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The Barbarians Are Here: Two Terrorists Caught on US Soil

June 09, 2017
Outside Source

Contributor

Thursday the New York Times reported that a Bronx man from Lebanon documented security protocols at Kennedy International Airport in New York in preparation for potential attacks. The man, Ali Kourani, a 32-year-old naturalized citizen from Lebanon, told the F.B.I. in a series of interviews that he believed he had been recruited to join Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad Organization as part of an effort to develop “sleepers” who lived ostensibly normal lives but could be “activated and tasked” with conducting operations, the criminal complaint said.

Erick Stakelbeck, host of The Watchmen With Erick Stakelbeck on TBN, joined The Glenn Beck Program on Friday for an update on this and another terrorist caught on U.S. soil.

Listen to this segment from The Glenn Beck Program:

MIKE: I'm happy one of my former Blaze colleagues is joining me on the phone right now, especially since we haven't covered the topics he covers enough because we've all been focused with Comey 2017. You know Eric maybe from the early days of TheBlaze and TheBlaze TV back when it was GB TV, he can was around. But now he's around at TBN and the director of Christians united Israel's Watchman project. Eric, welcome back to the program. We miss you here.

ERIC: Always great to catch you with you guys again.

MIKE: Well, you know, it's your old home. So it's one of those places if you have to go there, we have to let you in. Those are the rules.

ERIC: And I don't have to pay. It's free.

MIKE: That's good. That's true. You should follow Eric on Twitter because he's posting things that the mainstream news seems to forget about and avoid. And, you know, for people that don't know about the watch man prom that's on Friday nights, new episodes on Friday nights at 10:30, what's the elevator pitch to explain it to us?

ERIC: Yeah, you know, The Watchman is based -- four times a year, Mike, we're in Israel, we're on the ground. The elevator pitch is really the on the ground perspective from the Middle East, from the heart of it all that you're not getting here in the mainstream media. We're showing you the truth of what's going on in the Middle East. We're based in Jerusalem for a good chunk of the year and also in DC, and we're bringing not only the hot stories about the security threats, Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, Iran, that affect not only Israel but America. Affect everyone in our country. Not only that, encouraging, uplifting stories that are happening right now in the Holy Land that people aren't hearing about. So we're having a lot of fun.

MIKE: Well, the like the fact that there's uplifting information mixed in with the scary stuff because we need a little bit of that. But speaking of scary stuff, Eric. I'm following you today, and I'm happy that you're available because I said I have to talk to Eric about this. You tweeted less than an hour ago arrest of two Hezbollah operatives of U.S. soil. On U.S. soil. What's going on?

ERIC: My big deal here is everyone wants to focus on James Comey, obviously, but this is a huge deal to my mind because I believe that Hezbollah is really the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world. And they're not just a terror group. This is a terrorist military. Well trained, well funded by Iran. And, look, two Hezbollah operatives as you said right here on U.S. soil. One based in Dearborn, Michigan which has the largest Arab population in the United States. Dearborn just outside of Detroit. And another man arrested in the Bronx, New York. And, Mike, what they wanted to do were allegedly scouting out terror targets right here on U.S. soil. The one Hezbollah operative was scouting out JFK international airport in New York. Another had paid a trip to Panama, was looking at the Panama canal and looking at U.S. and Israeli targets there.

So, look, this, to me, this is a step up in what Hezbollah is doing. We know they're embroiled in the Syrian civil war. Hezbollah has a major presence there. We know they're perched on the Syrian border with some 150,000, imagine that, rockets and missiles aimed at every inch of Israel. But, yes, this shows that Hezbollah has a presence right here on American soil. And people need to know that Hezbollah has more American blood on its hands than any other terrorist organization, other than al-Qaeda. Besides al-Qaeda, it's Hezbollah that's killed more Americans than any other terror group. Look no further than the 1983 marine barracks bombings. 243 U.S. Marines killed.

MIKE: Absolutely. Eric Stakelbeck is joining us. Jeez. I got a chill when you said the Bronx man associated with Hezbollah picked up scouting JFK. And I looked at it, and I thought, you know, somebody's going to say you're just a bunch of antiMuslim conspiracy nuts. Well, the story's in The New York Times, people. The New York freaking times. It's not conspiracy. This is the real deal. We have been fortunate. Fortunate not to have the kind of attacks that the European Community has had over the last couple of weeks. Although, you know, you can look at Orlando, you can look at San Bernardino, you can look at Ohio. You can look at all of the small attacks and say we're lucky it hasn't spread any further. But if someone's looking at the Panama canal and someone's looking at JFK, guess what they're doing, people? They're looking at transportation. They're looking at shutting down significant commercial transportation, which is what the Panama canal would do if it were attacked and JFK. Can you imagine a bigger trophy than to attack an airport with the initials JFK? I'm a little nervous, Eric. I'm a little nervous today.

