BDS organizers get sued by Lebanese businessman!

(h/t EOZ and Dan)FromAl Akhbar:Lebanese anti-Israel activists are being sued by a concert promoter for their boycott campaign against a popular British rock group. Samah Idriss, director of Dar al-Adab publishing house, received a court summons this Thursday from Beirut's commerce court. Idriss is implicated in a lawsuit for his involvement in a Lebanese boycott campaign against the British rock group Placebo last year. Jihad el-Murr, who heads the company that organized the event, filed the suit on 10 July 2011. El-Murr is suing Idriss, as well as three other groups involved in the campaign: the Aidoun Refugee Rights Center, the Campaign to Boycott the Supporters of Israel in Lebanon, and the Global BDS Campaign in Lebanon. El-Murr, a self-described famous businessman from a prominent family, is demanding US$180,000 compensation for his company’s financial losses allegedly caused by the boycott campaign.Lebanese activists called for the boycott in protest of Placebo's performance in Tel Aviv four days before their concert in Beirut, that was scheduled for 9 June 2010 at the Forum de Beirut. Only in July 2011, a year after the event took place, did el-Murr notice the ‘financial losses’ he claims were caused by the campaign. He called the campaign against cultural normalization with Israel both “malicious and deceptive.” El-Murr argues that the 1955 Lebanese law supporting a limited boycott of Israel does not apply to the Placebo concert. “The famous rock band does not even deal with politics,” he added.El Murr described the boycotts as "ridiculous" last year.Placebo played in Israel on June 5th, and they did play in Beirut on June 9
It does not appear that the boycott effort in Lebanon had any effect because the concert hall in Beirut looks pretty full to me:
Which is a win-win - the Lebanese roundly ignored the BDSers and the only way for the BDSers to counter the lawsuit would be for them to admit that their efforts were fruitless!

it's funny... but I really could care less about any loss of money in Lebanon because of BDS.

Robert Downey Jr. Asks Hollywood to "Forgive" Mel Gibson

Friday night Downey, 46, accepted an American Cinematheque Award in Beverly Hills, and the actor used his time on stage to ask Hollywood to forgive Gibson. But Downey, who is proudly clean and sober today, isn't about to judge Gibson. "Mel and I have the same lawyer, same publicist, and same shrink. I couldn't get hired and he cast me," Downey said. "He said if I accepted responsibility -- he called it hugging the cactus -- long enough, my life would take meaning. And if he helped me, I would help the next guy. But it was not reasonable to expect the next guy would be him."

It isn't Gibson's vice problems that are the issue... it is that Mel Gibson had an agenda when he was sober. I have seen little change from him.

Peaceful Ahmadiyya Muslim Holy Man Threatens Geert Wilders With ‘Destruction & Humiliation’ — Winds Of Jihad By SheikYerMami

Ahmadiyya Islam we were told was peaceful. Those that follow Mohammad are reading the same texts. It doesn't matter how you spin it or if they are oppressed by their own Mohammadeans.

(Al Islam h/tVlad Tepes and Sheik Yer Mami) Muslims are peaceful, Wilders is “extremist”
The Ahmadiyya sect is persecuted by righteous sunni Muslims, which is a great excuse for seeking asylum in the west. In Europe and elsewhere, they are known for fiercely proselytizing with lame slogans like ‘love for all, hatred for no one’ and ‘eating pork makes you homosexual’.“His Holiness” Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad praised Queen Beatrix for being a good dhimmi and threatened Geert Wilders and his party with destruction. During a recent visit to Holland, the world Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, issued a stark warning to Geert Wilders, the far-right Dutch politician. (Geert Wilders is a Social Democrat and a patriot/ed)He warned Wilders that if he continued to defame Islam and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) then he and other like-minded individuals would be humiliated by God Almighty.
Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said that Wilders had exceeded all limits of falsehood and hatred in his opposition towards Islam. He said Wilders was motivated solely by a desire to further his own political ambitions and so the time had come to warn him about the consequences of his actions. He said that irrespective of whether Wilders gained further political capital in the short term, ultimately his antics would lead only towards abject failure and humiliation.
Addressing Wilders directly, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said: “Listen carefully – You, your party and every other person like you will ultimately be destroyed. But the religion of Islam and the message of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) will remain forever. No worldly power, no matter how powerful and no matter how much hatred they bear towards Islam, will ever succeed in erasing our religion.”His Holiness explained that the destruction of such individuals would be achieved through prayer alone and not by any worldly means. He said: “Always remember, that we can achieve nothing without prayer. We have no worldly power, nor will we ever use any worldly force. But the prayers of people whose hearts have been grieved are enough to shake the Heavens.”Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad also spoke of the many decent people who continued to live in Holland and who rejected wholeheartedly the extremist views perpetuated by Wilders. His Holiness said that all such people who care for the feelings of one another and who believe in religious freedom should come together and launch a campaign for peace in the world. (Peace under Islam? No thank you.) This is something that the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat has long advocated and has been involved with throughout the world. (MORE PAIN →)

Plot Foiled? 3 Moroccan Muslims Caught Sneaking Inside TX Courthouse at 2 A.M.

