Naser Abdo Defiant in Court Even As He Allegedly Admits To Plotting Terror Attacks

Private Naser Jason Abdo has allegedly admitted to Army investigators that he was planning on carrying out a terror attack against Fort Hood personnel who frequent a restaurant near the base.



Abdo apparently bought an army uniform with Fort Hood patches, but the key to thwarting the plot was a suspicious gun shop employee who noticed that Abdo was asking about the use of smokeless powder even as he was intending on buying several canisters.

In his first court appearance since his arrest, Abdo was defiant.

Federal prosecutors charged 21-year-old Pfc. Naser Abdo (AB'-doh) with possessing an illegal firearm during his court hearing on Friday.

As Abdo left the courtroom, he yelled "Nidal Hasan Fort Hood 2009." Hasan is charged with killing 13 people in the worst mass shooting ever on a U.S. military installation.

Abdo was arrested on Wednesday. Authorities say weapons and bomb-making materials were stashed in a motel room where Abdo was staying near the main gate of Fort Hood.

Other reports indicate that he shouted more than Nidal Hasan's name; they indicate that he shouted the name of a girl, Abeer Quassim al Janvi, a 12-year-old girl that was raped in Iraq in 2006 by soldiers in the 101 Airborne Division from Fort Campbell.

Then he yelled, "Nidal Hasan, Fort Hood 2009."

So, he's justifying his plot to murder soldiers, their families, and other civilians based on a 2006 case in Iraq and somehow Nidal Hasan's attack that killed 12 of his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood. Lovely.

The affidavit notes that at the time of his arrest, he had the following:

had two clocks, two spools of auto wire, Winchester .40 caliber ammunition, a Springfield .40 caliber handgun and printed article entitled "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom."

Abdo, agents said, also had a handwritten list in a composition notebook of the following items: "red black green wire, 9v bat, Christmas lights, pressure cooker, power drill, 160 gunpowder, gorilla tape, epoxy glue, one small box of shotgun shells, a cardboard box, gloves and honeycomb linses [sic] for Bino's."

During an interview with the FBI, the affidavit said, Abdo "admitted that he planned to assemble two bombs in the hotel room using gun powder and shrapnel packed into pressure cookers to detonate inside an unspecified restaurant frequented by soldiers from Fort Hood.

How Abdo goes from being a claimed conscientious objector who sought to be separated from the Army to being a terrorist is going to get quite a bit a scrutiny. The Army apparently rejected his conscientious objector status but was going to grant him separation from the Army on that basis but the action was put on hold once the child porn charges came to light.

His next court appearance is August 4 at the federal courthouse in Waco.

Meanwhile, Abdo's background is going to scour his background and every aspect of his life, including who he contacted, whether he had help, and other details that may be relevant:


UPDATE:
To provide some context to comments above, Abeer Qassim al-Janabi Iraq 2006 refers to the case where US soldiers were accused of raping and murdering a 14 year-old girl, and the murder of her parents and sister. Two soldiers were convicted of murder and 3 others entered guilty pleas. The soldiers were from Fort Campbell (Abdo's former base when he went AWOL).

Developing: AWOL Soldier Arrested Near Fort Hood; Weapons, Explosives and Jihadi Materials Recovered

The initial reports are sketchy, but police acting on a tip were called to a motel near Fort Hood, Texas about an individual acting suspiciously. Killeen Texas police arrested an individual, and determined that he had an outstanding warrant on child porn charges. A further check revealed that he was AWOL and was considered armed and dangerous.

The reports claim that weapons were recovered, and conflicting reports indicated that explosives were recovered as well.

Fox News is reporting that at least one soldier was arrested, and that two others are of interest. The Vancouver Sun reports three soldiers are under arrest, but that's based largely on the Fox News reports.

UPDATE:
The Navy Times reports confirms that explosives and a large cache of ammunition were recovered:

An AWOL soldier from Fort Campbell, Ky., was arrested near Fort Hood, Texas, apparently averting another attack on the post, according to an internal Army message.

According a worldwide Army alert, Killeen police arrested a private first class who was in possession of a bomb, gun and a “large quantity” of ammunition — as well as an Army uniform. His full name was not released.

The person who called in the suspicious activity is a hero in my book; he or she averted what could have been yet another mass casualty attack at Fort Hood.

UPDATE:
CBS News:

Police in Central Texas have caught an AWOL Muslim soldier from Fort Campbell, Ky., at a motel in the city near Fort Hood after he asked how to build explosives at a gun store.

A law enforcement official told CBS News that Pfc. Naser Abdo's questions about explosives and how to build them made the gun store employee suspicious. When police questioned Abdo at his motel, he made references to a plan to kill or injure people, the official said.

Two people associated with Abdo have been questioned but not arrested, the official said.

Killeen police spokeswoman Carroll Smith says Abdo was held Thursday, a day after his arrest.

Abdo failed to report for duty following the July Fourth holiday. He had won conscientious objector status but faced court-martial for allegedly having child pornography on his military computer.

UPDATE:
CNN is reporting that law enforcement also recovered jihadi materials and, according to two law enforcement officials, Abdo said he wanted to attack soldiers at Fort Hood.

Abdo is something of a known quantity as his story was covered by media outlets when he sought to leave the military as a conscientious objector. His dismissal from the Army was put on hold once the child porn charges were levied.

Abdo sought conscientious objector status last year after he argued that his Muslim beliefs prohibited military service. The Army approved his application May 13 — then, two days later, it charged him with possession of child pornography, which put his discharge on hold.

Shortly before his Article 32 hearing this month, Abdo told NBC station WSMV-TV of Nashville, Tenn.: "I did not put child pornography on the government computer," saying the timing of the charges "sounds pretty fishy."

A spokesman for the military said the charges were "completely unrelated" to Abdo's conscientious objector application.

Abdo's campaign to leave the Army got considerable coverage beginning in August, when he gave several televised interviews.

"As my time came near to deployment, I started asking the question more seriously whether God would accept what I was doing and whether I was really meant to go to war, as opposed to the peace that Islam preaches," he said in an August interview with Headline News. He made similar comments in interviews with al-Jazeera.

So, he goes from being a conscientious objector to plotting a possible attack on soldiers at Fort Hood.

Formal charges are likely to be handed down shortly.

UPDATE:
Abdo wasn't planning on attacking Fort Hood directly; instead he was going to plant bombs in nearby restaurants that are popular with base personnel.

He was in the process of building two bombs and hoped to detonate both at the target location before using a pistol to shoot survivors, the documents say.

The soldier had gone AWOL over the July 4 weekend from Fort Campbell's 101st Airborne Division in Kentucky over 800 miles away, according to a senior military officer.

When he was arrested, Abdo was in possession of large quantities of ammunition, weapons and what appeared to be the makings of a bomb, according to early accounts from law enforcement. He had also apparently purchased an Army uniform with Fort Hood patches from a local surplus store.

Abdo told ABC News in 2010 he was Muslim and should not have to participate in what he called an "unjust war" in the Middle East.

In other words, he was going to murder soldiers, their families, and unrelated individuals - to protest what he was calling an unjust war in the Middle East.



UPDATE:
When Abdo sought conscientious objector status, he became a cause celebre among the anti-war groups, including Courage to Resist and Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). Now that he's apparently gone terrorist, these groups are doing their best to distance themselves from Abdo - along with a dose of revisionist history too:

In the wake of Abdo's arrest, Courage to Resist removed a page on their website that detailed Abdo's plight, but it was preserved through Google cache. Reached by Raw Story, Jeff Paterson, the group's project director, acknowledged that they had tried to cover up their involvement with the soldier and said they would be issuing a statement in the coming hours.

He added that his impression of Abdo was a young man with "mental health issues" who was "very difficult to work with."

"I worked with him last August, in order to help formulate his application as a conscientious objector, then we helped formulate his legal appeals for the objector process," Paterson said. "Then he got hit with pornography charges on his laptop, at which point we told him that we would help him through the resolution of his objection issues, but he would have to find himself legal defense separate for these criminal matters."

