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America's soft underbelly. (See 2 below.)
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Dick
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In my estimation, there is no patch of geography in this country that is the
"middle of nowhere." This is America; everywhere is the middle of somewhere
"middle of nowhere." This is America; everywhere is the middle of somewhere
By Salena Zito
DICKERSON, Md. — Everything happens for a reason.
At least that's what people tell you when your plans go south.
Driving from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C., recently, I did as I nearly always do: I clicked the “avoid highways” options on Google Maps and chose a route I’d never taken before.
You’d be amazed by the number of different routes you can take between Western Pennsylvania and our nation’s capital. This one took me through the heights of the Laurel Mountains toward the original Lincoln Highway where I went through the delightful town of Mercersburg, then due south toward U.S. 40, the original National Pike. Eventually, I snaked along the Potomac River on the Maryland side on my slow drift southeast toward D.C.
This way of traveling lets you see, even if only fleetingly, the towns, unincorporated villages, and cities that sometimes connect together on one single U.S. route. On these roads, you see the differences in prosperity, density, and decay that make up America.
As I approached a bend in the road that passes under an ancient stone train bridge along Maryland Route 28, it happened. The flat tire warning signals began flashing across my dashboard. I didn’t have a choice. I had to try to navigate past the sharp curve, through the narrow underpass, and pray there was somewhere flat to pull over on the other side.
I am fairly sure I completed a world-record, 30-second recital of the rosary in my head as I made the bend. Then I took in the damage. My tire was shredded.
The Dickerson Market looks like the hundreds of general stores I see every time I hit the back roads. It had a post office attached to it, not to mention no-name, self-service gasoline pumps in the front and a sign boasting “famous fried chicken.”
On that day it was my oasis.
These general stores are just gas stations to those passing through. But to people who live here or come to the area regularly for the hiking, biking, and fishing, places like Dickerson Market are the center of the community. It’s where they can get an amazing breakfast sandwich hot off the grill or donate to Toys for Tots. It's where they can buy a birthday card, a winter hat, or groceries, or where they can sit a spell at a handful of tables and chairs within the store.
It is where conversations spring up among strangers, with the grace and charity you won’t find on social media or cable news.
(Salena Zito)
I certainly found that grace and charity in the hours I waited there for AAA at Dickerson Market. I also found a microcosm of America in the veritable parade of strangers who helped and offered to help.
A white couple with more tattoos than I could possibly count, a group of young Hispanic men, and an African American couple all offered different forms of assistance for my obvious distress.
Michelle Ennis isn’t surprised by the hospitality shown from the patrons of her store. “I see that type of kindness from our regulars in little things every day,” she says. “This place is a piece of history as well as a reflection of our community. We may change because we have to change with moderation and things like that. But you still have down-to-the-basics, pleasant people. ... You miss that in the cities. I've been in cities, and you can hardly get someone to say hello to you or look you in the eye.”
Ennis owns the store with her father, Robert Fowler, who bought it 22 years ago. He was a regular, and the former owners wanted someone who cared about the community to carry on the tradition they began in 1948. Her kids work behind the counter, and her husband helps when things break down. “It is a real family operation,” she says.
More than 1,000 pieces of their fried chicken leave the unassuming general store while I wait for my tow.
To anyone passing by, this just looks like a gas station. To anyone who takes the time to step inside, you will find yourself in a wonderland.
It is Memorial Day weekend, and no tire stores are open to repair my car. AAA tells me they will tow my car home to Pittsburgh, and I’ll get to ride along. The anxiety that starts to overwhelm me as I wonder how I am going to interact with a stranger for 5 1/2 hours in the small space of a tow truck quickly evaporates minutes after Krasimir Georgiev shows up to take me and my bruised Jeep home.
An immigrant from Bulgaria, the time passes swiftly as he describes his story, which started with him arriving in Germantown with little money and an uncertain future. Now he’s a small-businessman who owns two tow trucks and employs several people.
Grace always finds a way to show up just in time. I’ve written that before, and I say it often. Even though I know it will come, it’s always surprising where you find it. Sometimes it’s on a back road in Maryland that you thought you were taking for no good reason. But it turns out there was a reason.
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2)
2)
ISIS plotted to send westerners to US through Mexico border:By Hollie McKay
Posted By Ruth King
A chilling confession from a captured ISIS fighter has shed light on how the terrorist group intended to exploit the vulnerabilities of the U.S. border with Mexico, using English speakers and westerners to take advantage of smuggling routes and target financial institutions.