ERIC: I'm ruining your weekend. No, in all seriousness, though, Mike. People need to remember here that Hezbollah is -- what makes them so dangerous is that they are funded, supported, armed, and trained by Iran.

MIKE: Thank you.

ERIC: They have a state, a powerful country behind them. That's a big deal. Hezbollah was created by Iran. To this day funded, armed as I said. And, look, this shows you the true face of the Iranian regime. Right now under the Obama administration, you probably would have not heard much about these arrests, and they would have pooh-poohed it and tried to ignore it. But we hope -- we're hoping that it's a new day now with a new administration that's taking a tougher line against Iran, and I think the big picture here, Mike, is that, yes, ISIS serious threat. Absolutely. They're here. The barbarians are here. Make no mistake about it in western Europe and the U.S. to a lesser degree, but they're here.

MIKE: Well, I have to say a quick moment of thank god that the men and women of our intelligence divisions, all the different intelligence groups and our first responders are tracking these people. And unlike we saw in London where they knew about them but did nothing, we're at least watching and apprehending and hopefully continue to prevent. Eric, before I let you out of here, you and I talked about this earlier in another place. What's your take on whether or not we will get the embassy, the American embassy and Israel moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem?

ERIC: Mike, great question. I think it eventually will be moved. Hopefully sooner rather than later. I and many others were disappointed when the embassy was not moved last month. I think right now that President Trump is giving a shot at number one, seeing if peace is possible between Israel and the Palestinians. Number two, I think that king Abdullah from Jordan, the visit he paid to the White House, that already had a big effect. What President Trump wants to do right now is kind of put together an Arab NATO, I guess you could call it with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the gulf states, Egypt aligned alongside Israel against Iran and ISIS. Will that work? Hopefully that works. In terms of peace between Israel and Palestinians, I think the president's going to be in for a rude awakening because the Palestinians have showed no desire for peace or Israel's right to exist. So signed a six-month waiver not to move the embassy yet. But that was a campaign promise he made time and time again, so I'm sure that the pro Israel community here in the states and the Israeli government will really be holding him to that, and I think he will eventually move it.

MIKE: Well, the Christians, the evangelicals, as well as I would hope American Jews would support this and see what happens. Tonight 10:30 on TBN. Eric has The Watchman, and you have to watch The Watchman. Thank you, my friend. Hope to see you in person soon.

ERIC: I would love to, Mike. Take care.

MIKE: He's one of the good ones. Follow him on Twitter.

A nation unravels when its shared culture is the first thing to go

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Texas now hosts Quran-first academies, Sharia-compliant housing schemes, and rapidly multiplying mosques — all part of a movement building a self-contained society apart from the country around it.

It is time to talk honestly about what is happening inside America’s rapidly growing Muslim communities. In city after city, large pockets of newcomers are choosing to build insulated enclaves rather than enter the broader American culture.

That trend is accelerating, and the longer we ignore it, the harder it becomes to address.

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world.

America has always welcomed people of every faith and people from every corner of the world, but the deal has never changed: You come here and you join the American family. You are free to honor your traditions, keep your faith, but you must embrace the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. You melt into the shared culture that allows all of us to live side by side.

Across the country, this bargain is being rejected by Islamist communities that insist on building a parallel society with its own rules, its own boundaries, and its own vision for how life should be lived.

Texas illustrates the trend. The state now has roughly 330 mosques. At least 48 of them were built in just the last 24 months. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex alone has around 200 Islamic centers. Houston has another hundred or so. Many of these communities have no interest in blending into American life.

This is not the same as past waves of immigration. Irish, Italian, Korean, Mexican, and every other group arrived with pride in their heritage. Still, they also raised American flags and wanted their children to be part of the country’s future. They became doctors, small-business owners, teachers, and soldiers. They wanted to be Americans.

What we are watching now is not the melting pot. It is isolation by design.

Parallel societies do not end well

More than 300 fundamentalist Islamic schools now operate full-time across the country. Many use Quran-first curricula that require students to spend hours memorizing religious texts before they ever reach math or science. In Dallas, Brighter Horizons Academy enrolls more than 1,700 students and draws federal support while operating on a social model that keeps children culturally isolated.

Then there is the Epic City project in Collin and Hunt counties — 402 acres originally designated only for Muslim buyers, with Sharia-compliant financing and a mega-mosque at the center. After public outcry and state investigations, the developers renamed it “The Meadows,” but a new sign does not erase the original intent. It is not a neighborhood. It is a parallel society.

Americans should not hesitate to say that parallel societies are dangerous. Europe tried this experiment, and the results could not be clearer. In Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, entire neighborhoods now operate under their own cultural rules, some openly hostile to Western norms. When citizens speak up, they are branded bigots for asserting a basic right: the ability to live safely in their own communities.

A crisis of confidence

While this separation widens, another crisis is unfolding at home. A recent Gallup survey shows that about 40% of American women ages 18 to 39 would leave the country permanently if given the chance. Nearly half of a rising generation — daughters, sisters, soon-to-be mothers — no longer believe this nation is worth building a future in.

And who shapes the worldview of young boys? Their mothers. If a mother no longer believes America is home, why would her child grow up ready to defend it?

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world. If we lose confidence in our own national identity at the same time that we allow separatist enclaves to spread unchecked, the outcome is predictable. Europe is already showing us what comes next: cultural fracture, political radicalization, and the slow death of national unity.

Brandon Bell / Staff | Getty Images

Stand up and tell the truth

America welcomes Muslims. America defends their right to worship freely. A Muslim who loves the Constitution, respects the rule of law, and wants to raise a family in peace is more than welcome in America.

But an Islamist movement that rejects assimilation, builds enclaves governed by its own religious framework, and treats American law as optional is not simply another participant in our melting pot. It is a direct challenge to it. If we refuse to call this problem out out of fear of being called names, we will bear the consequences.

Europe is already feeling those consequences — rising conflict and a political class too paralyzed to admit the obvious. When people feel their culture, safety, and freedoms slipping away, they will follow anyone who promises to defend them. History has shown that over and over again.

Stand up. Speak plainly. Be unafraid. You can practice any faith in this country, but the supremacy of the Constitution and the Judeo-Christian moral framework that shaped it is non-negotiable. It is what guarantees your freedom in the first place.

If you come here and honor that foundation, welcome. If you come here to undermine it, you do not belong here.

Wake up to what is unfolding before the consequences arrive. Because when a nation refuses to say what is true, the truth eventually forces its way in — and by then, it is always too late.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Shocking: Chart-topping ‘singer’ has no soul at all

VCG / Contributor | Getty Images

A machine can imitate heartbreak well enough to top the charts, but it cannot carry grief, choose courage, or hear the whisper that calls human beings to something higher.

The No. 1 country song in America right now was not written in Nashville or Texas or even L.A. It came from code. “Walk My Walk,” the AI-generated single by the AI artist Breaking Rust, hit the top spot on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart, and if you listen to it without knowing that fact, you would swear a real singer lived the pain he is describing.

Except there is no “he.” There is no lived experience. There is no soul behind the voice dominating the country music charts.

If a machine can imitate the soul, then what is the soul?

I will admit it: I enjoy some AI music. Some of it is very good. And that leaves us with a question that is no longer science fiction. If a machine can fake being human this well, what does it mean to be human?

A new world of artificial experience

This is not just about one song. We are walking straight into a technological moment that will reshape everyday life.

Elon Musk said recently that we may not even have phones in five years. Instead, we will carry a small device that listens, anticipates, and creates — a personal AI agent that knows what we want to hear before we ask. It will make the music, the news, the podcasts, the stories. We already live in digital bubbles. Soon, those bubbles might become our own private worlds.

If an algorithm can write a hit country song about hardship and perseverance without a shred of actual experience, then the deeper question becomes unavoidable: If a machine can imitate the soul, then what is the soul?

What machines can never do

A machine can produce, and soon it may produce better than we can. It can calculate faster than any human mind. It can rearrange the notes and words of a thousand human songs into something that sounds real enough to fool millions.

But it cannot care. It cannot love. It cannot choose right and wrong. It cannot forgive because it cannot be hurt. It cannot stand between a child and danger. It cannot walk through sorrow.

A machine can imitate the sound of suffering. It cannot suffer.

The difference is the soul. The divine spark. The thing God breathed into man that no code will ever have. Only humans can take pain and let it grow into compassion. Only humans can take fear and turn it into courage. Only humans can rebuild their lives after losing everything. Only humans hear the whisper inside, the divine voice that says, “Live for something greater.”

