BEAUMONT, Texas – Shamsud-Din Jabbar grew up in Texas, joined the U.S. Army and eventually settled in Houston, where he began an actual estate business and earned $120,000 a yr for certainly one of the most important consulting firms on this planet.

But the 42-year-old US citizen, who authorities say plowed a rented truck through New Year's celebrations in New Orleans before being shot by police, was also under pressure. In 2022, he divorced for the third time, stating in his filings that he couldn’t pay his mortgage and his business was losing money.

On Thursday, authorities and relations were still wondering why Jabbar drove a Ford F-150 through a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing 14 revelers and injuring no less than 30 others. Officials said the attack was inspired by the Islamic State group, making it certainly one of the deadliest IS-inspired attacks on U.S. soil in years.

FBI officials said Jabbar posted five videos on his Facebook account through which he joined ISIS within the hours before the attack. Authorities also found an Islamic State flag on the truck utilized in the attack early Wednesday.

“It's completely contradictory to who he was and how his family and his friends know him,” Abdur-Rahim Jabbar, certainly one of his brothers, told The on Thursday at his home in Beaumont, about 90 miles outside of Houston Associated Press.

The 24-year-old said his older brother had turn into increasingly isolated from family and friends in recent times, but in conversation he had seen no signs of radicalization. He said it had been a number of months since he had seen his brother in person and a number of weeks since they’d spoken on the phone.

“There seemed to be nothing wrong with his behavior. He didn't seem angry or anything. “He was just his calm, well-mannered, well-tempered self,” the younger brother said.

Law enforcement officials said that after Jabbar drove into the gang on Bourbon Street and crashed the truck, he got out of the automobile wearing a ballistic vest and helmet and fired at police, wounding no less than two before he was shot by officers who returned fire.

Army, court and other public records paint an image of a person who was stationed or lived in several states, including North Carolina, Texas, Georgia and Alaska, married multiple times and seemed to be struggling financially as he tried to slot in stuck to civilian life.

Jabbar joined the Army in 2007, served on lively duty in human resources and knowledge technology and was stationed in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010, the service said. He joined the Army Reserve in 2015 and left in 2020 with the rank of staff sergeant.

A spokesperson for Georgia State University confirmed that Jabbar attended the varsity from 2015 to 2017 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in computer information systems in 2017.

He has been married no less than thrice within the last twenty years and had no less than three children mentioned in divorce and custody agreements. His last two marriages, in Georgia and Texas, each lasted about three years, in response to court documents.

Dwayne Marsh, who’s married to certainly one of Jabbar's ex-wives, told The New York Times that Jabbar had been behaving erratically in recent months. Marsh said he and his wife not allowed the 2 daughters she shared with Jabbar to spend time with him.

The AP left a message Thursday at a number listed for Marsh. Messages were also left for Jabbar's other two ex-wives at their numbers or with their lawyers.

The AP also left messages for Jabbar's mother that weren’t returned as of Thursday afternoon. Abdur-Rahim Jabbar said her father refused to talk to reporters.

The divorce files also reveal that Jabbar was facing a deteriorating financial situation in January 2022. Jabbar said he was $27,000 behind on his house payments and desired to finalize the divorce quickly.

“I have exhausted all means to get the loan back on track other than a loan modification, leaving us with no choice but to sell the home or allow foreclosure,” he wrote in a January 2022 email to the attorney his now ex-wife.

His businesses were also struggling. One company, Blue Meadow Properties LLC, lost about $28,000 in 2021. Two other firms he founded, Jabbar Real Estate Holdings LLC and BDQ L3C, were worthless. According to the e-mail, he had also accrued $16,000 in bank card debt as a consequence of expenses resembling legal fees.

Court documents show he earned about $10,000 a month in 2022 doing business development and other work for the consulting firm Deloitte.

On Wednesday, police blocked access to a Houston neighborhood where Jabbar's last address was listed, a small white mobile home in a gated community where geese and goats roamed the grass. On Thursday, the FBI said it had accomplished its search of the realm but didn’t provide further details.