Buck Sexton (h/t/ Docs Talk) What were three French-Moroccan Muslims in their twenties doing with photos of infrastructure and high tech camera equipment inside the Bexar County Courthouse in San Antonio at almost 2 o’clock this morning?
Nobody has given any good answers yet, and concerns about a possible terrorism plot remain high. Officers of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Department of Homeland security have the three suspicious individuals in custody and are trying to find out if a terrorism-related plot was disrupted. The men apparently entered the building by sneaking through a window.
The men appeared to have entered the country on legal visas from Heathrow airport and had traveled extensively throughout the U.S. According to WOIA radio, officials say the men had “photographs of infrastructure” including photos of shopping malls, water systems, courthouses and other public buildings which they say were taken in cities nationwide.”
In response to the possible threat early this morning, police cordoned off two square blocks of downtown San Antonio and bomb-sniffing dogs were deployed throughout the courthouse. After a couple of hours, police reopened the streets as no danger was detected.
Investigators are keeping the case close-hold, but one law enforcement officer reportedly said of the three Muslim men that “the fact why they can’t explain why they are in the building at 1:22 in the morning raises questions.”

San Antonio? Really?

College tuition? It’s a ripoff! Postpone college until the bubble bursts!

From SavingsAccount.org: (h/t:1389 NoisyRoom) Click to view full-size image.

Payday Lenders and Pawn Shops Booming

(Volokh) From today’s WSJ, “Short-Term Lenders Seize the Day”:Tough times are good times for payday lenders and pawnshops.*** Shares of nationwide chains, such asDFC Global Corp.,Cash America International Inc. and First Cash Financial Services Inc., have jumped to records in recent weeks. Meanwhile, plans for two initial public offerings from the industry, including the online business of Cash America, have been filed since August. Cash America representatives declined to comment. DFC Global and First Cash representatives didn’t return calls seeking comment. Though share prices have come off their highs in recent weeks, they are still up for the year. Cash America is up 49%, First Cash Financial 40% and DFC Global 18%. That compares with the KBW Bank Index, which is down 26% so far in 2011.First Cash Financial is set to report third-quarter earnings Wednesday, with other payday lenders and pawn shops also reporting this week and next. Analysts covering DFC, Cash America and First Cash indicate they expect earnings at all of the companies to increase by double-digit percentages in the third quarter, though it is possible earnings could disappoint. All three beat expectations in the second quarter.Wow, who ever could have predicted that?

New variant of Stuxnet discovered

(EOZ h/t CHA, Zach) From eWeek:
A new worm targeting industrial control system manufacturers has a strong resemblance to Stuxnet, leading researchers to dub it "Son of Stuxnet"
Symantec researchers have discovered a new worm in the wild that has the potential to attack and cripple industrial control systems, much like Stuxnet did.
The new worm, dubbed Duqu, shares a lot of the code with Stuxnet, leading Symantec researchers to believe it was either created by the same team or by another group with access to the Stuxnet source code, Symantec researchers said in a 46-page whitepaper released Oct. 18. Unlike Stuxnet, which was designed to attack a very specific type of computer system, Duqu does not have appear to have a clear target.
Discovered a little over a year ago, Stuxnet is considered one of the most sophisticated pieces of malware ever developed. It compromised several industrial control systems at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility. Observers believe Iran's nuclear program had been set back years by the malware. Despite the fact that researchers around the world have analyzed Stuxnet, the source code is "not out there," according to Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer of F-Secure, noting that "only the original authors have it."
"Duqu is essentially the precursor to a future Stuxnet-like attack," Symantec Security Response researchers wrote on the Symantec Connect blog. The researchers did not speculate on its origins.
Considering the time and resources required to develop tools like this, Lookingglass’ CTO Jason Lewis told eWEEK that a nation state was the likely author.
Duqu's primary purpose at the moment appears to be intelligence-gathering from industrial control system manufacturers, according to Symantec. ...
"The key thing missing here, unlike Stuxnet, is we don't know what they are looking for," Symantec said.
At the moment, Duqu only creates a back door on infected systems and connects with a command-and-control server somewhere in India, according to Symantec. The backdoor is open precisely for 36 days, after which the malware self-destructs.
The C&C server appears to not have sent any instructions yet, Symantec said. The short 36 day lifecycle implies there is a specific target, according to Lewis.
According to McAfee's analysis of the worm, the malware installs drivers and encrypted DLLS that can act as keyloggers on the system to monitor all processes and messages. It also has no mechanism to replicate itself.
McAfee researchers Guilherme Venere and Peter Szor are fairly confident that Duqu was created by the same developers responsible for Stuxnet. They based their conclusions on the fact that both viruses utilize similar encryption keys and techniques, injection code and fraudulent digital certificates which had been issued to companies in Taiwan. The digital certificate keys appear to be real, which also make the programs look legitimate.
I don't know how difficult it is to modify Stuxnet to do other things, but the description here isn't making much sense to me. I cannot see the value of using already-known exploits to try to gather new infomation when everyone with any concept of computer security would have already put up defenses against it.
On the other hand, Symantec says that this code uses a new stolen digital certificate from Taiwan that had not been breached before, and that the code seems to have been written in December 2010. A normal hacker is not usually able to steal digital certificates - that requires real-world espionage.

Freed would-be suicide bomber Wafa al-Biss tells Gaza kids to be like her

Israel freed an idiot that couldn't get her bomb working. She wanted to kill the doctor that was trying to save her life. Talk about libidinal... attack the male who cares about your silly vain self.

(EOZ) Ynet reports:"A would-be Palestinian suicide bomber freed by Israel in the prisoner swap for soldier Gilad Shalit told cheering schoolchildren in the Gaza Strip the day after her release on Wednesday she hoped they would follow her example.<"I hope you will walk the same path we took and God willing, we will see some of you as martyrs," Wafa al-Biss told dozens of children who came to her home in the northern Gaza Strip.
Biss was travelling to Beersheba's Soroka hospital for medical treatment in 2005 when Israeli soldiers at the Erez border crossing noticed she was walking strangely. They found 10 kgs (22 lbs) of explosives had been sewn into her underwear.
A member of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, Biss was sentenced to a 12-year term for planning to blow herself up.After she spoke, the children cheered and waved Palestinian flags and chanted: "We will give souls and blood to redeem the prisoners. We will give souls and blood for you, Palestine." In case you forgot who she is:

Hamas Wins! PA Dishes Out Conspiracy Theories

(Hudson NY) The agreement sends a message that the only way to get Israel to release prisoners is by kidnapping Israeli civilians or soldiers and not through negotiations, as advocated by Abbas. Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah have expressed deep concern over the prisoner swap, saying it would bolster Hamas's standing among Palestinians and significantly weaken Abbas and his Fatah faction. But instead of sitting quiet and waiting until the storm passes away, the Palestinian Authority leaders have been trying to convince the Palestinian public that Israel and Hamas were "colluding" to undermine Abbas's regime. The first statement came from Riad Malki, the foreign minister in the Palestinian Authority government, who announced that the timing of the deal, only a few weeks after Abbas submitted the controversial statehood application to the UN, was "suspicious."Since then, several other Abbas loyalists have claimed that Israel and Hamas struck the deal now in a clear attempt to foil Abbas's statehood plan.

Hillary Clinton stands with The Muslim Brotherhood in Libya.

( Israel Survival Updates)

Clinton urges creation of unified military and……

“I am proud to stand here on the soil of a free Tripoli and on behalf of the American people I congratulate Libya,” Clinton said. “This is Libya’s moment, this is Libya’s victory, the future belongs to you.”

After meeting Libya’s de facto prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, she spoke of the need to bring the powerful and heavily-armed regional militias that emerged from the war to oust Gaddafi under central rule.
“We are encouraged by the commitment of the National Transitional Council (NTC) to take the steps necessary to bring the country together,” Clinton said.

The United States among other countries officially recognized the Libyan Transitional National Council (TNC) as the legitimate governing body of Libya back in July.

Listen Up Hamas: Israel is rethinking the Shalit deal

...the Amal Militia in Lebanon kidnapped two Soviet diplomats. But the Russians do not think like Westerners. The very next day, the Russians kidnapped two Amal commanders, and sent a box to Amal headquarters in Beirut with two index fingers and two ears, and a message saying the Amal militia would receive two new body parts every day until they ran out of body parts, and then they would kidnap two new Amal commanders and start over again. The two Russian diplomats were released the very next day.