ENGLAND – A plot to kill Queen Elizabeth has been foiled by British police.
Police have arrested four Islamic terror suspects who were allegedly been planning to stab the 88-year-old monarch to death at the Royal Albert Hall, The Sun reported.
The Queen had been due to attend the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Hall today and both she and UK Prime Minister David Cameron had been informed of the threat, the paper said.
Since Thursday night (local time) armed police had raided several homes in West London and Buckinghamshire, arresting men between the ages of 19 and 27. (more…)

(Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Friday authorized the U.S. military to deploy up to 1,500 additional troops to help train and advise Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State militants, the White House said.

The White House will ask Congress for $5.6 billion for the operations in Iraq and Syria, which includes $1.6 billion for the new “Iraq Train and Equip Fund,” the White House Office of Management and Budget said.  (link)

Gee, you mean other than the Kurds the administration can’t actually locate the Syrian “moderates”?  Ya don’t say…

(CNSNews.com) – An Islamist rebel group that has been fighting both the Assad regime and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL) said Thursday that its base in western Syria had been targeted in an overnight U.S. airstrike.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict, made the same claim about a strike on the headquarters of Ahrar al-Sham in Idlib province. (more…)

Somehow I doubt Samantha Power, Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton thought things out this far…  Just a hunch.

(Via Front Page Mag) A new generation of the Libyan army was supposed to be trained in the West as part of international efforts to rebuild the country after the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi. Hand-picked recruits were invited to rural England for basic infantry and junior command training.

On Tuesday, however, the British Ministry of Defense announced that all 300 trainees would be sent home early after a string of sexual assaults were perpetrated against the residents of Cambridgeshire, culminating in the alleged gang rape of a young man.[…]
Two of the recruits have admitted to two sexual assaults and a bicycle theft in Market Square right at the center of the old town. They also pleaded guilty to threatening a police office. Another cadet, aged 18, has been charged with three sexual assaults.
In total, police have investigated reports of 11 sexual assaults in central Cambridge within nine days. (more…)

It is well known and accepted in international circles that President Obama’s BFF is President Recep Erdogan of Turkey.
It is also reasonably accepted that Erdogan is a Sunni Islamist and power thirsty Marxist who views his job to resurrect the ottoman empire.
Those of you who have followed our research into the psyche and ideology of Erdogan might be interested in the newly finished palace he built for himself.
At a cost of over $500,000,000.00 (£384,000,000.00) and boasting 1,000 rooms covering a total floor area of 3.1 million square feet, the palace is four times the size of Versailles, allowing Mr Erdogan to exceed the residential grandeur of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” of France.

Inside the palace, a majestic hallway leads up to a sweeping staircase. The quixotic architectural style seems to cross the Ottoman and Seljuk traditions with that of a modern Chinese railway station.  (see more pics and details)

This is a pretty sobering statistic.   Last week in response to continued terrorist attacks in the Sinai region, Egypt began to widen the border between Gaza and Egypt.  A “buffer zone” is being built and homes on the border are being removed.  A “border wall” is currently being considered.
So far around 200 homes have been bulldozed or destroyed as Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi and his government begin the process.  Of the 200 homes removed, 78 have been found to house tunnels from Egypt into Gaza, that’s 39%.  These tunnels are used by Hamas to smuggle arms and rockets into the Gaza strip – the target of the rockets is Israel.

EGYPT – North Sinai Governor General Abdel-Fattah Harhour said owners of houses on the border line with the Gaza Strip will not receive any compensation for their demolished houses if smuggling tunnels were discovered inside their homes.
“The number of these homes whose owners will not receive compensation is 78, no compensation because these houses have smuggling tunnels,” he told local CBC television.
On Wednesday, the army began demolishing homes along the border line with the Gaza Strip to create a buffer zone which aims at preventing weapons smuggling. (more…)

LIBYA – Dozens of residents of a town in eastern Libya have pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of Islamic State militants fighting in Syria and Iraq, according to a video and a resident.
Around 50 young people could be seen in a video posted on social media gathering in Derna to support Baghdadi, who calls himself “caliph”, or Muslim leader, of Islamic State, an Al Qaeda offshoot.

A Derna resident confirmed the authenticity of the video, taken late on Friday. (more…)

Almost worse than my severe disdain for President Obama’s short-sighted political decisions, is my supernova level dislike for the U.S. media who refuse to call him to task.... almost.   To retain my own personal sense of center I have tried to remove the word “hate” from my psyche, but it’s hard, really, really hard, right now…. can you just imagine the Fallujah ROE with Obama coordinating from the White House! 

(h/t Weasel Zippers – Via Hot Air) Fallujah. Ramadi. Haditha. Americans know the names of the cities and assets in Iraq’s Anbar Province well. Their liberation was paid for in American blood. […]
“U.S. advisers currently operate in areas around Baghdad and Irbil in the north of the country,” CNN reported. “The new proposal would put U.S. troops in the middle of some of the most violent situations in Iraq.”

U.S. officials maintain that Iraqi support for Sunni tribes going on the offensive against ISIS will be a necessary part in the effort to defeat the militants, who are also called ISIL and refer to themselves as the Islamic State.
In a news conference with reporters Thursday, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs chairman, signaled the possibility of the new role when he said the Iraqi government had not yet requested U.S. military support in efforts to defend a Sunni tribe that has suffered mass executions at the hands of ISIS militants.

“That’s why we need to expand the train-advise-and-assist mission into the Al- Anbar Province,” Dempsey said. “But the precondition for that is that the government of Iraq is willing to arm the tribes. […] (more…)

WASHINGTON – Deputy National Security Adviser and MFA in creative writing Ben Rhodes likened an Iranian nuclear deal to Obamacare in a talk to progressive activists last January, according to audio obtained by the Washington Free Beacon (below).
The remarks, made at a since-discontinued regular meeting of White House personnel and representatives of liberal interest groups, reveal the importance of a rapprochement with Iran to President Obama, who is looking to establish his legacy as his presidency enters its lame-duck phase.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/174586449″ params=”color=ff5500″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
(more…)

More angst for the White House as the Ennahda party was the recipient of Obama’s affection when their islamist ideology took power in 2011.

TUNISIA – Tunisia’s secularist party Nidaa Tounes has won 85 seats in the country’s parliament following Sunday’s elections, official results show.
The governing Islamist Ennahda party won 69 seats in the 217-seat chamber. The official results confirm earlier predictions and Ennahda officials have already urged Nidaa Tounes to form an inclusive government.
Tunisia’s transition to democratic rule after a 2011 revolt has been hailed as a regional success story.  The revolt was the first and least violent of the Arab Spring uprisings against autocratic governments across the region. (more…)