Libertarian Follies: Bill Weld Names Angela Merkel His Favorite Foreign Leader; Gary Johnson has a HIGH TIMES Flashback

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Chris Matthews, Gary Johnson and Bill Weld

The 2016 Libertarian Party ticket of Gary Johnson and Bill Weld is a joke.

The Party has been hijacked by two B-list political self promoters - one, a quasi-socialist pothead with a permanently fried memory; the other, an Obama-supporting professional dilettante.

And neither is any more libertarian than, say, Mark Ruffalo.

Yesterday, during a televised town meeting, they were both interviewed by MSNBC's Chris Matthews. Johnson had another self-proclaimed "Aleppo moment" when he couldn't name a foreign leader that he most admired. (It was pretty clear that he couldn't name a single foreign leader, period.) Finally, he blurted out, "the former president of Mexico," but when Mathews asked him "which one?" he merely replied with a pathetic hang-dog look.

Weld tried to help him by saying "Fox" (for Vincente Fox, Mexican president from 2001 to 2006) and Johnson enthusiastically nodded his head.

"Yeah, Vincente Fox. He was terrific."

Then right at the end of the clip, Weld offered his own choice - "Meaurkle," he said, pronouncing the German Prime Minister's name with a dilettantish accent.

As if mass sexual assault were particularly libertarian. Though, perhaps for Johnson and Weld, it's right up there with gun control and forcing Christians to bake cakes.

But I couldn't figure out Johnson's choice of Vincente Fox. As the center-right President of Mexico for six years, Fox didn't do a lot more than make gaffes and preserve the corruption and gang killing status quo. Could Johnson have named Fox because of his recent tiff with Donald Trump? Or perhaps Johnson simply remembered him from his time as governor of a border state.

Then I came across this on Wikipedia:

Vicente Fox gave a video interview in July 2013 to High Times, in which he discussed the failure of drug prohibition, and cited Portugal's decriminalization policies as "working splendid(ly)". He said he supports drug legalization despite not being a user himself...

Bingo.

"We shouldn't grow fixated on some religious or moral obligation" - Thanks for the tip, Chauncy!

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No, I don't think Bergoglio is the antichrist (for various reasons). But he does seem to sound like him in his homilies.

Today's homily was a beaut.

Note the mix of truths, half-truths, meaningless mush and satanic lies.

He's Michael York, about to build the Third Temple. He's Jude Law slouching in the papal apartments. He's Martin Sheen holding up a baby to block a bullet.

Too bad, for the sake of drama, that he looks like Chance the gardener.

It is by loving that the God-who-is-Love is proclaimed to the world: not by the power of convincing, never by imposing the truth, no less by growing fixated on some religious or moral obligation...

He's a moral-relativist.

You know, like that guy at Starbucks.

It's not that big a deal.

Oh, right. He's the Pope. I forgot.

From Catholic News Agency:

Vatican City, Sep 25, 2016 / 07:33 am (CNA/EWTN News) by Hannah Brockhaus.- God is shared with the world through love and authentic relationships, not by forcing the truth on people, Pope Francis said Sunday. 

“God is proclaimed through the encounter between persons, with care for their history and their journey. Because the Lord is not an idea, but a living person,” the Pope said in his homily at the Mass for the Jubilee of Catechists Sept. 25. 

“His message is passed on through simple and authentic testimony, by listening and welcoming, with joy which radiates outward.” 

Referencing St. Paul's first letter to Timothy, Pope Francis called the Resurrection the “beating heart which gives life to everything.” 

“The Lord Jesus is risen, the Lord Jesus loves you, and he has given his life for you; risen and alive, he is close to you and waits for you every day. We must never forget this.” 

Nothing is more important than the fact that the Lord is risen, the centerpiece of our faith, he explained. But we cannot keep it to ourselves. 

“We are called always to live out and proclaim the newness of the Lord’s love: 'Jesus truly loves you, just as you are. Give him space: in spite of the disappointments and wounds in your life, give him the chance to love you. He will not disappoint you,'” Francis said. 

“It is by loving that the God-who-is-Love is proclaimed to the world: not by the power of convincing, never by imposing the truth, no less by growing fixated on some religious or moral obligation,” he continued. 

In the day's Gospel, a rich man doesn't notice the poor Lazarus outside the door to his house, his spiritual blindness and worldliness are like a black hole that “swallows up what is good, which extinguishes love, because it consumes everything in its very self.” 

“Today’s callousness causes chasms to be dug that can never be crossed,” Francis said. “And we have fallen, at this time, into the sickness of indifference, selfishness and worldliness.” 

