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By Sivan Hirsch-Hoefler and Cas Mudde December 19 at 12:00 PM

A contractor walked in August 2003 through Clippinger Chevrolet in West Covina, Calif., where Earth Liberation Front members allegedly vandalized more than 120 sport utility vehicles. (AP File Photo)

In 2004, John Lewis, deputy assistant director of the FBI Counterterrorism Division, declared in testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee: the FBIs investigation of animal rights extremists and ecoterrorism matters is our highest domestic terrorism investigative priority. To most Americans this statement, if it had been given serious attention by the U.S. media, would have come as a surprise. Having been bombarded with articles and public warnings about jihadist terrorism ever since 9/11, the average American would not have expected the primary domestic terrorist threat to come fromgroups such as the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and Earth Liberation Front (ELF), which are largely unknown to the broader public. In fact, the statement would have likely stunned most academic scholars of political violence and terrorism, who until recently have devoted little attention to the phenomenon of ecoterrorism.

In a recent article in Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, we assessed the phenomenon of ecoterrorism, both in the United States and globally, by categorizing the types of the actions of the Radical Environmentalist and Animal Rights (REAR) movement, assessing their relative importance within the broader arsenal of actions of the whole movement, and evaluating them on the basis of a clear definition of ecoterrorism.

The REAR movement is a highly diverse, international network with an unknown number of activists and supporters worldwide. Cells can be found in at least 25 (mostly Western) countries. While radical environmentalists such as the ELF and Earth First! are more broadly focused on the entire ecosystem, radical animal rightists like the ALF and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are concerned more narrowly with sentient beings. Still, they regularly collaborate and claim joint responsibility for actions. Despite the diversity of ideas and ideologies, there are three main characteristics that all activists and groups share: an uncompromising position, status as a grassroots organization and direct action. In many ways, the REAR movement is best described as an idea; it is a collectivity in the most limited and virtual sense.

A recent publication shows that radical environmentalists and animal rights activists have been responsible for 1,069 criminal acts in the United States between 1970 and 2007 (see below). The authors categorize three actions as assassinations (0.3%), 44 as armed assaults (4.1%), 55 as bombings/explosions (5.1%), 933 as facility attacks (87.3%), 30 as unarmed assaults (2.8%) and four as unknown (0.4%).

As no cross-national dataset for criminal acts of the whole REAR movement exists, and even national dataset are lacking in most countries, we developed an original global dataset of criminal acts of the radical animal rights movement in the period 2003-2010. Given that animal rights activists are responsible for the vast majority of criminal acts of the broader REAR movement, and have a roughly similar pattern of activities as environmentalist activists, the findings should be largely representative of the broader REAR movement.

Following previous research, the dataset was constructed on the basis of the information posted on the website of Bite Back magazine, which is both internally and externally seen as the news magazine about the radical animal rights movement worldwide. The information on the website is mostly provided directly by activists themselves. Given that the media are highly selective in their coverage of these kind of actions, and law enforcement does not systematically collect data in most countries, this imperfect dataset is the best available to date.

We counted a total of 5,578 criminal actions by radical animal rights activists worldwide. Most actions took place in the United Kingdom (994), Sweden (769), Italy (458), the United States (446), and Germany (379). Using a slightly elaborated categorization, we counted 247 acts of arsons (4.4%), 0 assassinations (0%), 3,695 of vandalism (66.2%), 808 house visits (14.5%), 690 animal liberations (12.4%), 80 bombs (1.4%), and 58 cyber crimes (1%).

The question which of these actions constitutes terrorism obviously depends upon the definition used. There has been much discussion among scholars about a working definition of terrorism, and many different ones have been offered. We argue that terrorism goes beyond mere political violence; terrorists terrorize. Essential to terrorism is a psychological process based on the power of fear, more specifically fear for the physical wellbeing of (a subset of) the population. Consequently, we define terrorism as a strategy that employs the threat or use of force or violence to instill fear in (a subset of) the population with the ultimate aim of achieving political goals. In the case of ecoterrorism, these political goals are the ending of environmental destruction and animal rights abuse.

Continued here:
Monkey Cage: Ecoterrorism: threat or political ploy?

Santa Rosa, CA (PRWEB) December 19, 2014

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SuperCloset Continues to Innovate with New Complete Indoor Grow Room Packages, The SuperClone Rooms are the Newest ...

COEUR d'ALENE - Three retaining walls were installed in east Tubbs Hill Park this week by a Sandpoint-based contractor during the initial stages of making the hill accessible to residents and visitors using wheelchairs.

Coeur d'Alene Trails Coordinator Monte McCully told The Press that when the trail work is completed, most wheelchairs will be able to get 1,500 feet up the trail to a viewpoint of Lake Coeur d'Alene.

He added that the new and improved trail will make seeing Tubbs Hill easier for others in the community as well.

"It's one of these things that we want to benefit the entire community - because a portion of us can use it, but there are a lot that cannot," McCully said. "We're making it accessible to another percentage of our population that may not otherwise be able to see nature and see something beautiful."

Crews were primarily focused this week on installing the retaining walls, McCully said, because working on other portions of the project would disrupt the hill during the winter months when they can't work.

"So they are doing stuff they can finish up before the weather hits," McCully said. "Come spring, they will finish up the rest of the work."

In the spring, construction crews will install one more large retaining wall and work to give the trailhead a 5 percent slope, which McCully said is ideal for a person in a wheelchair.

"It's pretty steep as soon as you come out of east Tubbs Hill Park so they're going to be filling and extending the trail out to make it less steep," McCully said.

Additional work to level the slope on both sides of the trail will also be required, McCully added.

The work is the result of more than two years of planning, with meetings being held on the trail work for a year before it was given a green light by the city council.

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Tubbs Hill trail work begins

Friday will mark the last day for Sandys Pantry in the Koester Block.

Sandy Behrens will begin packing up her restaurants dishes, pans and utensils from the 33 years she has run the restaurant there since 1981. She is moving into the Astro 3 Theatre, where she plans to reopen her small diner.

The daytime restaurant is scheduled to open Feb. 2 in the theaters lobby. A 12x15-foot kitchen, located next to the concession stand, is under construction. Seating for the restaurant will be booths moved from her former location.

Additional tables and chairs will be set up during restaurant hours.

Alex Shultz, Astro co-owner, offered the opportunity for Sandy to move to the Astro this past year.

With rising operating costs, Behrens, who announced last year that she planned to close, decided the new location would be a good move.

She plans to serve the same menu as she offers now and may add a few new things. Hours of operation will be determined closer to the opening in February.

Shultz eats at Sandys Pantry every day, and said her cheeseburgers are his favorite food.

I am looking forward to the move, she said. It will be a challenge. I will miss the people who come in here, but hopefully they will all come to eat at Sandys Pantry at the Astro.

Behrens said shes met a lot of nice people at the restaurant through the years.

More here:
Friday last day for Sandy's Pantry on Koester Block

The Delray Sands Resort on Highland Beach has completed the remodeling of rooms and public spaces, operator Ocean Properties Ltd announced Thursday.

The 115-room oceanfront resort at 2809 S. Ocean Blvd. now offers ocean-inspired guest rooms and suites, and oceanfront meeting and event space.

The upgraded guest rooms feature mini refrigerators, in-room coffee makers, premium cable channels and other amenities.

"Beyond the new lobby and their guest rooms, our guests will even be able to experience this ocean inspiration on the menu at Latitudes," said Andy Berger, Ocean Properties vice president of operations, in a statement.

Latitudes the resort's new oceanfront restaurant and lounge offers menus featuring farm-to-table selections and a combination of new and classic seafood dishes. The restaurant boasts five social and dining spaces, including a main dining room, outdoor terrace, Wave Pool Bar and areas for private social events.

For information, go to DelraySandsResort.com or call 866-790-2198.

asatchell@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4209 or Twitter@TheSatchreport

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Delray Sands Resort completes remodeling

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Texan Mark Oberholtzer's old work truck ... Jihadists from Ansar al-Deen Front fight Syrian goverment forces near Aleppo, Syria.

A Texas plumber says he has no clue how his old work truck wound up some 11,000 kilometres away in the hands of Islamic militants in Syria. But an extremist group, Ansar al-Deen Front, reportedly posted a photo of it on Twitter earlier this week, showing the black Ford F-250 with an anti-aircraft weapon in the bed.

Since then, his company has apparently been getting bombarded with phone calls from people across the country, accusing it of aiding and abetting terrorists.

The plumber'scompany logo and phone number were still printed on the driver-side door.

"How it ended up in Syria, I'll never know," Mark Oberholtzer, who owns Mark-1 Plumbing in Texas City, told theGalveston County Daily News.

His son, Jeff Oberholtzer, said the family had "no intentions or idea that this would happen". He added: "We have nothing to do with terror at all."

Mark Oberholtzer told the Galveston newspaper he traded the truck in at AutoNation in Houstonlast year. He said he usually removes the decals beforehand, but figured the dealership would do it.

Screen grab: Fox News.

No connection with jihadists ... Texan plumber Mark Oberholtzer.

See the article here:
US plumber's truck in the hands of Syrian jihadists

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All Quality Pest Services - REVIEWS - Glendale, CA - Pest Control Reviews - Video

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