DC Navy Yard shootings

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News/Politics 9-23-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, as always.

Here’s a few from me.

From NBCNews  “The FBI is investigating whether as many as five Americans were among the small team of terrorists who took over a Kenyan mall and launched a bloodbath that has left at least 68 dead and 175 injured over two days of carnage.

The investigation is in its early stages and until a conclusion of the siege in Kenya —  which spilled into a second bloody day on Sunday — authorities may not know for sure whether any U.S. residents were involved.

The FBI is investigating terrorist group al-Shabab’s claim that five Americans helped them attack a Kenyan mall. NBC’s Pete Williams reports.

The notion that Americans were involved came directly from the terrorists themselves — or at least a Twitter feed purporting to represent the Somali al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab, which has claimed responsibility for the mall attack.”

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More here from CNN  “There are believed to be between 10-15 gunmen involved in the attack, officials said.

Sources within Al-Shabaab told CNN that nine names listed on a Twitter site — now suspended — were people who were among the alleged hostage-takers.

Three of the alleged attackers are from the United States, two are from Somalia and there is one each from Canada, Finland, Kenya and the United Kingdom, according to the list.”

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The President spoke at a memorial for the victims of the DC Navy Yard shooting. In my opinion he once again played politics with a tragedy.

From USAToday  “President Obama called Sunday for a “transformation” of the nation’s gun laws, saying last week’s deadly shooting at the Washington Navy Yard echoes too many other killings across the United States.

“Our tears are not enough,” Obama said during a memorial service for the victims and their families.  “Our words and our prayers are not enough. … We are going to have to change.”

Gun violence in America “ought to obsess us,” Obama said.”

“Obama, who has proposed changes to the nation’s gun and mental illness laws, noted that shootings in other countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom led to changes in their gun laws. “What’s different in America,” he said, “is it’s easy to get your hands on a gun — and a lot of us know this.”

Transformation? Oh goody. Look how well his other attempts to “transform” things have gone. Should be tons of fun. 🙄

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News/Politics 9-19-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

I’m feeling under the weather today. You folks are pretty much on your own. But here’s a few I did want to post.

From TheBBC  “Multiple sources in the Capitol Police department, which guards the US Capitol complex, have told the BBC that its highly trained and heavily armed four-man Containment and Emergency Response Team (Cert) was near the Navy Yard when the initial report of an active shooter came in at about 8:20 local time.

The officers, wearing full tactical gear and armed with HK-416 assault weapons, arrived outside Building 197 a few minutes later, an official with knowledge of the incident told the BBC.

According to a Capitol Police source, an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Washington DC’s main municipal force, told the Capitol Cert officers they were the only police on the site equipped with long guns, and requested their help stopping the gunman. When the Capitol Police team radioed their superiors, they were told by a watch commander to leave the scene, the BBC was told.”

“I don’t think it’s a far stretch to say that some lives may have been saved if we were allowed to intervene,” a Capitol Police source familiar with the incident told the BBC.”

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From TheFreeBeacon  “Under Secretary of State Patrick Kennedy said the government of Libya is not allowing U.S. law enforcement into the country to arrest individuals connected with the Benghazi attack because the Libyan government “is not in control to that degree” Wednesday in a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

Kennedy explained ever since the events of September 11, 2012 the country has taken a “serious turn for the worse.”

Journalists, according to Kennedy, still have access to the country but the Libyan government’s authority is so diminished it is incapable of allowing the United States in to arrest people:”

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From CNSNews  “House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), appearing with other Republican  leaders on Wednesday, said the House will pass a continuing resolution  (CR) that defunds Obamacare and lets the Senate deal with it.

He also  indicated that Republicans will use debt limit legislation as leverage in an attempt  to cut spending.

Two other Republicans said their conference has agreed to “delay” Obamacare.”

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From TownHall  “Traditionally, an “interfaith” meeting would mandate that some sort of “faith” be present by all parties, but that is no longer the case with the Obama administration. The Secular Student Alliance, a national nonprofit dedicated to organizing nonreligious students, has been invited to help plan a national gathering for the President’s Interfaith and Community Service Challenge.”

“While it is curious that an organization that explicitly denies the existence of faith would be invited to an “interfaith” meeting, it is hardly the Obama administration’s first outreach to those lacking any belief in a higher power. Atheists were present at a 2010 “interfaith discussion” at the White House, which prompted criticism from religious leaders.”

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News/Politics 9-18-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, as always.

Reports on the DC Navy Yard shooter show that once again, signs were missed, and mental problems were ignored. Rather than deal with these failures, they’ll just blame the weapons used.

From TheAP  ” U.S. law enforcement officials are telling The Associated Press that the Navy contractor identified as the gunman in the mass shootings at the Washington Navy Yard had been suffering a host of serious mental issues, including paranoia and a sleep disorder. He also had been hearing voices in his head, the officials said.

