Chairman Lindsey Graham appears on late-night-interuptus to discuss his Senate Judiciary investigation into allegations of FISA abuse, etc.

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Erick Jamal Hendricks (38) of Charlotte, North Carolina, (pictured left) was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State.
Last year a jury in Akron Ohio convicted Hendricks after he recruited a guy named Amir Al-Ghazi to carry out a terrorist attack in the U.S.  Hendricks sentencing was today.
At Hendricks instruction another terrorist named Al-Ghazi attempted to purchase an AK-47 to carry out an attack.
Al-Ghazi was stopped by undercover federal law enforcement after it was discovered that he had pledged allegiance to ISIS in social media and made statements expressing interest in conducting attacks in the U.S.
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Earlier today President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to Dover Air Force Base to participate in a solemn tribute to fallen Americans.  President Trump saluted the casket carrying civilian contractor Scott A. Wirtz of St. Louis, Missouri, as his body was carried from a C-17 military aircraft into a waiting van.

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Scott Wirtz and three other Americans were killed in a suicide bombing Wednesday in the northern Syrian town of Manbij.  He was assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency as an operations support specialist.
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Earlier today President Trump, Vice-President Pence and Acting Defense Secretary Shanahan delivered remarks to a pentagon audience surrounding the current missile defense review.

[Transcript] The Pentagon – Arlington, Virginia – 11:25 A.M. EST
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Acting Secretary Shanahan, Secretary Mark Esper, Secretary Wilson, distinguished members of Congress, members of the Joint Chiefs, the leadership of the Armed Forces of the United States, and to all of you who wear the uniform of the United States of America. It is my honor to be with you here today at the Pentagon as our President unveils his vision for our renewed commitment to American missile defense.
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CTH has some new readers, so against the backdrop of the UniParty in Washington DC jumping into action to criticize President Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria; perhaps a little factual historic refresher is in order….

On September 30th 2016 the New York Times quietly released a leaked audio recording of Secretary John Kerry meeting with multiple factions associated within Syria.
The 40-minute discussion took place on the sidelines of a United Nations General Assembly in New York. The meeting took place at the Dutch Mission to the United Nations on Sept. 22nd 2016:

[…] Kerry’s off-record conversation was apparently with two dozen ‘Syrian civilians’, all from US backed opposition-linked NGO’s in education and medical groups supposedly working in ‘rebel-held’ (aka terrorist-held) areas in Syria.
This opposition conclave also included ‘rescue workers’ which can only be ambassadors from the White Helmets, a pseudo NGO which serves as Washington and London’s primary PR front in pursuit of a “No Fly Zone’ in Syria, and it’s being bankrolled by the US, UK, EU and other coalition states to the tune of well over $100 million (so far). (link)

When you listen to the audio recording (embedded below) it becomes immediately obvious what was going on in 2014, 2015 and 2016 as an outcome of policy from the White House. In addition, you discover why this jaw-dropping 2016 leak/story was buried by the U.S. media and how it connects to the prior 4 years of perplexing U.S. mid-east policy.
This evidence within this single story would/should forever remove any credibility toward the U.S. foreign policy under President Obama. It also destroys the credibility of a large number of well known republicans, and explains how the prior action placed President Trump into a precarious position requiring a careful approach.
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A known individual on a “terror watch list” opened fire at a Christmas Market in Strasbourg France.

[Via NBC] Two people are dead and at least 11 injured in a shooting Tuesday night in the French city of Strasbourg, with police searching for a suspect who is on a terrorist watch list.

The shooting took place around 8 p.m. near a Christmas market in the French-German border city of Strasbourg that attracts millions of tourists every year.

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Documentary Filmmaker Ami Horowitz was embedded within the Central American migration force as they traveled through Mexico toward the U.S. southern border.  Horowitz discusses his experience, and the reality of events within the group, during an interview this evening:

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UPDATE: 4:00pm EST Police/FBI/DOJ Briefing:  •9:54am initial call to 911; •officers dispatched 9:55am; •11 fatalities (no children); •six injuries including 4 police; •suspect used rifle and 3 handguns; •suspect Robert Bowers, no prior police contact; •suspect acted alone; •motive appears hate-crime, antisemitism.
A suspect named Robert Bowers (48) opened fire in a synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, today killing an unknown number of people. Bowers opened fire at the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue shortly before 10am.

According to an assembly of media reports, the shooter killed at least three people on the main floor of the building then went downstairs, where the congregation was gathering in the basement, and opened fire killing at least four people there.
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A suspect has been arrested for mailing of 13 suspicious packages containing IED-type devices to prominent political opponents to President Trump.  The suspect is 56-year-old Cesar Altieri Savoc Jr of Aventura, Florida.
According to a joint FBI and DOJ press conference earlier today a fingerprint and traces of DNA led the FBI to Cesar Altieri Sayoc Jr.  The suspect is now charged with with five federal crimes, including mailing an incendiary device and threatening a former president. [Full Indictment Here] He faces up to 48 years in prison according to the DOJ.
According to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Mr. Sayoc left a fingerprint on one of the devices sent to U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, and DNA from two other devices links him to the attacks.
Director 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.”
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Packages containing the appearance of Acme pipe bombs have grabbed the attention of the nation and the media. The packages were sent via U.S. mail to various left-wing political figures. None of the devices detonated or activated upon delivery. U.S. law enforcement suspect all of the packages were sent by the same group or individual.

Secret Service revealed they intercepted two of the packages en route to former President Obama’s Washington D.C. home and Hillary Clinton’s property in Chappaqua, New York. A few hours later a police bomb squad was sent to CNN’s offices in New York City as one of the packages was addressed to former CIA director John Brennan.
Additionally, the mailed devices were also reported addressed to former Attorney General Eric Holder, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and California congresswoman Maxine Waters. The three packages addressed to Obama, the Clintons and CNN were similar to package found at liberal billionaire donor George Soros’ New York home on Monday.
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