...

IVAW, similarly, admitted to Raw Story that they also worked with Abdo, but a spokesperson who asked not to be named said they absolutely condemn his alleged actions.

"We have worked with him in the past, but he was not ever a member of this organization," the spokesperson said. "We have had three interactions with him in the past: We supported his application as a conscientious objector; we publicized a statement by him condemning Islamophobia; and finally, he lended his support to our 'Operation Recovery' campaign last Veteran's Day. Besides that, we do not have a concrete link with him.

Severe Drought Conditions In Great Plains May Lead To Higher Food Prices

There has been an ongoing drought in the Great Plains states, including Oklahoma and Texas, and there are no indications that the situation will improve anytime soon.

Mike Spradling, the president of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, said many wheat farmers have considered just plowing under their fields and switching to another crop.

Associate state climatologist Gary McManus said conditions have actually gotten worse since crops began emerging. The plants have rapidly sucked up the limited moisture in the soil.

"Some places have already lost their wheat crop farther south and in the Panhandle," he said. "In the driest parts of the state, the rainfall they have gotten, it's not enough to make them rest easy with their crops. It's just a bad situation."

Paul Fruendt said he's been farming for 25 years and he's never seen such bad growing conditions. His farm in Guthrie in central Oklahoma got a little rain, but he said his crops will still probably run out of water within a few weeks.

Higher wheat prices will translate into higher prices for grains, breads, and other foodstuffs. That, along with higher energy costs, are going to drive up inflation and the cost of living.

The drought conditions also mean that the threat of wildfires increases significantly, and unless the region sees a prolonged period of above-normal rainfall, the drought will persist.

Saudi National Studying In Texas College Arrested On Bomb Charges

US authorities have arrested a 20-year old Saudi national who was studying at a college in Texas on charges of plotting to build a bomb and to use it in an attack on former President George W. Bush.

Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, who was born in Saudi Arabia, came to the United States in 2008 on a student visa to attend South Plains College in Levelland, just outside Lubbock Texas. He is accused of trying to obtain parts and chemicals to build a bomb and to attack former President Bush.

The affidavit alleges that on Feb. 1, 2011, a chemical supplier reported to the FBI a suspicious attempted purchase of concentrated phenol by a man identifying himself as Khalid Aldawsari. According to the affidavit, phenol is a toxic chemical with legitimate uses, but can also be used to make the explosive trinitrophenol, also known as T.N.P., or picric acid. The affidavit alleges that other ingredients typically used with phenol to make picric acid, or T.N.P., are concentrated sulfuric and nitric acids.

Aldawsari allegedly attempted to have the phenol order shipped to a freight company so it could be held for him there, but the freight company returned the order to the supplier and called the police. Later, Aldawsari falsely told the supplier he was associated with a university and wanted the phenol for "off-campus, personal research." Frustrated by questions being asked over his phenol order, Aldawsari cancelled his order and later e-mailed himself instructions for producing phenol. The affidavit alleges that in December 2010, he successfully purchased concentrated nitric and sulfuric acids.

According to the affidavit, legally authorized electronic surveillance revealed that Aldawsari used various e-mail accounts in researching explosives and targets, and often sent emails to himself as part of this process. On Feb. 11, 2011, for instance, he allegedly e-mailed himself a recipe for picric acid, which the e-mail describes as a "military explosive." He also allegedly sent himself an e-mail on Oct. 19, 2010 that contained information on the material required for Nitro Urea, how to prepare it, and the advantages of using it.

The affidavit alleges that Aldawsari also e-mailed himself instructions on how to convert a cellular phone into a remote detonator and how to prepare a booby-trapped vehicle using items available in every home. One e-mail allegedly contained a message stating that "one operation in the land of the infidels is equal to ten operations against occupying forces in the land of the Muslims." During December 2010 and January 2011, Aldawsari allegedly purchased many other items, including a gas mask, a Hazmat suit, a soldering iron kit, glass beakers and flasks, wiring, a stun gun, clocks and a battery tester.

Searches of Aldawsari's Residence

Two legally authorized searches of Aldawsari's apartment conducted by the FBI in February 2011 indicated that the concentrated sulfuric and nitric acids; the beakers and flasks; wiring; Hazmat suit; and clocks were present in Aldawsari's residence.

He also apparently put together a list of targets, and emailed himself details about former President Bush's home in Dallas, Texas.

UPDATE:
It's possible that depending on how the chemicals sought were used - or used in combination with other chemicals, that the result could be a WMD.
The The federal crime for use of a WMD is here , and WMD has a specific definition under the US Code, which includes destructive devices under Sec. 921(4).

4) The term “destructive device” means—
(A) any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas—
(i) bomb,
(ii) grenade,
(iii) rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces,
(iv) missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce,
(v) mine, or
(vi) device similar to any of the devices described in the preceding clauses;
(B) any type of weapon (other than a shotgun or a shotgun shell which the Attorney General finds is generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes) by whatever name known which will, or which may be readily converted to, expel a projectile by the action of an explosive or other propellant, and which has any barrel with a bore of more than one-half inch in diameter; and
(C) any combination of parts either designed or intended for use in converting any device into any destructive device described in subparagraph (A) or (B) and from which a destructive device may be readily assembled.
The term “destructive device” shall not include any device which is neither designed nor redesigned for use as a weapon; any device, although originally designed for use as a weapon, which is redesigned for use as a signaling, pyrotechnic, line throwing, safety, or similar device; surplus ordnance sold, loaned, or given by the Secretary of the Army pursuant to the provisions of section 4684 (2), 4685, or 4686 of title 10; or any other device which the Attorney General finds is not likely to be used as a weapon, is an antique, or is a rifle which the owner intends to use solely for sporting, recreational or cultural purposes.

Thus, it includes items commonly referred to as WMD (nuclear, chemical, biological), or any bomb, explosive device, incendiary, or rockets, missiles, etc. that fall under the definition. It's pretty wide-ranging and inclusive (on purpose).

Police Give All Clear After Investigating Suspicious Package Near Super Bowl Site

Police have given an all clear after investigating a suspicious package thrown into a sewer near Texas Stadium, home to the upcoming Super Bowl:

Security personnel observed someone who got out of a vehicle and appeared to place something into the drain in the median of Randol Mill Road on north perimeter of the Cowboys Stadium property, adjacent to a Walmart store, around 8 a.m.

Arlington Fire Department Assistant Chief Jim Self said what happened next was "fairly routine."

Bomb disposal and hazardous materials units were dispatched to the scene to inspect the area while the perimeter was sealed off.

A manhole cover was removed and remote inspection cameras were deployed to search the storm drain for any suspicious contents.

"There is no threat; there is no device," Self said. "Other than routine trash, that's it."

Wind and Solar Power Projects Thwarted By Red Tape; NIMBY Preventing Transmission Line Projects

Accelerating the construction of wind power and/or solar power projects around the country requires having not only the proper sites to take advantage of the wind or sun, but access to transmission lines to deliver the power to where it is needed.

Texas is a huge market for wind power, but much of that capacity is untapped because of opposition to building new transmission lines.

The lack of transmission lines — and the relatively low price of natural gas — has thwarted the ambitions of wind-power advocates to expand the use of this alternative energy source in Texas. The oilman T. Boone Pickens, for example, bet heavily on wind a couple of years ago, ordering hundreds of turbines and announcing plans to build the world’s largest wind farm in the Panhandle at a cost of up to $12 billion. He later scaled back, canceling some of the turbine orders, giving up his land lease and saying he was looking elsewhere to build.

To encourage others, the state is moving forward on a contentious project to erect $5 billion worth of transmission wires to connect the turbines to the cities that need power. On Thursday, state regulators met in Austin and approved the route of a controversial line that will run about 140 miles through the Hill Country, one of the state’s most scenic regions.

Construction of the line — a project of the Lower Colorado River Authority that will run from Schleicher County to a substation near Comfort — should start next year. Last year, vigorous opposition, by landowners, wealthy newcomers and old-time families, succeeded in derailing plans for another line that the state had wanted to build through the area. Instead, the existing electric infrastructure will be upgraded to carry a greater load. The Public Utility Commission, which is overseeing the process, has also canceled plans for an additional segment of the Hill Country line discussed at the meeting Thursday.

“All Texans love their land,” Barry T. Smitherman, the commission chairman, said in an interview a few days ago. During the process of planning the routes for transmission lines, Mr. Smitherman said, “we didn’t please everyone, but I think with each of these we really tried to work hard to make it as acceptable as possible for the landowners.”

Texas embarked on the transmission line project, known as Competitive Renewable Energy Zones, several years ago. The need was clear: in West Texas, home to the vast majority of the state’s wind farms, so many turbines have been built over the past decade that some must be shut down during windy periods because there are not enough wires to transport the power. Texas is the leading wind-power state by far, with nearly three times as much capacity as the next-closest state, Iowa. Once built, the new lines are expected to span more than 2,300 miles.

The Hill Country is not the only part of Texas where resistance to new power lines has been fierce. Landowners near Palo Duro Canyon State Park in the Panhandle also put up vigorous opposition. Their arguments against one of the proposed lines prevailed, so it will be built elsewhere and not cross the dramatic canyon landscape. Nonetheless, another line could still go across the canyon. Residents of Denton County, north of Fort Worth, worry that a proposed line could cross landmarks like a park area called the Greenbelt or a Girl Scout camp.

The arguments against the transmission lines mirror those of the wind turbines or solar collectors - that their presence mars the landscape.

Then, there's the issue of red tape in getting permits and approvals to build solar power projects. The amount of bureaucracy and red tape to build solar power projects - including retrofits on existing buildings, is curbing wider acceptance and implementation because of the added costs.

Power Generations Runs Into Transmission Troubles

It is a difficult enough task to site new power generating facilities, even wind and solar powered facilities. But that isn't even half the task.

There's the problem of transmitting that power to where it is needed.

Wind and solar powered facilities are often quite far from where the power is consumed, and that requires high power transmission lines. Opposition to siting those power lines means that there are days when you can have power to transmit but can't because of insufficient capacity in the network.

It's a situation that must change, and soon.

President Barack Obama has made the promotion of renewables central to his administration. A 2008 Department of Energy study found that the United States could, in theory, get 20 percent of its electricity from wind by 2030. Right now, however, that figure is less than 2 percent nationally. In Denmark, by contrast, about 20 percent of the electricity supply comes from wind.

In Texas, wind accounts for 6 percent of the electricity on the grid. But after a decade of rampant growth, wind is running into a significant constraint: There are too few transmission lines to carry the power. The wind turbines have mostly gone up in the western part of the state — hundreds of miles from the big cities in central and eastern Texas that need the power. The result is that on windy days, some turbines must shut down because there are not enough wires to transport the electricity they produce.

Lack of transmission is a national problem, especially for wind, which is often generated far from population centers. “The ability to site and build transmission is emerging as one of the highest risks facing the electric industry over the next 10 years,” according to a report last year from the North American Electric Reliability Corp., an industry group that sets operating standards for the grid.

Europe, similarly concerned, is hoping to build transmission lines under the North Sea, which would provide new ways to move electricity generated by offshore wind turbines and other renewable energy sources.

In Texas, state officials have moved aggressively to remedy the transmission deficiency. In 2008 regulators approved a $5 billion network of wires, which ultimately will stretch more than 2,300 miles, or 3,700 kilometers, around the state. The regulators are determining, one by one, exactly where each line will go. Construction on the first of the lines should start this autumn.

Unlike other states, Texas has a stand-alone power grid, making it easier to plan and site transmission lines. That effort has brought praise from renewable-energy advocates around the United States. The Texas process helped inspire a similar initiative in California, said V. John White, executive director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, which is based in California. Mr. White said efforts there focused on supporting solar and geothermal power, as well as wind, and included more input from environmentalists.

But even in Texas — a state long accustomed to oil pipelines and other energy infrastructure — opposition to the transmission lines is mounting. Many landowners do not want to surrender their land to high-voltage power lines, even though they would be paid to do so. “The meters on the attorneys are running,” said Robert Weatherford, the president of Save Our Scenic Hill Country Environment, one of several groups fighting to keep two proposed power lines out of a scenic patch of central Texas, with partial success so far.

Besides transmission, Texas is grappling with other wind-related issues. One is cost. Long-term wholesale contracts for Texas wind power remain about twice as costly as generation from coal and nuclear plants, according to Michael E. Webber, the associate director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Texas in Austin.

Texas is in a better position than most states because the state's transmission network is stand-alone, and even here the situation is extremely tough. The problems are magnified in places like the New York metro area because of population density, energy demands, and a lack of power generating capacity within the region.

NIMBY is preventing the construction of power lines, and some groups contend that the power lines would simply allow cheaper coal and oil plants to power needs locally rather than enable the alternative energy projects proposed within New Jersey. That argument falls flat when one views the opposition to siting any new power generating facilities - even offshore wind power projects if they're too close to shore (and therefore increase the costs for those projects even more).

New Jersey is also considering using brownfields as solar power generating facilities. That's an idea that makes tremendous sense, especially for landfills that have limited alternative uses. The problem for those facilities is hooking them up to an overburdened grid to ensure that the power flows to where it is needed.

Killer Pilot's Message Resonates Among the Lunatic Fringe

I noticed this yesterday as I had to delete several messages that considered the pilot in a deadly plane crash into the IRS offices in Austin, Texas, a hero. The lunatic fringe - both on the right and left think that Joe Stack is someone to be admired.

Walters was one of at least two dozen people who founded Facebook fan groups to hail the homicidal pilot.

Most had only a tiny handful of members, but hers attracted more than 200 before Facebook removed it.

"His sacrifice was for all of us," wrote Texan Tyler Britten.

Crackpots were also praising the dead pilot on Twitter.

"Joe Stack, you are a true American Hero and we need more of you to make a stand," tweeted Greg Lenihan, an engineer in San Diego.

Stack's manifesto railed against Wall Street, the Catholic Church, the IRS and the failure to reform health care - a little something for everyone.

The right called him a socialist, and the left branded him a right-wing tea partyer.

The only pol Stack name-checked in his final rant was "recent presidential puppet" George W. Bush, though he called all politicians useless.

There are always members of a small lunatic fringe ready to embrace a domestic terrorist targeting the feds. Tim McVeigh, who blew up the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, killing 168 people, many of them children, remains a hero in some disgruntled circles 10 years after his execution.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) said it was outrageous that some Americans were praising Stack.

This was a cowardly act of domestic terrorism," he said, and Stack's rant "reflects the steadily increasing flow of 'the government is out to get me' paranoia."

On the other end of the crazy scale, Internet conspiracy theorists - including Austin radio host Alex Jones - were quick yesterday to declare that the plane crash was staged by the government "to demonize the tea party movement."

Are you kidding me? The guy burned down his own home before taking his plane and crashing it into the IRS offices because of longstanding tax issues he had with the IRS (among other sundry issues that he raised in his rambling manifesto).

The manifesto is a cipher, allowing pretty much anyone to read whatever they want into Stack's motives, depending on what they choose to highlight. Ignore the ending, and you can suggest the guy was an adherent to the Tea Party movement. Or, you could ignore that he railed against President Bush, the IRS, FAA, and other agencies and politicians, the medical profession, his current home in Austin, and many others.


He was an angry disturbed individual who had motive and intent to kill and directed his ire against the agency he deemed did the most damage to his life; the IRS.
Here's a near complete list of all those he railed again, including President Bush, IRS, FAA, GM, banks, Christians, etc. He destroyed his family in the process of crashing his plane into the IRS offices with the intent to murder as many people as he could. In fact, we're lucky that apparently there was only one other person killed besides Stack, and there were about a dozen injuries (several serious). It could have been so much worse.

Then we have Alex Jones latching on to this attack as a means to discredit the Tea Party movement. Alex Jones has never met a conspiracy theory he didn't promulgate, spread, or metastasize into something far more sinister. What's so troubling about Jones is that far too many people on the right appeal to this guy, go on his show, or include him in their writings as a legitimate source. He's a loon with a big microphone.

Stack is the latest perpetrator in a long line of anti-IRS/anti-tax violence and the hatred crosses party lines. In Stack's case, he appears to have had multiple run-ins with IRS and tax officials, blaming them for business failures, loss of income, and having to relocate to Texas from California. He takes no personal responsibility for these situations or that he may have failed to properly report income or know the totality of his financial situation.

Developing: Plane Crash in Austin Texas

Details are somewhat sketchy at the moment, but a small plane apparently crashed into an office building in Austin, Texas. No word on casualties, but the building was badly damaged and several people were taken to the hospital.

Fox News is streaming video of the building and rescue efforts. They also report that an NTSB official says that the pilot may have set fire to his home before getting in his plane. Fox also reports that they're investigating this as an intentional act.

An NTSB official told Fox News that they are investigating this as an intentional act, and said it appears the pilot set his own house on fire and then got in his plane and flew it into the building. An NTSB spokesman, however, told FoxNews.com that "we can't confirm any of that."

An Internal Revenue Service office is located inside the building.

IRS Agent William Winnie said he was on the third floor of the building when he saw a light-colored, single engine plane coming towards the building, TheStatesman.com reported.

If the IRS has offices in the building, they aren't listed on the IRS website, which indicates that they are located at 825 East Rundberg Lane.  It appears that the office building hit by the plane includes certain back office operations for the IRS:.

The Internal Revenue Service has offices in the building, including its civil enforcement and criminal investigations divisions, said Special Agent Michael Lemoine, a spokesman for the criminal investigations division.

He said that some IRS offices are on the first floor, which Lemoine said was hit by the plane.

He said that the criminal investigations division personnel are safe and accounted for. He did not have information on the civil division workers, who conduct audits and other activity at the offices

The FBI website indicates that they have offices in the building (though I've seen that disputed elsewhere - they're apparently in an adjacent building (with the same address?).

UPDATE:
It looks like this was an intentional crash, but not necessarily terrorism related, even as the US military scrambled F-16 planes as a precaution following the crash.

As this is a developing situation, motives aren't clear, let alone the identities of those involved.

UPDATE:
The pilot has been identified as Joseph Andrew Stack:

A statement released by the U.S. Department of Homeland security earlier said there was no connection to terrorism or criminal behavior -- but changed its statement shortly before 1 p.m. to declare the act criminal.

Joseph Andrew Stack set an explosion that engulfed his house in flames at 9:15, then went to Georgetown Airport about three minutes from Auston, where he hopped the single-engine plane and then crashed it, Marilyn Ryan of CNN reported.

The building is next to the headquarters of the FBI's Austin Field Office.

A neighbor reportedly rescued Stack's wife and daughter.

UPDATE:
This is being proffered as his manifesto, and it clearly has an anti-government and anti-religious bent to it; the writer clearly has issues with the IRS treating his income in a way he thought cost him tens of thousands of dollars over the years and had apparently gone through an audit relating to his wife's undocumented income that his CPA knew about but didn't report.

UPDATE:
Joe Stack apparently was a keyboardist in this band - what now appears to be all too appropriately named Last Straw, and the album named Over the Edge.

UPDATE:
Stack apparently stole the plane. That would explain the military scrambling jets to intercept.

UPDATE:
Authorities now believe that he owned the plane, so the prior posting was incorrect. It also appears that he lived in a rather upscale area of Austin, which belies his claims that the IRS ruined him (though for all we know, he was at the end of his financial rope).

UPDATE:
It's amazing that more people weren't killed or injured, but Stark's actions still resulted in 12 injured, several seriously, and one person was missing.

Investigation Continues Into Deadly Fort Hood Shootings

Amid all the confusion and contradictory reports about yesterday's carnage and savage deaths of 13 US soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, some facts are finally coming to the forefront. Army psychiatrist Major Malik Nadal Hasan is believed to be the shooter. He is still alive after being shot four times.

The gunman, who was still alive after being shot four times, was identified by law enforcement authorities as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, who had been in the service since 1995. Major Hasan was about to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, said Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas.

Clad in a military uniform and firing an automatic pistol and another weapon, Major Hasan, a balding, chubby-faced man with heavy eyebrows, sprayed bullets inside a crowded medical processing center for soldiers returning from or about to be sent overseas, military officials said.

The victims, nearly all military personnel but including two civilians, were cut down in clusters, the officials said. Witnesses told military investigators that medics working at the center tore open the clothing of the dead and wounded to get at the wounds and administer first aid.

As the shooting unfolded, military police and civilian officers of the Department of the Army responded and returned the gunman’s fire, officials said, adding that Major Hasan was shot by a first-responder, who was herself wounded in the exchange.

In the confusion of a day of wild and misleading reports, the major and the officer who shot him were both reported killed in the gun battle, but both reports were erroneous.

Eight hours after the shootings, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone, a base spokesmen, said Major Hasan, whom he described as the sole gunman, had been shot four times, but was hospitalized off the base, under around-the-clock guard, in stable condition and was not in imminent danger of dying.

There were apparently no others involved in the shooting, although there were two people who were taken into custody and released several hours later.

MSNBC reports Hasan was "mortified" about a deployment overseas. He began having doubts about his military service beginning a few years ago. So he went and murdered 13 soldiers and wounded 31 others? If he was having doubts, why accept the promotion and not separate from service through an honorable discharge after completing the terms of his service?

Then, there are several online postings attributed to him that suggest that he was going down the path of a jihadi:

There was a grenade thrown amongs a group of American soldiers. One of the soldiers, feeling that it was to late for everyone to flee jumped on the grave with the intention of saving his comrades. Indeed he saved them. He inentionally took his life (suicide) for a noble cause i.e. saving the lives of his soldier. To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause. Scholars have paralled this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers. If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory. Their intention is not to die because of some despair. The same can be said for the Kamikazees in Japan. They died (via crashing their planes into ships) to kill the enemies for the homeland. You can call them crazy i you want but their act was not one of suicide that is despised by Islam. So the scholars main point is that "IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOUR INTENTION IS THE MAIN ISSUE" and Allah (SWT) knows best. [emphasis added]

Video footage shows Hasan the morning of the attack at a convenience store wearing a Muslim cap and robe, which runs counter to Army records which say that he had no religious preference.

A co-worker at Walter Reed said Hasan would not allow his photo to be taken with female co-workers, which became an issue during Christmas season when employees often took group photos. Co-workers would find a solo photo of Hasan and post it on the bulletin board without his permission.

Lee told Fox News that Hasan "was hoping that President Obama would pull troops out. . . . When things weren't going that way, he became more agitated, more frustrated with the conflicts over there. . . . He made his views well known about how he felt about the U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan."

And when he talked about fighting "the aggressor," he said that his fellow soldiers "should stand up and help the armed forces in Iraq and in Afghanistan," Lee said.

It appears that he did have a preference for being a devout Muslim but didn't want the Army to know, although his actions showed something quite different?



Moreover he had once been disciplined for proselytizing, and a report this morning says that he shouted Allahu Akbar as he began his shooting rampage. If that's confirmed, this was not some weird case of post traumatic stress disorder (which could be remotely possible based on his close contact with soldiers who were relating their war experiences to him in the course of their treatment and Hasan couldn't deal with it), but rather another instance of an individual Muslim engaging in jihad.

The NY Post reports that Hasan had hired an attorney to help him get out of a deployment.

In recent years, he expressed his opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and had become angry that President Obama hadn't withdrawn troops from the region.

"He would make comments to other individuals about how we should not be in the war in the first place," Lee told Fox.

He said Hasan would often make "outlandish" comments.

"He said maybe Muslims should stand up and fight against the aggressor," Lee said.

"At first, we thought he meant help the armed forces, but apparently, that wasn't the case."

