Sharyl Attkisson has provided some new information on the closed door Benghazi Select Committee hearings and investigative inquiry.

Including the following from Trey Gowdy:

[…]  “The committee is continuing its probe into all aspects of Benghazi and is currently focused on ensuring access to all first-hand accounts from those on the ground that night. This process will be ongoing and in some respects must remain classified.”–Benghazi Select Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.

We took a lot of fire -following the Benghazi Brief– when we explained why this would be the case.  The risks of sunlight are essentially equal to both Republicans -who approved the program(s) basic goals via intelligence oversight- and Democrats alike.
Apparently we were correct.

https://twitter.com/LilMissRightie/status/555534111054782464
(VIA ABC NEWS) The FBI has arrested an Ohio man for allegedly plotting an ISIS-inspired attack on the U.S. Capitol, where he hoped to set off a series of bombs aimed at lawmakers, whom he allegedly considered enemies.
Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, of Green Township, was arrested today on charges of attempting to kill a U.S. government official, authorities said.
According to government documents, he allegedly planned to detonate pipe bombs at the national landmark and open fire on any employees and officials fleeing after the explosions. (more…)

Credit where credit is due. The messaging from the White House about why they haven’t called the terrorist attacks “Islamic Terrorism” must have been a top priority in the past 48 hours. As noted in this shift expressed by Josh Earnest. The question was posed:

“The leader of France, your ally in this effort, has put a name on this ideology, which he calls radical Islam,” noted NPR’s Mara Liasson. “You have bent over backwards to not ever say that. There must be a reason.”

Josh Earnest Responds: “The first is accuracy. We want to describe exactly what happened. These are individuals who carried out an act of terrorism and they later tried to justify that act of terrorism by invoking the religion of Islam and their own deviant view of it. (more…)

People in France are now purchasing the first issue of Charlie Hebdo since the attack http://t.co/YFD7vbOIaI pic.twitter.com/VqEYnbJwvd

— Jim Dalrymple II (@Dalrymple) January 14, 2015

Long lines in Paris to buy the new Charlie Hebdo. Pic via @philippeshinai http://t.co/7MlHzP86eg

— Jim Dalrymple II (@Dalrymple) January 14, 2015

Paris: 08.15 AM. All new #CharlieHebdo magazines already everywhere sold out. pic.twitter.com/JnjXvSo3ys

— Harald Doornbos (@HaraldDoornbos) January 14, 2015

Remarkable bravery considering the backlash Recep Erdogan is likely to retaliate with.
(Via PJ Media) A newspaper in Turkey whose roots stretch to the founding of the modern republic will truly live the words “je suis Charlie” on Wednesday when it publishes the new Charlie Hebdo issue in Turkish despite threats.
Cumhuriyet (The Republic), founded in 1924 at the encouragement of Mustafa Kemal, tweeted that it will continue to “defend the freedom of expression” and will dedicate four of its pages to the French satirical paper’s content. They’ll also reportedly double their normal press run to 100,000 copies.
Besides French, the only other language of Charlie Hebdo in print will be Italian. English, Spanish, and Arabic versions will be available in online formats.
Threats have reportedly been pouring into the newspaper in the 99 percent Muslim country, and some overtly posted on Twitter. Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek, a member of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), stoked the flames by tweeting in all caps that the paper was about to commit a “serious provocation” and asking followers to spread the word. He also accused the newspaper of working with some foreign power and declared it a “game of the enemies of Islam.” (more…)

I would expect this from Erdogan, but from Ron Paul it’s profoundly disappointing. Erdogan blames the generic “West” for creating racism and negative views of Islam, adjusting his view to present a massive conspiracy against the Islamic world. However, Ron Paul specifically blames the U.S.

(JPost) Erdogan accused the West of having a double standard with regard to Muslims. The Turkish leader said historically Muslims were never on the side of terror, nor did they perpetrate massacres.

Referring to last week’s deadly attacks in France, Erdogan said that racism, hate messages and Islamaphobia stood behind the acts.

“We hope that the those attacking nations, cease their assault on our mosques.”

“Take note that the acts of terror are not carried out in a vacuum. The acts follow a predetermined script and we should be alive to a plot against the Islamic world,” he added. (read more)

Erdogan’s position really does not come as a surprise.  Essentially his Muslim Brotherhood affiliation has been more open in the past several years.  Recently, as Qatar kicked out the five terrorist leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, Erdogan opened up a sanctuary for them.
In addition Erdogan has openly supported the Islamic State (ISIS) -as they fight against Syria’s Assad- by keeping the Kurds from crossing the border to battle ISIS in Kobane, and closing his NATO bases to the U.S. effort against the terror network. (more…)

NBC contributor Mike Barnicle explained on “Morning Joe” that the network won’t display the cartoons because “they are deemed to be offensive.”  [pictured below fold]
Hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough both agreed with the network’s decision. “There are certain cartoons that are offensive — that have vulgar tinges to them — and I don’t see the need to show them to anybody,” Brezezinski said. “I really don’t.”

(more…)

(London)…Speaking to the NewsHour current affairs programme just hours after the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris, Mayor Aboutaleb became angered by the failure of some Muslims to adapt to their new homes, as he himself had done.

(more…)

Both President Obama and Francois Hollande have refused to connect the terrorism in the U.S., France, Australia, Canada and North Africa to Islamic Extremism.  This cognitive disconnect they continue to exhibit exists despite the terrorists themselves clearly proclaiming their intents and motives.
(Via Vocativ) A new video released by an official ISIS forum shows Amedy Coulibaly, the 32-year-old terrorist who murdered four men during the Hyper Cacher siege in Paris, declaring his loyalty to the Islamic State.

“I’m a soldier of the Caliphate [ISIS] since the beginning,” Coulibaly says in the video. “Our group was coordinated before the attack. France is a legitimate target because [of] what they are doing to us.”
Coulibaly explains how he helped the Kouachi brothers prepare for the attack: “We did a few things together and a few things separately to maximize the impact. I helped them by giving them a few thousand euros to buy what they needed.” (more…)

People keep asking: why won’t the Obama administration admit the terror threat is specifically from Islamic extremists? The reason is simple.  They won’t admit it because once the problem is defined, they become responsible for an action plan to address it.  The administration does not want to address it, ergo as long as the threat can be obfuscated, no-one will be expected to do anything specific.
Hence, when Kelly File guest host Martha MacCallum confronts State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf about why the White House won’t openly say that radical Islam specifically is a major threat to the world – Harf avoids the specifics.

Harf told MacCallum that Islamic extremism is “not the only kind of extremism we face,” though when pressed to name other examples of troubling extremism, she simply said people all over the world want to kill each other for a “variety of causes.”