The Lord asks us, today, to meet and help all of the Lazaruses we encounter. We cannot delegate to others, “saying: 'I will help you tomorrow; I have no time today, I’ll help you tomorrow.' This is a sin,” he said.

Read the rest here.

For Drawing This Cartoon, Prominent Jordanian Satirist was Arrested, Then Someone Walked Up and Shot Him in the Head

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Translation (from The Clarion Project):

In Green: In paradise… 

Allah: “May your evening be joyous, Abu Saleh, do you need anything?” 

Jihadist: “Yes Lord, bring me the glass of wine from other there and tell Jibril [the Angel Gabriel] to bring me some cashews. After that send me an eternal servant to clean the floor and take the empty plates with you.” 

Jihadist continues: “Don’t forget to put a door on the tent so that you knock before you enter next time, your gloriousness.”

Nahed Hattar was a well-known and successful agnostic of Christian origin. Jordan is one of the few majority Muslim countries where that's okay. Or at least sort of okay, as long as you don't push things too far. Apparently, he did.

The cartoon was posted on Hattar's anti-ISIS Facebook page, and then later taken down. The idea is that Jihadists see themselves as above Allah and would try to order even him around in heaven.

But many Muslims saw the cartoon as blasphemous in and of itself - his Allah, parting the curtains of a heavenly harem, looks a bit like that famous Monty Python version parting the clouds. And how dare anyone joke about Allah being ordered around - even if the point of the joke was to make fun not of Allah, but of those committing murder in his name.

After the government authorities announced an "investigation" into his cartoon and then charged him with "instigating strife," Hattar turned himself in.

A few weeks later he was assassinated in broad daylight in front of the Jordanian Supreme Court.

Security forces arrested the gunman, who was apparently an imam.

This is Nahed Hattar before he "blasphemed" Allah.

This is Nahed Hattar after he "blasphemed" Allah.

And here's a charming video of people frantically trying to revive Hattar as his blood drenches everything - on the steps of the Palace of Justice in one of Islam's most "moderate" countries.

Yes, It Now Appears that the Cascade Mall Shooting was a Jihad Terror Attack

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Everything initially reported or assumed about the incident was wrong.

1. The shooter, Arcan Cetin, was Turkish, not Hispanic.
2. As far as I can tell, there's no evidence that Cetin intended to murder his ex-girlfriend. The woman in question hadn't worked at that Macys in months and was not present in the mall during the shooting. Cetin entered the mall and scouted the scene. He then came back with a rifle and shot five strangers. One witness (more than one?) claims he shouted a woman's name. If accurate, this could have been his ex-girlfriend's or his mother's or "Allahu Akbar."
3. More and more evidence is turning up of Cetin citing or praising ISIS or Jihad on social media. (We published one example yesterday, but there are additional examples.)

Was he violent and mentally unstable? Yes, there is also evidence for that. But humans being what they are, this will often be the case for terrorists and fanatics (and that's why the "mentally ill" explanation has become so tiresome).

The European pattern of attacks occurring on a weekly basis now seems to be happening here. This is frankly surprising to me as there are far fewer Muslims - both in terms of absolute numbers and in proportion to the population - in the United States than in Western Europe.

As in Europe, it now seems that many have accepted it as a sort of New Normal. And as in Europe, one might be forgiven for seeing the media and government authorities as just as concerned with "control of the narrative" - the withholding of information, censoring and damage control - as with informing or protecting people.

Or maybe it will all calm down. We'll see.

BREAKING: Cascade Mall Shooter Praised ISIS Leader on his Tumblr Page

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"My main dude Abu bakr al big daddy."

Arcan Cetin's Tumblr handle is "Meowfraulein."

His Facebook page appears to have been taken down. But his Twitter account is still up.

Why would some screwed-up Americanized Turkish kid, whose mother celebrates Christmas, praise the leader of ISIS on Tumblr?

Islam is cancer.

GOT HIM! Shooter Described as "Hispanic" is Arcan Cetin from Adana, Turkey

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The name has been circulating on social media for the last few hours, at first seemingly based on the fact that his Facebook and Twitter pictures looked like the photographs of the shooter on the Cascade Mall security cameras. But multiple reliable sources have now confirmed that Arcan Cetin, 20, originally from Adana Turkey is the suspect now in custody.

Cetin was arrested without incident in Oak Harbor, Washington earlier this evening.

EDIT (10:00 AM CST 9/23/16): I removed Cetin's Tweet referring to his alleged ex-girlfriend, as well as the picture of them together. It appears that she had been previously employed at the Macy's, but she wasn't present in the mall during the shooting, and I have yet to see any evidence confirming the initial rumor that his motive for the murders involved her. As far as I can tell, the incident now appears to have been an attack against random strangers.