Aaron Alexis, 34, had been treated since August by the Veterans Administration for his mental problems, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the criminal investigation in the case was continuing. The Navy had not declared him mentally unfit, which would have rescinded a security clearance that Alexis had from his earlier time in the Navy Reserves.”

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Like I said above, they won’t address the failures that lead to this, or the ones that made it worse than it would have been.

From CNSNews  “My son was at Marine Barracks — at the Navy Yard yesterday – and they had weapons with them, but they didn’t have ammunition.   And they said, ‘We were trained, and if we had the ammunition, we could’ve cleared that building.’ Only three people had been shot at that time, and they could’ve stopped the rest of it.”

The Navy Yard shooting brings up the legitimate issue of carrying – and using – firearms on military installations.

Back in 1993, the Clinton administration virtually declared military establishments “gun-free zones.” As a result, the policy banned “military personnel from carrying their own personal firearms and mandates that ‘a credible and specific threat against [Department of the Army] personnel [exist] in that region” before military personnel ‘may be authorized to carry firearms for personal protection.” Indeed, most military bases have relatively few military police as they are in heavy demand to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan,” according to economist John Lott.

Additionally, Lott discovered that “every public shooting since at least 1950 in the U.S. in which more than three people have been killed has taken place where citizens are not allowed to carry guns.”

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Despite reports to the contrary, an AR-15 was not used in the shootings. The NY Daily News ran an inflammatory piece on their front page with photos of an AR-15. They jumped the gun. Can’t wait to see where the retraction gets buried. CNN kept referring to the weapon as an AR-15 shotgun, which is a non-existent piece of hardware. MSNBC did an animated version of events that had an AR instead of a shotgun as well. If you’re gonna report on this stuff, shouldn’t you have at least a basic grasp of what you’re talking about? And what about the editors? 🙄

From Mediaite  “Speaking before the press this afternoon, the Federal Bureau of Investigations confirmed that, despite early reports, current information indicates that there was no semi-automatic AR-15 rifle used in the Washington Navy Yard shootings that left 12 people dead. According to the agency’s investigation, deceased shooter Aaron Alexis entered the building armed with a shotgun and somehow obtained a handgun while inside the facility.

Regarding previous reports on the weapons used in the attacks, FBI Washington field assistant director Valerie Parlave said: “There’s been a lot of information circulating in the media over the past day. We caution against obtaining information from unofficial sources, and we ask that all inquiries be directed to the FBI.”

Yeah right. They’re too busy pushing their anti-gun agenda to let facts get in the way. Obama responds as you would expect. Shamelessly. Never let a crisis go to waste right Barry?

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We’re all well aware of the Democrats love of abortion, and the money the industry pours into their coffers. They’re even willing to go so far as to promise to reopen clinics closed for violations, not meeting standards, and unsanitary conditions in order to ensure the money keeps flowing to them, and that they get the pro-abortion votes. I’ve always considered this guy to be one of the slimiest people on the planet. Watching the video at the link just confirms it.

From Breitbart  “Virginia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe has been caught on tape saying that, if elected, he will issue a directive to unilaterally allow abortion clinics that do not meet state health standards to remain open.”

“In the video, McAuliffe, who is running against pro-life candidate Ken Cuccinelli, reviewed the status of abortion clinics in Virginia:

I can do what I talked about, issue a guidance opinion by March to keep the remaining health centers open. I can do that myself as Governor. That’s why I said I’ll do that by March to keep the remaining, uh, Norfolk is closed. Fairfax is closed, or closing, so there will be 18 left. Only one of those 18 actually meet the, the requirements so they’ll all close if I don’t do that. But I will issue what’s called a guidance opinion by mid-March which will say that these regulations, I have, the General Assembly wasn’t definitive with the Board of Health as to the rules, I can give a guidance opinion to the Board of Health to grandfather in those remaining clinics to keep them open. That’s why this election is so important, and I will do that.”

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ACORN is back. I hate to say it, but NY deserves this type of leadership for allowing these people to continue their fraud. And for electing leaders who are using that fraud to their benefit. Sometimes you get what you deserve.

From TheNYPost  “Bertha Lewis played critical behind-the-scenes roles in the victorious Democratic primary campaigns of both Bill de Blasio for mayor and Kenneth Thompson for Brooklyn district attorney, The Post has learned.

“We’re baacccck. The right wing will have to deal with it,” Lewis chuckled.

Lewis, a co-founder of the Working Families Party, was an early backer and adviser to de Blasio.

ACORN’s successor group, New York Communities for Change, endorsed de Blasio for mayor in early spring, and a Lewis protege, NYCC field director Harold Miller, helped run de Blasio’s field operation.”

I think fraud operation is probably more accurate.

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