A couple of thoughts before the article.   First, it’s good to see some independent analysts openly reminding people the Inmarsat data was symmetrical not directional.   Meaning the ‘handshakes’ with the satellite could have happened on either Northern or Southern arcs.    Beyond guessing, and apart from the detected 4 pings, there is no empirical evidence to suggest the flight headed South.
Secondly, the search area identified by the Towed Ping Locator, which identified four signals they thought were MH370 black boxes,  has now been completely searched, no plane.    From the location of the 1st signal to the location of the 4th signal (North and South, East and West) the entire ‘ping-grid’ per se’, has now been swept by sonar imaging and they have found nothing.

(Via Daily Mail) The fruitless search for the missing Malaysian Airlines jet might have to start all over again from scratch if no clues to its fate are found in coming days, it was claimed today.
The international team searching the Indian Ocean for the Boeing 777 are now considering the seemingly impossible scenario of the aircraft having ‘landed’ somewhere, instead of crashing in the southern Indian Ocean. (more…)

CHIBOK, Nigeria — Some 234 girls are missing from the northeast Nigerian school attacked last week by Islamic extremists, significantly more than the 85 reported by education officials, parents told the state governor Monday.
The higher figure came out a week after the kidnappings when the Borno state governor insisted a military escort take him to the town. Parents told the governor that officials would not listen to them when they drew up their list of names of missing children and the total reached 234.
The discrepancy in the figures could not immediately be resolved. (more…)

The White House will be calling NBC today.
Apparently the PC way of saying Obama is a wimp is to state that President Obama “has a manhood problem”:

The case of the Kansas City Shooter provides an excellent example of Political Correctness running amuck.
The ideological left proclaim the religious/political ideology of Mohammed Whitaker is unknown because his birth name was Pedro Whitaker, and he is Hispanic.   They proclaim the fact he changed his name to Mohammed is not evidence of his conversion to Islam.

The fact that Pedro changes his name to Mohammed after some self-discovery event in his life is apparently something we are supposed to look upon with caution.   And we must absolutely not infer the fact he shot people in cars around Kansas City over the course of several weeks to label him as a danger.
But immediately Harry Reid knew some other guy, Clive Bundy, a rancher, was a “domestic terrorist”.

Many people had wondered why the Kansas City Shooter did not get as much attention as the DC Snipers John Allen Mohammed and Lee Boyd Malvo.   Yeah, hmmm.. why was that. 

GRANDVIEW, Mo. — Police arrested a suspect Thursday in a string of random vehicle shootings on Kansas City-area highways over the past few weeks that have wounded three motorists and frightened many more.

Suspect in highway shootings – Mohammed Pedro Whitaker pic.twitter.com/jMDAOBPq7y

— The Kansas City Star (@KCStar) April 18, 2014

Police Chief Darryl Forte said at a news conference that the suspect is male and lives in Grandview, a suburb south of the city that is home to the Grandview Triangle, where several highways intersect and where at least six of the reported shootings happened.
(more…)

HERO ALERT !   Franklin the Dragonslayer.  CAIR outrage cometh in 3… 2…. 1….

(CNS NEWS) “We should be afraid of sharia law” in America, and Muslims here who want to practice sharia should go back to where they came from,  “to those nations that recognize sharia law,” said Rev. Franklin Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
In a recent interview with the Charlotte Observer, Graham was asked, “Some say you demonize Islam, and Christians in this country have opposed building a mosque or are worried about Sharia law. Isn’t it –”
Graham, who oversees the international Christian aid group Samaritan’s Purse, said, “We should be afraid of Sharia law. We should be absolutely afraid of it. No question about it, because there’s no tolerance in Sharia law. It persecutes those that do not believe in Islam.”

“And I would say to Muslims in this country, if they want to practice Sharia law, go back to where you came from, to those nations that recognize sharia law,” said Graham.  “But we have our own laws here.”  (read more)

NORTHERN NIGERIA – Heavily armed Boko Haram Islamists abducted more than 100 girls from a secondary school in northeast Nigeria, sparking a search by soldiers to track down the attackers, a security source and witnesses said Tuesday.
Some of the schoolgirls in the Chibok area of southern Borno state narrowly escaped their kidnappers by jumping off a truck in the middle of the night as the gunmen sought to cart them away, according to multiple witnesses.
A security source who requested anonymity said the attackers were members of Boko Haram, a radical group whose name means “Western education is forbidden.”
The group has repeatedly attacked schools in the northeast during an insurgency that has killed thousands since 2009. (more…)

I hate living in a time where we need to consider U.S. motivations in publicizing the issues of AQAP; …..and the potential for this to be a strategic media discussion.  “Hate” is a strong word, but in this example it’s not even strong enough – sorry. 
If we remove our own government’s ulterior motives from the equation, which is not easy, we are left to discuss the possibility Obama’s weakness in Syria and now Ukraine is specifically emboldening AQAP to think bigger than they normally would.
Regardless, it should be noted that historically AQAP only broadcasts their open meetings when something, some event, is already well underway. That said – it is prudent to be extra cautious and pay attention to the EU and Central Middle East (ie Egypt).  

Never forget that upon a scale of rabid religious ideology – AQAP is at the very top in a deeply held belief they are engaged in a “Holy War”.   Here’s the CNN report:
Washington (CNN) — A new video shows what looks like the largest and most dangerous gathering of al Qaeda in years. And the CIA and the Pentagon either didn’t know about it or couldn’t get a drone there in time to strike.
U.S. officials won’t comment on that, but every frame of the video is now being analyzed by the United States. (more…)

If Islamic terrorists took down a plane with 200 people -anywhere- it would lead the national news on every network.    But if Islamic terrorists take the same number of victims via a mass transit bus bomb, in an African country, it won’t even merit a passing glance….

ABUJA, Nigeria – Police say a blast at a busy bus station in the Nigerian capital has killed at least 71 people and injured 124.
The expolosion blasted through a busy commuter bus station on the outskirts of Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, before 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) Monday as people were traveling to work.

Reporters saw rescue workers and police gathering body parts and ambulances rushing the wounded to the hospital. (more…)

Politico has an interesting summary of the Israeli / Palestinian talk collapse filling in some timelines to the analysis we previously presented.   Even if you are not a global political news junkie it’s worth the read.

While the Politico story doesn’t directly outline the ego of John Kerry as the impetus for the framework, and subsequent collapse, it’s still there and you can catch glimpses of it throughout the article.

Even among senior Obama aides, there’s disagreement about how wary the president actually was all along about taking another shot at the peace process, how much distance he was really trying to keep, and how much of his actions were about humoring an ambitious Kerry’s swing at the history books.

As we previously shared the entire construct of the Kerry spearheaded peace talks originated from Secretary Kerry’s desire to be something legendary, and do something on a grand scale worthy of his own opinion of himself.
John Kerry was not so much interested in the construct of Israeli security, or foundationally finding a substantive ‘two state’ solution; for Kerry -the ideologue- he wanted to carve the mold, and then watch the global media cast the brass bust.
(more…)