A really insightful paper written about the current status of Kobane Syria.  Quite a remarkable glimpse into the status, thoughts, hopes and prayers of those who are there. I hope you find it both reflective and enlightening…

Planting Trees In Kobane

After two months of restless nights, we are all finally starting to sleep a little better.  The siege of Kobane is drawing to a close in the form of an historic and complete victory for the towns undaunted defenders.

The Daesh gangsters are exhausted, demoralised, and cut off from their supply routes.  The road from Kobane to Raqqa is severed now, and the 200 or so daeshbags remaining in southern and eastern Kobane are short of food and ammunition, and their morale is failing.

Those remaining have descended into the sewers “literally, on this occasion”. (more…)

President Obama made the right call.  President Obama approved the best chance to rescue Luke Somers.  Period.

There are voices angry at the outcome because unknown to the rescue unit there was a second hostage, held by al-Qaeda terrorists, in the same building.  A South African hostage was also being held with Somers – both died as a result of the terrorists shooting them as the rescue was underway. 
Reports are now saying, according to the employer of the South African hostage, Pierre Korkie, he was scheduled to be released as ransom had been paid.
Obviously the outcome is tragic.  However, regardless of outcome, President Obama made the right decision.  The details are outlined below. 
(CNN) — Al Qaeda militants killed two Western hostages in Yemen — an American photojournalist and a South African who was employed by an aid group — during a raid conducted by U.S. forces, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Saturday.
President Barack Obama ordered Friday’s mission to save the American, Luke Somers, because “there were compelling reasons to believe Mr. Somers’ life was in imminent danger,” Hagel said.
A U.S. official said that during the raid, one of the terrorists ran inside the compound and shot the hostages.
A video of Somers pleading for his life was released earlier this week by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The U.S. was given three days to comply with unspecified demands made by the terror group; that time was due to run out.
During the raid, the militants with AQAP also killed South African hostage Pierre Korkie, according to his employer, the relief group Gift of the Givers. (more…)

Thoughts and prayers for his family.

The media reported recently on an al-Qaeda video threatening to kill U.S. hostage Luke Somers in Yemen.  Early this morning his family announced he was killed in a failed rescue attempt:

CAIRO (AP)– The sister of American photojournalist Luke Somers says he has been killed in a failed rescue attempt in Yemen.

Lucy Somers told The Associated Press on Saturday that she learned of her 33-year-old brother’s death from FBI agents. There was no immediate comment from Washington.

Lucy Somers said:  “We ask that all of Luke’s family members be allowed to mourn in peace.”

Luke Somers was abducted in September 2013 in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. This week, the Pentagon confirmed it launched an earlier failed raid to rescue him. (link)

If you have read the Treehouse Benghazi Brief you already knew to expect this outcome.  However, it’s important to note who conducted the investigation and published the report:

…[…] “We spent thousands of hours asking questions, poring over documents, reviewing intelligence assessments, reading cables and emails, and held a total of 20 committee events and hearings,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the committee’s chairman, and Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the ranking Democrat, in a joint statement.

Both Mike Rogers and Dutch Ruppersberger were members of the “Gang of Eight” who were fully aware of operation Zero Footprint in 2011 which led to the Benghazi issues:

FULLY RESEARCHED:  “THE BENGHAZI BRIEF” HERE

TODAY: WASHINGTON (AP) — A two-year investigation by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee has found that the CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration appointees. (more…)

…”Students should walk out of school when they hear another murdering pig has gone free”…

Mommy, why did the masked man say we needed to murder a pig?
Early in the Ferguson protesting a group of professional communists and antagonists from Chicago arrived on scene to exploit the Mike Brown shooting outrage.

Today within an article highlighting school closings for Monday and Tuesday in/around the Saint Louis/Ferguson area you find the following disturbing mentions:

[…]  School district representatives from several north St. Louis County districts say they’ve been requested by law enforcement to close for two days immediately after the announcement to keep buses and excess traffic off streets in the event of unrest.

Children in Jennings don’t have bus service. Most of them walk, making Anderson even more concerned for their safety.

On Thursday, Anderson said a group of adults wearing masks and claiming to be from Chicago were passing out fliers to students as they walked home along Cozens Avenue. The street has an elementary school, the junior high and high school.

(more…)

Today the FBI expanded the warnings for anticipated violence to multiple communities throughout the U.S. – The list of cities planning to join the coordinated RAGE efforts has also increased.

Radical Islam is on the same side of the political continuum as totalitarianism and communism. Unfortunately, this also places them on the same side as radical leftist groups in the U.S. currently agitating in Saint Louis and surrounding communities; and seeking to use racial division to advance their own ideological causes.
As we have previously outlined the Anonymous Group “OpFerguson” is located in Pakistan and run by a man named Arslan Khan. Today Khan is instructing the Anarchists in Ferguson to target police surveillance, specifically police helicopters, with laser targeting devices (laser pointers).
https://twitter.com/OpFerguson/status/535510377040076800
https://twitter.com/OpFerguson/status/535512202610884608
https://twitter.com/OpFerguson/status/535542062423109632
What the Ferguson antagonists’, and OpFerguson (Arslan Khan), may not understand is this is not Egypt, or Turkey. There are federal laws, FAA, with serious consequences for aiming laser pointers at aircraft. (more…)

• The election is over • Obama has conferred with the BGI • Holder is coordinating diversity training • DOJ/CRS boots on the ground • Emergency plans in place – The “no bill” announcement could come at any day now, maybe today…

• ♦ INFO – Feds Release Investigative Details To New York Times (LINK)
• ♦ INFO – Officer Darren Wilson version of events given to media. (LINK)
• ♦ INFO – Official Mike Brown autopsy supports Wilson’s Version of events. (LINK)
• ♦ INFO – Eight Black Witnesses Confirm Darren Wilson Version (Link)
• ♦ INFO – Feds Reveal No Charges Expected Against Darren Wilson (LINK)
• ♦ INFO – STL Post Dispatch Releases Audio/Video of Police Call (LINK)
• ♦ INFO – FBI Shares Violence Is Expected/Anticipated (LINK)

• Officer Darren Wilson pushed into vehicle by Mike Brown. • A Struggle ensued. • Two shots fired inside vehicle. • One bullet striking the hand of Mike Brown. • Blood from right arm wound on interior door, uniform and officers weapon. • Gun powder residue also on hands of Mike Brown. • Attorney for Dorian Johnson admits DJ lied to media.

• One bullet lodges in door panel of SUV • One bullet strikes near window of adjacent apartment building. • Hat and one shoe located on South side of police SUV. • Second shoe located approximately 10-15′ East. • Officer Wilson chases Mike Brown. • Both travel approximately 100′ from SUV. • Brown stops, turns, makes aggressive statement. • Brown charges Wilson. • Ten additional shots fired at approaching Mike Brown. • Five bullets strike Brown. • Total of 12 shots fired.
(more…)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Two Palestinians stormed a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday, attacking worshippers praying inside with knives, axes and guns, and killing four people before they were killed in a shootout with police, officials said.

2 suspects entered a synagogue in the Har nof neighborhood in Jerusalem with knives and axes. Police arrive at scene and kill terrorists.

— Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) November 18, 2014

The attack, the deadliest in Jerusalem in years, is bound to ratchet up fears of sustained violence in the city, already on edge amid soaring tensions over a contested holy site.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel will “respond harshly” to the attack, which he denounced as a “cruel murder of Jews who came to pray and were killed by despicable murderers.” (more…)

BREAKING NEWS: New ISIS video purportedly shows beheading of American hostage http://t.co/3pyj3Tc8fU

— Fox News Alert (@foxnewsalert) November 16, 2014

Before becoming an aid worker, Kassig was an Army Ranger. He was deployed to Iraq in 2007, and later honorably discharged for medical reasons.

The video shows a black-clad man with a British accent standing over a severed head.

“This is Peter Edward Kassig, a U.S. citizen of your country,” the man says to the camera. “Peter, who fought against the Muslims in Iraq while serving as a soldier under the American army doesn’t have much to say.”

Kassig is a humanitarian aid worker who converted to Islam while in captivity. He also changed his name from Peter to Abdul-Rahman. He was en route to Deir Ezzour, in Syria, while working for his aid organzation when he was first “detained.”
[…]  The new video is both longer and far more gruesome than others released by the terror organization. (more…)