Saturday, Hezbollah officials asked local journalists to stop visiting the village, according to local media reports.
“Most of the families in Yaroun support the resistance, there is no question of this relationship,” said a mid-level Hezbollah commander from a nearby village that cannot be named for security reasons. “But this boy has nothing to do with Hezbollah. We don’t know him and do not want to be drawn into international intrigues involving people we don’t know.”
A senior Lebanese security official said the US had requested additional information on the possibility of Matar’s travels to Lebanon in an effort to determine if he had received military training from Hezbollah, which maintains a powerful military training infrastructure in both Lebanon and neighbouring Syria.
“There is a lot of interest in this boy from the Americans and we will do our best to provide any information that can help their investigation,” said the senior Lebanese security official, who refused to be identified for diplomatic reasons.
“There’s a limit to our ability to assist, I don’t think it’s realistic to expect someone to admit to training him to carry out an assassination, the involved groups have a long history of keeping secrets.”
The Middle Eastern intelligence official said that a handful of Quds Force members taking the chance to inspire and direct an attack would not require high-level approval from the Iranian regime, where the internal security forces from the Revolutionary Guard Corps and military intelligence are often open rivals, directed by political factions.
They said that since the death in 2008 of Imad Mughniyeh – a Hezbollah commander who directed external operations – there had been a “certain sloppiness” in Iranian and Hezbollah operations.
“There seems to be a process where individual members of various agencies plan and activate their own operations, like the recent Bolton thing, where Iranian guys are offering money to hit men, acting like John Wick is a real thing,” the official said, referencing an indictment unsealed last week that accused a member of the Quds Force of attempting to pay $300,000 to assassins he believed worked for a Mexican drug cartel to target former National Security Adviser John Bolton.
In a court appearance on Saturday, Matar pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault. He was ordered to be held without bail.
At a press briefing on Monday, Iran’s foreign ministry said Rushdie “and his supporters are to blame for what happened to him.”
Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said Iran had no information about Matar except what had already appeared in news reports.
somewherepress
Has No Life - Lives on TB
It’s Inevitable: Trump Will Be Indicted › American Greatness
A few days after federal agents stormed Donald Trump’s castle in Palm Beach last week, Judge Beryl Howell berated a man from Georgia for his involvement in the Capitol protest on January 6, 2021.
amgreatness.com
It’s Inevitable: Trump Will Be Indicted
Americans should prepare for the spectacle of Donald Trump pleading not guilty to charges brought by the Biden Justice Department.
By Julie Kelly
August 15, 2022
Afew days after federal agents stormed Donald Trump’s castle in Palm Beach last week, Judge Beryl Howell berated a man from Georgia for his involvement in the Capitol protest on January 6, 2021.
“Listening without question to political rhetoric that leads to serious offenses, criminal conduct, is not an excuse when you’re standing in a court of law,” Howell told Glen Simon, a Trump supporter who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct on restricted grounds. “You’ve got to use your common sense and your own sense of who you are and how you’d like to conduct yourself as an American citizen before just blindly doing what a political figure says.”
Howell then sentenced Simon to eight months in prison.
The “political figure” to whom the judge was referring is President Trump. And Howell is not just any judge; she is the chief judge of the D.C. District Court that is overseeing at least 850 criminal cases related to the Capitol protest.
Appointed by Barack Obama in 2010, Howell does not disguise her partisan leanings or her contempt for Trump supporters. Howell describes the four-hour disturbance on Capitol Hill as “criminal activity that is destined to go down in the history books of this country.” She has scolded prosecutors for not bringing harsher charges in January 6 cases while insisting the hundreds of thousands of Americans who protested Joe Biden’s election that day had no legitimate grievance. She urged the government to set damages to the Capitol at $500 million rather than the accurate figure of $1.4 million in order to significantly boost restitution fines against January 6 defendants.
During a hearing last year, Howell mocked Representative Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) for saying video footage from inside the Capitol on January 6 looked like a “normal tourist visit.”
“Your purpose was not to be a tourist walking through the Capitol, was it?” Howell asked during a plea hearing for Leonard Gruppo, who pleaded guilty to the petty offense of “parading” in the Capitol. Gruppo said he was not there as a tourist. Howell then refused to accept his plea until Gruppo admitted that he was in Washington on January 6 “as part of a demonstration in support of President Trump.”
