The Blaze | This weekend, an email written by Ron Trowbridge, the undersheriff of Prowers County, Colorado, started sweeping some of the viral corners of the internet. It alleges that a Colorado State Police training encouraged law enforcement officials to look at Bible-believing Christians with intense skepticism. At first glance, the startling allegations in the letter, which was first posted on the conservative site Red Statements, were seemingly unbelievable. But TheBlaze reached out to Trowbridge to confirm that he wrote the note and to speak further about its contents.

George Washington's Blog | We’ve long noted that the Americans who are the biggest scaremongers regarding terrorism are themselves supporting terrorists … such as the Iranian MEK group.  And see this, this and this. Indeed, any objective analysis of the facts find that the U.S. may be the world’s largest promoter of terrorism.  And see this. Anyone who questions the U.S. may be labeled as a “potential terrorist“. When America does anything, it’s a-okay … but when anyone else does what America does they’re labeled a terrorist.

Prison Planet.com | People who have a political opinion that “represents a fairly popular point of view” also listed as extremists. A leaked training manual used in the State and Local Anti-Terrorism Training (SLATT) program for law enforcement and funded by the Department of Justice lists political bumper stickers expressing opposition to the United Nations and support for the bill of rights as indications of terrorist activity.

Salon | A highly ideological, jingoistic clique masquerades as objective scholars, all to justify US militarism. Shortly prior to the start of the London Olympics, there was an outburst of hysteria over the failure to provide sufficient security against Terrorism, but as Harvard Professor Stephen Walt noted yesterday in Foreign Policy, this was all driven, as usual, by severe exaggerations of the threat: “Well, surprise, surprise. Not only was there no terrorist attack, the Games themselves came off rather well.” Walt then urges this lesson be learned:

ABC | The Iranian government claimed Tuesday that it had arrested members of an Israeli-backed "terror" network plotting assassinations and sabotage inside the country. Iran's intelligence ministry announced via state-run media that it had disbanded a "large and sophisticated Israeli terror and sabotage network after months of operations" just as the network was planning fresh attacks.

Guardian | Craig Monteilh says he did not balk when his FBI handlers gave him the OK to have sex with the Muslim women his undercover operation was targeting. Nor, at the time, did he shy away from recording their pillow talk. "They said, if it would enhance the intelligence, go ahead and have sex. So I did," Monteilh told the Guardian as he described his year as a confidential FBI informant sent on a secret mission to infiltrate southern Californian mosques.

Wired | An obscure Pentagon office designed to curb the flow of illegal drugs has quietly evolved into a one-stop shop for private security contractors around the world, soliciting deals worth over $3 billion. The sprawling contract, ostensibly designed to stop drug-funded terrorism, seeks security firms for missions like “train[ing] Azerbaijan Naval Commandos.” Other tasks include providing Black Hawk and Kiowa helicopter training “for crew members of the Mexican Secretariat of Public Security.” Still others involve building “anti-terrorism/force protection enhancements” for the Pakistani border force in the tribal areas abutting Afghanistan.

Infowars.com | The London Metropolitan Police is encouraging businesses and the general public to immediately report anyone who holds anti-government political beliefs to the authorities as terrorists, calling on people to become volunteer informants as the state prepares for widespread social unrest.

Boil Frog Post | Money makes the world go ‘round. Whose money spins your planet?  In recent decades, Saudi Arabia emerged as a skillful puppeteer, pulling the strings of its expanding influence. Dare to see the big picture, out of the context of pseudo-political loyalties, free of the intoxicating opiate of the mainstream media. Look behind the mask of false pretenses to see the awful truth: riches seeking ever more money, celebrity looking for more notoriety, propaganda masquerading as the truth and the deprivation of liberties posturing as the savior in the “war on terror”.

The Blaze | The Obama administration has added Israel to a list of 36 ‘specially designated’ countries that have ‘shown a tendency to promote, produce, or protect terrorist organizations or their members.’ The ‘specially designated country’ list is used by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to screen detained foreigners with an extra step, called a “Third Agency Check.” Overall, the countries on the list are unsurprising, with two exceptions this year. Israel was not on the  list in 2008, but now in 2011, it has been added. North Korea, on the other hand, was dropped from the list this year but was on it in 2008.

AP | The president of Tajikistan, which has been waging battle with a domestic insurgency for the past few years, says international terrorism is a myth invented by global superpowers.

Rawstory | Marijuana activists are criticizing -- and at least partly laughing off -- a counter-terrorism exercise carried out Wednesday in California that featured marijuana growers setting off bombs and seizing a dam. Organized by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, the exercise involved 20 government agencies and some 250 personnel, according to a report from the Redding Record-Searchlight. In the scenario, marijuana growers blew up a bus and car and seized control of northern California's Shasta Dam in a bid to free an imprisoned colleague.