Pope Francis Calls Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas an ‘Angel of Peace’
Judging by this Associated Press report, Pope Francis and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas appear to be getting along quite well.
John Hayward
Latest News
U.S. Special Forces Kill Top ISIS Commander Abu Sayyaf in Raid On Syria
U.S. special operations forces based in Iraq conducted a cross-border raid into eastern Syria and killed senior ISIS leader Abu Sayyaf, said to be responsible for major Islamic State financial operations, including the sale of oil and gas assets.
Boko Haram Thugs Allegedly Killed While Training with ISIS in Iraq
With all due respect to Nigerian media, it should be noted that at the time of this writing, only Nigerian outlets seem to be reporting on the alleged death of five Boko Haram militants in Mosul, Iraq, where they were said to be training with Islamic State fighters.
FBI Joins Amtrak Crash Investigation, Feds Talk To Engineer
As federal officials investigate the deadly Amtrak crash, the local NBC News affiliate reports that “investigators have asked the FBI to look at whether a projectile hit Amtrak Regional 188 moments before it sped up and derailed at a curve in Philadelphia Tuesday night.”
Scott Walker on Iraq: ‘Knowing What We Know Now, We Should Not Have Gone In.’
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, a likely but as yet undeclared contestant for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, is the latest to comment on the Iraq war. And he’s turning the gotcha question back at President Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Those Who Would Trade Liberty for Security Get Ultron
Somehow the big blockbuster superhero jamboree of the summer, Avengers: Age of Ultron, turned into a bizarre referendum on madcap feminism, to the apparent surprise of writer and director Joss Whedon.
ISIS Launches Major Offensive to Take Ramadi; Main Government Complex Captured
The Islamic State has “launched a wide-scale attack on Iraqi security forces in Ramadi in an apparent attempt to take the rest of the key central Iraqi city,” according to Governor Suhaib al-Rawi.
Iraqi Immigrant Arrested in Texas After Pledging Allegiance to ISIS
A naturalized American citizen from Iraq named Bilal Abood was arrested by FBI agents in Texas on Thursday, on charges of lying to law enforcement about his formal pledge of allegiance to ISIS and its “caliph,” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Turkey: ISIS Recruits from ’90 Different Countries’ Have Crossed Our Borders
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu claimed that ISIS recruits from “90 different countries” have passed through his country en route to Syria, a security crisis he described as “not a sustainable situation” and “a significant threat to us.”
American ISIS Recruit Gets 20 Years in Prison
ABC News reports that American ISIS recruit Donald Ray Morgan, 44, of North Carolina has been sentenced to 20 years in prison on terrorism and weapons charges.
Salvaging Detroit — By Giving It to Syrian Refugees?
So thoroughly have decades of Democrat rule annihilated the city of Detroit that most big-picture suggestions for saving the city involve literally giving it away. Michigan’s Republican governor, Rick Snyder, long ago proposed repopulating the city with immigrants. Now Stanford University poli-sci professor David D. Laitin and former New York City Housing Development Corporation president Marc Jahr offer a more specific suggestion, in a New York Times editorial: give Detroit to refugees from the Syrian civil war.
Syrian Electronic Army Hacks Washington Post: ‘The Media Is Always Lying’
The Washington Post’s mobile website was briefly hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army on Thursday. Visitors were greeted with pop-up messages containing anti-U.S. and anti-Saudi propaganda, such as “US govt is training the terrorists to kill more Syrians” and “Saudi Arabia and its allies are killing hundreds of Yemens people everyday!”
Rubio: Iraq Wasn’t a Mistake, But I Wouldn’t Have Done It
The media’s dogged determination to chase every Republican presidential contender down and pummel them for comments about the Iraq War is remarkable to behold, since they are simultaneously willing to let the only 2016 candidate who voted in favor of the war skate by without answering questions about it, or anything else for that matter. While Hillary Clinton is given months to prepare for her ninth question from the press since declaring a candidacy, every Republican is peppered with heavy fire from a throng of journalists on an hourly basis.
‘Are You Some Kind of Sh#%ting Robot?’ Rep. Grayson Screams at Reporter
Rep. Alan Grayson, a Democrat from Florida who’s considering a bid for Senate, gets angry when asked why he set up some hedge funds in the Cayman Islands. Hilarity ensues.