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Howell’s lectures and hostility are just a taste of what hundreds of Trump supporters have endured at the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in the nation’s capital over the past 19 months. Even though most face low level misdemeanor charges, judges nonetheless treat January 6 protesters like domestic terrorists while often blaming Trump for what they consider an illegal incursion into the ruling class’s personal fiefdom of Washington, D.C. that day.
And they are salivating at the chance to arraign Donald Trump.
It now appears inevitable that the Justice Department will bring criminal charges against the former president. FBI Director Christopher Wray’s stunt at Mar-a-Lago on August 8 is part of creating the optical illusion that Donald Trump is guilty of any number of crimes related to January 6 or the mishandling of secret government documents—or both. On Monday, the Justice Department subpoenaed another Trump White House lawyer as the legal momentum accelerates.
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Attorney General Merrick Garland is doing his part to build the public case while Lisa Monaco, his deputy, runs the day-to-day lawfare operation against Trump. Monaco, a longtime Obama confidant who worked in his White House until the last day, is a rabid Trump hater. She intends to finish what the Obama Justice Department started in 2016 by indicting Donald Trump.
Of course, technically, any indictment would be the result of a grand jury investigation—proceedings held in the same courthouse filled with loathing for Donald Trump and his supporters. Grand juries composed of residents in a city that gave Trump five percent of the vote in 2020 and four percent in 2016 have issued hundreds of indictments and thousands of criminal charges against January 6 protesters. This includes charges against 16 protesters for “seditious conspiracy,” a rare criminal offense for which no American has ever been convicted.
Federal prosecutors are enjoying similar success before regular juries. Garland’s Justice Department is undefeated in jury trials of January 6 defendants; D.C. juries have returned unanimous guilty verdicts on every single charge in seven trials since March. This includes convictions on “obstruction of an official proceeding,” a vague post-Enron law never before used against political protesters. (A jury also quickly convicted Trump advisor Steve Bannon on two counts of contempt of Congress.
The obstruction count is one of the offenses Garland’s office likely will file against Trump
As evidence mounts that Trump supporters cannot get a fair trial in Washington—surveys of prospective jurors conducted by defense counsel show a heavy bias against January 6 protesters—D.C. District Court judges have denied each change of venue motion. Coverage of the January 6 select committee hearings undoubtedly has amplified that bias, especially for high-profile defendants such as members of the Oath Keepers. The committee has focused on the roles of both the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, airing videos of their conduct that day and attempting to tie these alleged militias to Donald Trump
A week after a former member of the Oath Keepers testified before a televised hearing in July, defense attorneys representing the Oath Keepers filed another motion to delay the trial and move it out of D.C. “The main point we have to consider is that you have a congressional committee that goes out and paints the Oath Keepers as white supremacists,” one defense attorney explained to Judge Amit Mehta, another Obama appointee.
Mehta rejected the argument and took umbrage at another attorney’s suggestion the committee’s work was political. “This is not a forum to express your political views or your views about the motivations of the committee,” Mehta scolded. “I don’t think they’re hosting the hearings just to interrupt this trial.”
He denied the motion; the first Oath Keepers trial begins next month. It’s possible the Justice Department will charge Trump for conspiracy for allegedly working with the “militias” to attack the Capitol.
This is the legal and judicial circle of hell now fired up to come for President Trump—a vengeful Justice Department run by Obama loyalists working with a weaponized FBI to bring criminal charges against hundreds of Trump supporters who then face the wrath of enraged judges of both political parties. There is no way out.
And at this point, there’s no way out for Merrick Garland, either. Democrats have raised expectations that Trump soon will be in handcuffs; failure to do so will result in a harsh backlash by their own voters this fall. After six years of promises, Democrats better deliver the goods on Trump or face intra-party revolt.
Americans should prepare for the inevitable—the unprecedented sight of a former president pleading not guilty to crimes he is alleged to have committed by a Justice Department run by his successor and potential rival in the next presidential election.
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One can only imagine the big smile on Beryl Howell’s face.
somewherepress
Has No Life - Lives on TB
wrong thread
MinnesotaSmith
Membership Revoked
SERIOUS hypocrisy:
energy_wave
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I took my cousin to the Chautauqua Institution today. We went to the Ampitheter where the stabbing took place. Walked all over the place. Man my feet hurt.