♦ Massive explosion at conclusion of singer Ariana Grade concert in Manchester England. ♦ At least two ‘explosions’. ♦ US officials briefed on the incident say UK officials suspect it was caused by suicide bomber, NBC News reported. ♦ Police confirm 19 people were killed and at least 50 more were wounded. ♦ Mostly teen girls. ♦ 10:30pm Local Time.

(UK Daily Mail) Nineteen people have been confirmed dead and around 50 injured after a terrorist attack inside Manchester Arena at the end of a teen concert tonight.

Video footage showed thousands of people fleeing in tears from the venue, many covered in blood, after the Ariana Grande concert finished.

Horrifying footage showed petrified children leaping over fences as they desperately tried to escape the 21,000-seat venue.

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In January of 2015 Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi began a journey of peace by asking the holiest and most influential Islamic Scholars in the Arab world to join him in stepping away from the noise of extremist voices and engaging in long-term introspective review of their Islamic faith.  President al-Sisi called for a religious revolution to focus Islam toward a future of peace.  The engaged Dar al-Iftaa scholarly audience erupted in applause.

President al-Sisi stood up, resolute, spoke of large truths with bold leadership, and took great risk upon himself.  After the speech a coalition of like-minded voices began to grow in number and consequence.   That moment became the pebble dropped in the shoe of the Arab leadership of consequence – the emphasis shifted toward peace.

That influential speech, and more importantly the leadership of all joining member states, including the praise of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia before his untimely death, paved the way forward toward this upcoming weekend.   King Abdullah’s successor, his brother King Salman, is now positioned to put his own footprint in history.

All of the necessary elements, many of them taking years to organize, are aligned in common purpose for this specific moment in time.

More than a dozen heads of state from Arab and Islamic nations have been invited by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to attend the conference with President Trump including: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Egypt), King Abdullah III (Jordan), Muhammad Fuad Masum (Iraq), Mamnoon Hussain (Pakistan) and all six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE).  All are expected to be in attendance.

We are living in one of those rare moments when we are fortunate enough to see the building blocks of historic enterprise being erected while we watch.  The results of these next several days will shape how our children view the landscape of the middle east in all the years to come.

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Very disturbing CCTV video assembled from the scene(s) near Times Square in New York, shows the deliberate and intentional attack of the driver. The driver was identified as 26-year-old Richard Rojas from the Bronx.  His vehicular rampage killed an 18-year-old girl and seriously injured 22 others when he drove through crowds near Times Square.

There is ZERO possibility of this being an “accident”.  Nor was this a DUI or DWI event.  The driver made a U-Turn and intentionally drove on the sidewalk for four blocks specifically targeting the largest possible groups and crowds, steering toward them and accelerating.  It’s actually a miracle more people were not killed.  This video is far, far more graphic than the Nice, France terrorist attack.  This video also removes any doubt this was anything except an intentional and deliberate targeting of people.

The video is below.  WARNING – It’s disturbing.  You cannot ever unsee it.

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Earlier today President Donald Trump signed HR244 into law.  The provisional spending bill that funds government through September 30th, the end of fiscal year 2017.

There has been a great deal of anxiety amid punditry about the spending outline itself, and the spending priorities as determined by both houses of congress.  Some of the criticism is warranted, most is not.

The basic principle the entire professional political class seem to overlook is the reasoning for the CR itself.  Congress has been unable to fulfill its budgetary obligation since 2007.

In fact, the last federal budget (fiscal year ’08) was signed into law in September of 2007.  By the conclusion of this CR it will have been an entire decade without a federal budget.

Perspective: ♦ Over half of all elected federal politicians have never held elected office in any year with a federal budget in place.  ♦ Almost two-thirds of Republicans in congress have never known a federal budget for a single day in office.

THAT FACT should be the target of the ire from all Americans, particularly conservatives.  However, hypocritically, it is not.

For some reason ankle-biters, antagonists, and crony constitutional punditry amid the various CONservative outlets, choose instead to focus their criticism toward the first president in our lifetime to actually deliver on conservative policy, conservative values and expressed policy objectives/outcomes that benefit all common sense Americans.

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During a ceremony today at the State Department, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivered remarks of remembrance and honored fallen foreign service workers.

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Media are reporting that at least one police officer had been killed and at least two others seriously wounded by two Kalashnikov-wielding gunmen on the Champs Elysees in central Paris tonight.

French authorities have stated the incident was probably a ‘terrorist act’ and the famous venue was on lockdown by 9pm as heavily armed officers flooded the area. Another individual – believed to be the killer – was killed, according to police sources.

Reports suggest ‘at least’ two shooters were involved in the attack which took place as presidential candidates took part in a TV debate nearby before Sunday’s election.

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Some people have said that 7-year-old Syrian Bana Alabed is a manufactured professional victim; intentionally created and marketed as a tool to manipulate public opinion.

Well, it would appear there is evidence in that regard. Well known left-wing advocate, JK Rowling, and Miss Bana Alabed share a talent and marketing agency:

(SOURCE LINK)

Go figure.

Captured suspect Kori Ali Muhammad is an Islamic activist within the “Black Lives Matter” movement.

(Via Associated Press) […]  Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer says the suspect in a shooting that killed three people in downtown Fresno told police he hates white people and shouted “God is great” in Arabic before the killings.

All three victims in Tuesday’s killings were white. The police chief says they were shot minutes apart in close proximity in areas around downtown.

Thirty-nine-year-old Kori Ali Muhammad was arrested shortly afterward. He was already wanted for a separate killing from last week, in which a Motel 6 security guard in Fresno was gunned down.

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During a flight to Saudi Arabia Defense Secretary James Mattis answered some current events questions about strategic policy objectives:

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Cleveland Police are urgently searching for a man named Steve Stevens who has killed at least one victim during a live Facebook broadcast, and claims to have killed more than a dozen more.

The suspect is a black male named Steve Stephens.  He is approximately 6′ 1″ and is considered armed and dangerous.  He was last seen driving a white ford Fusion and wearing a dark, striped polo shirt.

A video posted Sunday to a Facebook account apparently belonging to Stephens shows the man filming walk up to an older man and, after asking him a question, shooting him. The video, which was posted about 2 p.m. ET and was later taken down, is captioned, in part, “Easter day slaughter.”  The broadcast victims’ family has been identified and they are devastated.

(Via Fox News) […] The Sunday shooting occurred just south of Interstate 90 in the Glenville neighborhood. Stephens also posted another video of himself talking on the phone about at least 13 other alleged murders he says he’s committed. He said at one point he “messed up.”

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