September 19, 2016


News and Views


SUSPECTED BOMBMAKER ARRESTED – GOOD ACTION MOVIE MATERIAL – FOUR ARTICLES


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/20/nyregion/nyc-nj-explosions-ahmad-khan-rahami.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

Ahmad Khan Rahami Is Arrested in Manhattan and New Jersey Bombings
By MARC SANTORA, WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and AL BAKER
SEPT. 19, 2016

Photograph -- Investigators in Elizabeth, N.J., near the last known residence of Ahmad Khan Rahami, who was arrested on Monday in the weekend bombing in Manhattan. Credit Bryan Anselm for The New York Times
Video -- U.S. By MEGAN SPECIA 00:31
Video -- F.B.I. Identifies Suspect in Chelsea Blast
Related: -- The F.B.I. on Monday identified 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami as a person of interest in an investigation into a bombing in Manhattan that happened Saturday night. By MEGAN SPECIA on Publish Date September 19, 2016. . Watch in Times Video
GRAPHIC -- How the Suspect in the Chelsea Bombing Was Arrested
Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, the suspect in a bombing in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan that injured 29 people Saturday night, was arrested in Linden, N.J.
OPEN GRAPHIC -- By midmorning on Monday, the police had handled dozens of calls for suspicious packages.
Video -- CHELSEA EXPLOSION By AINARA TIEFENTHÄLER and TURNER COWLES 2:06
Video -- Explosion Rocks Manhattan
Related: -- The authorities believe a homemade bomb caused the explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, injuring 29. A second device was later found four blocks away. By AINARA TIEFENTHÄLER and TURNER COWLES on Publish Date September 18, 2016. Photo by Craig Ruttle/Associated Press. Watch in Times
Related: In Brief Appearance, Obama Discusses Terror Attacks
12m
Related: Rahami Taken Away in Ambulance
54m
Related: Rahami Was Wounded by Gunfire in N.J.
Photo -- The F.B.I. released a photograph of Mr. Rahami.


The man believed to be responsible for the explosion in Manhattan on Saturday night and an earlier bombing in New Jersey, Ahmad Khan Rahami, was taken into custody on Monday after he was wounded by gunfire in an encounter with the police, according to law enforcement officials.

The dramatic episode on a rain-soaked street in Linden, N.J., came after the police issued a cellphone alert to millions of residents in the area telling them to be on the lookout for the suspect, who was described as “armed and dangerous.”

Photos from the scene showed a man believed to be Mr. Rahami lying on the sidewalk, hands cuffed behind his back and his shirt pulled up exposing his stomach and chest, with a police officer standing over him.

Witnesses said they saw police shoot at a man who was running away. One person who was too rattled to give his name said the victim appeared to have been shot more than once and was “still twitching.”

He also said it appeared a police officer was shot.

“Lotta’ lotta’ gunfire,” said Derek Pelligra, manager of Linden Auto Body.

Mr. Rahami, 28, was identified on surveillance video planting the bombs in Chelsea, both the device that exploded and another that did not detonate a few blocks away. He was described as a naturalized citizen of Afghan descent who had been living with his family in Elizabeth, N.J.

It remained unclear there were other suspects who the police were searching for in the connection with the bombing.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who said on Sunday that the attack did not appear to have a link to international terrorism, said new evidence might change that thinking.

“I would not be surprised if we did have a foreign connection to the act,” he said on CNN on Monday morning.

Mr. Rahami was born on Jan. 23, 1988, in Afghanistan. His last known address was in Elizabeth, N.J. He is described as about 5 feet 6 inches tall and about 200 pounds. Mr. Rahami has brown hair, brown eyes and brown facial hair.

A law enforcement official, who agreed to speak about the investigation only on the condition of anonymity, said they had conclusive evidence that Mr. Rahami was connected not just to the Manhattan explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood, but also to a bombing that took place earlier on Saturday on the Jersey Shore.

The city’s police commissioner, James P. O’Neill, directed the entire patrol force of the New York Police Department — 36,000 officers — to step up their vigilance and be on the alert for Mr. Rahami.

Dozens of officers and federal agents were zeroing in on locations in New Jersey. At the same time, more than 1,000 officers from the city police force’s Critical Response Command and Emergency Service Unit were working to secure New York City landmarks, commuter hubs and other sensitive sites.

Hours before Mr. Rahami’s name was released, the police discovered five pipe bombs near a train station in Elizabeth, detonating one of them overnight as they sought to disarm them.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents with dogs and Elizabeth police officers swarmed a residential neighborhood of low-rise apartment buildings, multiple family homes and small businesses.

Law enforcement officers closed and evacuated La Bottega Dei Sapori deli and Sonia’s Beauty, a salon to the left of the restaurant, as well as HR Computer and Communication Services Inc.

The law enforcement official said that while there was no direct evidence yet linking Mr. Rahami to the Islamic State or Al Qaeda, much about him remained unknown.

“We don’t know his particular ideology or what his inspiration was or whether he was directed or whether he was inspired,” the official said. “We don’t have any of that.”

“We have a lot to connect him to the Seaside Heights device, to the 27th Street device, to the 23rd Street device,” the official added. “And in all likelihood the Elizabeth train station device — which is a half-mile from his residence. So, the ideology, the connection to international terrorism, we might flesh that out as we go through the results of search warrants, looking for computers, discs, things like this. Search warrants that we did Sunday night at the residence in Elizabeth.”

“Here’s a guy who has been involved” in a series of bomb-related episodes in close succession in crowded areas, the official said. “So we need to get him.”

