So I'm still baffled at this claim that I should be more afraid of a Mexican cartel member than I should be of stumbling across one of the holy warriors of the Islamic State.

Alright, try this on for size:

http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2010/RAND_OP292.pdf
The scale of the September 11, 2001, attacks tended to obliterate America’s memory of pre-9/11 terrorism, yet measured by the number of  terrorist attacks, the volume of domestic terrorist activity was much greater in the 1970s. That tumultuous decade saw 60 to 70 terrorist incidents, mostly bombings, on U.S. soil every year—a level of terrorist activity 15 to 20 times
that seen in the years since 9/11, even when foiled plots are counted as incidents. And in the nine-year period from 1970 to 1978, 72 people died in terrorist incidents, more than five times  the number killed by jihadist terrorists in the United States in the almost nine years since 9/11.
 
...

The contrast between the level of terrorist violence in the United States today and that in the 1970s is indicated in RAND’s chronology of terrorism, which records 83 terrorist attacks in the United States between 9/11 and the end of 2009, only three of which were clearly connected with the jihadist cause. (The RAND database includes Abdulmutallab’s failed Christmas Day attempt to detonate a bomb on an airplane.) The other jihadist plots were interrupted by authorities. In addition to the jihadist attacks, this total includes the anthrax letters sent in late 2001, which killed five people, as well as numerous low-level attacks by environmental extremists (38) and animal-rights fanatics (12), which account for most of the violence. In all, 24 people were killed between 9/11 and the end of 2009, including the 13 who died at Fort Hood.

Taken from:
http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2010/RAND_OP292.pdf

Who Are the Recruits?

Most of America’s homegrown terrorists are U.S. citizens. Information on national origin or ethnicity is available for 109 of the identified homegrown terrorists. The Arab and South Asian immigrant communities are statistically overrepresented in this small sample, but the number of recruits is still tiny. There are more than 3 million Muslims in the United States, and few more than 100 have joined jihad - about one out of every 30,000—suggesting an American Muslim population that remains hostile to jihadist ideology and its exhortations to violence. A mistrust of American Muslims by other Americans seems misplaced


.....

The 1970s Saw Greater Terrorist Violence

While radicalization and recruitment to jihadist terrorism remain cause for continuing concern, the current threat must be kept in perspective. What has not occurred is just as significant  as what  has occurred: Thus far, there has been no sustained jihadist terrorist campaign in the  United States. There are many possible reasons: Al-Qaeda simply lacked  the assets to carry out  terrorist operations. The local Muslim community rejected al-Qaeda’s appeals and actively intervened to dissuade those with radical tendencies from violence. Domestic intelligence efforts were expanded and improved and thus far have succeeded in thwarting all but two actual attacks. Surveillance of radical venues, real or imagined, plus actual arrests contributed to a deterrent effect. Guns are readily available, but the ingredients of explosives became harder  to obtain and were more closely monitored. Security visibly improved. While constant government admonitions early in the decade to remain vigilant seemed silly afterthoughts to dire  warnings of imminent attack, citizens became more watchful and reported suspicious activity,  which in at least a few of the cases yielded real results, adding further to a deterrent effect.

The scale of the September 11, 2001, attacks tended to obliterate America’s memory of pre-9/11 terrorism, yet measured by the number of  terrorist attacks, the volume of domestic terrorist activity was much greater in the 1970s. That tumultuous decade saw 60 to 70 terrorist incidents, mostly bombings, on U.S. soil every year—a level of terrorist activity 15 to 20 times
that seen in the years since 9/11, even when foiled plots are counted as incidents. And in the nine-year period from 1970 to 1978, 72 people died in terrorist incidents, more than five times  the number killed by jihadist terrorists in the United States in the almost nine years since 9/11.

