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Terrorism Tag

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 16, 2016 17 Comments
In another banner moment for the University of Missouri, student race activists hijacked a vigil for the victims of the Orlando terror attack this week. The College Fix reported:
WATCH: Mizzou race activist hijacks Orlando vigil as gay community rebukes her A vigil Monday planned by several University of Missouri student organizations was supposed to honor victims of Sunday morning’s deadly shooting rampage in a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. It turned into a blame session against Mizzou’s LGBTQ community for not being intersectional enough. Latino activists, including a Mizzou official, scolded the mostly white gathering for ignoring racial issues. That led one attendee to fume on Facebook that the organizers had invented a “race issue” out of a “homophobic attack” by gunman Omar Mateen.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on June 16, 2016 47 Comments
There was a stunning moment on today's Morning Joe, when Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson was stumped when asked a simple question. With all the brouhaha over gun control in the wake of the Orlando massacre, what law could have stopped Omar Mateen? It was, of all people, Sam Stein of the Huffington Post who asked the killer question. Stein pointed out that Mateen was not on the no-fly or terrorist watch list, and had passed a background check. "So what is the actual legislative response" that would have stopped the Orlando attack? Johnson resorted to claiming that Congress had "a lot of ideas," but could not name one that would have made a difference. He also repeatedly recited the new mantra: gun control is a matter of homeland security. Bottom line: the Dem clamor for gun control is a political stunt. It's about increasing vote totals, not public safety.

Posted by New Neo on June 15, 2016 18 Comments
In the wake of the Orlando attack, we have seen the revival of an old debate in which Obama and the left refuse to name this enemy. Either they can't even say the word "terrorist," or they can't use any modifier that implies that Islam has anything to do with it. After a large and deadly attack such as the one in Orlando, where it was clear almost immediately that the perpetrator was an Islamic (or Islamicist, or radical Islamic) terrorist, it is glaringly apparent that Obama is refusing to call the attack what it is. And this is a weakness that Donald Trump is determined to exploit, and rightly so. Does it matter what we call perpetrators such as Omar Mateen? Obviously, both Obama and Trump---coming from opposite sides of the question---agree on the fact that it does matter, or this rhetorical battle wouldn't be going on. By using the words he uses, Trump wants to signal his resolve to oppose Islamic terrorism, as well as opposition to PC leftist language. What does Obama want to signal? Deference to the Muslim community, emphasis on his underlying policy goal of increased gun control, and minimization of the hugely increased threat from ISIS that occurred on his watch while he poo-pooed it.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 15, 2016 8 Comments
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has released a video called "Orlando Attack" that celebrates Omar Mateen and the murder of 49 people at Pulse in Orlando, FL. Mateen called 911 and pledged allegiance to the terrorist group before he opened fire at the popular gay club. ISIS praised the terrorist:
"One of Islamic State's lions, set out to restore the glory of the Ummah and avenge the death of Muslims. He shook the head of kufr America, terrorized it and shed its blood. He is Omar Mateen."

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 15, 2016 5 Comments
Sources have told NBC News that Omar Mateen's wife may face charges because she knew he wanted to carry out a terrorist attack and never told authorities. Noor Zahi Salman told the FBI that Mateen "assured her he was simply going to see friends, although she believed he was actually planning to unleash terror at the Pulse nightclub." She once drove him to the club, a one to two hour drive from their home in St. Lucie, "to scope it out." She also went with him to buy "ammunition and a holster." But now, though, officials have no evidence that she "ever called police to warn them that she believed Mateen was planning an attack."

Posted by Leslie Eastman on June 15, 2016 28 Comments
June is normally a time of joyous celebration, especially since many young people are graduating from high school or college and beginning the next phase of their lives. However, our country is in deepest mourning, for it has lost 49 of these promising, beautiful young men and women to terror. The youngest, Akyra Murray (18), was celebrating her high school graduation with her cousin and a friend Saturday night when ISIS-inspired gunman Omar Mateen struck. LI #56 b Akyra Murray
Murray's mother, Natalie Murray, said she received a text message from her daughter around 2am, saying she had been shot and to come pick her up.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 14, 2016 45 Comments
When the Newtown school shooting took place, I was making the long car trek from Ithaca to Rhode Island. And so it was as reports came out on Sunday about the Orlando Pulse gay night club terror attack. As with the Newtown shooting, for the first several hours I had to rely on AM radio coverage -- when it was available. Since then, because I've been attending to family health matters, I have not had a lot of time to focus on the developments or write about it. Thanks to other Legal Insurrection authors for staying on top of the news reports and analysis. Most of what I've learned has been from headlines and Twitter, which are basically the same thing. So I don't want to jump to conclusions, or presume anything. If I have any of the facts wrong, please let me know. I want to get this right. Here's what happened, from what I can tell:

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 14, 2016 7 Comments
Equality Florida's GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $3 million to help the victims and families from the pulse gay club massacre. Over 69,000 people have contributed, including a $100,000 donation from the company:
"We are beyond moved by the support from all corners of the world and all walks of life," Equality Florida wrote. "We do not know the total costs for the victims of this horrific hate crime, therefore are working to raise as much as possible and disperse the funds as fast as possible."

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on June 14, 2016 2 Comments
While the U.S. mainstream media is still busy churning out stories pondering on the motives of the shooter who killed 50 people in a Gay Club on Orlando, making it the worst terrorist attack since 9/11, the people in Israel are bracing up for another wave of intensified terror. The Gaza-based Islamic terrorist group Hamas has declared a “Month of Jihad” against Israel during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Hamas call for a month-long "Jihad-athon" came just a day before two armed Arab terrorists opened fire inside a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing four Israelis and wounding at least 16 others on Wednesday, June 8. Following the deadly attack, Hamas issued a statement saying the two terrorists were members of its group. On its official Twitter account the Islamist group praised the shooting of Israeli civilians as “heroic” and warned of more attacks to follow during the Muslim month of 'prayer and fasting'.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 13, 2016 1 Comment
Sources have said radical Islamic group Abu Sayyaf have beheaded Canadian hostage Robert Hall since they did not receive an $8 million ransom. The group murdered Canadian John Ridsdel in April. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the executions:
"With the tragic loss of two Canadians, I want to reiterate that terrorist hostage-takings only fuel more violence and instability. Canada will not give into their fear-mongering tactics and despicable attitude toward the suffering of others," Trudeau said in a statement. "This is precisely why the government of Canada will not and cannot pay ransoms for hostages to terrorists groups."