Late on Sunday night, the police stopped a car on the Belt Parkway near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Brooklyn and took in five people who were connected to Mr. Rahami for questioning.

Police chased down leads on both sides of the Hudson overnight, including the tip that led to the discovery of the pipe bombs in Elizabeth.

Two men had walked out of Hector’s Place Restaurant near the city’s train station and found a backpack containing five explosives resting atop a municipal garbage can, Mayor J. Christian Bollwage said.

After finding that the backpack contained “wires and a pipe,” the mayor said, the men dropped the item in the street and contacted the Elizabeth Police Department around 8:45 p.m. The police, in turn, called the Union County bomb squad, and the investigation was quickly turned over to the F.B.I. and the New Jersey State Police, Mr. Bollwage said.

The F.B.I. then sent in a pair of robots and determined that the backpack held five bombs, some of which were pipe bombs, the mayor said.

Around 12:30 a.m., the robots tried to clip a wire to disarm one bomb and accidentally detonated it, the mayor said. No injuries were reported.

Mr. Bollwage, speaking at a news conference on Monday morning, described how the Rahami family had issues with the city in the past, mainly surrounding the operation of their family restaurant, First American Fried Chicken.

Mr. Rahami’s father, Muhammad, opened the restaurant about a decade ago and employed his sons, the mayor said.

It was open 24 hours a day, but neighbors complained about rowdy crowds that would gather at the place, often after midnight.

Dean McDermott, who lives near the restaurant in Elizabeth, said he found patrons loitering in his yard and urinating in his driveway.

Responding to the complaints, the City Council passed an ordinance that would force the restaurant to close late at night, the mayor said.

“The City Council voted to shut it down at 10 p.m.,” he said. “They kept getting complaints from neighbors, it was a distress to people in the neighborhood.”

The Rahamis did not comply, according to neighbors.

On one occasion when the police came to force the restaurant to close, one of Mr. Rahami’s older brothers got in a fight with a police officer and was arrested. Before the case could be resolved, Mr. McDermott said, the son fled to his home country, Afghanistan.

The mayor confirmed that the Rahami family sued the mayor, the City Council, some 20 police officers, claiming that he had been discriminated against because of his race and ethnicity.

“It was neighbor complaints, it had nothing to do with his ethnicity or religion,” the mayor said. “It had to do with noise and people congregating on the streets.”

A frequent patron of the restaurant, Ryan McCann, 33, said Ahmad Rahami was friendly and did not seem outwardly angry. Rather, Mr. McCann said, he was obsessed with fast cars, specifically Honda civics custom built to race.

Mr. Rahami wore Western clothing, hung out on the sidewalk with friends and often slipped his regular customers free food, he said.

“He’s a very friendly guy; he gave me free chicken,” Mr. McCann said. “He was always the most friendly man you ever met.”

Mr. McCann said that the family lived in an apartment above the restaurant and that Mr. Rahami had been taking over more responsibility at the restaurant.

“Lately, it was just the son, I haven’t seen the father in a while,” he said.

To other customers, however, the Rahami family seemed reserved.

“They seemed secretive, a little mysterious,” said Jessica Casanova, 23, a neighbor. “They’re too serious all the time.”

Another neighbor, Joshua Sanchez, 24, was also struck by the familial insularity inside the chicken restaurant he referred to as “the shack.”

“The dad and him would always be together at the shack, just them two, family business,” he said. “They never hired people, it was just the father and the son all the time.”



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-identify-ahmad-khan-rahami-sought-in-connection-to-nyc-blast/

Massive manhunt launched for NYC, N.J. bombing suspect
CBS/AP
September 19, 2016, 7:40 AM

Photograph -- ahmad-khan-rahami-fbi-wanted-poster.jpg
FBI
Play VIDEO -- NY Gov. Cuomo on explosion investigation, person of interest


A massive manhunt was launched and millions of New York City-area residents were alerted directly after police identified a suspect in connection with the Chelsea bombing that injured 29 people.

Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, is being sought in connection to the Saturday evening explosion in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, officials in New York, New Jersey, and with the FBI said early Monday.

In addition to Rahami, CBS News security analyst Fran Townsend reports two others were seen in surveillance tape handling explosives but it is unclear if they played any role in the attack.

Cellphone users across the tri-state area were alerted to the suspect’s name and description around 8 a.m. with a system normally reserved for flash flood warnings and Amber alerts.

In New York City, police officers were being held over from previous shifts. The city has already been on heightened security as world leaders arrive this week for the United Nations General Assembly.

CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues reports that investigators believe Rahami may be part of a terror cell and consider him extremely dangerous.

Officials say surveillance video places Rahami at the scene of both the bomb that exploded in Chelsea, as well as the one that failed to explode and was taken away by police.

Sources tell CBS News that Rahami is also sought in connection with the bombing in Seaside Park, New Jersey, as well as the five explosive devices found in a backpack near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the suspect’s hometown.

The FBI bulletin (PDF) on Rahami states he “is a 28-year-old United States citizen of Afghan descent born on January 23, 1988, in Afghanistan. His last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He is about 5’ 6” tall and weighs approximately 200 pounds. Rahami has brown hair, brown eyes, and brown facial hair.”

The bulletin warns that he “should be considered armed and dangerous.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said as investigators gathered information they learned there were “certain commonalities among the bombs,” leading authorities to believe “that there was a common group behind the bombs.”

“We want to get this guy in for questioning,” NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said on CNN. “We need the facts to be able to piece all this together. ... I think we’re going to know a lot more in the course of the day. Things are moving very quickly.”

Early Monday, FBI agents swarmed an apartment above a fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth that’s tied to Rahami. The activity came hours after one of five devices found at the nearby Elizabeth train station exploded while a bomb squad robot attempted to disarm it.

Officials had been seeking a connection between the string of attacks that started Saturday and unfolded in a short time span.

The first attack happened at a road race to benefit Marines and sailors at the Jersey Shore at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. The race had been scheduled to start shortly before the blast occurred, but was delayed due to the large numbers of people registering for the race and reports of an unattended backpack being found.

Officials noted that if the race had started on time, a “good number of people” would have been running past the area where the explosion occurred. The device used was described as a pipe bomb set off with a cellphone trigger.

The second attack happened Saturday night at around 8:30 p.m. in New York City’s bustling Chelsea neighborhood, known for its vibrant nightlife. While 29 people were injured in the blast, none were hurt seriously and all were released from the hospital within 24 hours. Officials say the device used was a pressure cooker bomb also set off by a cellphone trigger. A second, very similar device was discovered later just a few blocks away and was removed before it could be set off.

The bomb that rocked the bustling Manhattan neighborhood contained residue of Tannerite, an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores, a federal law enforcement official said Sunday.

However, no Tannerite residue was identified in the New Jersey bomb remnants, in which a black powder was detected, said an official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to comment on an ongoing investigation.

A source tells CBS News three cellphones with the two New York devices and one associated with the Seaside Park device are described as flip phones.

Officials haven’t revealed any details about the makeup of the pressure-cooker device, except to say it had wires and a cellphone attached to it.

In Elizabeth, New Jersey, the last known address for the Rahami, Mayor Christian Bollwage said after five more pipe bombs were discovered near a train station around 8:30 p.m. Sunday evening that he didn’t believe his town had been deliberately targeted. Bollwage said it was possible that someone worried about the authorities was trying to get rid of the package.

New York explosion

“I’m extremely concerned for the residents of the community, but more importantly extremely concerned for everyone in the state and country where someone can just go and drop a backpack into a garbage can that has multiple explosives in it with no timers and then you have to wonder how many people could have been hurt,” Bollwage said.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-city-chelsea-explosion-mayor-bill-deblasio-tries-to-calm-terrorism-fears/

After blast, "New Yorkers will not be intimidated," de Blasio says
CBS/AP
September 18, 2016, 7:43 AM

Photograph -- New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill (right) and Mayor Bill de Blasio speak at a press conference as police, firefighters and emergency workers gather at the scene of an explosion in Manhattan on September 17, 2016 in New York City. SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
Play VIDEO -- NYPD sends robot to investigate pressure cooker


NEW YORK - The city of New York is largely considered the top terror target in America and an explosion in the city’s Chelsea neighborhood Saturday evening immediately set off fears another attack. The concerns were heightened in part because officials found a second suspicious device nearby, and hours earlier a pipe bomb exploded next to a charity race a few miles away at the Jersey Shore.

The explosion that rocked the crowded Manhattan neighborhood injured dozens but caused no immediate fatalities, and the possibly explosive device discovered blocks away was safely removed early Sunday. Still, a stern-faced Mayor Bill de Blasio felt the need to rule out any terror connections at a press conference late Saturday, citing “no credible and specific threat,” but he still called the blast an “intentional act.”

De Blasio said the Chelsea explosion had no terrorist connection and wasn’t related to a pipe bomb explosion earlier Saturday in Seaside Park, New Jersey, that forced the cancellation of a charity run.

“Now, I want to be clear: Whatever the cause, whatever the intention here, New Yorkers will not be intimidated,” the mayor said. “We are not going to let anyone change who we are or how we go about our lives.”

It was unclear who was behind the blasts in New York and New Jersey, and what motivated them. A law enforcement source tells CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton that while no suspect nor motive has been established, terrorism has not definitively been ruled out as a possibility.

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said a total of 29 people were injured in the Chelsea blast. He said one person’s injuries were serious and the rest were minor. No one was injured in the explosion in Seaside Park.

Despite de Blasio’s attempt to calm the public, law enforcement sources told CBS News the Joint Terrorism Task Force is ramping up operations in New York.

The second device that officers investigated four blocks from the Chelsea scene was a pressure cooker with a cellphone and wires attached, and was found in a plastic bag. The device was found inside a plastic bag on West 27th Street. The device was removed with a robot and taken to a department firing range in the Bronx.

The New York Times reports the second device appeared to be similar to the devices used in the Boston Marathon bombing.

The explosion that rocked a bustling Chelsea neighborhood appeared to have come from a construction toolbox in front of a building. Photos from the scene show a twisted and crumpled black metal box.

“This is a very dense area, the whole block is restaurants and residences and this area on a warm Saturday night is an area swarming with people,” New York City Councilman Cory Johnson told CBS New York.

The blast happened on West 23rd Street, in front of a residence for the blind, near a major thoroughfare with many restaurants and a Trader Joe’s supermarket. Witnesses said the explosion at about 8:30 p.m. blew out the windows of businesses and scattered debris in the area. Officials said no evacuations were necessary.


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NYC Scanner @NYScanner
Manhattan: West 23 St & 7th Ave, moment of the explosion that went off on Street. Video by @RussellBlaymore
11:48 PM - 17 Sep 2016
860 860 Retweets 335 335 likes

Nigro said several people were taken to hospitals with injuries. One person received a puncture wound that was considered serious. The other injuries were described as scrapes and bruises.

