Suspected Ringleader Of Paris Attacks Killed In Police Raid

(image via AP)

The Belgian jihadi suspected of masterminding deadly attacks in Paris died along with his cousin in a police raid on a suburban apartment building, officials said Thursday.

Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins' office said 27-year-old Abdelhamid Abaaoud was identified based on skin samples, but authorities did not know how he died. His body was found in the apartment building targeted in the chaotic and bloody raid in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis on Wednesday.

Three police officials say a woman who died in the raid was Abaaoud's cousin. One said Hasna Aitboulahcen is believed to have detonated a suicide vest after a brief conversation with police officers.

More at Huffington Post.

NRA & Republicans Block Law To Prevent Terrorists From Buying Guns In US

According to the New York Daily News, suspected terrorists are able to legally buy guns in the US due to the lobbying efforts of the NRA.

A legal loophole allows suspected terrorists on the government’s no-fly list to legally buy guns, but a bill to fix that will likely wither on the vine. The federal Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act, even in the wake of last week’s terrorist killing of 129 people in Paris, remains a long shot due to its rabid pro-gun opponents.

“Anything which they feel restricts the use or the ability to retain a gun they’re opposed to,” bill co-sponsor Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.) told the Daily News.

“It’s sort of a knee-jerk reaction,” he said Tuesday. “The National Rifle Association is strongly opposed to it and the fact is we have only a handful of Republican co-sponsors.”

The legislation was initially proposed in 2007 by the Bush administration, with King formally introducing the bill in Congress two years later.

Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the NRA, has prevented tougher gun laws from being approved.

Currently, some known or suspected terrorists are prohibited from boarding airplanes by the government’s no-fly list — but all are allowed to buy assault rifles and other weapons.

While the bill remained a nonstarter, more than 2,000 suspects on the FBI’s Terrorist Watchlist bought weapons in the U.S. over the last 11 years, according to the federal Government Accountability Office.

The GAO reported that 91% of all suspected terrorists who tried to buy guns in America walked away with the weapon they wanted over the time period, with just 190 rejected despite their ominous histories.

The NRA did not respond to a Tuesday request for comment, but opposed the 2009 version of the proposed law on grounds that law-abiding Americans wrongly placed on the list would lose their Second Amendment rights.

CNN Reports Around 100 Killed At Paris Concert Hall

According to AFP, around 100 people were killed at #Paris concert hall https://t.co/JvUrm43ygt pic.twitter.com/NeO2Zf31zZ

— CNN (@CNN) November 14, 2015

Unions Demand Apology From Gov. Scott Walker For Comparison To Terrorists

Yesterday at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference), Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker compared a president standing up against ISIS to his standing up to protesting union workers in his state:

"I want a commander in chief who will do everything in their power to ensure that the threat from radical Islamic terrorists does not wash up on American soil," Walker said, adding, "If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world."

Once that sh*t hit the fan, he sought to "clarify" his statement saying "if I could handle that kind of a pressure and kind of intensity, I think I'm up for the challenge for whatever might come, if I choose to run for president."

Today, however, AFSCME (the country's largest public service employees union) issued a press release demanding an apology for comparing American union workers to terrorists:

We’re not going to stand by and let Scott Walker smear hard-working Americans, simply because the exercise their first amendment freedom to disagree with him. You don’t attack good men and women who give their time every day to make this country a better place.

[snip]

To compare the 100,000 men and women who stood up in Madison and called Governor Walker out for his attack on workers’ freedom to terrorists is disgusting. That’s the desperate act of a craven, career politician, not a leader whose values are aligned with what this country stands for. In Madison, we marched alongside military veterans, firefighters, police officers, nurses, librarians and teachers. There were senior citizens and children. College students and clergy.

This cannot stand, Governor Walker, and the nation deserves an apology.

Tony Perkins Compares Gay Activists To Charlie Hebdo Terrorists

During an appearance on "Washington Watch" yesterday, hate group leader Tony Perkins compared Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s decision to terminate the city’s fire chief for violating city employment practices by distributed to his employees a self-published book containing condemnations of homosexuality to the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris:

"Look, what happened there in Paris was designed to intimidate and silence. What happened here in Georgia, it wasn't terrorists, it was a mayor; it wasn't a gun he fired, but it was the chief he fired. And the intent was the same: it was to silence and to intimidate people of faith."

(via Right Wing Watch)

Former Congressman Joe Walsh Hopes That "Cowards" At CNN/MSNBC Are Beheaded By ISIS