51-Year-Old Actor Michael Enright Joins Kurdish Militia to Fight ISIS
Michael Enright is one of the several hundred Westerners who have traveled to Iraq and Syria to join Kurdish combat units and fight the Islamic State. He’s an unusual volunteer in several respects: he’s 51 years old, the first time he handled a gun was at a shooting range right before he left for Syria, and he is almost certainly the only YPG fighter who has appeared in movies with Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp.
ISIS Uses Stolen Passports to Bring Jihad Recruits to Syria and Iraq
The Assyrian International News Agency relays a report from Dubai television news concerning a raid on an ISIS safe house in Syria, in which rebel forces opposed to the Islamic State discovered a large stash of stolen Western passports. These travel documents have allegedly been used by ISIS to bring Western jihadi recruits to Iraq and Syria.
Death by Snooze: North Korean Defense Minister Executed for Napping
North Korean Defense Minister Hyon Yong Chol, on the job for less than a year, allegedly developed a habit of falling asleep at public events. He made the mistake of doing this at an event attended by the communist dungeon state’s dictator Kim Jong-un, whose limited sense of humor about perceived insults was amply demonstrated to Hollywood last year.
Big Government: The Cause Of, and Solution To, All Problems
Just as the last Republican in Detroit or Baltimore will be blamed for every problem faced by those troubled cities, despite generations of unchallenged Democrat rule; just as the public education system will never have enough money, no matter how lavish its per-pupil expenditures, and disappointing its results; just as the War on Poverty needs fresh financial ammunition, despite spending trillions over the course of decades to negligible effect; so everything wrong with Amtrak will be blamed on whoever resists the next demand for subsidy money.
Twitter Just the ‘Tip of the Iceberg’: Pentagon Hunts Terrorists on Mysterious ‘Dark Web’
CNN’s report on the hunt for ISIS terrorists in the darkest corners of the Internet begins with a remarkably dour assessment of the war effort thus far: “After months of bombing by the U.S. and coalition forces, ISIS remains undefeated on the ground and has now entered a new phase, using the cyber-world as a weapon… It’s a trend that has captured the attention of law enforcement and now the military.”
Jordan’s Grand Mufti Seeks to Compete with ISIS on Twitter and Facebook
The BBC weighs in the contestants in a heavyweight social-media boxing match between the “e-Muftis” of Jordan and Internet-savvy Islamist radicals: “In one corner, there’s the religious establishment of a global faith – complete with 1,400 years of collected learning. In the other, there is the self-styled Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) and its daily dose of propaganda videos flooding the Internet. Have traditional clerics got what it takes to be heard in this digital culture war?”
Security Pumped Up at Cannes Film Festival After Charlie Hebdo Shootings
“When Cannes rolls out the red carpet May 13, it will also be on red alert,” quips the Hollywood Reporter. Security will be greatly heightened at the legendary film festival, not due to any specific threat, but because of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, and what the Reporter confusingly describes as “a subsequent series of several smaller attacks against religious targets.”
ISIS Supporters Threaten a #LondonAttack
A week after a pair of “lone wolf” jihadis were killed in an aborted terrorist attack in Garland, Texas, ISIS supporters are generating a wave of social media chatter under the hashtag #LondonAttack, promising a new wave of terrorist violence.
Campus Special Snowflakes Melt Upon Contact With Greek Mythology
It is said that those who would trade essential liberty for security deserve neither. That goes for the liberty of ideas as well. Ideas that cannot survive the slightest contact with contrary thought are not worth having.
Australian Teen Arrested with Homemade Bomb Left Long Jihadi Facebook Trail
The UK Daily Mail reports on a major terrorism bust in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday afternoon. Three homemade bombs were recovered from the suspect’s residence, identified as an underaged teen. Nine days of investigative work led up to the raid.
German Club Owner Denounced as Racist for Banning Refugees
In the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt, the owner of the Amadeus nightclub — identified in Deutsche Welle’s story only as “Martin T.,” as if that would somehow preserve his anonymity — decided to ban “refugees” from his establishment after a series of altercations between the refugees and customers.