New York City subway routes were affected by the explosion, which rattled some New Yorkers and visitors on the heels of the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.

Chris Gonzalez, visiting from Dallas, was having dinner with friends at a restaurant in the area.

“We felt it. We heard it,” Gonzalez said. “It wasn’t like jolting or anything. Everyone just went quiet.”

Rudy Alcide, a bouncer at Vanity Nightclub at 21st Street and 6th Avenue, said he, at first, thought something large had fallen.

“It was an extremely loud noise. Everything was shaking, the windows were shaking,” he said. “It was extremely loud, almost like thunder but louder.”

The FBI and Homeland Security officials, along with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arson and explosive task force, were at the scene.

The White House said President Barack Obama was apprised of the explosion.

In St. Cloud, Minnesota, police said at least eight people were injured at a shopping mall Saturday evening in a stabbing attack. The suspect was shot dead by an off-duty police officer.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said she had been briefed “about the bombings in New York and New Jersey and the attack in Minnesota.”

She says the nation needs to support its first responders and “pray for the victims.”

“We have to let this investigation unfold,” she said.

Donald Trump moved ahead of New York City officials when he declared a “bomb went off” in the city before officials had released details. He made the announcement minutes after stepping off his plane during a rally at an airport hangar in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

“I must tell you that just before I got off the plane a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows what’s going on,” Trump said.

He continued, “But boy we are living in a time -- we better get very tough, folks. We better get very, very tough. It’s a terrible thing that’s going on in our world, in our country and we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant.”

The Republican presidential nominee made the comments around 9:10 p.m., shortly after the explosion and as emergency officials responded to the blast. A spokeswoman for Trump did not respond to an email asking whether he was briefed about it before taking the stage.

The Manhattan blast came hours after a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, shortly before thousands of runners were due to participate in a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors. The run was canceled, and no injuries were reported.


EXCERPT -- “He continued, “But boy we are living in a time -- we better get very tough, folks. We better get very, very tough. It’s a terrible thing that’s going on in our world, in our country and we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant.”


Whoever is president will see an increase in vigilance. I have gotten upset about these things so long now that I’m beginning to get used to it. It’s not that I don’t care about it, but that if I’m safe and I can’t do anything about the problem, I don’t worry so much once our government forces are busily solving the problem.

The shooting at the LGBT bar in Florida was different. That was so coldly and rationally carried out that I was in shock. These bombings that don’t seem to be aimed at a group seem to me to be a part of a pattern of senseless insanity, and as likely to happen one place as another. Bombers do tend to want a crowd, though, so they can get their names in the paper and get a good “body count.” That very
phrase was mentioned after 9/11 which was sponsored by al-Qaeda. Bin Laden was known for his extremely cold-blooded calculation. After the 9/11/2001 events he was said to have laughed, because he didn’t expect the buildings to actually fall down. It’s like a boy with his toys. I wanted to shout for joy when I heard that Obama had sent in a highly specialized team and shot him. Assassination isn’t always a bad thing.

As for our country being “tough,” Trump shouldn’t be dissatisfied with the NYC responses in this case of multiple bombings. With the FBI’s help, and those overhead surveillance cameras which have been so unpopular with some, they detected the bomber quickly and rounded him and some of his family members up within a 24 hour period.

The neighbors had already made complaints against the family restaurant due to raucous crowds after bedtime. The city ordered it closed after 10:00 PM, but the family failed to comply.

Then the bombings occurred. The bomber’s work was identified by specialists, and a knapsack containing five unused bombs was found on a dumpster near the restaurant by a neighborhood resident. The FBI with dogs and a number of other law enforcement groups stormed the neighborhood where the bomber lived and the restaurant itself. The whole NYPD was put on duty, one article said, and they showed how good they really are.

These individual incidents should be viewed as CRIME and not as TERRORISM, in my view, unless a clear pattern of international involvement or an identifiable group of conspirators is found. This man was caught in a car with 5 possible accomplices in NJ, and arrested. They were probably fleeing the area, I assumed, though the article didn’t say so directly. A search warrant produced computer information which may identify specific actors other than Ahmad. I expect more will be arrested after the investigation is completed. All the neighbors except one called the family unfriendly and insular, and an older brother had fled the country over an earlier police interaction for Afghanistan. They pretty clearly aren’t adapting as US citizens very well.

A news article several years ago stated that the incidence of culturally related Islamic violence had more to do with family and tribal ties than with religion. That leads me to believe that mass action against Islamic people here would not only fail to prevent crime, but is AMORAL and against all American tradition. That description would fit this family of angry and suspicious people, who aren’t “fitting in” here very well. The bomber was a naturalized citizen, but not mature enough to avoid the pattern of espousing group hatred instead of working on becoming an American, which involves obeying laws even if we don’t like them.

All five or six of the similar cases that I have read in the last two years or so have had to do with an immature, angry young man, sometimes with a close tie to a mosque and sometimes not. Two cases of a man who killed his daughter for her disobedience to strict SHARIA law also occurred. That, to me, is more hideous than a shooting. It’s in a class with cannibalism or human sacrifice. It’s what I can only call PRIMITIVE.

I still can’t agree with Trump that we should put people in prison or “waterboard” them over what is mainly a crime of hatred or mental instability in general, however. The police and FBI in this case, first, correctly identified the perpetrator and, second, successfully captured him without even killing him or severely beating him. That’s good police work.

