(more…)

Friends, this is so unprecedented and so unbelievable we had to insure accuracy with direct sourcing for context, via exact quotes, and comprehension, via video of events.

For the vicar of Christ, Pope Francis, to say another man “is not Christian” entirely because the pope disagrees with a specific point of political opinion – is unprecedented in historic Catholicism, Christianity and ancient-to-modern expressions of faith.

It is almost certain the Vatican will try to clean up this political mess with intense urgency [opinion follows content].  The Pope was asked the following question by a Reuters reporter, Phil Pullella:

Phil Pullella, Reuters: Today, you spoke very eloquently about the problems of immigration. On the other side of the border, there is a very tough electoral battle. One of the candidates for the White House, Republican Donald Trump, in an interview recently said that you are a political man and he even said that you are a pawn, an instrument of the Mexican government for migration politics.

Trump said that if he’s elected, he wants to build 2,500 kilometers of wall along the border. He wants to deport 11 million illegal immigrants, separating families, etcetera. I would like to ask you, what do you think of these accusations against you and if a North American Catholic can vote for a person like this? (citation link)

Here is the exact response by Pope Francis today: (more…)

The U.S. State Department released more of Hillary Clinton’s emails today.  One of those emails is noted as originating on March 22nd 2011, the exact day President Obama launched the attacks on Libya.

The newly released email confirms what many already knew – it was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice and Samantha Power who convinced President Obama to go to war in Libya:

“Turning POTUS around on this is a major win for everything we worked for”..

(more…)

Mohamed Barry, 30, carried a machete into an Ohio restaurant and began chopping at people.

However, Barry was known to the FBI, and was in their suspect database because of prior radical jihadist threats he made.

But that didn’t stop the Columbus police spokesman Rich Weiner from proclaiming:

“There’s nothing to lead us to believe this is anything more than a random attack.”

I doubt there is severe enough sarcasm possible here; because everyone knows “random attack” is generally defined as a self-proclaimed Muslim jihadist walking into a kosher deli, which coincidentally is named, Nazareth Restaurant and Deli, and chopping people up with a machete.

C’mon, happens all the time – right?  Nothing to see here folks, move along, step right this way… move along now.  Pay no attention to the Jihad near the counter.

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In the run-up to the 2012 presidential election President Obama was quick to dismiss the growing threat of ISIS as a “junior varsity team”.

However, in 2016 with no reelection needed, a rather stark and somber forecast is delivered by the Department of National Intelligence head, James Clapper.

Prior to delivering testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, James Clapper submitted a summary of intelligence analytics describing the scope of threat. (more…)

There’s no way these media reports are accidental or not directly connected.  And none of this looks the least bit good against the larger dynamic of the Syrian crisis and President Stompy Feet’s prior position on ISIS.

Yesterday, well, actually Friday, the release of the information was yesterday, Vice-President Joe Biden met in Turkey with President Recep Erdogan.  They met for several hours as reported in The Hill and the topic was an escalated U.S./Turkish military footprint against ISIS :

Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday said the U.S. and regional ally Turkey are prepared to seek a military solution in Syria to try to solve the nation’s five-year-long civil war.

Speaking after a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul, Biden stressed that a political solution to the problem would still be preferable.

“But we are prepared if that’s not possible to having a military solution to this operation and taking out Daesh,” he said, according to AFP, using another name for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

(more…)

[…]  We are aware of reports that American citizens are missing in Iraq,” US State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

“We are working with the full cooperation of the Iraqi authorities to locate and recover the individuals,” Kirby added, without providing details about their number or the circumstances of their disappearance. (link)

(Independent) Three Americans have been kidnapped by militants in the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad.

According to Arab news channel Al-Arabiya, well-informed sources in Baghdad have confirmed that the kidnapping took place in the south of the city on Sunday.

The US State Department confirmed it was aware of the reports, and said it was working with Iraqi authorities to locate and recover the missing Americans.  The identities of the kidnap victims or the militias have not yet been confirmed.

The reported kidnapping comes at a time of increased tensions between the predominantly Shia militias of southern Iraq and US-backed Saudi Arabia, following the latter’s execution of prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr. (link)

It is a good thing, a great thing, the U.S. hostages/prisoners are being released.  However, to find out that President Obama and John Kerry allowed the hostages to be used as leverage to block sanctions – is a little disappointing. 

The day before new sanctions were due to be implemented, Iran told the U.S. the fate of the prisoners was dependent on no new sanctions. Kerry agreed.

As with all other strategic decisions from this administration our adversaries only need to consider the political benefits of President Obama in their counter-strategy.  Knowing the White House only makes deals based on political best interests, gives our adversaries a significant structural advantage in how they approach negotiations. 

(Via Reuters)  The day before the Obama administration was due to slap new sanctions on Iran late last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warned U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry the move could derail a prisoner deal the two sides had been negotiating in secret for months.

Kerry and other top aides to President Barack Obama, who was vacationing in Hawaii, convened a series of conference calls and concluded they could not risk losing the chance to free Americans held by Tehran. (more…)

ONGOING – Multiple terrorists have conducted several attacks in Jakarta Indonesia.  Explosives and automatic weapons bring about speculation of similarity to the Paris ISIS attacks.  The attacks are near government buildings and heavily used shopping venues.

(Via Daily Mail ) A series of explosions have rocked the Indonesia capital of Jakarta as police say they suspect a suicide bomber was responsible for at least one of the blasts.

Police say suspects were seen throwing grenades from their motorbikes before the bomb blasts, the ABC reported. (more…)

This Philadelphia report by NBC actually aligns with what many people have been able to piece together in the San Bernardino attack in December. Individual members activate, but they are only one part of larger Islamic Jihad terror cells.

(Philadelphia NBC10) Tensions ran high in the Philadelphia Police Department Sunday — three days after an attempted assassination of an officer in West Philadelphia by a man allegedly claiming he did it “in the name of Islam” — after an anonymous tip to officers on Saturday said the threat against police in the city is ongoing.

According to a police report obtained by NBC10 on Sunday, an anonymous tipster told officers that, “the threat to police is not over … the offender who shot [Officer Jesse] Hartnett is part of a group that consists of three others and that the [alleged shooter] is not the most radical of the four.” The report goes on to say the tipster told police to “be careful.” (more…)