Iraq Authorities Uncovers al-Qaeda ‘Poisin Gas Cell’ to use ‘Chemical Weapons’ in Europe and North America

Iraqi authorities announced they uncovered an al-Qaeda poison gas plant.  Five suspects have been detained over the construction of two facilities in the capital to produce sarin and mustard gas, using instructions from another al Qaeda group. The arrests follow a joint operation between Iraqi and foreign intelligence services. Remote controlled toy planes were also seized at the workshops which were to be used to disburse the chemical poison gases. The terror group was plotting gas attacks on Western Europe and America.

From the BBC:

The authorities in Iraq say they have uncovered an al-Qaeda plot to use chemical weapons, as well as to smuggle them to Europe and North America.

Defence ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said five men had been arrested after military intelligence monitored their activities for three months.

Three workshops for manufacturing the chemical agents, including sarin and mustard gas, were uncovered, he added.

Remote-controlled toy planes were also seized at the workshops.

Mr Askari said they were to have been used to release the chemical agents over the target from a “safe” distance of 1.5km (1 mile), reports the BBC’s Rami Ruhayem in Baghdad.

All of the arrested men had confessed to the plot and said they had received instruction from another al-Qaeda offshoot, he added.

As the Gateway Pundit opines, So much for that “Al-Qaeda is defeated” nonsense.  Wasn’t it just last week that President Obama called the war on terror effectively over? How could a President and so-called Commander in Chief be so misguided?

‘All in the Family’s’ Edith Bunker … Jean Stapleton Dies at Age 90 … Edith and Archie Bunker Reunited in Heaven, Rest in Peace

Edith Bunker dead at age 90.

Emmy award winning actress Jean Stapleton, who is best known for her role as Archie Bunker’s wife Edith in the long-running 1970′s television series “All in the Family,” died Friday at her New York City home at the age of  90. According to reports she died of natural causes. She is survived by her son, John Putch, and her daughter, television producer Pamela Putch. Her husband, William Putch, died in 1983.

How very, very sad. How I loved ‘All in the Family’. Carol O’Conner and Jean Stapleton were a perfect match. Stapleton appeared in “All In The Family,” one of the greatest comedy shows of all time, from 1971 to 1979.  Although Jean Stapleton, Edith Bunker, played the submission wife to Archie who was constantly told to “stifle” and called a “ding-bat,” her heart was huge and her submissive, not so bright nature was only to a point. Her rye sense of humor was fantastic. However, there was an unselfish love between Edith and Archie, where she could see more in him than just a loud mouth bigot. The Normal Lear comedy was ground breaking an spun off other great shows like ‘The Jefferson’s’ and ‘Maud”. Carol O’Conner passed away on June 21, 2001.

Those were the days … they certainly were.

All in the Family Theme song - the late Carol O’Conner and Jean Stapleton

From the LA Times:

She had been a veteran of stage, film and television when she was cast in the CBS sitcom opposite Carroll O’Connor’s loud-mouthed, bigoted Archie Bunker, who often addressed her as “dingbat.” She won three Emmys for the role.

“The benign, compassionate presence she developed made my egregious churl bearable,” O’Connor wrote of Stapleton in his 1998 autobiography. He died in 2001.

Born in New York City on Jan. 19, 1923, Stapleton was the daughter of a billboard advertising salesman and an opera singer.

Source: IMDb

NY Times Obit:

Jeanne Murray was born in Manhattan on Jan. 19, 1923. Her father, Joseph, was an advertising salesman; her mother, Marie Stapleton, was a concert and opera singer, and music was very much a part of her young life. Young Jeanne was a singer as well, which might be surprising to those who knew Ms. Stapleton only from “All in the Family,” which opened every week with Edith and Archie singing the song “Those Were the Days.” Ms. Stapleton’s screechy half of the duet was all Edith; the actress herself had a long history of charming musical performances. She was in the original casts of “Bells Are Ringing” and “Damn Yankees” on Broadway in the 1950s, and “Funny Girl,” with Barbra Streisand, in the 1960s, in which she sang “If a Girl Isn’t Pretty” and “Find Yourself a Man.” Off Broadway in 1991, she played Julia Child, singing the recipe for chocolate cake in the mini-musical “Bon Appétit.” On television, she sang with the Muppets.

“All in the Family” was Ms. Stapleton’s first television series, but before that she appeared as a guest on several shows, including “Dr. Kildare,” with Richard Chamberlain, “My Three Sons,” “Car 54, Where Are You?” and the courtroom drama “The Defenders,” starring E.G. Marshall, in which she played the owner of a boarding house who accused one of her tenants — played by Mr. O’Connor — of murder.

UPDATE I: Ann Althouse has a fantastic, must see VIDEO of an interview with Jean Stapleton from 2000. Stapleton talks about her entire career, including the first time she met Carol O’Conner and her later role as Edith Bunker providing zingers at  Archie. that broke his “hot air” and “burst his bubble”.

39 Year Old North Carolina Woman Holly Christine Fischer Missing Since 5/27/13 in Knoxville, TN (Update: Phone Pinged in Ashe & Wilkes Counties) (Update: Found Deceased)

39 year old Holly Christine Fischer from Charlotte, NC has been missing since Monday, May 27, 2013 while visiting family in Knoxville, TN. Holly Christine Fischer left her parents’ house in Knoxville to return home to North Carolina on Monday. She has not been heard from or seen since. She was reported missing by her parents on Wednesday at the Knox County Sheriffs department. Fischer was driving a (updated) dark gray 2004 Infiniti FX35, with North Carolina license plate number XYH6678. According to a police report, Fischer’s father said his daughter was upset when she left his home because she’s going through a divorce. The father said he contacted Fischer’s husband, but he said he has not seen her since she went to Tennessee.

Holly Christine Fischer description:

• white female
• 39 years old
• 5’10″ and weighs about 140 pounds
• She was last seen in Newport wearing a white blouse, blue jean shorts and sandals.

Authorities are focusing their search on Ashe and Wilkes counties, about 100 miles north of Charlotte, NC. This is a rather bizarre route to take home from Knoxville, TN to Charlotte, NC. Having made the trip in the past from Knoxville to Charlotte, I took Rt. 40 east toward Asheville, then Rt. 16 pretty much the rest of the way. The trip should only take about 4 to 4-1/2 hours. It almost appears that she stopped Monday afternoon, at a convenience store in Newport, TN and used her bank card and then took the longest possible way home.  Holly’s phone was pinged in Ashe County, NC where the family has a condo; however, neither she nor the car was there. Instead, the ping took authorities to a rugged area. Then the cell phone was pinged in Wilkes County, NC. Now it appears the phone has either been turned off or the battery has died.

View Larger Map

Hat Tip: cw618

Investigators learned Fischer last used her bank card Monday afternoon, at a convenience store in Newport, Tenn. The store is situated along Interstate 40, her usual route of travel when visiting her parents. There has been no bank activity since, police said.

Fischer’s cell phone records indicate her phone pinged a tower on Thursday, in a mountainous area along N.C. 16 and the Blue Ridge Parkway, about 100 miles north of Charlotte in Ashe County, the county sheriff’s office said.

Officials in Tennessee are searching for a 39-year-old Charlotte woman who went missing while visiting her family.

Tennessee police said 39-year-old Holly Fischer left her parents’ house in Knoxville on Monday and was traveling home to Charlotte. She hasn’t been seen or heard from since, according to WSOC.

According to a police report, Fischer’s father said his daughter was upset when she left his home because she’s going through a divorce. The father said he contacted Fischer’s husband, but he said he has not seen her since she went to Tennessee.

FACEBOOK: Bring Holly Home

More info at Blink on Crime.

UPDATE I: Search continues in NC mountains for missing Charlotte woman.

Friday, law enforcement officials from Ashe and Wilkes Counties, along with Ashe County Rescue Squad and fire departments from Glendale Springs and Wilbar, were on scene and assisting with the search. The North Carolina Highway Patrol also sent a search unit via helicopter to search the area.

Thursday, officials from Knoxville, TN, completed a cell tower ping of her cell phone. Her last known location by use of cell phone was in Ashe County on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Sheriff Williams stated that “Getting an exact location of the phone is made more difficult by the rugged terrain.”

UPDATE II: Poster for missing Holly Fischer … share with everyone you can.

Click on to enlarge – Poster hat Tip – Facebook: Bring Holly Home also Facebook: Missing Cases

UPDATE III: Sadly, Holly Christine Fischer has been found deceased.

For more updates, read others opinions and analysis or provide your own, go to Scared Monkeys Missing Persons Forum: Holly Christine Fischer.

Pittsburgh Steelers’ OT Mike Adams Stabbed During Robbery Attempt of his Truck at his Home … Expected to Make Full Recovery

NFL.com is reporting that Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive tackle, Mike Adams, has been stabbed during an attempted robbery of his truck at his home.  Adams was stabbed after confronting three assailants who allegedly tried to steal his truck.  According to reports, Adams was stabbed in the stomach; however, is expected to make a full recovery. According to the Steelers, the second year tackle, who was the team’s rookie of the year in 2012, was recovering but remained hospitalized. As reported at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, one of the robbers dropped a cell phone, which police had recovered.

NFL.com’s Aditi Kinkhabwala spoke with Adams’ agent, Eric Metz, who said three assailants allegedly tried to steal Mike Adams’ truck from in front of his home. Metz said Adams told him he gave chase even after being stabbed. Adams had just left some friends a few minutes before and was alone.

No vital organs were affected, but the stomach injury did necessitate surgery. Adams will be sidelined six to eight weeks, but Metz says Adams definitely will be ready for training camp.

Pittsburgh police did not immediately respond to a request for more information by NFL.com. Metz said told the Post-Gazette that one of the robbers dropped a cell phone, which police had recovered. UPMC Mercy, where Adams was reportedly treated, would not comment on his status.

Mike Adams posted this on his Twitter account at 11:28 AM:  ”I have an angel lookin’ out for me! I’ll be ok. Just gotta fight to get back harder than ever.”

Sky News Publishes Leaked Images of the Bloody Bathroom Where Oscar Pistorius Shot his Girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp

(Warning, pics in link very graphic)

Sky News releases images of the bloody bathroom inside the home of paralympian Oscar Pistorius, The Blade Runner, where he shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The photos are believed to have been taken with a cellphone by a crime scene officer. Warning, the images are gruesome blood splatter in the bathroom where Pistorius claims he believed he was shooting an intruder on the other side of a closed door. Pistorius shot several times through the bathroom door. He claims it was out of self defense and thought an intruder was in his bathroom. That so-called intruder turned out to be his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, who was staying with him that night. South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius will be in court next week battling charges that he murdered his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Sky News has obtained pictures inside the house of paralympian Oscar Pistorius – including images of the bloody bathroom where he shot his lover, Reeva Steenkamp.

The pictures have emerged as allegations that police officers involved in the investigation are being questioned following the disappearance of one of the runner’s watches from his house.

This is the first time the public has seen the actual room where the athlete’s model girlfriend was killed.

The images show a panel missing from the toilet door – and two police markers below the handle which indicate bullet holes – low down.

How does one shoot bullets into a closed bathroom door, concerned that there was an intruder in the house, and not having first checked where is girlfriend was?