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 13, 2016 19 Comments
Omar Mateen's former coworker has told the media that the murderer regularly made homophobic and racist remarks, but was never fired because he was Muslim. Mateen murdered 49 people at a popular Orlando gay club on Saturday. Daniel Gilroy worked with Mateen at "G4S Security at the PGA Village complex in Port St. Lucie." He told Florida Today that he complained to the company about Mateen's numerous homophobic and racist comments. He claims they never did anything "because he was Muslim." Gilroy quit when Mateen did not stop sending him 20 to 30 text messages and 13 to 15 phone messages everyday:
"Everything he said was toxic," Gilroy told the paper, "and the company wouldn't do anything. This guy was unhinged and unstable. He talked of killing people."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on June 13, 2016 44 Comments
Do you think the families and loved ones of the Orlando victims wish Omar Mateen's father, an anti-American Afghan, had never been permitted to enter the United States? Do you think the great majority of Americans agree? The answer seems obvious: but not to the clueless cast of Morning Joe, which today trashed Donald Trump's call for a ban on Muslim immigration. Mika Brzezinski epitomized the willful blindness, claiming the Muslim ban has "no connection at all" to the Pulse massacre.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 12, 2016 13 Comments
Omar Mateen's father Seddique claimed his son's religion had nothing to do with him killing 50 people at a popular gay club in Orlando. But videos show that Seddique supports the Taliban in his native Afghanistan. Seddique hosted a show called the Durand Jirga Show on Payam-e-Afghan, "which broadcasts from California." He then posted some videos from the show on his YouTube Channel, but has not done that for over a year. The Washington Post found that the "phone number and post office box displayed on the show were traced back to the Mateen home in Florida." He also posted a video of him as Afghanistan's president on his Facebook page, Provisional Government of Afghanistan - Seddique Mateen. He posted this only hours before his son opened fire at Pulse:
"I order national army, national police and intelligence department to immediately imprison Karzai, Ashraf Ghani, Zalmay Khalilzad, Atmar, and Sayyaf. They are against our countrymen, and against our homeland," he says, while dressed in army fatigues.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on June 12, 2016 16 Comments
California's Santa Monica police may have prevented West Coast mass shooting today, by arresting a armed man with explosives heading to the areas's gay pride parade.
Authorities in Santa Monica found possible explosives as well as a cache of weapons and ammunition Sunday in the car of a man who told them he planned to look for a friend at the L.A. Pride festival in West Hollywood, a law enforcement source said. Federal and local law enforcement decided against canceling the annual parade, which went forward Sunday morning under tightened security. Investigators are now trying to piece together what happened but said they don’t believe there is any connection between the incident and the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., that killed at least 50 people overnight. Early Sunday, Santa Monica police received a call about a suspected prowler near Olympic Boulevard and 11th Street. Patrol officers responded and encountered an individual who told officers he was waiting for a friend, according to a law enforcement source familiar with details of the arrest. That led officers to inspect the car and find several weapons – including three rifles, one of them an “assault rifle” -- and a lot of ammunition as well as tannerite, an ingredient that could be used to create a pipe bomb, said the source. The car had Indiana plates.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 12, 2016 22 Comments
Details continue to emerge about Omar Mateen, the man who murdered 50 people and injured over 50 more at Pulse, a popular gay club in Orlando, FL. NBC News has reported that Mateen called 911 right before he committed the massacre. Officials told reporter Pete Williams that Mateen told the operators he "pledged allegiance to Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi." One law enforcement agent told CNN that the FBI opened "two cases on Mateen in the past," but they could not find "evidence to charge him with anything." They placed him on their radar as a possible Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) sympathizer:
In response to a question to whether the shooter may have had a connection to radical Islamic terrorism, FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ronald Hopper said investigators are "looking into all angles right now." "We do have suggestions that that individual may have leanings toward that particular ideology but we can't say definitively," Hopper said.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on June 12, 2016 72 Comments
An Islamic terrorist shot up an Orlando nightclub, killing 50 people and injuring at least 53 further people are hospitalized. CNN reports:

Approximately 20 people are dead inside Pulse, a gay nightclub, Orlando Police Chief John Mina said Sunday morning, just hours after a shooter opened fire in the club. At least 42 people have been transported for medical treatment, he said.

Police have shot and killed the gunman, Mina told reporters.
"It's appears he was organized and well-prepared," the chief said, adding that the shooter had an assault-type weapon, a handgun and "some type of (other) device on him." Law enforcement sources told CNN that the device, which was strapped to the suspect, was possibly explosive, but authorities don't know if it was real or not.
A canine unit indicated there were explosives inside the suspect's car as well, the sources said.
The most recent information released by police in Orlando is that 50 people have been killed and a further 53 are hospitalized.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 09, 2016 7 Comments
Just three days ago, on June 6, the American Anthropological Association announced that the membership narrowly defeated an anti-Israel academic boycott resolution. The resolution was opposed by many Israel anthropologists, including Dr. Michael Feige of Ben-Burion University of the Negev: Michael Feige Ben Gurion Page The boycott, if passed, would have directly affected not only universities like Ben-Gurion, but those who work there like Dr. Feige. Feige was one of hundreds to sign a statement against the boycott, which read in part:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 08, 2016 5 Comments
One of the goals of my recent trip to Israel was to meet with the families of the victims of the ongoing Palestinian violence, sometimes referred to as the Knife or Stabbing Intifada. Of course, the Knife or Stabbing Intifada hasn't only been knives and it hasn't only been stabbings -- there have been shootings and cars turned into deadly weapons. Unfortunately, because my two-week trip was reduced to three days because I had return to the U.S. due to a family medical emergency, I did not get to meet with any families. I was to meet with the widow of Yaakov Don, but the call to me came just 30 minutes before our meeting, and I had to cancel. With the news today of another terrorist shooting, this time in Tel Aviv, it's important to remember that the Tel Aviv attack is just one in dozens of attacks the past few months. You probably don't recognize the name Yaakov Don. But you may remember the name Ezra Schwarz, the American Teenager Murdered in Palestinian Attack on November 19, 2015.
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