The following article on mall stabbings is similar, but not yet considered to be related, apparently. We should hear more about it later as more information is discovered. These stabbings definitely were related to ISLAM, however. This Minnesota family are from Somalia.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/isis-claims-responsibility-for-minnesota-mall-attack/

Source: Minnesota attacker asked victims if they were Muslim
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS/AP
September 18, 2016, 11:18 AM

Photograph -- People stand near the entrance on the north side of Crossroads Center shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minn., Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016. Several people were taken to a hospital with injuries after a stabbing attack at the mall, which ended with the suspected attacker dead inside the mall. AP


ST. CLOUD, Minn. — A federal law enforcement source tells CBS News that the deceased suspect in a Minnesota mall attack that wounded eight Saturday, was asking people if they were Muslim and stabbing those who said they were not.

Officials said the man has had interactions with police in the past, including recently, but the source could not yet characterize the nature of those interactions.

The father of the suspect has identified him as a 22-year-old college student.

Ahmed Adan told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that police told him Saturday night that his son, Dahir A. Adan, died at Crossroads Center mall in St. Cloud.

He says police didn’t mention the attack on the mall, but they seized photos and other materials from the family’s apartment.

Authorities haven’t publicly identified the attacker.

Ahmed Adan, who is Somali, says his son came to the U.S. 15 years ago and was was [SIC] a student at St. Cloud Technical and Community College. He told the Star Tribune he had “no suspicion” that his son might have been involved in terrorist activity.

All nine victims -- seven men, a woman and a 15-year-old girl -- were treated at hospitals for wounds that weren’t life-threatening, St. Cloud police Chief Blair Anderson said at a news conference Sunday. Three remained hospitalized. The others were released.

Investigators are still trying to determine if the attack actually had any connection with ISIS. A news agency connected with the extremist group claimed Sunday that the suspect had heeded calls for attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition.

The ISIS-run Rasd news agency called the suspect a “soldier of the Islamic State.”

It was not immediately clear if the extremist group had planned the attack or even knew about it beforehand. ISIS has encouraged so-called “lone wolf” attacks. It has also claimed past attacks that are not believed to have been planned by its central leadership

Anderson said the attacker was wearing a security uniform and was armed with a knife, reports CBS Minnesota. Anderson said the attacker made at least one reference to Allah.

Police said late Saturday they were not ready to call the attack an act of terrorism.

“We will be diligent and get to the bottom of this,” Anderson said. “We will be transparent.”

Officials said at a press conference Sunday that the off-duty officer who shot and killed the suspect is Jason Falconer, a former Albany, Minn., chief of police.

Officials said Falconer shot the suspect when the suspect lunged at him. Will Blair Anderson, Chief of Police for St. Cloud, said there was just five minutes between the first 911 call and reports of the suspect being shot dead.

“He clearly prevented additional injuries and potential loss of life,” Anderson said.

“Officer Falconer was there at the right time and the right place,” he said.

Ashley Bayne, who was visiting a friend at the J.C. Penney store in the mall described the scene to CBS Minnesota.

“I went closer to the mall entrance by J.C. Penney’s and I was looking at some jeans and all the sudden people were just running in chaos,” Bayne said. “They were screaming, ‘Someone’s stabbing people in the mall,’ and people were just really frantic and were running.

“There were so many cop cars just responding to the area,” Bayne said. “When I got in my car to get out people were speeding out of there. By the time I left my coworker had texted me saying they had all gone into lockdown in the mall. There were no notifications in the mall at all, it was just people running and screaming.”

Harley and Tama Exsted of Isle, Minnesota, who were in St. Cloud to watch their son play in a college golf tournament, were in the mall when the incident occurred.

“All of a sudden I heard pop, pop, pop,” Harley Exsted told the St. Cloud Times. “I thought someone tipped over a shelf. All of a sudden these people started running. I just saw everybody running our way.”

Adonis Samuels, 42, of St. Cloud, was outside the mall where his wife Roxanne works as a manager at Clinique at Macy’s.

“She called me on the phone and told me she was hiding under the counter with a customer,” Samuels said. She later called and said she was safe in a secured area.

Samuels remained outside, watching for her. He said he’d seen her through the glass doors at one point so he knew she was safe.


OTHER NEWS TODAY


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/conservatives-demand-freeze-on-refugees-admitted-from-middle-east-north-africa/

GOP lawmakers demand freeze on refugees from Middle East, North Africa
By REBECCA SHABAD CBS NEWS
September 19, 2016, 1:01 PM

Photograph -- The Capitol dome on Capitol Hill in Washington. J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP


Around three dozen House conservatives are urging GOP leaders to insert language into the bill to keep the government running that would freeze Middle East refugee resettlement programs until better vetting processes are “put in place.”

The group of 37 Republicans want to attach their proposal to a funding bill that lawmakers are still hashing out that would extend 2016 spending levels for a few more months.

They want to put language in the bill that would “prevent federal funds from being using to admit to the United States refugees from Syria, the Middle East and North Africa” until certain conditions are met, they wrote in a letter to Speaker Paul Ryan, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers.

The letter was sent late last week, before the attacks that occurred in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota over the weekend.

This moratorium, they said, would only be lifted once key federal agencies implement procedures that ensure refugee and related programs “are not able to be co-opted by would-be terrorists.” They also demanded that the procedures be provided to Congress in classified and public formats and that the government implement a “longer-term monitoring process” for refugees admitted to the U.S.

Finally, the freeze would only be undone once Congress passes a joint resolution that approves funding to admit refugees from that region again.

They would, however, allow for U.S. funding to cover the safety of refugees overseas, including their food, housing and medical aid.

The group of lawmakers point to the “continuing threat of terrorism” following attacks “by radical Islamic jihadists” in Paris, San Bernardino, Brussels, Nice, Germany, Istanbul and Orlando as the reason for moratorium. They slammed the Obama administration for admitting 10,000 Syrian refugees into the U.S. over the last year.

Their proposal is reminiscent of Donald Trump’s plan to halt immigration from countries that have a history of exporting terrorism or those that have been compromised by terrorism as well as the GOP presidential nominee’s demand for “extreme vetting.”

Lawmakers are still hammering out the details of the spending measure, but they only have two weeks left to avoid a government shutdown on Oct. 1.

Asked if their proposal is being considered, Appropriations Committee spokeswoman Jennifer Hing said, “There is no agreement on the CR as of yet. Details are still being negotiated.”

President Obama met last week with congressional leaders in the House and Senate to discuss spending negotiations. Democrats and the president would almost certainly oppose the freeze on the refugee program.



http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-national-security-20160815-snap-story.html

Donald Trump calls for 'extreme vetting' and an ideological test for would-be immigrants
By Noah Bierman
August 15, 2016

Photograph -- Donald Trump called for "extreme vetting" of immigrants in a speech in Youngstown, Ohio. (Jeff Swensen / Getty Images)
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Since Donald Trump called for temporarily banning Muslims from entering the U.S., he has tried to expand, narrow or otherwise redefine the polarizing proposal that helped win him the Republican primary but has posed a greater challenge in the general election campaign.

On Monday, he added a phrase to his policy lexicon: “extreme vetting.”

To Trump, that means ensuring anyone entering the country shares American values.

The newest addition to Trump’s immigration policy came during a major speech on national security in Youngstown, Ohio, that featured an unusually subdued Trump reading uneasily at times from a teleprompter and repeating several false claims, including his assertion that he was early to oppose the Iraq invasion and the unsubstantiated pronouncement that the San Bernardino shooters’ neighbor saw bombs in their apartment before the attacks.

It followed days of criticism over Trump’s insistence that President Obama and Hillary Clinton founded Islamic State. Those comments, and other unscripted and unforced controversies, have helped distract from Trump’s core economic and anti-terrorism messages, push down his standing in polls and lead Republicans to once again urge him to curtail his improvisational style of campaigning.

Trump did not explicitly back down from his December proposal, still on his campaign website, for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on.”

He did not mention it Monday, instead calling on the departments of State and Homeland Security “to identify a list of regions where adequate screening cannot take place." The U.S. would then stop issuing visas for people from those areas.

Trump spent more of his speech defining what he said was a new ideological test for those entering the U.S., comparing his plan to Cold War-era screening.

"We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people," he said. "In addition to screening out all members or sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any who have hostile attitudes towards our country or its principles — or who believe that sharia law should supplant American law. Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted."

The newest iteration of Trump’s policy, though not specifically demanding a religious test on entering the country, still allows for capricious enforcement, said Steve Yale-Loehr, a Cornell Law School professor who specializes in immigration.

“What one president thinks is important for American values, another president may deem not important,” he said. “We don’t want an immigration policy subject to the vagaries of political opinion.”

State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau declined to comment on Trump's immigration proposals but said, “We stand by the integrity of our visa process.”

Trump mostly delivered broad outlines for his ideas on fighting terrorism, many of which he has mentioned before, rather than specific policy proposals. Some of his ideas, such as relying on more human intelligence to target terrorists in addition to drone strikes, echo Obama administration policy. The message from Trump, however, was that Obama and Clinton have tiptoed around the threat because they are unwilling to use the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism” and are too afraid of offending those who would do harm to effectively target them.

Though his call to ban Muslims has drawn accusations that he is fomenting bigotry, Trump said his policies were instead geared toward national unity and fighting an ideology that promotes oppression of women and gays. He called on sending home those who preach hate.

At the same time, he cast suspicion even on second-generation immigrants, saying their status, along with those born in other countries, was a common thread in several terrorist attacks. That group of Americans with foreign-born parents would include Trump, whose mother was born in Scotland, and his youngest child, Barron, whose mother, Melania Trump, was born in the former Yugoslavia.

Trump, who has vacillated in recent days on his incendiary charge that Obama and Clinton were the founders of Islamic State, also known as ISIS, attempted to modify that assertion Monday. Instead of again calling them the literal founders, he said that “the rise of ISIS is the result of policy decisions made by President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton.” He singled out the withdrawal from Iraq.

Trump also asserted that Libya, Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Iran all posed lesser threats before Obama took office, though Trump failed to mention that he supported the interventions in Libya and Egypt that he now calls disastrous.

He also hinted at an unfounded claim made in some conservative media that Clinton is physically ill, asserting she “lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS and all of the adversaries we face.”

Vice President Joe Biden offered the most direct response to date on behalf of the Obama administration to Trump's statement that the president was the founder of Islamic State, calling it not only "an outrageous statement," but also a "dangerous one."

Trump’s ideas are "not only profoundly wrong, they’re very dangerous and they’re very un-American,” Biden said.

"It’s a recipe for playing into the hands of terrorists and their propaganda,” said Biden, appearing with Clinton in Scranton, Pa., for their first joint rally.

Trump’s speech came amid doubts in his own party, and increasing levels of controversy, surrounding his campaign.

Trump's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, denied a New York Times story that told of handwritten ledgers indicating he received $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments from a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine.

