It’s another version of the “depends on what your definition of ‘is’, is”….

I’m still betting the decisions ultimately came from Denis McDonough and Tom Donilon during those critical hours….   both Obama and Biden were indisposed.

Washington DC – On Thursday, while denying that a “stand-down order” was given to Special Forces members ready to help Americans who were under siege at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi last September, one of the heads of the Benghazi Accountability Review Board (ARB) admitted that a “hold in place” order was in fact given.
Testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Admiral Mike Mullen said that the direction given to Special Operations Command Africa commander Lt. Col Gibson was to “hold in place” on the night of the attacks.
Gibson is the boss of Gregory Hicks, the former deputy chief of mission in Libya who had testified that a “stand down” order was given to Special Forces who wanted to help Americans who were under assault in Libya.  (continue reading)

(Louisiana) Fourth grade students in Vermilion Parish, La. were given a homework assignment that included words like “Po Pimp” and “mobstaz,” but school officials said the worksheet was age appropriate based on an education website affiliated with Common Core education standards.

“I try to instill values in my son,” parent Brittney Badeaux told Fox News. “My goal is for him to ultimately to become a great man, a family man, a well-rounded man. And now my son wants to know what a pimp is.”
Badeaux was helping her 9-year-old son with his homework when she heard him say the words “Po Pimp” and “mobstaz.”
“I couldn’t believe it at first – hearing him read it to me,” she told Fox News. “So I looked at the paper and read the entire article. It was filled with Ebonics.” (more…)

(Via HuffPo)  Before Aaron Alexis went on his Navy Yard shooting rampage, he reportedly carved the words “Better Off This Way,” into his shotgun.

Alexis, who died during Monday’s shooting spree, also carved the phrase, “My E-L-F Weapon” onto the stock of the gun, according to ABC News.

Now, investigators are questioning the meaning of the phrases and if “better off this way” might be a clue that Alexis knew he would die in the altercation.  (link)

I think the first carving, “Better off This Way” is self explanatory….  Suicide by COP, make a name for yourself, and take out a few folks who look like the folks you hate.  Rail against the world and everyone who has grieved you.
The second carving, “My E-L-F Weapon” is probably a reflection of his job and his psychology.   He was an electrical IT type guy right?   Obviously unstable but generally pretty intelligent.   He was more than likely using a common term in his profession as an analogy behind his decision and his weapon to execute the decision: (more…)

(American Thinker – Catharine Evans)  On  September 12, Miami-Dade police arrested a 17-year-old black teenager, Jamal  Jackson, for the August 21 execution-style murder (see shocking video)  of Hispanic-American Miguel Pilotos.

The  black-on-Hispanic killing in Opa-Locka, Florida didn’t get much press when it  happened.  Only after the suspect was arrested three weeks later did  various news outlets release more details of the crime.
Within  those reports a familiar name appeared: Rod Vereen. (more…)

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. –  A teenager kidnapped from her home at gunpoint in the middle of the night has been reunited with her family.
Ayvani Hope Perez, 14, was found at a location in Conyers, Ga., according to Clayton County Police Chief Gregory Porter.
The details regarding how she was found have yet to be released.
“She was recovered at a location in Conyers, Ga. The investigation is still active,” the chief said. He added that she has been reunited with her family and is being evaluated.  […]
Porter said Ayvani has been in the metro area since her abduction. She was found around noon on Wednesday. (more…)

FIRST The FLIP.   Yesterday [Mon] on CNN, when the shooter was still thought to have used an AR-15, the CNN media types were talking about how accurate a weapon it was.   @7pm Erin Burnett even hosted a show talking about how anyone with simple training could put every magazine round into a two-inch square at 100 yards.    (*Note – This is Pre-victim id)

[…]  But if you keep that weapon clean, it is an extremely accurate rifle. He said from 100 yards, a novice with no training, with very little training could put just about every bullet in the magazine within about a two-inch area from 100 yards. So, that is how accurate that particular weapon is, Erin.

BURNETT: That is stunning. Every bullet in the magazine within a two-inch area with no training, I mean, that’s impossible to understand.

All right. Well, now I know, Brian, at this point, there are questions about what gun he used if he only used one gun where he got them. And I know we are still working on a lot of that. But I know that you know — you’re reporting he also had a semiautomatic Glock. Do we have any sense of what that, where he got that, what he was using that for?

TODD: Not sure where he got the semiautomatic glock pistol, Erin. We know that, from our sources that he purchased — he legally purchased the ar-15 rifle and that according to the people we have talked to, our law enforcement sources that was the weapon that he — the majority of the shooting with on Monday. So the ar-15 is really the weapon that everybody’s talking about right now.  (link)

(more…)

Here’s a general discussion thread to absorb / share information that might flow from the DC Naval Yard Shooting.

A good background on the shooter, Aaron Alexis, is posted at GateWay Pundit – CLICK HERE
The Smoking Gun has a breakdown on his previous encounters with the Law – CLICK HERE
A good consideration about DC being a “gun-free” zone, and ongoing information about the absence of a law enforcement Affirmative Responsibility, is available at The Examiner – CLICK HERE
A Timeline of the event, along with some additional details and photography, is available at the Daily Mail – CLICK HERE [However, some of the information from the Daily Mail about the weapons is incorrect]

Willing, and arguably desperate to get out from under his own inept Syrian bus, Dear Leader proclaims victory and moves along.   Next Up – Asia
The White House on Saturday released a statement from President Obama after it was announced that Secretary of State John Kerry had helped broker a deal with Russia for the removal of Syria’s chemical weapons.

Here’s the full statement:

“I welcome the progress made between the United States and Russia through our talks in Geneva, which represents an important, concrete step toward the goal of moving Syria’s chemical weapons under international control so that they may ultimately be destroyed. This framework provides the opportunity for the elimination of Syrian chemical weapons in a transparent, expeditious, and verifiable manner, which could end the threat these weapons pose not only to the Syrian people but to the region and the world. The international community expects the Assad regime to live up to its public commitments. (more…)

….. and people ask me why I have such disdain for Democrats.    It’s freedom *OF* religion, not freedom *FROM* religion.

(FLORIDA)  A Florida ministry that feeds the poor said a state agriculture department official told them they would not be allowed to receive USDA food unless they removed portraits of Christ, the Ten Commandments, a banner that read “Jesus is Lord” and stopping giving Bibles to the needy.

“They told us they could no longer allow us to have any religious information where the USDA food is going to be,” said Kay Daly, executive director of the Christian Service Center.
So why did the government have an issue with the religious group’s religious decorations? A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Agriculture told me they were following the guidelines written by the USDA. (more…)

…Police say nothing was taken from him [victim] even though they say Jackson had cased the parking lot looking for a victim.
Police say the gunman rode up to Pilotos’s car on a bicycle and pulled out his weapon and shot him. It happened in the parking lot of the supermarket…

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – An Opa-Locka teenager is being held without bond after a court hearing and after Miami-Dade Police arrested him for shooting and killing a 71-year-old man.
As first reported first reported by the blog Random Pixels, Miami-Dade Police have identified the suspect who fatally shot Miguel Pilotos as 17-year-old Jamal Jackson.  The chilling crime was captured on surveillance tape at 4 p.m. on August 21^st outside the Top Value Supermarket in Opa-Locka.
Miami-Dade Police spokesman Javier Baez told CBS4’s Peter D’Oench that the arrest of Jackson on Thursday afternoon followed a tip to Miami-Dade Crimestoppers.  (continue reading)