Terrorism

The Kansas City Star reports: Three men accused of plotting to bomb a western Kansas mosque say their rights are being violated by the exclusion of jurors from more politically conservative areas. Attorneys for the three men say in documents filed in federal court in Wichita that the jury selection procedure is discriminatory and “excludes rural and conservative jurors.” When …

Heavy.com reports: Ullah Akayed has been arrested following reports of a possible pipe bomb detonated in New York City. Police say that it appears as though Akayed set off some kind of explosive device around 6:30 a.m. on Monday morning in an underground Subway station not too far from bustling Times Square. Police took 27-year-old Akayed into custody shortly after …

USA Today reports: The widow of Pulse nightclub gunman Omar Mateen will stand trial in Orlando, home to the nation’s second deadliest mass shooting in modern history, after a federal judge ruled staying in the city wouldn’t prevent a fair trial. Lawyers for Noor Salman had fought to move the case outside the city, arguing intense media coverage of the …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Attorneys for the wife of Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen wrote in a motion filed on Monday that he was using online dating websites such as Plenty of Fish to cheat on her. Noor Salman’s attorneys said in the motion that Mateen used a mutual friend as a cover story so he could go out with …

Heavy.com reports: Devin P. Kelley was identified as the gunman who walked into the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on a Sunday morning and murdered at least 25 people, wounding many more. The shooter’s name was reported via sources by The New York Times and CBS News; the latter gave his name as Devin Patrick Kelley. The horrific …

Newsweek reports: Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock was quite the fan of President Donald Trump before he killed 58 people and left another 500 injured—the worst mass shooting in recent U.S. history. Paddock, a millionaire who reportedly would gamble up to $1 million a night in casinos, was attracted to the president’s politics because of the boost the stock market …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump claimed Friday morning that the United States military is hitting ISIS “much harder” after an alleged ISIS-inspired attacker drove a truck down a bike lane in New York, killing eight, though he didn’t provide any evidence. Trump, in a series of tweets ahead of his five-country, 12-day trip to Asia, labeled the accused attacker, 29-year-old …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Sayfullo Saipov, the motorist accused of killing eight in New York City on Tuesday in a domestic terror attack, should face the death penalty for his actions. The comments serve as Trump’s most direct call to action against the attacker since Tuesday’s lethal incident. It is extremely unusual for a sitting president …

The Associated Press reports: The man who police say transformed a New York City bike path into a terror scene was an Uzbekistan native who made 1,400 trips as an Uber driver and formed two commercial truck businesses.  Details of the life of the suspect — who had no known social media accounts — have just begun to emerge in …

Deadline reports: President Donald Trump watched Fox & Friends Wednesday morning to get his early briefing on the latest about the previous night’s terror attack in lower Manhattan that left eight dead. In his morning tweets, Trump blamed the Senate’s top Democrat Chuck Schumer for the attack, pushed Trump’s immigration agenda, and twice plugged his pals at Fox News Channel’s …

Heavy.com reports: Sayfullo Saipov, an Uzbek national, was identified in news reports as the driver accused of ramming a Home Depot rental truck into people on a bike path in lower Manhattan, killing at least eight and injuring multiple more, in a frightening “act of terror” that unfolded almost in the shadow of the World Trade Center memorial. He is …

After a flurry of confused and contradictory reports, it appears that the attack in lower Manhattan was indeed Islamic terrorism. At least six people were killed Tuesday afternoon when a speeding Home Depot truck plowed along a Lower Manhattan bike path, running down helpless riders from behind, sources said. Eyewitnesses told police the driver yelled “Allahu Akbar!” — Arabic for …

The Hill reports: The National Rifle Association (NRA) claims in a new video that President Trump and his supporters are being subjected to the most “ruthless” attack against a U.S. president and his supporters in the history of the country. “We are witnesses to the most ruthless attack on a president and the people who voted for him, and the …

NBC News reports: A search of a Florida man’s home for child pornography this week yielded more than what authorities were expecting. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday it stumbled upon a disturbing array of weapons inside the Tampa Bay-area home of 24-year-old Randall Drake. Three homemade bombs and a homemade silencer, maps and aerial photos of local schools …

The Associated Press reports: Authorities say the Las Vegas shooter had no visual abnormalities in his brain. Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told reporters Friday that Stephen Paddock that an autopsy found nothing unusual during a visual inspection, but his brain was shipped to a facility to look for any minute problems. Authorities haven’t determined why Paddock opened fire on a concert …

The work finished on National Coming Out Day. CBS News reports: A crosswalk to honor the Pulse nightclub victims was completed early Wednesday by the city of Orlando. A petition on change.org for the installation of the sidewalk was signed by more than 2,000 people to pledge their support to honor the men and women who lost their lives at …

1.1 million views already. Vox reports: When the rest of the world looks at America’s gun problem, it’s often with bafflement. Sunday with Lubach, which is sort of like the Dutch version of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, looked at guns — specifically, the US’s love of firearms. And it’s very telling. “NRA is a constitutional disorder caused by …

SQUIRREL: During a panel discussion on CNN’s State of the Union this morning, political commentator and former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum waded into the debate by taking aim at the entertainment industry. After finding consensus with liberals on the banning of bump stocks and modifying semi-automatic weapons to shoot like automatic ones, Santorum then said more attention should be …

Mediaite reports: Country singer Jason Aldean opened Saturday Night Live following the Las Vegas Massacre that took place at his concert. “This week, we witnessed one of the worst tragedies in American history,” Aldean began. “Like everyone, I’m struggling to understand what happened that night and how to pick up the pieces and start to heal.” Aldean went on to …

Another right wing conspiracy theory has been debunked. The New York Daily News reports: Investigators believe the Las Vegas mass shooter hired a prostitute in the days leading up to the massacre, says an official briefed by federal law enforcement. Paddock, who was reportedly seen with a mystery woman in his last days, is believed to have hired a prostitute, …