Manafort's consulting work for former Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovich was already public. But the Times reported records of cash payments from 2007 to 2012 that were not previously known. It said the ledgers were discovered by an anti-corruption bureau as "part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials."

Trump's supportive comments of Russian President Vladimir Putin had already drawn scrutiny. But he did not back down in Monday’s speech, insisting that the U.S. “could find common ground with Russia in the fight against ISIS.”

“Wouldn’t that be a good thing?” Trump said, defying policy specialists in his party who have cast a wary eye on Russia’s attempts to build its profile in the Middle East. “Wouldn’t that be a good thing?”

Times staff writers Michael A. Memoli in Scranton, Pa., and Joseph Tanfani and Tracy Wilkinson in Washington contributed to this report.

Twitter: @noahbierman


EXCERPTS -- “The group of 37 Republicans want to attach their proposal to a funding bill that lawmakers are still hashing out that would extend 2016 spending levels for a few more months. …. Their proposal is reminiscent of Donald Trump’s plan to halt immigration from countries that have a history of exporting terrorism or those that have been compromised by terrorism as well as the GOP presidential nominee’s demand for “extreme vetting.”


I certainly do hope “extreme vetting” isn’t referring to what everybody except the Conservatives almost uniformly view as torture. The use of a term like that, with the descriptions being issued in both CLASSIFIED and unclassified forms, (the better to hide behind, my dear). As for a THOROUGH vetting such as tracing each refugee’s background by things like region of origin, family and tribe, known terroristic ties, educational background and occupation, independent financial sources, and any criminal activities that may have been discovered, that to me should be done. Not to do so is unwise.

In my personal list of characteristics, here, I have included region of origin and tribe because during the struggles against al-Qaeda an army official (I don’t remember who) mentioned the greater likelihood of people from certain specific tribal and regional links to be more likely to be radicalized and therefore dangerous. Family bonds are very important in some cultures. Also, members of the same tribe as a known violent radical are more likely to be or become radicalized also. That isn’t surprising to me, because it’s true in the US, especially in the South. As to education and occupation, in the US at any rate, an educated person is more likely to have a broad rather than a narrow way of thinking. I think that’s probably true everywhere, though among American, rich and poor are potentially subject to being radical racists. It just makes it less likely to happen. And about independent financial security, a secure person is much less likely to be eaten up with hatred or abusive in the way they deal with people. People with mental health issues like extreme insecurity either of the real world or their personal self-image are potentially dangerous.

A broader categorization as described by Donald Trump – NO MIDDLE EASTERN PEOPLE AT ALL ALLOWED INTO THE US – is simply unthinkable, and a ban on all Islamic believers is also very, very undesirable in that neither all, nor even most of them, are likely to be or become terrorists. Most of the cases of young radicalized men “running off to join ISIS,” have been doing it because of a warped kind of idealism and a great naivety. Several of them have come back home telling of horror stories which were totally surprising to them. Most people just aren’t ready to witness, or be ordered to personally commit, a beheading.

The known use of SHARIA law to define family relationships (female circumcision or honor killings specifically) should, however, be banned in my view. Likewise, no woman born in the US, or who is a naturalized citizen, should be restrained from going out in public freely and without escort, driving a car, voting, etc., just because a male family member requires it of her. The handful of these cases which have appeared in the news over the last several years are more than enough to suit me. No more! I am going to allow myself to be seen as agreeing with Donald Trump to that extent.

Nonetheless, I personally detest this favorite of all Republican tactics, the addition of something unethical or highly unpopular to a bill, particularly a budgetary bill like this one, in the hope that the Senate (always the more rational legislative body I tend to think) and the President won’t have the intestinal fortitude to vote it down or veto it, because that will result in a mandatory government shutdown. There is a very interesting and long list of government shutdowns over this kind of thing, so as a means of persuasion it clearly doesn’t always work. For information on how and why this happens at all, See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdown_in_the_United_States below, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antideficiency_Act.

The purpose of these acts is to prevent the government from going into default, which is understandable, but the Republican tendency to use it as a choice means of political persuasion is despicable in my view. People who just don’t care about human needs shouldn’t be elected, and if a poor family is forced to be out of work for even a few days it can affect their ability to cope. The laws need to be written to say that using a forced government shutdown in this way is ILLEGAL, with a penalty that those members of the legislature who do it will be publicly censured or better still, lose their positions entirely. The problem of “minor” governmental functions being shut down can result in financial loss for some, and weeks of ridiculous political wrangling which contributes to our infamous “logjam” problem.


“Government shutdown in the United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In U.S. politics, a government shutdown is the process the Executive Branch must enter into when the Congress creates a "funding gap" by choosing not to or failing to pass legislation funding government operations and agencies, or, after the Congress passes a bill to fund the government and sends it to the President, the President vetoes that bill. If interim or full-year appropriations are not enacted into law, the United States Constitution and the Antideficiency Act require the federal government begins a "shutdown" of the affected activities. If the funding gap lasts long enough that shutdown plans must be enacted, the law requires the furlough of non-essential personnel and curtailment of agency activities and services. Programs that are funded by laws other than annual appropriations acts (like Social Security) also may be affected by a funding gap, if program execution relies on activities that receive annually appropriated funding.[1] Although the term government shutdown usually refers to what occurs at the federal level, shutdowns have also occurred at the state/territorial and local levels of government.

. . . .

