BEIRUT, Lebanon — Russia and Syria unleashed a coordinated assault by land, air and sea on Wednesday, seeking to reverse recent gains by rebel groups that were beginning to encroach on President Bashar al-Assad’s last bastion of power.

Moscow said it had fired 26 cruise missiles on Syrian targets from naval vessels in the Caspian Sea, 900 miles away, though it was not immediately clear whether they hit targets in the area of the ground offensive.

The ground assault, and airstrikes, seemed to focus on an area of northern Hama Province and southern Idlib Province, around three villages that insurgents consider the first line of defense of the strategic Jebel al-Zawiyah area. (more…)

Oregon Shooting at Umpqua Community College:

• #1  Original Event Thread – Including shooter history
• #2  Follow-up Information on shooter background, media and family
• #3  Father Interview, Mother hiding, Manifesto kept secret

Matthew Smith is the 18-year-old student who Umpqua Community College shooter, Christopher Mercer, selected to take possession of an envelope containing a manifesto and computer flash drive.
It is apparent from a CNN video interview with Matthew Smith’s mother, Summer Smith, that she (they) have been given instructions not to discuss what Matthew was given.  See Video:

Original Information HERE ~ Follow-up Information HERE

Shooter Birth Certificate Name is: Christopher Sean Mercer – 07/26/1989 (Black Male).
Mother: Laurel Margaret Harper – 04/05/1951 (Black Female)
Dad: Ian Bernard Mercer – 05/15/1960  (White Male)
Divorced in 2006
Ian Mercer (DAD) comes forward and says he had no idea his son had any firearms. He also claims the last time he saw his son was prior to Chris and Laurel moving to Oregon.
The YouTube ID of A1IWC1s-EE4?feature=player_embedded is invalid.
The parents divorce was in 2006 and Chris Mercer was always in the parental custody of his mom, Laurel Margaret Harper, so it is possible the father had no idea – but it strains a level of credulity that Mom and Son all-of-a-sudden took up a firearm hobby. Facebook statement before shooting by Mom: (more…)

Many of you may remember the name “Umar Lee” aka “Bret Lee” from the Ferguson protests in 2014.   In the months of Ferguson Black Lives Matter protests, Umar Lee surfaced as a rather unstable fellow who called on his BLM cohorts to engage in violence.
Umar Lee is now running for Mayor within the City of Saint Louis. See Video:

The Oregon Shooter is a 26-year-old black male.

Birth Certificate Name is: Christopher Sean Mercer – 07/26/1989.
Mother: Laurel Margaret Harper – 04/05/1951
Dad: Ian Bernard Mercer – 05/15/1960
Divorced in 2006

(Pic Source)

REAL IMAGE (left)  – *CNN IMAGE (right)

On the left is the selfie Christopher Mercer uploaded to his social media. On the right is how *CNN presented the same selfie in broadcast stories about him.  Why did CNN need to change the complexion (color) of their broadcast?  Why is no-one showing pictures of mom, Laurel Margaret Harper.

[ NOTE: *Since the original discussion thread was posted on Friday October 2nd, the comparative image above has become the matter of some controversy. On Thr/Fri a twitter acct (we did not record who) posted a video vine on showing a CNN broadcast (TV) including that image. Additionally the same source posting a side-by-side as above. We captured the side-by-side image and shared it – as shown.  We did not create the image, we copied it from a twitter feed. According to various comments posted: CNN denies attribution.  Absent our ability to return to source origination for further inquiry, the comparative side-by-side image should be considered suspect, and quite possibly false. ]

https://twitter.com/bour3/status/651661901345128449
Why change to hyphenated name?  Real name is Christopher Sean Mercer.  Media using Christopher Harper-Mercer and Chris Harper-Mercer. (more…)

Multiple Updates Below – Shooter ID’d as 26-year-old “Chris Harper Mercer” ♦ Last night an anonymous poster on the Website 4Chan posted a warning of an intent to carry out an attack at a Northwest U.S. Community College (CACHE HERE).  ♦ Today an attack was carried out:

According to this Local report:    The gunman who opened fire at Umpqua Community College in Oregon asked victims to state their religion before opening fire, according to multiple reports. An 18-year-old student told the News-Review newspaper that the gunman, after shooting her teacher in the head through a window, told people to get on the ground. He then told people to stand up and state their religion before opening fire. Twitter user @BodhiLooney, who said her grandma was at the school, said the shooter asked people if they were Christian. “If they said yes, then they were shot in the head,” she wrote. “If they said no, or didn’t answer, they were shot in the legs.”
♦  Umpqua Community College was/is the local college attended by Alek Scarlatos (pictured below far right).  Scarlatos was one of the 3 U.S. Heroes who took down the jihadist gunman on the train in France recently.  Alek was enrolled in this current fall semester (per his Facebook), however he cancelled his classes and took time off to take advantage of an opportunity and complete in Dancing With The Stars. (more…)

I’ve never noticed before that Jake Tapper has a weird way of not looking at the interviewee when asking questions:

“You shall not pass” – So say the people of Finland as they turn away “refugees” trying to make their way into their country.  Remarkable similarities to when the feds were trying to ship the illegal aliens around the U.S.  Communities blocking the passage.

FINLAND – More than hundred people gathered on Saturday in Torneå to protest against immigration. YLE’s reporter, Jessica Stolzmann, reports that there were many Finnish flags and people of all ages in place.
Just before 13 o’clock the participants formed a human wall on the Finnish side of the border between Sweden and Finland.
– We are opposed to so many asylum seekers coming to Finland. They have come through lots of safe European countries before they reached Finland, and they should have stayed there, said a middle-aged couple to YLE, during the demonstration. (more…)

“Operation Hummingbird” is dependent upon the general Republican electorate/audience and media consumer being swayed by optics and manipulation as a strategy.  In essence full-throated “gaslighting“.
Cutting through that intent and getting to the substance of truth is really not too difficult, but you won’t find many outlets (new media or old) willing to go there.  However, as you are aware for us the Truth Has No Agenda, and Sunlight Is The Best Disinfectant.
We begin by watching this video of Carly Fiorina appearing on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and the discussion of a Muslim candidate eligible as U.S. President: