Tunisia was the origin of the Arab Spring – Since neighboring Libya fell into a state of civil war the radical islamists are now spreading around the North African Mediterranean.  In addition to attacking Western-friendly targets they are attempting to create additional crisis by crippling the regional economy.  Within crisis, ISIS inspired radicals thrive.

TUNISIA – Panicked tourists fled from a popular beach in Tunisia Friday as a gunman pulled an automatic rifle from under an umbrella and began shooting, killing 37 people, officials said.

The attacker, who was dressed in shorts, came from the beach hiding his Kalashnikov gun before spraying terrified tourists with bullets. People were told to run in a chaotic scene near a beach in Sousse, and many took refuge in hotel rooms after the gunfire erupted, Sky News said.

Tunisia’s Interior Ministry originally said there were two gunmen but later said they believed just one gunman acted alone, killing 37 people and wounding at least 36. The Health Ministry said the dead include Tunisians, Brits, Germans and Belgians.

The gunman reportedly entered the Hotel Imperial through the swimming pool area, shooting people as he went. He also threw an explosive, witnesses said. (more…)

ISTANBUL — Turkish news agencies say that authorities have arrested two Georgian citizens who tried to enter the Turkey with radioactive material, including cesium.

State-run Anadolu Agency says a woman identified only as N.K., aged 43, and a man, I.A., 40, were arrested Friday at a border gate in northeastern Turkey. The agency said they entered by foot from Georgia and were acting suspiciously. A search found 1.2 kilos of the cesium.

Authorities later detained a 60-year-old Turk, and all three were brought to court.

The material was delivered to the Turkish Atomic Energy Board. (more…)

The latest example:

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — A Confederate monument at White Point Gardens was vandalized with graffiti.

The graffiti was discovered Sunday morning as thousands gathered downtown to honor the victims killed at Emanuel AME Church.

The words ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘This was the problem #racist’ is spray painted on the base. The vandals also called out Mayor Joe Riley and Governor Nikki Haley scrawling “Riley and Haley -Why defend this evil -This the root of our evil.”

A couple of local men moved quickly to cover the base with a tarp but it was just as quickly uncovered by other passers-by.

A lively debate soon followed, attracting Barry Tighe from the organization Code Pink. He wrote up his own sign that read “Take down racist statues” and it was followed by a local protester’s sign that read “All lives matter #CharlestonUnited.” (more…)

(UK Independent) […] More than 30 pedestrians, including three children, were hurt at several locations during the rampage and 10 victims were in hospital with serious injuries. One patient was in a critical condition on Saturday afternoon.

The driver, identified by police as a 26-year-old Austrian man of Bosnian heritage, has been arrested. He works as a professional driver and is married with two children.

Police are not currently investigating terrorism as a motive and the suspect is believed to be suffering from mental illness.

Witnesses recounted how the man drove his vehicle into crowds apparently at random, sending pedestrians and cyclists crashing into the windscreen and rolling over the bonnet.

(more…)

History needs to be corrected.  In the post Charlie Hebdo attack aftermath, every media outlet said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry asked James Taylor to fly to Paris.  Actually, the opposite is true; James Taylor’s wife asked Secretary Kerry to come to Paris.  Nice to know what’s actually driving our diplomatic endeavors…. 

Buried in a recent Billboard interview we find this:

In January, after the Charlie Hebdo murders in France, you sang “You’ve Got a Friend” at a rally in Paris, which Secretary of State John Kerry attended. How did that come about?

At the time of the attacks, my wife and I were in Switzerland, taking vacation time before I went to Paris to do press for a tour of Europe. John and Teresa Kerry are, I would say, our good friends.

Kim was texting him after the attacks and said, “John, I think you need to go to Paris.” They were having a solidarity march two days after the attack. But John had to be in Peshawar, for a secret meeting.

He said, “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” (more…)

Blumenthal claims he copied communication from a former CIA analyst and despite being paid $10,000/month from the Clinton Foundation he claims he was not paid to advise Secretary Clinton.

WASHINGTON DC – Sidney Blumenthal did not write or know the source of any of the Libya intelligence he passed on to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the top Clinton ally told investigators on the House Select Committee on Benghazi Tuesday in a closed-door deposition.

Blumenthal, subpoenaed by the committee, also did not verify any of the intelligence he forwarded to the nation’s top diplomat. Instead, Blumenthal was copying and pasting memos from Tyler Drumheller, a former CIA operative who was looking into a Libya-related business venture, and sending them to Clinton, two people familiar with his testimony told POLITICO. (more…)

House Dems are seeking to provide quick leak cover prior to Blumenthal’s scheduled testimony before Gowdy Select Committee on Benghazi TOMORROW – so they quickly dispatch ideological compatriots in arms at Politico.

Spin machines feverously burning the midnight oil:

(Via Politico) House GOP Benghazi investigators have discovered additional Libya communications between Sidney Blumenthal and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a congressional source told POLITICO — suggesting that either the State Department or the 2016 Democratic presidential contender withheld correspondence the panel had subpoenaed.

Blumenthal — a longtime Clinton family friend who is set to testify before the committee behind closed doors Tuesday morning — recently gave the House Select Committee on Benghazi his Libya-related emails after the panel had quietly subpoenaed them. (more…)

A remarkable twist in the story of the biggest data breach in U.S. history. The Office of Personnel and Management (OPM) previously said they discovered the breach when it had “undertaken an aggressive effort to update its cybersecurity posture”.

However, that “update” claim is somewhat disingenuous. The hack was actually discovered by a cyber software company as it was running a product demo on the system. The company discovered embedded malware that existed inside the OPM for over a year…

WASHINGTON DC – As officials of the Obama administration announced that millions of sensitive records associated with current and past federal employees and contractors had been exposed by a long-running infiltration of the networks and systems of the Office of Personnel Management on June 4, they claimed the breach had been found during a government effort to correct problems with OPM’s security.

An OPM statement on the attack said that the agency discovered the breach as it had “undertaken an aggressive effort to update its cybersecurity posture.” And a DHS spokesperson told Ars that “interagency partners” were helping the OPM improve its network monitoring “through which OPM detected new malicious activity affecting its information technology systems and data in April 2015.” (more…)

It’s no secret the Obama administration is ideologically favorable toward the Muslim Brotherhood.  Conversely, it’s also an open secret that President Obama does not like Egypt’s secular leader Fattah el Sisi or the principles represented by Sisi’s framework of governance for all Egyptians.

However, the U.S. administration conducting secret meetings with a terrorist enemy of the Egyptian state, the Muslim Brotherhood, is going too far.  El Sisi wants answers.

(Via Reuters) Egypt summoned the U.S. ambassador in Cairo to show displeasure at Muslim Brotherhood figures coming to Washington for a private conference, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.

One source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. officials did not intend to meet the group although they had met some Brotherhood figures that came to Washington in January. (more…)

HatTip WeaselZippers who shares: President Obama was speaking with Italian PM Mario Renzi and Christine Lagarde, President of the International Monetary Fund. The Iraqi President Haider al-Abadi approached, clearly hoping to talk with Obama, sitting down right next to him. Obama continued his discussion with the others not acknowledging Abadi.
Obama and the others then stood up, and Abdadi stood as well, hoping to catch Obama’s attention, but Obama simply turned and walked away. Abdi and his translator then walk off, looking annoyed.