List of U.S. government funding gaps[edit]

Federal government[edit]

Since 1976, when the United States budget process was revised by the Budget Act of 1974[20] the United States Federal Government has had funding gaps on 18 occasions:[21][22][23] Funding gaps did not lead to government shutdowns prior to 1980 when President Carter requested opinions from Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti on funding gaps and the Anti-Deficiency Act. His first opinion said that all government work must stop if Congress does not agree to pay for it. He later issued a second opinion that allowed essential government services to continue in the absence of a spending bill.[24][25]”



http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/us-japan-skorea-condemn-nuke-test-north-korea-42176221?cid=clicksource_4380645_1_hero_headlines_headlines_hed

US, Japan, South Korea Condemn Nuke Test by North Korea
By MATTHEW LEE, AP DIPLOMATIC WRITER
NEW YORK — Sep 18, 2016, 3:01 PM ET


The United States, Japan and South Korea on Sunday roundly condemned North Korea's recent nuclear test and called for tough new measures to further isolate the communist state.

Meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the Japanese and South Korean foreign ministers said the North Korean test earlier this month would not go unanswered. The test was North Korea's fifth and, along with recent ballistic missile launches, has been widely criticized as destabilizing to regional and international security.

Kerry said the U.S. remained deeply committed to its mutual defense obligations with Japan and South Korea and would not shirk in "rolling back the provocative, reckless behavior of" North Korea.

He said the U.S., Japan, South Korea and others would "make it clear to a reckless dictator that all he is doing through his actions is isolating his country, isolating his people and depriving his people of genuine economic opportunity."

"The global community will not be intimidated and will not pull back from our obligations," Kerry said. He called for North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un to freeze Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs immediately and return to denuclearization talks.

The South Korean foreign minister, Yun Byung-se, echoed Kerry's comments, calling North Korea's missile and nuclear tests a "ticking time bomb" and a threat to world safety. "What we see is a looming perfect storm that may not only pounce on Northeast Asia but sweep over the entire world," he said.

The Obama administration has been nudging allies Japan and South Korea to set aside historical differences and cooperate more closely in diplomacy and security as the threat posed by North Korea intensifies.



I guess we’re in another nuclear cold war period now. Just because something is a known evil doesn’t mean that humans somewhere on the earth won’t take it up as their tactic to force another to bend the knee. People who are too uneducated, unintelligent, immoral or just unwise to avoid dangers like this one -- and if there were a true world court with the power of control over individual governments – should be ousted and replaced after a fair trial of course. That would prevent wars and get rid of horrible world leaders, so that the kind and honest populace as a whole could live in peace, justice and prosperity. Ah, now, that would be so nice. I could die happy, then.



http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/seattle-coaches-join-high-school-team-kneeling-anthem-42174702?cid=clicksource_4380645_1_hero_headlines_headlines_hed

Seattle Coaches Join High School Team in Kneeling for Anthem
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE — Sep 18, 2016, 2:09 PM ET


Football coaches at a Seattle high school joined their players in taking a knee during the national anthem, following the lead of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick to protest social injustice.

The entire Garfield High School football team and its coaching staff knelt during "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the Friday kickoff against West Seattle High School in Seattle. Several players from the other team also knelt.

It was the first time Garfield football players participated in the increasingly popular demonstration. West Seattle athletes began kneeling a week prior after getting approval from administration staff.

Joey Thomas, Garfield High's head coach, told Seattle media outlets his players have encountered either police brutality or racial profiling while also dealing with a racially divided school. He said his team won't have to kneel once people start addressing racial injustice.

"Everybody wants to talk about how this is disrespectful to the American flag," Thomas said. "That's a smokescreen. How about we talk about the issues people are kneeling and fighting for?"

West Seattle coach Tom Burggraff didn't kneel with his players Friday, but said he supports his players' freedom to protest.

Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers' backup quarterback, gained national attention when he refused to stand for the anthem before an NFL preseason game earlier this year.

His protest has since sparked similar demonstrations among athletes. Ranging from fellow NFL players to high school students, some athletes have decided to take a knee or link arms during the national anthem before sporting events.



I wonder what gestures, if any, are done in other democracies during their anthem and in the presence of their flag. I think kneeling in support of the underprivileged and those in need of support is a beautiful gesture. It’s becoming a popular thing to do, and that’s fine. To be able to voice our thoughts should be allowable in more ways than just one. One of the most BORING characteristics of our particular brand of religious and patriotic fervor is its’ narrow mindedness. I personally have no anti-government feeling that is strong enough at this point to make me fail to put my hand over my heart in the traditional manner. I acknowledge our Constitution and the commitment of our Forefathers, from Ben Franklin and George Washington to the theorists like Thomas Jefferson.

That doesn’t mean that a rightward drift in the stream doesn’t anger me. Few things anger me more. It’s just that most people in this country are not greedy racist pigs, and it is more a matter of voting for the right person/party at elections, openly discussing political views, and treating no one abusively or scornfully, no matter what group they belong to.

I think we should mandate the formation of discussion clubs on the local level that would meet once a month or so to discuss theory and practice of citizenship in the US and other things as well, such as environmental protectionism. People here rarely even think about things like that, much less talk about them.

I can remember nights down at my grandparents’ house deep in the woods with the whole family sitting after dinner around the kitchen table and discussing things such as religion and politics. There was a little “heat” in those talks, but a good deal of “light” also. I do wish people would watch the ballgame less and talk more. Our problem in this country isn’t just that we may not have gone beyond high school or worse, but that we don’t do things that stimulate us mentally on a daily basis. I think firmly that if the Creator Spirit didn’t mean for us to use our brains to the fullest, he/she wouldn’t have given them to us!!