We are building artificial minds. We are not building artificial life.

Questions that define us

And as these artificial minds grow sharper, as their tools become more convincing, the right response is not panic. It is to ask the oldest and most important questions.

Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of freedom? What is worth defending? What is worth sacrificing for?

That answer is not found in a lab or a server rack. It is found in that mysterious place inside each of us where reason meets faith, where suffering becomes wisdom, where God reminds us we are more than flesh and more than thought. We are not accidents. We are not circuits. We are not replaceable.

Europa Press News / Contributor | Getty Images

The miracle machines can never copy

Being human is not about what we can produce. Machines will outproduce us. That is not the question. Being human is about what we can choose. We can choose to love even when it costs us something. We can choose to sacrifice when it is not easy. We can choose to tell the truth when the world rewards lies. We can choose to stand when everyone else bows. We can create because something inside us will not rest until we do.

An AI content generator can borrow our melodies, echo our stories, and dress itself up like a human soul, but it cannot carry grief across a lifetime. It cannot forgive an enemy. It cannot experience wonder. It cannot look at a broken world and say, “I am going to build again.”

The age of machines is rising. And if we do not know who we are, we will shrink. But if we use this moment to remember what makes us human, it will help us to become better, because the one thing no algorithm will ever recreate is the miracle that we exist at all — the miracle of the human soul.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Shocking shift: America’s youth lured by the “Socialism trap”

Jeremy Weine / Stringer | Getty Images

A generation that’s lost faith in capitalism is turning to the oldest lie on earth: equality through control.

Something is breaking in America’s young people. You can feel it in every headline, every grocery bill, every young voice quietly asking if the American dream still means anything at all.

For many, the promise of America — work hard, build something that lasts, and give the next generation a better start — feels like it no longer exists. Home ownership and stability have become luxuries for a fortunate few.

Capitalism is not a perfect system. It is flawed because people are flawed, but it remains the only system that rewards creativity and effort rather than punishing them.

In that vacuum of hope, a new promise has begun to rise — one that sounds compassionate, equal, and fair. The promise of socialism.

The appeal of a broken dream

When the American dream becomes a checklist of things few can afford — a home, a car, two children, even a little peace — disappointment quickly turns to resentment. The average first-time homebuyer is now 40 years old. Debt lasts longer than marriages. The cost of living rises faster than opportunity.

For a generation that has never seen the system truly work, capitalism feels like a rigged game built to protect those already at the top.

That is where socialism finds its audience. It presents itself as fairness for the forgotten and justice for the disillusioned. It speaks softly at first, offering equality, compassion, and control disguised as care.

We are seeing that illusion play out now in New York City, where Zohran Mamdani — an open socialist — has won a major political victory. The same ideology that once hid behind euphemisms now campaigns openly throughout America’s once-great cities. And for many who feel left behind, it sounds like salvation.

But what socialism calls fairness is submission dressed as virtue. What it calls order is obedience. Once the system begins to replace personal responsibility with collective dependence, the erosion of liberty is only a matter of time.

The bridge that never ends

Socialism is not a destination; it is a bridge. Karl Marx described it as the necessary transition to communism — the scaffolding that builds the total state. Under socialism, people are taught to obey. Under communism, they forget that any other options exist.

History tells the story clearly. Russia, China, Cambodia, Cuba — each promised equality and delivered misery. One hundred million lives were lost, not because socialism failed, but because it succeeded at what it was designed to do: make the state supreme and the individual expendable.

Today’s advocates insist their version will be different — democratic, modern, and kind. They often cite Sweden as an example, but Sweden’s prosperity was never born of socialism. It grew out of capitalism, self-reliance, and a shared moral culture. Now that system is cracking under the weight of bureaucracy and division.

ANGELA WEISS / Contributor | Getty Images

The real issue is not economic but moral. Socialism begins with a lie about human nature — that people exist for the collective and that the collective knows better than the individual.

This lie is contrary to the truths on which America was founded — that rights come not from government’s authority, but from God’s. Once government replaces that authority, compassion becomes control, and freedom becomes permission.

What young America deserves

Young Americans have many reasons to be frustrated. They were told to study, work hard, and follow the rules — and many did, only to find the goalposts moved again and again. But tearing down the entire house does not make it fairer; it only leaves everyone standing in the rubble.

Capitalism is not a perfect system. It is flawed because people are flawed, but it remains the only system that rewards creativity and effort rather than punishing them. The answer is not revolution but renewal — moral, cultural, and spiritual.