Despite the turmoil revealed in court documents, Abdur-Rahim Jabbar said his brother showed no outward signs of distress or anger over his relationships.

“I think he mostly blamed himself for his divorces. … And he was never bitter toward his ex-wives,” the younger Jabbar said.

“I never saw that coming. And in the military, I actually worked in counterterrorism. And if any warning signs had emerged, I would have caught them and contacted the relevant authorities,” he said.

“But he didn’t give me anything that suggested he was capable of doing what happened.”

California and Oklahoma are greater than 1,000 miles apart. Within that time-frame, there are a whole lot – if not 1000’s – of addiction treatment programs.

“And yet in the last few years alone, thousands of alleged Oklahoma residents have died were smuggled across the country to California under the guise of procurement (substance use disorder). Treatment,” claims a suit filed Dec. 11 in federal court against two Orange County rehab facilities, South Coast Behavioral Health and Rad Life Recovery of Costa Mesa, and others.

RELATED: Addicts got here from far-off to Southern California to get sober but died

“This surprising migration is not the result of quality treatment. Rather, it is being driven by an army of fraudsters who have overrun certain parts of California’s substance use disorder (SUD) treatment industry to take advantage of suspected Oklahomans, many of whom are members of Native American tribes.”

“These SUD providers employ a variety of deceptive tactics,” the lawsuit states. “They hire 'body brokers' to hunt down potential patients in return for kickbacks. Body brokers work with insurance agents to fraudulently enroll people in insurance plans. Once registered, patients are sent across the country to receive “treatment” whose important goal is to counterpoint the care providers, body brokers, insurance agents and others involved within the programs.

“There are unlawful kickbacks at every level. In fact, many patients receive cash, free “treatment” and accommodation themselves, which unfairly influences their alternative of provider and entices them to stay under the control of a specific provider in order that their insurance can proceed to be billed. It is becoming increasingly difficult for good, high-quality providers to operate in an industry awash with kickbacks and de facto bribes.”

The lawsuit also names Excellence Recovery and Everything in Excellence Recovery of Arizona, in addition to three people connected to the alleged scheme, Cari Passmore, Brett Pershall and Randall Eisworth. Pershall, who had an address in Santa Ana, said he was within the means of hiring an attorney and wouldn’t comment. Phone messages, emails and text messages to the others on Monday weren’t immediately returned.

In an approach familiar to supporters of SCNGs Rehab Riviera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma said within the lawsuit that after insurance advantages are exhausted, providers “kick patients to the side of the road, leaving these vulnerable individuals to fend for themselves thousands of miles from home.”

These defendants are among the many worst perpetrators of this tactic, the lawsuit says, and so they have received greater than $36 million in improper payments from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma alone. The insurer is suing for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, intentional interference with economic/contractual relationships and conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

'Lie'

The lawsuit alleges that the plan worked like this:

South Coast Behavioral Health used body brokers Passmore and Pershall to lure patients west. They identified potential clients through social media and word of mouth and promised them free addiction treatment.

Of course, this treatment was not free, but was paid for by medical insurance. Oklahoma insurance agent Eisworth obtained the policies and asked addicts to offer details about their annual income, employment status and residency in order that they could be eligible for Blue Cross Blue Shield plans and government subsidies.

One member, identified as “A,” told Eisworth that she had a job that paid well below the federal poverty level. But that made her eligible for Oklahoma's Medicaid program, a low-reimbursement public insurance plan (which wouldn't cover treatment outside of Oklahoma, “let alone anywhere in the country in California,” the lawsuit says).

Eisworth asked her to create a fake monthly income statement showing that she was self-employed and that her income totaled greater than $18,000 a 12 months – high enough to avoid Medicaid but low enough to qualify to have private insurance with far more generous reimbursement rates. Added to this were cost-sharing discounts and a tax subsidy that reduced A's monthly insurance bill from greater than $500 to lower than $100 US dollar fell.

