Details sketchy:  UPDATE 2:30pm EDT – Eye Witness Video Added – At approximately 9am local/10m Eastern ♦ Six police officers were shot, three of them were killed in a shootout in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. ♦ The shooting happened less than 1 mile from police headquarters. ♦  Officers were responding to a calll of a suspicious man with an assault rifle near a B-Quik convenience store. ♦ The situation at a location on Airline Highway near Old Hammond Highway, WAFB reported. ♦ The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development reported the highway is closed.

♦ Latest report was an initial call to police for an armed man walking down the street carrying an assault style weapon,  followed by an ambush from other gunmen toward the position of the arriving officers.

Disturbing Video Below:

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “2016 Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Presidential Race and/or any of the candidates therein.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

Political Islam is fraught with coded messaging used to convey intention to Islamic audiences while simultaneously presenting a false face to the West.  When you know what signals to look for you are able to fully understand the ideology behind the message.
When Mohammed Morsi rose to power in Egypt his rise was on the back of the Muslim Brotherhood.  The “Islamist Spring” brought forth a more radical version of Islamic sentiment – The Muslim Brotherhood, or just “Brotherhood”, is the political branch of various hardline Islamic ideologies.

The foundational ideological block under ISIS, al-Qaeda and Al Nusra, is the Muslim Brotherhood.   The Brotherhood has its own signature; and when you know what to look for you can identify its appearance.
Islamist activists, and demonstrators hold four fingers in the air to display a hand sign referring to the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, the site of a violent confrontation between Morsi’s followers and the Egyptian army.
Reported deaths from the clash range from hundreds to thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters. In Arabic, “Rabba” means “four” or “the fourth;” hence the Rabaa symbol.
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Vice Presidential Candidate Mike Pence Welcome Home Rally in Zionsville, IN:
Live Stream Link – Alternate Live Stream

Some opinion writers have surmised a possibility that Recep Erdogan created the coup in Turkey as a method to smoke out his opposition and exert even more dictatorial power.  Having watched the events closely (5 years) which lead up to the coup attempt, we disagree.
All indications are the coup was genuine, albeit a long-shot, driven by the younger military leadership who remained guardians of the state after two years of Erdogan purging the top level generals.

Ideologically, Recep Erdogan has been working earnestly over the past 5+ years to extend his power and control.  Erdogan has grandiose plans of rebuilding a modern Ottoman Empire with himself as the figurehead in control.
The fortuitous crisis in Syria evolved into a tool for Erdogan to expand his constituency, and the influx of 3 million non-secular conservative Muslims as refugees into Turkey was part of that dynamic.
Erdogan’s ideological outlook can be captured when you look at the 2015 decision to give safe refuge to five Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leaders who were living in exile in Qatar and evicted after the Gulf States pressured Qatar to stop supporting extremist terrorists.  Erdogan promised the Muslim Brotherhood safe harbor in Turkey and he gave it to them.
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Candidate Donald Trump introduces his Vice-Presidential Nominee just ahead of the 2016 GOP Convention.
Mr. Trump will be formerly announcing Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his Vice Presidential Candidate for the November 2016 Election in New York City at the New York Hilton Midtown. Live streaming coverage begins at 10:30 AM EDT:
Live Stream Link – Alternate Live Stream Link

8:10pm Associated Press – A leader of conservatives making a last-ditch attempt to block Donald Trump’s nomination says she’s dropping her effort to force the Republican National Convention to vote on her plan to let delegates back any presidential candidate they want.

The convention rules committee has already rejected Colorado delegate Kendal Unruh’s proposal to “unbind” delegates from the candidates they were committed to by state primaries and caucuses.

Unruh had been saying that despite that defeat, she’d get enough support to force a full convention vote next week on her plan to let delegates vote their conscience.  But she said Friday that the Trump campaign and party officials have peeled away that support.  (AP Link – Scroll to 8:10pm)

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “2016 Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Presidential Race and/or any of the candidates therein.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †