20 [Update: 50] Dead In Orlando Gay Club Shooting; Possible Terrorism

Ken AshfordBreaking News, Crime, War on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

USA TODAY: A heavily armed assailant opened fire in a packed Orlando nightclub early Sunday in a bloody massacre that left about 20 people dead and prompted a terrorism investigation, authorities said. Police Chief John Mina said the tragedy began at 2:02 a.m., when three police officers engaged in a gun battle with a suspect outside Pulse Orlando, a gay … Read More

Is ISIS On The Ropes?

Ken AshfordWar on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

Don’t look to the Republican presidential candidates for an honest answer to that question.  They want ISIS to be flourishing because it gives them a plank to campaign on. But if you look at my tweets, you’ll see that Paris and Belgium are sweeping out the network with arrests, and that the Number 2 ISIS guy was killed, US officials believe. … Read More

Brussels Attacks: Silver Lining Edition

Ken AshfordBreaking News, War on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

The death toll stands at 31 from yesterday’s coordinated ISIS-terrorist attacks in Brussels. We’re getting some details from the Belgian prosecutor. There were three explosions. Two explosions hit the Zaventem airport in Brussels around 8 am local time (3 am Eastern) in the departure area. One was in the entryway and the other near the American Airlines ticket counter. Both were suicide … Read More

Quote Of The Day

Ken AshfordElection 2016, War on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

“Good God, they’re probably cutting videos of this right now. . . Donald Trump right now is validating the cartoonish view that they tell their operatives…that America is a racist nation, xenophobic, anti-Muslim, and that that’s why you must carry out terrorist attacks against them…It’s irresponsible and it needs to stop.” – terrorism expert Malcolm Nance, the head of the Terrorism … Read More

The Brussels Attacks

Ken AshfordElection 2016, War on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

35 dead (at last count) and over 200 wounded.  The attacks took place during morning rush hour in Brussels, as three ISIS or-ISIS-related gunmen opened fire at the airport in Brussels and then self-detonated via an explosive belt. An hour later came an explosion in a Brussels subway station — Maalbeek. The bloodshed came just four days after the dramatic … Read More

Unedited Video Of the Oregon Standoff and Arrest and Showdown

Ken AshfordRightwing Extremism/Violence, War on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

There have been conflicting stories about how militant LaVoy Finicum.  Occupants of Finicum’s car say he was “executed” with his hands up.  Law enforcement accounts say that he was reaching into his left jacket pocket and not keeping his hands up (and a loaded gun was found in that pocket later). To me, in this video, a couple of things are … Read More

Oregon Standoff Loosing Steam

Ken AshfordRightwing Extremism/Violence, War on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

Kudos to law enforcement.  Looks like their tactic worked.  A lot of lefties, including me, thought they were ignoring the armed occupiers when this thing began, but the feds knew what they were doing: It’s a pretty safe bet that by seizing the opportunity to decapitate the leadership of the Oregon occupiers, federal authorities were hoping the remainder of the … Read More

The Mass Shooting You Didn’t Hear About

Ken AshfordWar on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

The FBI doesn’t take victory laps, but I think maybe it should. These stories happen all the time and they never get the same media attention as the stories in which people bleed. And that’s why so many Americans live in (and vote out of) fear. We’re doing okay against the bad guys — better than you might think.  This … Read More

Domestic Terrorism Update

Ken AshfordConstitution, Rightwing Extremism/Violence, War on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

Busy day today, so I have little commentary.  I recommend an article in The New Yorker for a slightly different, but valuable, perspective than mine: American vigilantism is never racially innocent. Its two parents are self-mobilization on the frontier, usually against Native Americans at a time when homesteading was reserved to whites, and the racial terror of the Ku Klux … Read More

Armed Terrorists Seize Federal Property

Ken AshfordBreaking News, Constitution, Gun Control, Rightwing Extremism/Violence, War on Terrorism/Torture1 Comment

You would think this would be 24/7 headline news, but it isn’t.  The terrorist takeover began Sunday morning, but the regular news outlets barely covered it.  Only on Twitter was it discussed at any length, thanks to the hashtag #OregonUnderAttack. Now that it is a regular non-holiday workday, the media is starting to report it.  Before then, the only real … Read More

Picture Of The Year?

Ken AshfordSyria, War on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

I don’t know, but it should be contender.  The photographer is not a journalist or professional photographer, but I don’t know if that makes any difference. This is a woman who escaped ISIS territory and was able to wear color again, taken sometime in early December 2015.

Did Ted Cruz Leak Classified Information During The Latest GOP Debate?

Ken AshfordElection 2016, Republicans, War on Terrorism/Torture, Wiretapping & SurveillanceLeave a Comment

It went down like this.  While Rubio and Cruz were debating each other’s records on national security and surveillance, Cruz got into some details about what the bulk data program covers. “What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists,” Cruz said, referring to Rubio. “The new program … Read More

The Trump Backlash Continues

Ken AshfordElection 2016, Immigration and Xenophobia, Polls, Republicans, Right Wing Punditry/Idiocy, Tea Party, War on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

A $6 billion golf community under construction in Dubai is removing his name from the project. Trump was tossed from a respected business network in Scotland, where the billionaire says he invested more than $300 million in golf courses and other developments. And Lifestyle, a retailer that does business in an enormous marketplace spanning the Middle East, India and Africa, … Read More