In the 1970s, terrorists, on behalf of a variety of causes, hijacked airliners; held hostages  in Washington, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco; bombed embassies, corporate headquarters, and government buildings; robbed banks; murdered diplomats; and blew up power transformers, causing widespread blackouts. These were not one-off attacks but sustained campaigns by terrorist gangs that were able to avoid capture for years. The Weather Underground was responsible for 45 bombings between 1970 and 1977, the date of its last action, while the New World Liberation Front claimed responsibility for approximately 70 bombings in the San Francisco Bay area between 1974 and 1978 and was believed to be responsible for another 26 bombings in other Northern California cities. Anti-Castro Cuban exile groups claimed responsibility for nearly 100 bombings. Continuing an armed campaign that dated back to the 1930s, Puerto Rican separatists, reorganized in 1974 as the Armed Front for National Liberation (FALN), claimed credit for more than 60 bombings. The Jewish Defense League and
similar groups protesting the plight of Jews in the Soviet Union claimed responsibility for more than 50 bombings during the decade. Croatian and Serbian émigrés also carried out sporadic terrorist attacks in the United States, as did remnants of the Ku Klux Klan.


Some of these groups clearly benefited from the support of radicalized subcultures or sympathetic ethnic communities, which made suppression difficult. And domestic intelligence collection was less sophisticated in the 1970s than it is today. The techniques that had in previous decades allowed authorities to penetrate large organizations such as the Communist Party or the Ku Klux Klan did not work with the tiny, more fluid terrorist gangs of the 1970s. Domestic intelligence also operated under greater constraints, which reflected a very different public perception of threat but also a reaction to revelations of prior abuses connected with domestic intelligence operations.

The contrast between the level of terrorist violence in the United States today and that in the 1970s is indicated in RAND’s chronology of terrorism, which records 83 terrorist attacks in the United States between 9/11 and the end of 2009, only three of which were clearly connected with the jihadist cause. (The RAND database includes Abdulmutallab’s failed Christmas Day attempt to detonate a bomb on an airplane.) The other jihadist plots were interrupted by authorities. In addition to the jihadist attacks, this total includes the anthrax letters sent in late 2001, which killed five people, as well as numerous low-level attacks by environmental extremists (38) and animal-rights fanatics (12), which account for most of the violence. In all, 24 people were killed between 9/11 and the end of 2009, including the 13 who died at Fort Hood.

America’s perception of the terrorist threat today differs greatly from the perception of  35 years ago. Current concerns are driven not by the little bombs of the 1970s but by fear of  another event on the scale of 9/11 or of even more frightening scenarios involving terrorist use of biological or nuclear weapons. In response, the nation has conceded to the authorities
broader powers to prevent terrorism. But that attitude could change with revelations of abuse or with heavy-handed tactics, either of which could easily discredit all intelligence operations, provoke public anger, and erode the most effective barrier of all to radicalization: the cooperation of the community.

but I'm also reasonably comfortable with the knowledge that I've not done anything to piss them off.-Red
And what happens when you just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, something far more likely to occur, especially since the Mexican Drug Cartel is just as likely to take out someone who is a witness to a crime being commited just because. It's just prudent to make sure there is no one who can ID you, and since a large majority of the operatives are going to be Gang members with Criminal Records and desire to earn that 'muderded someone' stripe it's more like than not to be the case.

I happen to live in an area where A) Violent political plots are rather common, being only  a few mile down the Road from the State Capital,  B) live in an area where the Military is close to 1/3 the population, and provides a significant amount of work, C) work with hundreds of 'foreigner's' daily (118 countries come to our campus), and have about 75% foreigners on my staff, and D) live only 1/2 hour from two of the largest city's with heavy crime, that are home to more Turf Gangs than you can shake a stick at, E.G. The Del Norte, The Crips, The Bloods, The Russian Mafia,
California is particularly vulnerable to Russian organized crime because only New York state has a larger population of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. These new crime groups have been identified in major California cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, and San Diego. They maintain ties to criminal organizations back in Russia and are forging working agreements with other Latin American and Asian syndicates.
Hell even the Pacific Islanders/Asian groups have some fingers in the pie around here, and we haven't even gotten to the Ayrn Brotherhood yet.

So believe me when I say, somehow the idea that some misguided idiot with pension for going Jihad on innocent folks because 'ISIS',  is really low on the scale for running the sweat pumps on high speed.

And if your driving in this area (the Steaks and Beer really are good) your more likely to be run over by some idiot doing 75 mph on the street cause high speed street racing is really popular around here. Islamic Terrorists, not so much, all though Scooty Walkocker does think that by having our Union Brothers Arrested (AFSCME) that gives him experience in handling those ISIS terrorsts. smiley: eyes

Molly say:
So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.

       

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