Seized ISIS fighter Abu Henricki, a Canadian citizen with dual citizenship with Trinidad, last month said that he was sought out by the violent insurgency’s leadership to attack the U.S. from a route starting in Central America, according to a study by the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE) and published in Homeland Security Today.
“ISIS has organized plots in Europe with returnees so it seems entirely plausible that they wanted to send guys out to attack. The issue that makes a North American attack harder is the travel is more difficult from Syria,” Anne Speckhard, who co-conducted the study as the director of ICSVE and Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University, told Fox News. “So the idea that they would instead use people who were not known to their own governments as having joined ISIS might make it possible for them to board airplanes.”
Henricki allegedly traveled to Syria with the intention of serving as an ISIS fighter, but was later told he could not take on soldier duties due to a chronic illness. At the end of 2016, he claimed to have been “invited” by the ISIS intelligence wing – known as the emni – to join other Trinidadians and launch financial attacks on the U.S.
The attacks were described to Henricki as designed to “cripple the U.S. economy,” and he was said to have been informed that he would be issued false identification and passports and would be maneuvered from Puerto Rico to Mexico and then to the United States.
“The plan came from someone from the New Jersey state of America. I was going to take the boat from Puerto Rico into Mexico. He was going to smuggle me in,” the ISIS cadre continued.
He further elaborated that he believed the scheme was aimed at New York financial targets.
“They wanted to use these people (to attack inside the U.S.) because they were from these areas,” Henricki told the scholars, indicating that they were either from North America or were English speakers.
He underscored that other Trinidadians, many of whom have been killed in the protracted mayhem over the past several years, were also approached to “do the same thing.”
However, Henricki then claimed he refused the mission and was subsequently thrown into an ISIS prison in Manbij and brutally tortured. His wife, also a Canadian, was also imprisoned in a women’s department and endured psychological torture.
“This plot is likely dead as those who were pressured to join it are according to Abu Henricki now all dead and ISIS is in retreat as we know,” Speckhard said. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t disregard that it was a plot. We should take thoughtful steps to prevent.
“We often hear about terrorists trying to enter the southern border in political debate, but I rarely have come across a real case. It surprised me to hear this was a real plot by ISIS to exploit our southern border. That’s concerning of course.”
Henricki surrendered to the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the final assault to take back Baghouz earlier this year. He remains behind bars in the SDF-controlled region of Syria, with their futures in legal limbo as many foreign governments are not willing to take back accused ISIS operatives.
A representative from Canada’s Global Affairs was not immediately able to respond to a request for comment.
Alex Hamerstone, the governance, risk, and practice lead at global security firm TrustedSec, told Fox News that it is not uncommon at all for criminal groups to use Americans to help facilitate their crimes and that it is far easier to do once inside the country of target.
“Even better, however, is to get someone inside the actual company to attack its network from behind the firewall. That is much easier to carry out than a cyber attack from outside of the network, and this type of ‘insider threat’ is a major problem already for US companies,” he explained. “An employee knows everything about his or her company, and what its strengths and weaknesses are. This type of person would be very effective at exploiting a corporate network and causing massive amounts of damage. What is really surprising is that terrorist groups have not already used US employees to attack their own companies.”
Hamerstone pointed out that terrorist groups like ISIS have been able to recruit Americans and people in the U.K. to go to their training camps, “so it wouldn’t be a huge stretch for them to get an American to get a job at a bank and then sabotage it.”
“Think about what an insider in IT aligned with terrorists could do,” he noted. “What’s really scary to think about is that an insider can do almost anything to a company. There are very few limits on the type of damage a rogue employee could cause.”
Moreover, the authors of the report underscored that it serves to demonstrate that ISIS has discussed and operationalized ways in which their operatives could infiltrate our borders and cause harm to our citizens, and downplay the potential terrorist threats from the border areas would be harmful to the safety of Americans.
“This account is not a warning bulletin for an imminent attack against our country, nor is it a fear-mongering attempt to suggest a wave of ISIS terrorists are waiting to cross our southern border,” the authors added. “But a reminder to diligently consider leads and sources that confirm terrorists’ intentions to exploit one of the weakest links in our national security – our borders.”
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