A staggering two-thirds of the a whole lot of Blue Cross Blue Shield members treated on the South Coast were enrolled at Eisworth, the lawsuit says.

After completing their “free” inpatient treatment, the members went to the sober living facility related to the body broker who found them, the lawsuit says. People lived in these houses free of charge so long as they allowed South Coast to bill their insurance. South Coast split these insurance payments with the brokers.

When advantages dried up, members were often terminated abruptly. After that, the lawsuit says, “they suddenly find themselves on the streets with no money left to afford housing or everyday necessities, let alone an expensive trip home.” If you set these already vulnerable people in Putting you in such desperate circumstances only increases the likelihood of relapse.”

This happened back in 2020 and thus far, “they continue to prey on individuals seeking to enroll in Oklahoma plans and have taken additional actions to infiltrate Oklahoma,” the lawsuit states.

In addition to locations in Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Irvine, South Coast Behavioral Health's website also lists a location in Oklahoma City.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma isn’t the one insurer affected by this “extortion activity,” the lawsuit says. The well-intentioned Affordable Care Act increased coverage for addiction treatment and access to enrollment, the lawsuit said, creating an environment ripe for this particular sort of fraud. According to the lawsuit, Oklahoma has the fifth highest addiction rate in America — greater than 16% of the population.

“The combination of a state plan that provides robust out-of-state benefits and a large population in need of treatment provided a perfect target for profiteers like defendants,” it said.

Deja vu?

Last month, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma told the Southern California News Group that it should stop paying for all addiction treatment in California, with limited exceptions, starting Jan. 1.

Following that call, about 1,000 people left facilities linked to embattled treatment operator Nathan Young. Former Young Network patients said they were enrolled in Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma insurance although they never lived within the state and sometimes without their knowledge.

Young and employees are being sued by insurer Aetna in a fraud case just like this one. Young filed a countersuit against Aetna, saying the insurer was simply attempting to avoid paying the amounts owed.

This all reflects the battle between Health Net and the now-defunct Sovereign Health that began in 2016. Health Net won $45 million in damages and interest against Sovereign.

In this case, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma said in its lawsuit that it’s in search of damages “sufficient to punish the defendants and to deter other similarly situated persons from engaging in similar conduct in the future.”

After this scenario has been repeated for thus a few years, one might wonder if such damage really exists.

The Army-Navy game holds a special yet peculiar place on the faculty football calendar.

Its significance is undeniable given the history, ferocity and grandeur of the rivalry. It is literally the one championship weekend game on the Saturday after the conference in December. Still, the stakes of the sport normally don't matter with regards to the rankings or the race for the national championship.

This yr it's complicated.

The service academies are each undefeated and ranked. And the 12-team College Football Playoff means the No. 23 Black Knights (7-0) and No. 24 Midshipmen (6-0) are bona fide playoff contenders — if either of them can win the American Athletic Conference .

But the playoff field shall be determined Dec. 8 — six days before the beginning of the annual Army-Navy game in Landover, Maryland. And with Army and Navy now conference mates within the AAC, the Dec. 14 matchup could possibly be the 2 teams' second meeting in a season.

Here's a have a look at how things could end up.

How did we get here?

It is the primary time since 1926 that the Army and Navy have each began a season 6-0.

The Black Knights are 7-0 and have yet to play a game. Of course, they lead the nation in rushing offense, led by quarterback Bryson Daily, who recorded 26 total touchdowns. Army is already 6-0 in AAC play, meaning only two conference games remain (at North Texas, UTSA).

The Midshipmen are 6-0 heading right into a huge game against No. 12 Notre Dame at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and 4-0 within the AAC. It's already their best season since 2019, after they won 11 games.

The Army and Navy currently occupy the highest two spots within the AAC rankings.

So… does that mean they might play twice?

Yes – in consecutive weeks. They could face one another within the conference championship game on December sixth and meet again on December 14th for his or her annual rivalry.

But Tulane is correct behind them with a 3-0 conference record heading into play against Navy on November sixteenth. A loss could end Navy's probability of punching its ticket to the conference championship, thereby dashing the Mids' playoff hopes.

Will the Army-Navy game be considered for the CFP?

A possible meet within the AAC Championship can be possible. But the annual, neutral game won’t happen.

Selection day for the playoffs is Sunday, December 8, and the annual Army-Navy game is the next Saturday. In the four-team playoff era, the choice committee had a protocol that allowed it to attend for Army-Navy if it had an impact on the sphere. But with the 12-team playoffs starting the weekend of December 20-21, there was no waiting for the result this time.

This means there’s a scenario through which a service academy wins the AAC and a spot within the CFP, then loses its final regular-season game against the identical opponent it beat to advance to the playoffs.

There will still be bragging rights at stake, after all.

Would the Army or Navy have less time to organize for a playoff game?

Given that no other team plays a game the week of Dec. 14, certainly one of the service academies would have less time to organize for its postseason opponent if it were to clinch a playoff spot.

What are the probabilities of Army or Navy making the playoffs?

There is a 29.6 percent probability that Army or Navy will make the playoffs, but each teams' individual percentages will look barely different depending on the outcomes of their next games.

If Navy beats Notre Dame on Saturday, the Midshipmen's possibilities of making the playoffs increase to 10 percent, in accordance with Austin Mock's prediction model. In the event of a loss, this drops to five percent.

The Army has a better opponent within the Air Force, so the cadets' odds are higher: 30 percent in the event that they win and 14 percent in the event that they lose. Army also must play Notre Dame on Nov. 23 at Yankee Stadium.

Mock's model gives the Army a 63 percent probability of winning the AAC, while the Navy has a 15 percent probability.

What else has to occur for either team to make the playoffs?

Two things should occur. First, it is clear that Army or Navy will proceed to win and win the AAC. It's unlikely that either of them could make the playoffs as an overall team.

Second, they probably need the Mountain West to beat one another up. Boise State (5-1) is currently ahead of Army and Navy, and the Broncos' only blemish is a road loss at Oregon.

The other Mountain West team to fret about is UNLV (6-1). Boise State plays at UNLV on Friday, which may have a major impact on the Group of 5 playoff bid.

If you would like a guide to getting Army or Navy into the CFP, I'd probably make the case for UNLV to tug off an upset this weekend after which proceed to make the case for each of those teams to lose down the stretch. —

Has the Army or Navy ever won a national championship?

Yes, but the main points are a bit complicated since college football hasn't all the time had a national championship game.

Army wins five national championships (1914, 1916, 1944, 1945, 1946), although several programs win titles in 4 of those years. Likewise, the Navy claims a share of the 1926 national title.

The last time either team reached the AP top 10 was 1964, when Navy peaked at No. 6.

What's next?

Army finishes the regular season with Air Force (1-6), North Texas (5-2), Notre Dame (6-1), UTSA (3-4) and Navy.

Navy ties with Notre Dame, Rice (2-5), South Florida (3-4), Tulane (5-2), East Carolina (3-4) and Army.

End of July 2024 the primary 1,000 draft notices sent out for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men after the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the federal government not needed to grant them this tax exemption.

But will these Haredim, because the ultra-Orthodox are called in Israel, actually join the Israel Defense Forces and be followed by 1000’s more within the near future? It depends upon who they obey: the state authorities or their religious authorities.

Yitzhak Yosef, whose term as one in every of the federal government's two chief rabbis recently ended, told the religious students: “Anyone who receives a draft notice should tear it up and not go.” The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported“He is a soldier in the army of God.”

Yosef is just not the one Haredi rabbi who rejects military service, and lots of Haredi men have took to the streets to protest because the Supreme Court's decision, which followed years of political wrangling on the difficulty.