Nader Hasan told Fox his cousin, a disaster and trauma specialist, had hired a military lawyer to help him get out of deployment.

There is something seriously amiss here as the various disjointed facts come together as to how Hasan was promoted in May despite concerns about his Internet postings, and the fact he was placed in close proximity to soldiers ready to embark to one of the theaters of operation - Iraq and Afghanistan, where Hasan thought they were going to kill Muslims. Did the Army fail to heed the warning signs here? Did he fall through the cracks.

UPDATE:
What is going on with the Los Angeles Times? Patterico notes that the LAT is suppressing any mention of Hasan's religious views, actions, and statements alleged to have been made by him that would contradict the meme that Hasan was a PTSD victim despite never having been in combat. The LAT also is in the habit of simply overlaying reports on each other using the same URL, rather than providing separate reports to show updates. Earlier reports simply go down the memory hole.

UPDATE:
Based on the video showing Hasan wearing traditional garb, and a report that Hasan sold off his possessions in the past few weeks, I wonder whether Hasan underwent wudu (ritual purification) ahead of the attack yesterday. It definitely seems that he had prepared himself for some action. There's also an update on the number injured and no confirmation as yet to whether Hasan had indeed said Allahu Akbar:

Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said officials had not yet confirmed that the suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, made the comment before the rampage Thursday. Hasan was among 30 people wounded in the shooting spree and remained hospitalized on a ventilator.

All but two of the injured were still hospitalized, and all were in stable condition.

UPDATE:
The FBI has seized Hasan's computer and are continuing their investigation in to Hasan's motives.

UPDATE:
According to this NPR report, Hasan was giving off all kinds of warning signs to his coworkers at Walter Reed, which is where he was based before heading to Fort Hood, which again makes me wonder why he was promoted in light of his behavior/attitude.



Instapundit has more on the NPR segment, and how the story is being edited and adjusted as the day goes on. However, the takeaway paragraphs are as follows:

He gave a Grand Rounds presentation. . . You take turns giving a lecture on, you know, the correct treatment of schizophrenia, the right drugs to prescribe for personality disorder, you know, that sort of thing. But instead of giving an academic paper, he gave a lecture on the Koran, and they said it didn’t seem to be just an informational lecture, but it seemed to be his own beliefs. That’s what a lot of people thought.

He talked about how if you’re a nonbeliever the Koran says you should have your head cut off, you should have oil poured down your throat, you should be set on fire. And I said well couldn’t this just be his educating you? And the psychiatrist said yes, but one of the Muslims in the audience, another psychiatrist, raised his hand and was quite disturbed and he said you know, a lot of us don’t believe these things you’re saying, and that there was no place where Hasan couched it as this is what the Koran teaches but you know I don’t believe it. And people actually talked in the hallway afterwards about ‘is he one of these people that’s going to freak out and shoot people someday?’

In other words, his coworkers and associates were wondering if this guy was a ticking time bomb, and yet it didn't raise flags come promotion time? It would appear that someone may have dropped the ball here, and perhaps someone may not have wanted to come forward to address this issue because of the religious issues involved?

This further adds to my thesis that this wasn't a sudden inspiration to kill, but a premeditated act. I am awaiting to see if the reports indicate whether Hasan picked the time and place for the attack so as to maximize casualties - in conjunction with the intake for soldiers as well as the graduation ceremony, etc. all in the hall?

Developing: Seven Dead In Shooting At Fort Hood

Fort Hood, located 60 miles from Austin, Texas, is reporting that seven people were killed and 12 others injured in a shooting on the US Army base.

At least seven people are dead and 12 wounded in a shooting at Fort Hood in Texas, the base's public affairs office told NBC News on Thursday.

The official would not give his name nor additional details. It was unknown whether victims are soldiers or civilians. One gunman was reportedly in custody and another was on the loose, NBC News said.

The base was reportedly on lockdown. Two nearby school districts were also being locked down.

UPDATE:
The incident appears to have occurred at the Soldier Readiness Center on base. All available EMS units in neighboring Killeen are being scrambled to the base.

My thoughts and prayers go out the families and friends of those involved.

UPDATE:
The Fort Hood websites are overwhelmed at the moment, so news from the source is going to take some time to come out.

There were apparently two gunmen involved, one is in custody while a second is on the loose according to MSNBC. No word on whether those involved (either the gunmen or victims) were soldiers or civilians.

UPDATE:
Unconfirmed reports that one gunman is holed up in the 42006 building on the base. Same report notes that gunman has high powered rifle. The local school districts are in various levels of lockdown:

Killeen ISD says all Fort Hood schools are on lockdown.

Temple ISD is on a "soft" lockdown. Parents will be able to pick their children up at the normal times, though they may experience delays.

UPDATE:
MSNBC reports that there might be a third gunman involved. Video updates here.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

UPDATE:
Rep. John Carter was nearing entrance of building where a graduation ceremony was being held when a soldier ran up covered in blood.

Greg Schannep, an aide to U.S. Rep. John Carter, told the Austin American-Statesman that he was on the Army post to attend a graduation service. He said that as he neared the entrance of a building where the service was being held, a soldier with blood on his uniform ran past him and said a man was shooting.

Schannep told the newspaper that the shootings appeared to have occurred in a complex near a theater where the service was scheduled. He was with the injured soldier, who he said appeared to have been struck in the shoulder but did not have life-threatening injuries.

According to unconfirmed reports, one of the shooters was being surrounded by police in the 42006 building on Fort Hood. That source told KCEN the shooter has a high-powered rifle.

UPDATE:
Fox News is reporting at least 20 were injured, and I fear that the toll will increase as more information comes available.

UPDATE:
Fort Hood is a vast facility, and is the largest military base in the world. This incident has all the hallmarks of a planned attack, quite possibly terrorism, but that is speculation at the moment.

UPDATE:
Sources on Fort Hood say only 2 shooters; both have now been taken into custody. 4 SWAT injured in the gunfire.

UPDATE:
AP reports:

The Army says seven people were killed and 20 wounded in a pair of shootings at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas. An Army spokesman at the Pentagon says the shootings began about 1:30 p.m. Thursday at a personnel and medical processing center at Fort Hood.

The spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Banks, says two shooters were apparently involved. There is no word yet on who they were, nor on identities of the dead.

Banks says the second incident took place at a theater on the sprawling base.

They go on to speculate that the incident was the result of someone with PTSD, even though there's no evidence to suggest a motive at this point. The AP also editorializes that the army has been suffering from high suicide rates because of repeat deployments.

UPDATE:
Winds of Change is blogging from on post.

CNN now reports nine dead, and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison was briefed that there were at least 30 injured.

UPDATE:
At least 11 killed, plus one gunman. The dead gunman has been identified as Major Malik Nadal Hasan. The major opened fire at around 1:30PM local time, 31 soldiers were wounded. Two other individuals are in custody. Gov. Rick Perry was providing a presser, but his information was out of date.

UPDATE:
Hasan's background is starting to emerge. He was a licensed psychiatrist from Silver Spring, Md. There are also reports that he was unhappy about a deployment to Iraq and that he was a recent convert to Islam. However, to focus on his profession, that he was a psychiatrist might jibe with reports mentioning that part of the incident occurred in a traumatic brain injury clinic on base.

UPDATE:
The WSJ reports:

Military officials said that Maj. Hasan was a psychiatrist who had been recently promoted to major and transferred to Fort Hood from Washington's Walter Reed Medical Center. Maj. Hasan's professional specialties included post-traumatic stress disorder, combat stress and other emotional issues common to the troops implicated in earlier incidents of military fratricide.

A defense official said that there "were some signs that this might be an Akbar-type event," a reference to a bloody incident in early 2003 when Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar threw grenades into tents occupied by fellow members of the 101st Airborne Division.

Two officers were killed in the 2003 attack in Kuwait, which wounded 14 others. Military prosecutors said that Sgt. Akbar, who was ultimately sentenced to death, was motivated by anger at the deaths of Iraqi civilians at the hands of U.S. troops.

