Via WeaselZippers – The name on the Twitter account threatening the Dallas plane is “Junaid Hussain”. That is the name of the man who claimed to be behind the cyber attack on the Centcom twitter feed. Hussain claims to be in charge of the Cyber Caliphate for ISIS.

It is not clear yet if this account is truly related to him or ISIS, but it is clear whoever it is wants people to think it is.

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Two planes have been evacuated on arrival at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport due to what a spokesman called a “security concern.”
Airport spokesman Perry Cooper says a JetBlue flight from Long Beach, California, and a regional SkyWest jet from Phoenix were the planes involved. The flights arrived late Sunday afternoon.
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/559505475322904579
Cooper said that out of an abundance of caution, passengers were bused to their gates from the airport’s third runway. He said the matter was under investigation and he did not have further details. (more…)

Police have a tough job. However, like all professions there are good police officers and bad police officers. Unfortunately, when you encounter a bad police officer the disparity of power over your liberty is beyond that found in any other person-to-person engagement.  Therefore a higher standard of conduct is both expected and required.
Between the terms “legally justifiable” and “reasonable under the circumstances” there is a razor thin dividing line where police officers can, at times, walk tenuously on either side – depending on their own dispositions. This recent shooting is one such example.
Depending on your own individual perspectives and experiences you can view this video as “justifiable” and/or “excessive”, and perhaps even both.
Warning on GRAPHIC CONTENT:

Muskogee, OK – Police on Friday released body-camera video of a fatal officer-involved shooting outside a wedding. (more…)

Perhaps the least understood of all the Obama/Clinton follies.
The recent rise of extremist violence within Europe actually explains the 2011 decision to remove gatekeeper Kaddaffi. The 2010 Rivkin Project in France, combined with EU leaders simultaneously admitting the failures of multiculturalism led to a knee-jerk globalist reaction from the far left to save their collectivist vision.

“He shouldn’t have gotten out of the car”, a phrase heard consistently in both the Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown shootings. In essence the argument being both citizen George Zimmerman and officer Darren Wilson held responsibility for the outcome because they exited their vehicle.
We have discussed this viewpoint as the “Safari Principle“, however now the Ferguson/Saint Louis police department is considering the argument -under the auspices of “tactical retreat”- as a standard policy.
SAINT LOUIS – Like many officers involved in deadly force encounters, Darren Wilson said his training took over when he shot Michael Brown in Ferguson.
But what if Wilson had been trained differently?
The national upheaval from Brown’s death, and some others since, has put enormous pressure on law enforcement to find ways to control people’s behavior while using less violence. One possibility — simple but repugnant to some officers — is to teach police to back away from certain difficult situations until help can arrive.
The concept is known as “tactical retreat” or sometimes “tactical withdrawal” or “tactical restraint.”
“We add the word, ‘tactical’ and not just ‘retreating’ or ‘giving up’ because that’s what makes it palatable for police officers,” explained Seth Stoughton, a criminal law professor at the University of South Carolina. The former Florida officer is a nationally prominent advocate for applying the softer approach. (more…)

(Via ITV) The Japanese government is ‘looking into’ a video purporting to be from Islamic State militants claiming to have killed one of two Japanese men being held hostage.
In the clip posted online – which features only a still image and audio – journalist Kenji Goto Jogo is shown in an orange jumpsuit as a narrator claims that fellow captive Haruna Yukawa has been murdered.

“You did not take the threats of my captives seriously and you did not act within 72 hours. To my beloved wife I love you. And I miss my two daughters. Please do not let them do the same in my case. You must continue to pressure our government.” (link)

In the video statement, which is read in English, the militant group is now demanding the release of an Islamist prisoner – named Sajida al-Rishawi – in his exchange for Jogo’s release. (more…)

Yes, yes he actually said that – today.
Beyond the insufferable willful blindness to avoid calling Radical Islam “violent extremism”, and against the backdrop of ISIS today holding two Japanese hostages under specific threat of beheading, our Secretary of State:

“Today we are witnessing a criminal form of anarchy, a nihilism which illegitimately claims an ideological and religious foundation. Against this enemy we are increasingly organizing and fighting back. But in doing so we have to also keep our heads.

(more…)

Prayers for the families of the hostages.  It is impossible for us to appreciate the depth of their emotional anxiety; however, we can pray for a resolution which unites them -and- a comfort to surround them.
(CNN)—ISIS will reportedly release a statement “soon” about the two Japanese men it’s threatening to execute Friday.  Japanese broadcaster NHK said it has been in contact online with a spokesman for the militant group who made the assertion.

When asked whether ISIS has been in negotiations with the Japanese government, the spokesman said he wouldn’t comment, NHK reported.
ISIS has threatened to kill the two men — Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa — unless Japan pays the group $200 million. The Japanese government says it estimates that ultimatum expires at 2:50 p.m. Friday, Tokyo time (12:50 a.m. ET Friday). (more…)

Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted Speaker John Boehner’s invitation. President Stompy Feet says he will not host a visit; John Kerry follow’s Stompy’s lead.

(Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday he would address the U.S. Congress in March, saying in a statement the invitation tendered by House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner was bipartisan.
Blindsiding the Obama administration, Boehner announced the invitation to Netanyahu on Wednesday, drawing White House complaints that protocol had been breached.
(more…)

The entire governmental apparatus of Yemen just resigned.   Outta’ here like a fat kid in dodge ball !!

(New York Times) SANA, Yemen — President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi of Yemen abruptly resigned Thursday night and his entire government stepped down, leaving the country leaderless and possibly opening the way for armed Houthi rebels to take control.
A United Nations official confirmed that Mr. Hadi had resigned immediately after a meeting with his Houthi political opponents, hosted by the United Nations envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, in an effort to resolve the political crisis that has gripped the capital, Sana, for days. Just one day earlier, the two sides had reached an agreement to end the fighting, and aides to Mr. Benomar said he had hoped to ensure that the agreement was carried out.
With Houthi fighters already in control of much of the capital and many areas of northern Yemen, it seemed likely that they would take at least de facto control of the government.

Mr. Hadi’s resignation came less than an hour after Prime Minister Khaled Mahfoudh Bahah said on his Facebook page that he and the entire cabinet were stepping down. (more…)

(Washington Times) There’s a solitary man at the financial center of the Ferguson protest movement. No, it’s not victim Michael Brown or Officer Darren Wilson. It’s not even the Rev. Al Sharpton, despite his ubiquitous campaign on TV and the streets.
Rather, it’s liberal billionaire George Soros, who has built a business empire that dominates across the ocean in Europe while forging a political machine powered by nonprofit foundations that impacts American politics and policy, not unlike what he did with MoveOn.org.

(more…)