Since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, ultra-Orthodox Jews – those that most strictly adhere to Jewish law and currently around 14% of the population – are exempt from military service. Among all other Jewish residents, from secular to modern Orthodox, men must serve 32 months and girls 24 months, plus reserve service. During the war in Gaza, other Israelis Resentment towards the ultra-Orthodox exception is at an all-time high.

As a historianI see the military conscription debate as greater than only a political crisis for the Israeli government. The issue is so sensitive since it raises fundamental questions on the cohesion of Israeli society usually and the attitude of the Haredi population towards the Jewish state particularly.

It also illustrates the complexity of a rustic that is just not as easy to clarify as a lot of its supporters and critics alike consider.

Initial compromise

Historically, Orthodox Jews have struggled to justify the concept of ​​a Jewish state. For centuries they prayed to be allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple, but they’d a particular return in mind: a Jewish state founded by the Messiah… Any other type of Jewish sovereignty would, of their view, be blasphemy.

Theodor Herzl, who founded modern political Zionism within the late nineteenth century, had an extended beard like a biblical prophet. But he was thoroughly secular and assimilated – he lit a Christmas tree along with his family. Herzl's movement to encourage more European Jews to emigrate to the Holy Land met with little response from the Orthodox.

However, there has at all times been a minority among the many Orthodox who identified with Zionism, the assumption that the Jewish people must have a sovereign political state within the Land of Israel. According to the Talmud, the central source of Jewish law, Saving lives is more necessary than other commandments – and Zionism saved the Jews from pogroms and other anti-Jewish violence in Europe.

During the Holocaust, the overwhelming majority of non secular Jews in Eastern Europe were killedAfterwards, many survivors who had previously opposed Zionism sought refuge in the brand new State of Israel.

On the eve of Israel’s independence, David Ben-Gurion, the Prime Minister of the longer term state, reached an agreement with the leaders of the 2 camps of Orthodox Jews.

The Haredim, the ultra-Orthodox, still refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of a secular Jewish state. The so-called national-religious camp, then again, supported it.

Among other things, the brand new state Exemption granted to young Haredi Jews who preferred to check religious texts full-time slightly than join the military. This seemed of little consequence, because the young men involved numbered only a number of hundred.

Changing views

During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel captured the Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights and Sinai PeninsulaSince then, the national-religious camp, once a moderate force, has grow to be the spearhead of the right-wing settler movement.

Unlike the primary generations of Orthodox Zionists, today's national-religious Israelis are Zionists not regardless of messianism, but due to it. They consider that Israel will help usher within the messianic era. That is why right-wing religious Zionists – like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet ministers – Itamar Ben-Gvir And Bezalel Smotrich – are enthusiastic supporters of conscription.

Not so the Haredim, the ultra-Orthodox.

Be clear, Haredi Jews are very diverseThis population includes families with roots in all places from Poland and Romania to Morocco and Iraq. It includes individuals who support Israel's existence and opponents who burn the flag on the country's Independence Day. These include men entering the skilled world and men dedicating their lives to the study of faith.

The majority of Haredim living in Israel aren’t Zionists, but live there since it is the Holy Land and the state subsidizes their studiesEverything else – secular education, military service, and infrequently paid work – is seen as a distraction.

A minority of Haredi Jews serve voluntarily within the armed forces, and more have reported because the starting of the recent war between Israel and Hamas. But they aren’t legally obliged to accomplish that, nor are Arab residents of Israel.

Growing Haredi sector

The Israeli governments have continued tolerate this example and ultra-Orthodox political parties became much-needed partners.

Nevertheless, resistance from the judiciary and the population has increased.

In 1998, the Supreme Court ruled that the Minister of Defense has no right to exempt Haredi Jews from military service and called on the federal government to seek out ways to work them out. In 2014, a center-right government led by Netanyahu a law passed The goal was for 60% of the parliament to be Haredi men inside three years. But the 2015 elections brought Haredi parties back to power and the implementation was effectively abandoned.

Since then, the Haredi parties have grow to be more powerful as their population has grown. But the Supreme Court has made it clear that the federal government can either must summon Haredimor the legislature must pass a brand new law to excuse them.

Seven out of ten Israeli Jews against the blanket exemptionmeaning that one other exemption could endanger Netanyahu's government. Frustration can be growing over plans to extend the military draft for men to a few years and double the duty of reservists to 42 days a 12 months during emergencies.

None of this might matter if the Haredim were still the identical small a part of society as in 1948. Today, nevertheless, ultra-Orthodox women average 6.5 childrenin comparison with 2.5 for other Jewish Israelites, and around 1.3 million of the country’s 9.5 million inhabitants are Haredim.

The resulting transformation of Israeli society is straightforward to see. If this trend continues, Israel will grow to be a really different, very religious society – one which can barely survive economically.

On average, a non-Haredi household pays nine times more income tax than a Haredi one, while the latter over 50% more government supportEven in the event that they were willing to work, most Haredim would have difficulty finding a well-paying job because their state-subsidized private schools rarely teach secular subjects.

For Israeli society, this implies further fragmentation and a weakening of the economy – not to say the military. In the eyes of the Haredim, nevertheless, Israel is succeeding in due to the study and prayer of the religious Jews.

In total, the state plans to assign 3,000 Haredi men to military service in the subsequent few weeks. You aren’t chosen randomly. Most work or study in higher education institutions slightly than traditional religious schools. This small group may very well be more more likely to follow secular state authorities than the appeals of their rabbis.

However, the vast majority of Haredi youth don’t have even a minimal secular education. wouldn’t be easy to integrate into the military. Therefore, the conscription of this a part of the Israeli population may remain more symbolic – it is meant to indicate them that they too have more to bear than the spiritual burden of a society affected by war.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on March 15, 2024.

Today is Sunday, July 28, the 210th day of the 12 months 2024. There are 156 days left within the 12 months.

Today in history:

On July 28, 1945, a U.S. Army B-25 bomber crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in New York, then the tallest constructing on the planet, killing 14 people.

Also on this date:

In 1794, Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just were executed by guillotine in the course of the French Revolution.

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that he would increase the variety of American troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.

In 1976, an earthquake devastated northern China, killing at the least 242,000 people, in keeping with official estimates.

When the 1984 Summer Olympics opened in Los Angeles, 14 Eastern Bloc countries, led by the Soviet Union, boycotted the games.

In 1995, a jury in Union, South Carolina, rejected the death penalty for Susan Smith and sentenced her to life in prison for drowning her two young sons (Smith might be eligible for parole in November 2024).

In 1996, 8,000-year-old human skeletal stays (later called Kennewick Man) were discovered on the banks of the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington.

In 2004, the Irish Republican Army officially announced the tip of its armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland.

In 2015, it was announced that Jonathan Pollard, the previous U.S. Navy intelligence analyst who spent nearly three many years in prison for spying for Israel, had been released on parole.

In 2018, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington DC, following allegations of sexual abuse, including involving an 11-year-old boy.

In 2019, a gunman opened fire at a preferred garlic festival in Gilroy, California, killing three people, including a six-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, and injuring 17 others before taking his own life.

Today's birthdays:

• The music conductor Riccardo Muti is 83.
• Former Senator and NBA Hall of Famer Bill Bradley is 81.
• “Garfield” creator Jim Davis is 79.
• Television producer Dick Ebersol is 77.
• Actress Sally Struthers is 77.
• The architect Santiago Calatrava is 73.
• CBS television journalist Scott Pelley is 67.
• Actress Lori Loughlin is 60.
• Jazz musician and producer Delfeayo Marsalis is 59.
• UFC President Dana White is 55.
• Actress Elizabeth Berkley is 52.
• Manu Ginobili, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, is 47.
• Actor John David Washington is 40.
• Actor Dustin Milligan is 39.
• Rapper Soulja Boy is 34.
• England football star Harry Kane is 31.
• Pop/rock singer Cher Lloyd is 31.
• Golfer Nelly Korda is 26.

Originally published: July 28, 2024 at 01:00