In the early hours of this morning, two vessels transiting through the Strait of Hormuz towards the Indian Ocean were attacked by unknown entities causing hull breach explosions that rendered the vessels inoperable.  The sailors were evacuated.

The Norwegian owned “Front Altair” (cargo: 75,000 tonnes of naphtha), and the Japanese owned “Kokuka Courageous” (cargo: 25,000 tonnes of methanol) were struck in the Gulf of Oman; the same strategic sea lane where four oil vessels were sabotaged last month.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has identified Iran as the government responsible for the attacks.  [Press Conference Video]

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No doubt Iran feels empowered to attack Western interests partly due to the support expressed by former Secretary of State Kerry and former President Obama.  Both have created an open window for Iran by undermining President Trump.
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More than 600 Iranian-funded Hamas terror missiles have been fired into Israel from Gaza. Four Israeli civilians have been killed.  In retaliation, Israel has carried out military strikes against Hamas leaders in Gaza.  President Trump tweets support for Israel.

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Rockets and missiles from Gaza killed four civilians in Israel while Israeli strikes killed 14 Palestinians, most of them militants, in surging cross-border fighting on Sunday, according to Gazan officials and the Israeli military.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the military to continue “massive strikes” against Gaza’s ruling Hamas group and Islamic Jihad in the most serious border clashes since a spate of fighting in November.

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This is something many anticipated in 2017; particularly with the Mid-East visit by President Trump; but it never happened.  However, according to the New York Times, President Trump has a renewed push toward designating The Muslim Brotherhood as an official terrorist group.
The Brotherhood is the political umbrella organization for a variety of extreme Islamist organizations; and was the primary driver of regional uprising during the Islamist Spring (Tunis, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen etc). Former President Obama looked warmly upon the Brotherhood and worked earnestly with them to fulfill their ideological goals.
The most visible effort of the political Brotherhood was in Egypt with the election of Mohammed Morsi; which led to widespread violence/chaos and the eventual call by the Egyptian people for General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to step-in.
The Brotherhood leadership was exiled from Egypt, and after a short time in Qatar -and confrontation by the Gulf Cooperation Council-  they were given safe harbor in Turkey by Recep Erdogan.  They likely remain in Turkey today.
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Mark Steven Domingo, 26, a veteran and recent convert to Islam, was arrested by federal authorities for his plan to detonate an improvised explosive device in/around San Fernando Valley California.  His targets for the attack included “Jews, police officers, churches, and a military facility.”  Thankfully the FBI intercepted him.
(From the DOJ) LOS ANGELES – A San Fernando Valley man was arrested Friday night after he received what he thought was a live bomb, but in fact was an inert explosive device that was delivered by an undercover law enforcement officer as part of an investigation by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Mark Steven Domingo, 26, of Reseda, a former U.S. Army infantryman with combat experience in Afghanistan, faces federal charges in a terrorist plot in which he planned to detonate an improvised explosive device (IED) for the purpose of causing mass casualties.

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Horrific Islamic terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka.  A series of Easter Sunday bombings at luxury hotels and churches filled with christian worshippers has left at least 207 people dead. Hundreds more were wounded. Police say most of the eight bombings appear to have been suicide attacks.

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The government has identified religious extremists, but so far no group has claimed responsibility. Sri Lanka’s Defense Minister says police have arrested seven suspects believed to be linked to the wave of bombings.
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Put this into the geopolitical file labeled: “Things that make other things make sense”…  You only need to watch the first minute and fifteen-seconds of this announcement to see the bigger BIG picture.  WATCH:

[Transcript Snippet] … “This is the first time that the United States has designated a part of another government as an FTO. We’re doing because the Iranian regime’s use of terrorism as a tool of statecraft makes it fundamentally different from any other government. This historic step will deprive the world’s leading state sponsor of terror the financial means to spread misery and death around the world.”

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This is a breaking story, so stay tuned.  Details are sketchy. Here’s what we know so far.  West Virginia State Police and U.S. Secret Service agents shut down part of interstate 68 in West Virginia following an alert of a 42-year-old male heading to Washington DC to carry out a threat against President Trump and the Pentagon.

State police, ATF and FBI officers responded. A 42-year old male has been apprehended.  I-68 is now re-opened. A vehicle search revealed a firearm and explosive powder.

W-VA – […] State Police Captain Shallon Oglesby said the shutdown came after a routine traffic stop at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday for speeding along the eastbound lanes.
The trooper determined that the stop would require an “in-depth investigation” leading to the shutdown, Oglesby said.
State Police and Preston officials would not confirm reports that the incident involves explosives.

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Everything about last year’s headline story just two-weeks before the mid-term election was weird; including the refusal of the FBI to state what ‘specifically’ was the material suspect Cesar Sayoc was accused of using to create his Acme looking pipe bombs.
[Full Indictment Here]
You might remember: FBI Director Christopher Wray outlined during his remarks that the devices consisted of PVC pipe, clocks, batteries, wiring and “energetic material that can become combustible when subjected to heat or friction”.
The FBI director went out of his way to state: “these were not hoax devices.”  The DOJ then moved to seal all court filings and the case against the nut continued behind the curtain of ‘national security’.  Suspect Cesar Sayoc was scheduled to go on trial this summer on charges relating to the pipe bombs.  However, today he entered a guilty plea before a federal judge in New York.

(Via Washington Post) Cesar Sayoc, the Florida man accused of mailing explosive devices to more than a dozen politicians and media figures who have been critical of President Trump, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court.

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A crazed Senegalese migrant kidnapped a bus loaded with 51 middle-school-aged students near Milan Italy.  The suspect attempted to burn the bus with the students inside, but fortunately police were able to rescue the children as the fire started.

One of the children was able to hide their cell phone and call for help.  An alarming story and rescue that was caught on video by a passing motorist.

(Via Daily Mail)  A Senegalese man abducted 51 children when he hijacked an Italian school bus and set the vehicle alight in a protest over migrant deaths in the Mediterranean.

Ousseynou Sy, originally Senegalese but with Italian citizenship, stopped the bus he was driving, with two classes of high school students on board.

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(DOJ-NSD ) A federal grand jury sitting in Albuquerque, New Mexico returned a superseding indictment on March 13 charging Jany Leveille, 36, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 40, Hujrah Wahhaj, 38, Subhanah Wahhaj, 36, and Lucas Morton, 41, with federal offenses related to terrorism, kidnapping and firearms violations.

All of the defendants are currently in custody awaiting trial.

The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers for the National Security Division, U.S. Attorney John C. Anderson for the District of New Mexico, Assistant Director Michael McGarrity of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division and Special Agent in Charge James Langenberg of the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office.

These defendants were previously charged by indictment on Sept. 11, 2018, with a conspiracy relating to the possession of firearms and ammunition by an alien illegally and unlawfully in the United States.  The original indictment also charged Leveille with possessing firearms and ammunition as an alien illegally and unlawfully in the United States.
The superseding indictment charges all of the defendants with participating in a conspiracy from October 2017 to August 2018 to provide material support and resources, including currency, training, weapons, and personnel, knowing and intending that they were to be used in preparation for and in carrying out attacks to kill officers and employees of the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2339A.
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