Tunisia was the origin of the Arab Spring – Since neighboring Libya fell into a state of civil war the radical islamists are now spreading around the North African Mediterranean.  In addition to attacking Western-friendly targets they are attempting to create additional crisis by crippling the regional economy.  Within crisis, ISIS inspired radicals thrive.

TUNISIA – Panicked tourists fled from a popular beach in Tunisia Friday as a gunman pulled an automatic rifle from under an umbrella and began shooting, killing 37 people, officials said.

The attacker, who was dressed in shorts, came from the beach hiding his Kalashnikov gun before spraying terrified tourists with bullets. People were told to run in a chaotic scene near a beach in Sousse, and many took refuge in hotel rooms after the gunfire erupted, Sky News said.

Tunisia’s Interior Ministry originally said there were two gunmen but later said they believed just one gunman acted alone, killing 37 people and wounding at least 36. The Health Ministry said the dead include Tunisians, Brits, Germans and Belgians.

The gunman reportedly entered the Hotel Imperial through the swimming pool area, shooting people as he went. He also threw an explosive, witnesses said. (more…)

(UK Independent) […] More than 30 pedestrians, including three children, were hurt at several locations during the rampage and 10 victims were in hospital with serious injuries. One patient was in a critical condition on Saturday afternoon.

The driver, identified by police as a 26-year-old Austrian man of Bosnian heritage, has been arrested. He works as a professional driver and is married with two children.

Police are not currently investigating terrorism as a motive and the suspect is believed to be suffering from mental illness.

Witnesses recounted how the man drove his vehicle into crowds apparently at random, sending pedestrians and cyclists crashing into the windscreen and rolling over the bonnet.

(more…)

President Obama is using the 2009 Executive Order Task Force to qualify detainees held at GITMO for release.   This week six more will be transferred to Oman, four of whom are Osama Bin Laden’s Ghuraba’a Members – ‘strangers from the Afghanistan Mountains’.

In addition to the XO Task Force the White House seeks to protect the president from consequence by using Obama’s cabinet for review approvals.   Six federal departments or agencies also approved the releases: The departments of Defense, State, Justice and Homeland Security; the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

WASHINGTON DC – […]  The six new transfers are Emad Abdullah Hassan, who has been on hunger strikes since 2007 in protest of his confinement without charge since 2002.  ccording to court documents, Hassan said detainees have been force-fed up to a gallon at a time of nutrients and water.

He is accused of being one of many bodyguards for bin Laden, who led the Al Qaeda terror group until killed by U.S. forces in 2011. Hassan also was allegedly part of a group planning to attack NATO and American troops against the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

The five other detainees sent to Oman were identified by the Pentagon as: (more…)

Secretary John Kerry appears to have gained a new pair of “eyebrow merkins“. 

BOSTON – […] Kerry left Massachusetts General Hospital on crutches but under his own power. He told reporters he planned to go to his nearby home in the Beacon Hill section of Boston for a few days before traveling to Washington next week.

He promised to be “absolutely, totally and fully engaged” in nuclear negotiations with Iran, saying he remained confident the June 30 timetable for completing a deal could be achieved. He said he expected to travel overseas to join in the discussions later in the month as they neared a critical juncture.

“Our team is in Vienna right now working out very complex … details of this agreement,” Kerry said “It’s a tough slog. It’s not easy.” (read more)

It’s no secret the Obama administration is ideologically favorable toward the Muslim Brotherhood.  Conversely, it’s also an open secret that President Obama does not like Egypt’s secular leader Fattah el Sisi or the principles represented by Sisi’s framework of governance for all Egyptians.

However, the U.S. administration conducting secret meetings with a terrorist enemy of the Egyptian state, the Muslim Brotherhood, is going too far.  El Sisi wants answers.

(Via Reuters) Egypt summoned the U.S. ambassador in Cairo to show displeasure at Muslim Brotherhood figures coming to Washington for a private conference, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.

One source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. officials did not intend to meet the group although they had met some Brotherhood figures that came to Washington in January. (more…)

HatTip WeaselZippers who shares: President Obama was speaking with Italian PM Mario Renzi and Christine Lagarde, President of the International Monetary Fund. The Iraqi President Haider al-Abadi approached, clearly hoping to talk with Obama, sitting down right next to him. Obama continued his discussion with the others not acknowledging Abadi.
Obama and the others then stood up, and Abdadi stood as well, hoping to catch Obama’s attention, but Obama simply turned and walked away. Abdi and his translator then walk off, looking annoyed.

Meanwhile Obama admitted today he had “no complete strategy” for training Iraqis to deal with ISIS.  Maybe talking with the leadership would actually help…

On August 28th 2014 President Obama said:  “We still don’t have a strategy against ISIS”

Today, June 8th 2015, Nine Months Later, President Obama says: “We don’t yet have a complete strategy to fight ISIS“:

How many rounds of golf has President Obama played in the last nine months? (more…)

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, aka President Obama’s BFF, has been working earnestly trying to recreate the Ottoman Empire with himself as the proclaimed head of the Islamist Empire.

Toward that end Erdogan built himself a grand and opulent palace, aligned himself with ISIS radicals, and provided a safe-harbor for exiled Muslim Brotherhood leadership after Qatar kicked them out for advocating extremist violence.  Yes, even Qatar, home of the GITMO 5, realized the Brotherhood leadership were essentially ISIS sycophants.  However, Erdogan viewed them as ideological brethren deserving of more than a little sympathy.
Erdogan is ‘all-in’ toward his goals of recreating a modern Ottoman Empire.  Nothing was going to stand in his way; even if it meant killing journalists who were exposing his extremist plans.  Erdogan even jails people who make fun of him, and shut down Twitter just because it posed a threat to his power. However, today he suffered a significant, well, actually a devastating, setback.  (more…)

A cynically minded person might be inclined to think the White House is strategically trying to position the hearing a far distance from the release of the Gitmo 5 detainees so that juxtapositions cannot be drawn.  Nah, couldn’t be...
(Via Stars and Stripes) The Army says it has pushed back the date for a preliminary hearing for Bowe Bergdahl, the sergeant who left his post in Afghanistan and was held by the Taliban for five years.
Bergdahl is charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.
His hearing had been scheduled for July 8.
But the Army says that at the request of Bergdahl’s lawyers, the hearing was put off until Sept. 17 at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston in Texas. (more…)

An intellectually honest person cannot read the details behind this investigation and not see the potential for parallels to the Mississippi Jessica Lane Chambers murder, and Yemeni gas station owner/operator Ali Alsanai; aka Basem Alsanai, aka Ali Fadhel.
The First Stop gas station and convenience store, where Jessica Chambers was last seen alive on video, is owned/operated by a seemingly sketchy family originating from Yemen.
ALABAMA –  A couple of steaks shoplifted at a Gardendale Walmart three months ago led to the biggest food stamp fraud investigation in Jefferson County’s history, and launched 11 simultaneous raids this morning at convenience stores countywide.
Led by the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office, teams of law enforcement officers met at 5 a.m. for a briefing and then fanned out across the county beginning at 6:50 a.m. The officers and agents were armed with 242 arrest warrants and plans to arrest 17 suspects.
All 17 suspects were in custody by mid-morning, and investigators already today have filed for forfeiture and condemnation of those 11 stores, which totals more than $1 million in assets. (more…)