All posts tagged: terrorism

How 9/11 Made Everyone a Conspiracy Theorist

How 9/11 Made Everyone a Conspiracy Theorist

Published by skeptic

There are many, many strange things about the stew of conspiracy theories that fall under the umbrella of “9/11 Truth”—the false, often antisemitic worldview purporting that the US government had inside knowledge of or even actively participated in the September 11 attacks. But perhaps the strangest is that the seed of these theories was planted three months before the attacks themselves. It was June 28, 2001, when Milton William “Bill” Cooper took to the air on his national radio show after watching a news report on CNN. “Supposedly, a CNN reporter found Osama bin Laden, took a television camera crew with him, went into Osama bin Laden’s hideout, interviewed him and his top leadership, his top lieutenants and colonels and generals in their hideout,” Cooper told his listeners. “He came out and told everybody, ‘Within three weeks, Osama bin Laden is going to attack the United States and Israel.’” Cooper had part of the story right—a reporter had indeed just reached the inner sanctum of al Qaeda in the mountains near Kandahar, Afghanistan, but he …

Hillary Clinton warns the U.S. has let its guard down on terrorism 25 years after 9/11

Hillary Clinton warns the U.S. has let its guard down on terrorism 25 years after 9/11

Published by Sam Flores

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Thursday that the Trump administration isn’t doing enough to monitor and thwart terrorists who still pose a threat to the U.S., 25 years after the 9/11 attacks. “I worry a lot that we’ve let down our guard on counterterrorism, and I don’t say this to scare anybody or to exaggerate, but I think we are not paying enough attention to resurgent terrorist actions,” Clinton said in an interview with NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell at the VOICES 25th Anniversary Symposium, an event reflecting on the attacks. Clinton, who was a U.S. senator from New York on 9/11, said that there have been many “close calls” with terrorist plots in the ensuing quarter century and some that succeeded. “The threat did not go away — it receded — but it is still there, and there are still many thousands of extremists in the world who wish us a great deal of ill,” she said. Clinton argued that the U.S. needs to overcome its internal divisions and confront threats from both nation-state …

9/11 Changed the World in Many Ways. It Also Spawned the Digital Media Era

9/11 Changed the World in Many Ways. It Also Spawned the Digital Media Era

Published by Sam Flores

People escaping Lower Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge at approximately 11:00am on September 11, 2001. Jason Florio/Redux AI firms, to be clear, are engaged in well-intentioned attempts to expand human knowledge, spur scientific breakthroughs, inform decision-making, and facilitate or automate tasks. But, as with most businesses, the essential driver behind these companies is to turn a profit, to amass revenue and power by monetizing the lives, labor, and accumulated learning of others. And when money or power are the overriding motivations, the more fundamental human pursuits—no matter how noble, socially beneficial, or life-affirming—fall by the wayside. It reminds me of an observation made by the artist and critic John Menick, apropos of a series of images captured on 9/11 by fellow artist Wolfgang Staehle. Beginning on September 6, for an exhibition titled “2001,” Staehle used a remote, stationary webcam to render still photos of the downtown skyline every four seconds and automatically send them to a computer, then to a projector, which beamed each image, mural-size, on an art gallery wall. By happenstance, Staehle managed …

Trump Honors 9/11 Victims at the Ellipse, Pledging to ‘Never Forget’

Trump Honors 9/11 Victims at the Ellipse, Pledging to ‘Never Forget’

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly a quarter century after a day “etched forever into the memories of Americans,” President Donald Trump honored the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on Tuesday by vowing to “never forget.” The event at the Ellipse was spearheaded by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and showcased a massive, 21-foot, nearly 17,000-pound steel beam recovered from the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York, which had traveled for months across the country as part of the Steel Across America tour. The steel beam will make its way through New York in a procession on Friday by retracing the steps of fallen New York City firefighter Stephen Siller. Trump’s presence at the event on Tuesday just outside the White House began a week of commemorations that will culminate in several events on Friday, including one at the Pentagon that Trump will attend. “This battered piece of steel here today on the Ellipse is a reminder that America is blessed with a strength no fire can consume, no evil can …

Gen AI Tools Are Now Being Used to Push ‘Slop Jihad’

Gen AI Tools Are Now Being Used to Push ‘Slop Jihad’

Published by skeptic

Over a decade ago, the Islamic State released a disturbing video that depicted its members lowering men locked in a cage into a swimming pool and drowning them. Today, that video has been reproduced as a SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon depicting fish in orange jumpsuits inside the cage, as SpongeBob lowers the cage into the water while Squidward films the scene. The video, shared on TikTok, is part of what a new report from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD) calls “Slop Jihad,” a trend where young supporters of Islamic terror groups like ISIS and al-Qaida appear to use generative AI tools to create fan edits, cartoons, and memes designed radicalize a new generation of online backing. This shift “signals a fundamental transformation in the aesthetics of jihadist propaganda online,” concludes the report, which was shared exclusively with WIRED. “The principal concern is the growing volume and diversity of material,” says Adam Hadley, executive director of Tech Against Terrorism, a UN-backed counter terrorism organization that has also written a report about the Slop Jihad trend. “Highly …

Pakistan’s Punjab allows ‘secret’ terrorism trials: Why it’s controversial | Politics News

Pakistan’s Punjab allows ‘secret’ terrorism trials: Why it’s controversial | Politics News

Published by Sam Flores

Islamabad, Pakistan — Politicians in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, have passed a law allowing terrorism trials to be held in near-total secrecy, with the judge, prosecutor and witnesses permitted to remain anonymous. Under the law, a person facing the country’s most serious criminal charge could be convicted without learning who heard the case against them, who prosecuted it or who testified. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The trial record can be sealed, and an appeal could be heard by judges never told who presided over the original trial. The Anti-Terrorism (Punjab Amendment) Bill 2026 passed the Punjab Assembly on August 31, after opposition politicians staged a walkout in protest. Four days earlier, the government had appeared to relent, agreeing to have the bill reviewed by the law department or a parliamentary committee. When it returned to the floor, it was unchanged and passed without amendment on Monday. The law has drawn criticism from opposition politicians, lawyers, rights groups and analysts, who say it concentrates enormous power in a single, unnamed official …

“State Terrorism”: Putin Blasts Zelensky After Wild Threat Of Drone Attacks To ‘De Facto Close’ Russian Airspace

“State Terrorism”: Putin Blasts Zelensky After Wild Threat Of Drone Attacks To ‘De Facto Close’ Russian Airspace

Published by Jenni Sidey

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky just issued a crazy and unexpected threat which portends a major escalation in the war. Certainly it will provoke the Kremlin into even more uncontrolled escalation and massive strikes, such as has been (somewhat unusually) happening on Odesa port as well as the capital city of late. He has vowed moving forward to de facto close Russia’s skies, and has put Russian airlines, insurers, and foreign governments on notice. Zelensky is in effect warning that airlines could be shot out of the sky – though he stopped short of voicing this directly. “Today we want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace, every insurer, everyone who still uses key Russian airports – Russian skies are becoming completely dangerous,”Zelensky stated. Via Facebook/Sheremetyevo International Airport “Although the Russian authorities do not report this as it should, the Russian sky will de facto be closed,” he added. As justification for the alarming announcement and threat, the Ukrainian leader pointed to the last several days of Moscow’s heightened aerial assault on Ukraine which has …

Almost half of terrorism arrests in Great Britain since 9/11 have been in past year

Almost half of terrorism arrests in Great Britain since 9/11 have been in past year

Published by Sam Flores

Almost half of all terrorism arrests in Great Britain since the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers in 2001 have come in the past year, official data shows. There have been 6,539 arrests for terror-related activity in Great Britain since the 2001 attacks and 3,021 of those arrests were in the year ending 31 March 2026, according to the Home Office. The increase coincides with the proscription of Palestine Action, which came into effect on 5 July last year and has led to thousands of arrests of people for allegedly supporting the direct action protest group, the first such group to be banned under the Terrorism Act. The ban, which has been criticised by UN experts, NGOs, a former director of public prosecutions and a former director of the security services, is the subject of a continuing legal challenge, which will next be heard at the UK supreme court on 4 November. Ruth Ehrlich, the director of external relations at Liberty, which intervened in the legal challenge, said: “The staggering increase in arrests over the …

House Intelligence Committee warns of ‘Black Swan’ AI risks

House Intelligence Committee warns of ‘Black Swan’ AI risks

Published by Sam Flores

People walk by One World Trade, otherwise known as the Freedon Tower, which is located on the land where the Twin Towers once stood before they were destroyed in the attacks on September 11, 2001 on September 09, 2024 in New York City.  Spencer Platt | Getty Images The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence urged U.S. spy agencies to better prepare for “Black Swan” artificial intelligence risks, warning in a new report the technology could be leveraged by terrorists or adversaries to develop more dangerous weapons and plot more deadly attacks. “[T]he Committee believes the [intelligence community] and policymakers more broadly must carefully consider how to prevent AI tools from being leveraged for use by rogue actors, including terrorists,” the report said. It was written to assess U.S. efforts over the past quarter century to address intelligence failures that led to the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. “Preventing terrorist groups from developing access to equipment and expertise necessary to build and use weapons of mass destruction has been a significant point of emphasis for …