It means restoring honesty to markets, integrity to government, and faith to the heart of our nation. A people who forsake God will always turn to government for salvation, and that road always ends in dependency and decay.

Freedom demands something of us. It requires faith, discipline, and courage. It expects citizens to govern themselves before others govern them. That is the truth this generation deserves to hear again — that liberty is not a gift from the state but a calling from God.

Socialism always begins with promises and ends with permission. It tells you what to drive, what to say, what to believe, all in the name of fairness. But real fairness is not everyone sharing the same chains — it is everyone having the same chance.

The American dream was never about guarantees. It was about the right to try, to fail, and try again. That freedom built the most prosperous nation in history, and it can do so again if we remember that liberty is not a handout but a duty.

Socialism does not offer salvation. It requires subservience.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Rage isn’t conservatism — THIS is what true patriots stand for

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

Conservatism is not about rage or nostalgia. It’s about moral clarity, national renewal, and guarding the principles that built America’s freedom.

Our movement is at a crossroads, and the question before us is simple: What does it mean to be a conservative in America today?

For years, we have been told what we are against — against the left, against wokeism, against decline. But opposition alone does not define a movement, and it certainly does not define a moral vision.

We are not here to cling to the past or wallow in grievance. We are not the movement of rage. We are the movement of reason and hope.

The media, as usual, are eager to supply their own answer. The New York Times recently suggested that Nick Fuentes represents the “future” of conservatism. That’s nonsense — a distortion of both truth and tradition. Fuentes and those like him do not represent American conservatism. They represent its counterfeit.

Real conservatism is not rage. It is reverence. It does not treat the past as a museum, but as a teacher. America’s founders asked us to preserve their principles and improve upon their practice. That means understanding what we are conserving — a living covenant, not a relic.

Conservatism as stewardship

In 2025, conservatism means stewardship — of a nation, a culture, and a moral inheritance too precious to abandon. To conserve is not to freeze history. It is to stand guard over what is essential. We are custodians of an experiment in liberty that rests on the belief that rights come not from kings or Congress, but from the Creator.

That belief built this country. It will be what saves it. The Constitution is a covenant between generations. Conservatism is the duty to keep that covenant alive — to preserve what works, correct what fails, and pass on both wisdom and freedom to those who come next.

Economics, culture, and morality are inseparable. Debt is not only fiscal; it is moral. Spending what belongs to the unborn is theft. Dependence is not compassion; it is weakness parading as virtue. A society that trades responsibility for comfort teaches citizens how to live as slaves.

Freedom without virtue is not freedom; it is chaos. A culture that mocks faith cannot defend liberty, and a nation that rejects truth cannot sustain justice. Conservatism must again become the moral compass of a disoriented people, reminding America that liberty survives only when anchored to virtue.

Rebuilding what is broken

We cannot define ourselves by what we oppose. We must build families, communities, and institutions that endure. Government is broken because education is broken, and education is broken because we abandoned the formation of the mind and the soul. The work ahead is competence, not cynicism.

Conservatives should embrace innovation and technology while rejecting the chaos of Silicon Valley. Progress must not come at the expense of principle. Technology must strengthen people, not replace them. Artificial intelligence should remain a servant, never a master. The true strength of a nation is not measured by data or bureaucracy, but by the quiet webs of family, faith, and service that hold communities together. When Washington falters — and it will — those neighborhoods must stand.

Eric Lee / Stringer | Getty Images

This is the real work of conservatism: to conserve what is good and true and to reform what has decayed. It is not about slogans; it is about stewardship — the patient labor of building a civilization that remembers what it stands for.

A creed for the rising generation

We are not here to cling to the past or wallow in grievance. We are not the movement of rage. We are the movement of reason and hope.

For the rising generation, conservatism cannot be nostalgia. It must be more than a memory of 9/11 or admiration for a Reagan era they never lived through. Many young Americans did not experience those moments — and they should not have to in order to grasp the lessons they taught and the truths they embodied. The next chapter is not about preserving relics but renewing purpose. It must speak to conviction, not cynicism; to moral clarity, not despair.

Young people are searching for meaning in a culture that mocks truth and empties life of purpose. Conservatism should be the moral compass that reminds them freedom is responsibility and that faith, family, and moral courage remain the surest rebellions against hopelessness.

To be a conservative in 2025 is to defend the enduring principles of American liberty while stewarding the culture, the economy, and the spirit of a free people. It is to stand for truth when truth is unfashionable and to guard moral order when the world celebrates chaos.

We are not merely holding the torch. We are relighting it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.