Yet somehow it was “out-of-bounds” for the U.S. to throw in the release of U.S. hostages.

This admission by Secretary Kerry is reflective of two things:

#1) The administration was desperate to come away with a deal, any deal; and

#2) Affirming what Obama has stated – the weapons being released (under the lifting of the embargo) will come from China and Russia – and the only way to stop those arms from reaching Hamas will be to engage shipments from Russia and/or China, which opens up another entire can of worms regarding regional stability and U.S. interests…

Unreal.

“So this [deal] focused on getting rid of the principal problem in the region, which is Iran’s threat to Israel, their threat to the region, to have a nuclear capacity.”

(more…)

(Via Baltimore Sun) A Baltimore police officer was stabbed multiple times after responding to a domestic incident at an apartment building housing mostly University of Baltimore students early Saturday morning, police and school officials said.

The officer had responded to The Varsity on W. Biddle Street when he was stabbed in the face and neck, police said. James Goss, 20, was taken into custody at the scene. He faces 12 charges, including attempted murder and assault.

The officer was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center and his condition is serious but stable, police said. The department did not name the officer but said the 15-year veteran is married and has a young daughter.

Interim Commissioner Kevin Davis called the incident “a violent attack by a deranged knife-wielding predator.” (more…)

Supernova levels of “gaslighting” at work.   It sure would be problematic for the administration that has done little (ie. nothing) to combat growing islamic extremism if ISIS was reflected as the cause of 5 marines killed in Tennessee.

As a consequence, ignore the social media of Abdulazeez; ignore the connections to radical Islam and his radical mosque; ignore the visits to Jordan and Yemen; ignore his glorification of the Islamic State (ISIS) on his social media.  Ignore all that stuff folks, the FBI says – nothing to see here folks, move along, move along.  “Lone wolf”, gotta be.

WASHINGTON DC – Authorities are declining to link the shootings in Chattanooga, Tenn., that killed four Marines on Thursday to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) despite a suggestion from the House Homeland Security Committee chairman that the gunman was inspired by the terror group.

“At this time, we have no indication that he was inspired by or directed by anyone other than himself,” Ed Reinhold, the FBI agent in charge, said of the shooter, identified as 24-year-old Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, during a news conference Friday.

Reinhold added that law enforcement will continue explore any potential link to terror groups. (more…)

Excerpts from Reuters looking into the travel of Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, as well as outlining his local Mosque and affiliates.  It would be interesting to see a complete timeline of the past 24 months relating to this specific “domestic terrorist”.

Oddly, at least initially, is the sense the foreign aspects of Abdulazeez being less enthusiastically investigated/researched, by media, than say – the Tsarnaev brothers.  My gut is telling me the Fathers’ domestic terror link has something to do with the larger Holy Land Foundation case (ie. Muslim Brotherhood in North America) … 

(Reuters) U.S. authorities believe the suspect in the fatal shootings of four Marines in Tennessee visited Jordan last year and possibly Yemen as well, two U.S. government sources said on Friday, as investigators looked for any connection to Islamist militants.

Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24, who the FBI identified as the shooter, died on Thursday after he killed the Marines and wounded three other people in a rampage at two military facilities in Chattanooga.

Investigators believe Abdulazeez may have family in Jordan, making a visit to that country highly likely, one of the sources close to the probe said. He may have made several stops, and a visit to Yemen has not been ruled out. (more…)

Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez stands with fighting coach Scott Schrader after winning silver at the North American Grappling Championships in this undated photo. Provided by Schrader (link)

Mohammod Youssof Abdulazeez, age 24,   has been identified by the FBI as the gunman who fatally shot four Marines and wounded a police officer on Thursday in shootings at two military recruiting and training centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

NBC News reports that Abdulazeez is a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Kuwait. He was born in 1990.  He came to the United States in 1996 with his parents.

CBS News reports that he/his family, were from Phoenix, Arizona. The Associated Press says he lived in Hixson, Tennessee, which is a community in Chattanooga. (more…)

(Via Reuters )The jury in the Colorado movie massacre trial have reached a verdict after two days of deliberations in the case of 27-year-old gunman James Holmes, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, a court spokesman said on Thursday.

Holmes could face the death penalty if convicted of multiple counts of murder and attempted murder for opening fire inside a packed midnight premiere of a Batman film at a Denver area multiplex in July 2012, killing 12 people and wounding 70. (read more)

GUILTY – read more

UPDATES BELOW:

BREAKING: US attorney Bill Killian calls killings of 4 at military sites an 'act of domestic terrorism.'

— The Associated Press (@AP) July 16, 2015

Two shooting locations. At least two military facilities in Tennessee were attacked in shootings Thursday, including one at a Navy recruiting building, officials said.   • All the dead were killed at the Navy Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center Chattanooga (link). • Numerous outlets reporting law enforcement officials have told them the shooter is dead. Their law enforcement sources also said that the police officer was shot in the leg and was not critically wounded, and that at least four Marines had also been injured in the attack.  Numerous news outlets now report • FOUR FIVE DEAD (including the shooter).  • THREE FOUR MARINES KILLED at naval reserve recruitment center. • Three wounded = one critical, one treated and released, one unknown.  • An ISIS inspired Twitter Acct. takes credit for the attack.

  […]  Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said five people died in all, including the gunman. Two law enforcement sources told CBS News that the shooting suspect was identified as 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez  (link) Originally born in Kuwait. (more…)

“What mommy, time for the Black and Decker?” “well, ohkay, but can I have some more of those little marshmallows, first.  You know how much I like those little marshmallows”…

WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. –  Local 6 has exclusively learned there’s new trouble for the man accused of shooting at George Zimmerman.

Matthew Apperson is now facing a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge, accused of urinating on his neighbor’s front porch.  A new motion filed last week by the State Attorney’s Office asks a judge [Debra Nelson] to revoke his bond for his attempted murder charge.

“What caught my attention was he said, ‘F*** the police,’ and he just kept mumbling to himself,” said Tony Woods. (more…)

(Via ABC News) The estranged son of a respected Boston police captain was arrested July 4 by FBI agents as part of a counter-terrorism operation against alleged ISIS-inspired domestic terrorists, federal officials told ABC News today.

Alexander Ciccolo, 23, of Adams, Mass., was taken into custody on gun charges after buying two pistols and two rifles from an undercover FBI confidential informant, federal officials said. In a search of his apartment, officials reported they found it loaded with possible bomb-making equipment including a pressure cooker, a variety of chemicals, an alarm clock, along with “attack planning papers” and “jihad” paperwork. FBI agents said he used the name Abu Ali al-Amriki and neighbors said he was a recent convert to Islam.

“This is a very bad person arrested before he could do very bad things,” one senior federal official briefed on the arrest told ABC News. (more…)

Gee, who didn’t see this coming?

(Daily Mail) Police departments across the country that have spent years boasting about plummeting crime numbers are now scrambling to confront something many agencies have not seen in decades: more bloodshed.

Houston, St. Louis, New Orleans and Baltimore have all seen significant spikes in the number of homicides this year. The totals are up in other cities, too, including New York and Chicago.

“We’re in scary territory,” said Peter Scharf, a professor at Louisiana State University who tracks homicides in New Orleans.

In Los Angeles, the number of slayings dropped slightly, but the number of shooting victims jumped more than 18 percent. And in Milwaukee, a homicide on Wednesday put the total for the year at 84 – just two fewer than happened in all of 2014. (more…)