Other shooting incidents have been linked to combat stress and and emotional problems many soldiers are suffering after long, repeat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. With the military stretched thin by the long wars, many troops have done three and in some cases four tours to the war zones.

There's no word on whether Hasan had actually served overseas. There are also conflicting reports over whether two other people remain in custody.

UPDATE:
Contradictory and conflicting evidence. Hasan was recently promoted, despite the fact that officials were following Hasan's online postings in light of the following:

Federal law enforcement officials say the suspected Fort Hood, Texas, shooter had come to their attention at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats.

The officials say the postings appeared to have been made by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who was killed during the shooting incident that left least 11 others dead and 31 wounded. The officials say they are still trying to confirm that he was the author. They say an official investigation was not opened.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

One of the Web postings that authorities reviewed is a blog that equates suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades.

Why would someone who was under investigation in the manner alleged above be granted a promotion that puts him in line to possibly be called upon to deploy to Iraq? Moreover, why was he promoted if he got a poor performance review? Would not a discharge have been more appropriate than a promotion?

UPDATE:
The other two individuals who were detained by law enforcement were released.

World's Largest Wind Farm Goes Live In Texas

The world's largest wind farm has gone live in is producing energy in the heart of Texas. It's capable of producing enough power to run 230,000 homes. It is comprised of 627 wind turbines, each of which standing at least 350 feet tall and spread over nearly 100,000 acres.

The Roscoe Wind Complex, which began construction in 2007 and sprawls across four counties near Roscoe, is generating its full capacity of 781.5 megawatts, enough to power 230,000 homes, the German company E.ON Climate and Renewables North America said.

"This is truly sign milestone for us," said Patrick Woodson, the company's chief development officer. "In three years to be able to take this project from cotton fields to the biggest wind farm in the world is something we're very proud of."

The complex is about 220 miles west of Dallas and 300 miles south of the land where billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens had planned an even larger wind farm before he scrapped the idea in July.

Texas leads the nation in wind power production, and this wind farm tops the capacity record of 735.5 megawatts set by another West Texas farm southwest of Abilene.

Bear in mind that this massive wind power project produces a fraction of the needs of Texas. Current load requirements in Texas average 46,000mw. In fact, it provides 1.6% of the power needs (781 of 46,000). It's not nearly as reliable as other power sources, and it requires more land than other power sources to produce that power.

It is only an intermediate solution to the nation's energy needs; one that can be satisfied only through a commitment to pursue nuclear power that not only results in fewer emissions and pollutants, but doesn't have the land use issues that wind power has.

Hurricane Ike's Grim Toll

Hurricane Ike left a trail of misery and death from the moment it made landfall on the Texas coast through the Great Lakes with massive flooding. At least 40 people were killed outside of Texas by flooding from rains of the remnants of Ike.

However, we're still a long way from knowing what's going on in places like Galveston and shore communities up and down the coast. The death toll thus far has been thankfully low, compared to the dire predictions, but some, including Gateway Pundit, think that the toll is going to be much higher as search and rescue gives way to recovery efforts and attempts are made to get next of kin to identify remains.

Searchers in Galveston expect to make lots of grim discoveries. That's a prim and proper way of saying that they're expecting to find lots of dead people who chose to remain in Galveston despite the mandatory evacuation.

In this ruined city, reduced to such an unlivable state that its mayor wants all remaining residents gone, searchers made their way through 90 percent of the inundated neighborhoods. So far they have confirmed two dead, with four others undetermined. Thousands of homes have yet to be reached.

Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas warned that her city was heading toward a "downward spiral" and is not fit for habitation. Residents who evacuated are not being allowed back.

"There is nothing to come here for right now," Thomas said. "Please leave. I am asking people to leave."

Meanwhile, the hunt for survivors goes on. Searchers have accounted for 1,500 thus far in a house-to-house operation.

The death toll is expected to rise as the waters recede and searchers are able to cover more areas, said city officials, who brought in a refrigerated mobile morgue.

Devastation in places like Bolivar Peninsula is hard to comprehend, but it's on par with that which was seen in storms like Rita and Katrina.

Utilities are struggling to get power lines restrung and power restored to more than 3 million people. It may be weeks before power is fully restored, as utilities perform triage:

CenterPoint officials say crews focus on the repairs that restore power to the greatest number of customers in the shortest amount of time. That means repairing big feeder lines — the backbone of the distribution system — that can affect 1,000 customers or more.

The line fuses, which connect 100 or more customers, are next in line for attention. Transformers, which affect about 10 customers, are next, followed by line drops to individual homes.

Restoring power is key to solving other hurricane-related problems, including gasoline shortages, fresh food supplies, ice and water issues.

Blackouts persist up and down the Gulf Coast, including as far away as Mississippi.

Lafitte, Barataria, Crown Point, and Grand Isle, Louisiana residents have been allowed to return home, but utilities are out and there is widespread damage. Flooding remains an issue on major thoroughfares in and around New Orleans.

Hurricane Ike Makes Landfall; Millions Without Power

Hurricane Ike roared ashore last night and widespread flooding occurred along low lying areas. It will take some time before reports come in from far flung places along the Gulf Coast since at least 3 million people are without power. It may take weeks before full power is restored.

Galveston took it on the chin, may have escape the dreaded storm surge that was predicted to top out higher than the storm wall protection at 15 feet. However, other communities aren't protected by sea walls, so the storm surge affected them more. The surge map at the top shows what may have happened during the storm. The storm surge looks like it topped out below 15 feet in Galveston.

We haven't gotten any significant information about Galveston yet. Here are tide levels this morning, around high tide, from stations that managed to report:

Eagle Point: 10.14 feet
Pier 21: 10.69 feet
Pleasure Pier 9.19 feet
Freeport: 5.44 feet

The tide levels appear slightly lower than forecast and underscore the fact that a strike on Galveston Island's east end produced a lower overall surge across the island. Forecasters now say the maximum tide in Galveston Island was probably 15 feet or less.

We won't have an idea of the carnage caused by such tides until later today.

The estimate for a maximum high tide for the shoreline of Galveston Bay is now between 14 to 18 feet, which is also below previous estimates. There still are thousands of homes vulnerable to those tide levels, of course.

A major problem is that the storm tracked directly along the industrial corridor between Galveston and Houston, affecting the oil refineries and energy infrastructure that much of the country relies upon for the insatiable demand for gasoline and oil products. That's going to be a long lasting effect from the storm, and it once again highlights the need to build more refineries around the country to spread the risk of loss from any one single natural disaster, as well as increase refining capacity.

The storm is now moving North of the Houston area, but continues dropping significant amounts of rain - 1 to 2 inches per hour in places. Flooding is likely as well. Even though the storm is well inland, it's still bringing winds above 100 mph. However, the wind field of tropical and hurricane force winds is greatly diminished and will continue slowing as the storm loses power over land.

Brendan Loy notes that a massive rescue plan will be set in motion as the storm passes. He also notes that the way the media hyped the possibility of the 15-25 foot storm surge may lead to complacency down the road. That's quite true and the media really needs to reevaluate how they pass along information like this.

Hopefully the media will report it, rather than ignoring it. When a hurricane underperforms expectations, people need to be told this — and, if possible, be told why it happened — rather than being subjected to ongoing, unrelenting hype that pretends a lucky non-calamity was the calamity we feared. When the hype continues as if nothing has changed, the public is less likely to recognize that things could easily have been far worse, and that the doom-and-gloom predictions actually appeared fully justified at the time they were made, based on then-available data. This leads to ever more cynicism and complacency about future predictions. This is actually where the media screws up most severely in my view: in failing to ramp down the hype, once it becomes clearly unjustified.

Still, it will be some time before the full extent of the storm damage is known.

The Houston Chronicle chastises those who decided to remain in Galveston despite the dire predictions. Yes, the predictions didn't come to pass thankfully, but that's not a good reason to have risked one's life to stay put. If those predictions had come to pass, we'd be looking at a death toll that would be intolerable in this day and age when everyone had more than fair warning of the impending storm. The idea that it's just water, as remarked by one landowner near the Texas coast is dangerous. Water in sufficient amounts can destroy everything in its path and sweep away a person with little effort.

Ike is still a category 1 hurricane, with sustained winds of up to 90 mph gusting to 100 mph, and it's moving to the North at 18 mph. It's expected to start moving to the Northeast later today.

UPDATE:
This Investors Business Daily editorial explores the issues behind why so much energy infrastructure is present along the Houston/Galveston corridor, which also happens to be squarely within hurricane country.

UPDATE:
People chose poorly. The state will now begin conducting rescue operations as soon as it's safe for emergency personnel to begin operating. Calls were being fielded from thousands who needed to be rescued from their homes in places where people should have evacuated and didn't.

UPDATE:
Residents from Houston are waking up to find widespread damage. Skyscrapers in Houston have had their windows blown out by the winds, and debris can be found all over town. The photo to the left is via Daylife.com.






Meanwhile, the photo to the right shows the damage to Galveston from the rising flood waters yesterday. It's still not clear what kind of damage the storm brought overnight, but given the early reports, it's safe to say that it's widespread and some areas are likely not to recover for years.

Flooding extends well into Louisiana, including Crown Point, Terrebonne and Lafourche.

The 22-person crew on board a freighter that was left adrift in the Gulf of Mexico came through the storm safely.

Several fires were reported in Houston overnight while firefighters remained hunkered down safe from the storm's winds. Also, note that some people had a change of heart at the last moment yesterday about remaining in their homes prior to Ike's landfall:

As the front of the storm moved into Galveston, fire crews rescued nearly 300 people who changed their minds and fled at the last minute. Six feet of water had collected in the Galveston County Courthouse in the island's downtown, and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston was flooded, according to local storm reports on the National Weather Service's Web site.

Even before Ike made landfall, Coast Guard helicopters had rescued 103 people in the Bolivar Peninsula near Galveston Island, some from roofs and others from cars, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Ayla Stevens.

UPDATE:
Texas Rainmaker and Dr. Melissa Clouthier had been liveblogging the storm into the early hours this morning. Here's hoping they made it through okay.

UPDATE:
Shades of Katrina and Rita as rescuers begin the task of trying to rescue people stranded in their homes by flood waters.

The Houston Chronicle is blogging with constant updates. Galveston is under 2-4 feet of water, including the University of Texas Medical Branch. The saving grace for Galveston is that the eye shifted to the East prior to landfall, putting the city on the weaker side of the storm.

UPDATE:
Michelle Malkin has a huge roundup.

Hurricane Ike Closes On Texas Coast

Hurricane Ike is strengthening, and looms large in the Gulf of Mexico. It looks like it's going to hit squarely on the Texas coastline, and may cause significant damage to the coast and the energy infrastructure that dominates that part of the country.

The storm looks to come ashore near Galveston, which is just South of Houston. Houston is in for a real rough ride if the storm runs along this particular track. Depending on the track, storm surge could be a huge problem for Galveston and the Houston area in general.

Galveston Island is already under a full mandatory evacuation, and many others aren't waiting around either. The NWS isn't messing around either, they seem to think this storm is going to intensify and cause catastrophic damage to the area:

LIFE THREATENING INUNDATION LIKELY! ALL NEIGHBORHOODS…AND POSSIBLY ENTIRE COASTAL COMMUNITIES…WILL BE INUNDATED DURING HIGH TIDE. PERSONS NOT HEEDING EVACUATION ORDERS IN SINGLE FAMILY ONE OR TWO STORY HOMES WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH. MANY RESIDENCES OF AVERAGE CONSTRUCTION DIRECTLY ON THE COAST WILL BE DESTROYED. WIDESPREAD AND DEVASTATING PERSONAL PROPERTY DAMAGE IS LIKELY ELSEWHERE. VEHICLES LEFT BEHIND WILL LIKELY BE SWEPT AWAY. NUMEROUS ROADS WILL BE SWAMPED…SOME MAY BE WASHED AWAY BY THE WATER. ENTIRE FLOOD PRONE COASTAL COMMUNITIES WILL BE CUTOFF. WATER LEVELS MAY EXCEED 9 FEET FOR MORE THAN A MILE INLAND. COASTAL RESIDENTS IN MULTI-STORY FACILITIES RISK BEING CUTOFF. CONDITIONS WILL BE WORSENED BY BATTERING WAVES. SUCH WAVES WILL EXACERBATE PROPERTY DAMAGE…WITH MASSIVE DESTRUCTION OF HOMES…INCLUDING THOSE OF BLOCK CONSTRUCTION. DAMAGE FROM BEACH EROSION COULD TAKE YEARS TO REPAIR.

I nevertheless expect to see folks heading to the local beaches to ride the surf or engage in hurricane parties, despite the warnings and dire predictions.

UPDATE:
Since I posted this overnight, the situation has become even more dire as the Coast Guard has been called upon to evacuate areas along the Texas Coast. The energy industry is battening down the hatches and hoping that their infrastructure in the Gulf doesn't take it on the chin. Unfortunately, I think that's exactly what's going to happen, which means that gas and energy prices are sure to spike in coming days. It's already sparked a gas panic.

Floodwaters are already surging into Galveston.

The forecasts predict that Ike will make landfall with 115 mph winds. That's bad enough, but the real killer will be the storm surge, which predictions suggest may top 20 feet. That means all low lying areas near the coast could find themselves destroyed. The coast is already getting pummeled by strong waves and flooding is already evident in some areas.

The storm wobbles its way to the West, and the storm surge is already present. People need to heed the warnings that the killer from these storms isn't necessarily the wind, but the storm surge. That's what caused most of the devastation along the Gulf Coast during Rita and Katrina, and it's what will do the majority of the damage from Ike. Here's a projection of what the surge will do to the Texas coast.

It's not pretty.

Meanwhile, the Houston Mayor, Bill White (D) has made the controversial decision to not call for a mandatory evacuation. He cites the problems associated with evacuations prior to Hurricane Rita when some evacuees were killed while trying to evacuate the city.

But officials in Houston took a calculated risk and told people to stay put. That order was an attempt to avoid a repeat of the chaos and death that ensued after residents were ordered to evacuate Houston when Hurricane Rita threatened the city in 2005. In that instance, the number of deaths attributed to the evacuation was more than ten times higher than the toll from the storm.

Forecasters warn that because of Ike's size and the shallow Texas coastal waters, it could produce waves of perhaps 50 feet. It could also dump 10 inches or more of rain. Ike would be the first major hurricane to hit a U.S. metropolitan area since Katrina devastated New Orleans three years ago

"It will be, in candor, something that people will be scared of," Houston Mayor Bill White warned. "A number of people in this community have not experienced the magnitude of these winds."

I think this is a serious mistake on his part; he's learned nothing from the New Orleans experience. The state has been assisting local jurisdictions evacuate special needs individuals and certain areas along the coast.

Gov. Rick Perry today ordered the continued deployment of state resources in anticipation of Hurricane Ike’s landfall along the Texas coast. At the request of local officials today, the state began assisting with the evacuations of medical special needs residents and those who cannot self-evacuate. This action follows the governor’s disaster declaration for 88 counties issued on Monday and readies the state to provide assistance to local officials. A presidential disaster declaration was also granted today and includes emergency protective measures for 25 of the 88 counties requested by Gov. Perry on Monday.

“Hurricane Ike is now in the Gulf of Mexico and making its approach toward our coast,” said Gov. Perry. “The next few days will be crucial for residents to follow the direction of local leaders and to take the necessary steps to protect themselves and their families.”

Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued by local officials in Brazoria and parts of Matagorda County. Voluntary evacuation orders have been ordered for Galveston, San Patricio and Victoria counties and parts of Jackson County, and the City of Corpus Christi.

Meanwhile, I fear for these people. They're going to attempt and ride out the storm along the coast, in trailers no less. There may be nothing left of those areas when Ike is through.

UPDATE:
Hurricane Ike isn't just affecting the Texas coast; New Orleans and the Louisiana coast, still recovering from Gustav, is bracing for the storm's effects. There are already numerous closures and evacuations there. Stormpulse has more maps and tracking information. The Texas and Louisiana coastline is already getting hit with tropical force winds, and hurricane force winds are slowly approaching. However, as I have repeatedly noted, the main threat from this storm is not the wind, but the storm surge.

UPDATE:
Lou Minatti has ongoing commentary on the situation in and around his hometown of Houston. Good luck!

Galveston is already seeing flooding as per their webcams - which will work only as long as the power holds out.

The complacency of many in and around Houston might be because they were hassled during the Rita evacuation, but this storm isn't looking good by any stretch. It's being predicted to be the worst storm to hit Texas in 50 years. From the latest advisory:

COASTAL STORM SURGE FLOODING OF UP TO 20 FEET...WITH A FEW SPOTS TO NEAR 25 FEET...ABOVE NORMAL TIDE ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES... CAN BE EXPECTED NEAR AND TO THE EAST OF WHERE THE CENTER OF IKE MAKES LANDFALL. THE SURGE EXTENDS A GREATER THAN USUAL DISTANCE FROM THE CENTER DUE TO THE LARGE SIZE OF THE CYCLONE. WATER LEVELS HAVE ALREADY RISEN BY MORE THAN 5 FEET ALONG MUCH OF THE NORTHWESTERN GULF COAST.

IKE IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES OVER EASTERN TEXAS AND EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA...WITH ISOLATED AMOUNTS OF 15 INCHES POSSIBLE.

ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE TODAY OVER PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN LOUISIANA AND EXTREME SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI. ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE TONIGHT OVER PORTIONS OF SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA AND SOUTHEASTERN TEXAS.

As previously noted, flooding is already present in Galveston and other coastal areas, and landfall is still hours away. And I fear that we'll be hearing more of these stories in coming days, though without the happy ending:

Shortly before noon today, Galveston police rescued a disabled couple from their flooded home near 57th Street and Avenue R, a neighborhood protected by the seawall.

Plodding through waist-deep water, officers pulled a rescue boat from 61st Street — then still dry — to the home of Frank Urbina, 83, and his wife, Celia, 72.

The couple's son, Philip Urbina, said the family had planned to ride out the hurricane in their two-story home, but became alarmed when water began flooding the first floor.

Although confined to beds because of frail health, the couple seemed calm throughout the rescue and were transported to an Austin shelter. Philip Urbina and his wife, Elizabeth, returned to their partially flooded home to wait out the storm.

UPDATE:
Instapundit has a big roundup (and thanks for the link).

Again, I'm hoping that the predictions are wrong. Galveston and Harris counties are under curfew through tomorrow.

Galveston Mayor Lyda Thomas, disappointed with the number of people who decided to remain on the island, announced this afternoon that a curfew would take effect for Galveston and Pelican Island starting at 8 p.m. and end at 5 a.m. Saturday.

The curfew will remain in effect over the same periods through Monday morning, she said. The mayor also announced that a shelter of last resort has been established at Ball High School, 4115 Ave. O.

Meanwhile, Harris County has called for a 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in areas covered by a mandatory evacuation order for Friday and Saturday nights.

At 6 p.m. today, Ike was 100 miles southeast of Galveston with Category 2 winds of 110 mph. Weather forecasters said the storm may grow to a Category 3 hurricane by the time it makes landfall late today or early tomorrow. It is currently described as a strong category 2.

Ike's massive size likely will contribute to a 15-20 foot storm surge upon landfall.

I certainly hope that the reports and predictions of a 20 foot storm surge turn out to be overwrought, but if you know that Galveston's storm wall is only 15 feet tall, and they're predicting a 20 foot storm surge, why would you want to remain and risk your life? I can't fathom why people living on Galveston and other low lying areas didn't evacuate while they had a chance, knowing that the only thing protecting them from a storm surge might be inadequate under the predicted circumstances.

UPDATE:
Dr. Melissa Clouthier is live blogging the storm from Woodlands, Texas. Good luck and hope your power stays on so you can report in.

This storm is so large that it's causing problems in Louisiana, as a levee in Slidell has failed and some levees have failed in Terrebonne and St. Mary Parish, but the levees in and around New Orleans are intact. Areas outside the New Orleans levees may see flooding tonight into tomorrow.

A storm surge model produced by the Center for the Study of Public Heath Effects of Hurricanes at LSU predicts surge from Ike will reach near 10 feet on the east bank of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish and could reach that high in southeasternmost St. Tammany Parish.

The National Weather Service has predicted up to 9 feet of surge on east-facing coastlines in the New Orleans area through this evening.

It's going to be a real difficult night along the Gulf Coast.

Good luck. And our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Tracking Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike lashed Cuba with strong winds, heavy surf, and heavy rains, but now all eyes are on the Gulf Coast, particularly along the Texas coast.

Stormpulse has a bunch of interactive maps, including models and tracks. The NHC has it tracking towards Corpus Christi, but prior models and analysis pushing the storm South towards the Mexican border appears to have been ruled out.

The current analysis has the storm hitting somewhere along the Texas coast, and the concern is that it may bring the strongest winds and rain to the Galveston/Houston corridor. How strong the Ike will be is also unknown at this point, but it has the potential to be a significant hurricane. Brendan Loy has much more.

It's still a few days before the track can narrow and more specific guidance can be provided, but it's a good idea for those along the Texas coast to prepare just in case. Texas Governor Rick Perry has already issued pre-disaster declarations and put the National Guard on alert.

Texas Judge Strips Pole Tax

A $5-per-customer fee on strip club patrons dubbed the "pole tax" has been declared unconstitutional.

A state district judge ruled Friday that clubs can't collect the fee. The charge went into effect in January and was expected to raise about $44 million for sexual assault prevention programs and health care for the uninsured.

Judge Scott Jenkins wrote that the fee, "while furthering laudable goals, violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and is therefore invalid."

Say hello to free expression and pole dancing. Two phrases that you never thought you'd see uttered in the same sentence, let alone mentioned in relation to a tax designed to fund sexual assault prevention programs.

Why Would They Do This?

Why would the USSS (that's the United States Secret Service) say that security is too tight and should be loosened at an Obama event?

In Dallas, no less. Local police wondered what that was about. I'd be asking questions too.

I have to wonder whether the Obama campaign complained to the USSS that their supporters were having to wait too long to get into the event, the USSS relented, and they in turn told the local PD to stop checking everyone, so that they could all get in to see Obama.

If that were the case, the USSS should have politely declined and told Barack that the security is there for his own well-being, and his supporters would be checked nonetheless.

This is a screwup on someone's part, and security precautions should be reviewed.

Relative Claims Dallas Murders Were Honor Killings

These two girls, Sarah and Amina Yaser Said, were murdered by their father, Yaser Abdel Said. While authorities have been tight lipped over the reason for their murder, relatives are being quiet no more and from the sound of things, Yaser had been abusive for quite some time:

Gail Gartrell, the sisters’ great-aunt, said Saturday that Mr. Said had physically abused the two girls for years. Around Christmas, the girls’ mother – Ms. Gartrell’s niece – had fled because of Mr. Said’s threats to kill the girls after he learned they had boyfriends, she said.

“She ran with them because she knew he would carry out the threat,” Ms. Gartrell said. “This was an honor killing.”

She said her niece returned after Mr. Said told her that he would move out so they could reconcile. Within a few days, she said, the girls were dead.

The girls' mother and brother deny that this was a honor killing, but if the aunt's claims are true, then they too could be cowed into silence for fear of reprisal by the father.

At the heart of this sad case is a man who was abusive towards his family - his own flesh and blood. The Fort Worth Telegram notes some background about Yaser's marriage to his wife - she was 15 and he was 30 when they married.

He remains on the loose. America's Most Wanted has put the spotlight on him (profile here). This murderous bastard needs to be brought to justice.

Michelle Malkin has much more.