Refugees with Benefits: Female Aid Workers are Getting to Know Muhammad in Calais

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Calais when it sizzles

The article below makes it clear that sex between aid workers and residents of the Calais refugee camp comes in many permutations - male aid workers with female refugees, male aid workers with prostitutes in the camp, relations between aid workers (females? males?) and underage refugee boys and so on. But apparently the most active category is female aid workers having sex with male refugees.

It's Sex in the City, but without the $300 dinner tabs.

And who are we to judge activist Emily for wanting an exotic break from pajama boy Trevor back home?

But the symbolism of "aid workers" inviting Muhammad into their tent is hard to miss.

Didn't someone once say everything is about sex? Perhaps they weren't totally wrong. What else better explains the otherwise inexplicable "pro-migrant" policy of some Europeans?

A policy that arguably might be reduced to the two-word invitation of that famous Kurt Cobain song.

From today's Daily Mail (originally cited by The Muslim Issue): 

Calais aid workers are regularly having SEX with migrants from the Jungle camp - with FEMALE charity helpers the most likely to sleep with a refugee 

• Calais volunteers have been accused of having sex with camp migrants 
• Whistleblowers claim some are having several sexual partners in one day
• It is alleged some volunteers are suing the camp as 'a free for all festival' 
• Some aid workers said the allegations should have been kept private

Calais aid workers volunteering in the Jungle have been accused of having sex with migrants, some of whom are believed to be underage, according to a whistle blower. 

The revelations have caused a furious row on Facebook, with some volunteers claiming the allegations should have remained secret and criticised the whistle blower for expressing his concerns. 

According to the whistle blower, some volunteers avail of the service of the Jungle camp prostitutes, while others have multiple partners in one day. 

 Other aid workers have complained that unscrupulous volunteers are treating the camp like a 'free for all festival' and 'find it difficult to keep it in their pants'. 

The original allegations were aired on a Facebook thread concerning the People to People Solidarity group, which has since been deleted. 

It was claimed that female volunteers were more likely to have sex with male migrants than any other combination. 

One volunteer was described as having 'a bad reputation' for sleeping with male refugees and was asked to leave the camp. 

One male volunteer had to be 'persuaded by other male volunteers' against returning due to his 'inappropriate behaviour with female refugees'.

According to the original post, the whistle blower claimed: 'I have heard of boys, believed to be under the age of consent, having sex with volunteers. 

'I have heard stories of men using the prostitutes in the Jungle too. I have heard of volunteers having sex with multiple partners in one day, only to carry on in the same vein the following day. 

'And I also know, that I'm only hearing a small part of a wider scale of abuse.' 

Several volunteers severely criticised the whistleblower for discussing the abuse allegations in an open forum. 

However, one volunteer defended him claiming: 'It always really worries me that we're more concerned with the press/our reputation than we are with the sexual abuse itself.'

According to the Independent, some volunteers believe sexual relationships between aid workers and refugees is 'natural' while others believe it breaks the 'usual codes of conduct'. 

The UNHCR said it has a 'zero tolerance' policy concerning the sexual exploitation of refugees in such camps. 

However, some of the volunteer groups in the camp do not have clearly defined 'codes of conduct', while others complain about so-called 'independent volunteers' who are not attached to any particular group. 

Clare Mosely, founder of Care4Calais told the Independent: 'At the end of the day it isn't recognised as an official refugee camp, it's an illegal settlement. So we’ve got no way of forcing anyone to leave. That is the difficulty.'

Read the rest at the Daily Mail here, and commentary at The Muslim Issue here.

NYC Bomber Visited Afghanistan Two Years Ago, Came Back "Real Religious"

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Ahmad Rahmani, after a shootout with police

The captured New York and New Jersey bombing suspect, Ahmad Rahami, was a naturalized U.S. Citizen, born in Afghanistan. According to a source interviewed by the Boston Herald, he was radicalized (or perhaps recruited) during a trip to Afghanistan, two years ago:  

ELIZABETH, N.J. -- A man who described himself as a childhood friend of the man wanted in connection with the New York City bombing told the Herald the suspect had made a life-changing trip to Afghanistan two years ago. 

"At one point he left to go to Afghanistan, and two years ago he came back, popped up out of nowhere and he was real religious," friend Flee Jones, 27, said of suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami. "And it was shocking. I'm trying to understand what's going on. I've never seen him like this."

New York City Mayor Bill Blasio originally described the Manhattan pressure cooker bomb attack as an "intentional act" that did "not appear to be linked with terrorism." Governor Andrew Cuomo claimed that while it was terrorism, there was "no evidence that it was connected to international terrorism." And just this morning White House Press Secretary Josh Ernst did a little finger wagging about the "false narrative" or "mythology" that ISIL (the Obama administration's weirdly politically correct term for ISIS) represented Islam. According to Ernst, we are in a "narrative fight" with ISIS. He didn't say it, but I assume he would lump, say, the Taliban or Al Qaeda in there as well.

Such statements of course have nothing to do with fighting terrorism and everything to do with confusing and misleading people. They are, to use Josh Ernst's terminology, part of the "narrative fight" that the collaborationist elites are engaging in, not with ISIS but with the American public.

Afghanistan is 99% Muslim, and we can be sure that when Mr. Rahami came back from his visit, he wasn't suddenly "real religious" about the tenets of Shinto.

Fifteen years ago, the United States launched a war in Afghanistan with the explicit purpose of clearing out sources of international terror. As everyone knows, we're still fighting that war. But apart from the depressing evidence on the ground - the territory that the government has lost control of, the mass-casualty bombing of the week in Kabul, etc. - there's additional evidence that we're not doing very well: Not only do the sources of international terror still exist, but they seem to be perfectly accessible to tourists from New Jersey who wish to pop in for a quick bit of "radicalization."

Luckily, Ahmad Rahami appears to have been a better fried chicken clerk than he was a bomb maker. Next time we won't be so fortunate. But I guarantee that many in authority will still be fighting hard to control the narrative.        

BREAKING: Bombing Suspect Captured After Shootout

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From NBC 4 New York:

Ahmad Rahami, a naturalized 28-year-old native of Afghanistan, was taken into custody after a gun battle with police in Linden, New Jersey, four law enforcement sources said. 

At least one officer was shot in the chest during the takedown, but was not seriously wounded because he was wearing a bullet proof vest. 

Rahami was also wounded in the shootout and is en route to a hospital. The extent of his injuries was not clear.

"We do not yet know if this was a lone wolf or if it was something that involved other individuals," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in an MSNBC interview. 

The blast in Chelsea injured 29 people, though all have since been released from the hospital. An unexploded pressure cooker with a cellphone attached and wires protruding was found four blocks away; it was taken to a firing range. 

A senior law enforcement official says a fingerprint found on one of the unexploded devices was key in leading authorities to Rahami as a suspect. 

"He certainly seemed to do virtually nothing to cover his tracks," the official said. 

The discovery of the Manhattan devices came hours after a pipe bomb exploded in a trash bin at a Marine 5K in Seaside Park, New Jersey. Authorities had said they believed the device had been timed to go off as participants were running by, but the race had been late. It was canceled and no one was hurt. 

New Jersey State Police said Monday, citing the FBI, that the bombings in Chelsea and the New Jersey shore town Seaside Park were connected. It wasn't immediately clear if five pipe bombs found in a trash can near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, late Sunday were also linked to the suspect. 

Old-fashioned flip phones were found on the devices in Manhattan and in Seaside Park, law enforcement officials close to the investigation told NBC 4 New York. A senior law enforcement official said information obtained from the phones connected to two unexploded devices also pointed to Rahami. 

The investigation into the devices found in Elizabeth was ongoing, and authorities were raiding a fried chicken restaurant owned by Rahami's father and several other buildings in the area as part of the probe. 

Meanwhile, five people believed to be relatives or associates of Rahami were taken into custody Saturday during a traffic stop on the Verrazano Bridge. No one has been charged; the stop came as authorities pursued a "promising lead" into surveillance video obtained from two sites in Manhattan where explosive devices were found -- one on 23rd Street and one on 27th Street. 

Rahami is believed to be the man seen on surveillance video at two locations where the explosive devices were recovered.One video shows a man putting an object in a dumpster near 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue, followed by an explosion some time later. Another video from 27th Street shows a man leave a piece of luggage on the sidewalk; that piece of luggage contained a bag with a pressure cooker inside. 

The series of incidents put the entire tri-state area on edge. Calls to police about suspicious packages skyrocketed amid heightened tensions. Police at Rutgers University urged students and faculty to clear an area near a parking garage at the New Brunswick campus as they investigated a report of a suspicious package, which was deemed safe an hour or so later. In Paterson, New Jersey, officials also responded to a report of a suspicious item, and social media chatter highlighted a dozen similar emergency responses in New York. 

The Chelsea explosion left many rattled in a city that had marked the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks only a week earlier and that was schedule to hold a United Nations meeting Monday to address the refugee crisis in Syria. 

Witnesses described a deafening blast that shattered storefront windows and injured bystanders with shrapnel in the mostly residential neighborhood on the city's west side. 

Former New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, who stepped down just last week, said Monday morning this was probably the first successful terrorist attack in the city since 9/11. 

Mayor de Blasio said there is “no specific and credible threat against New York City at this point in time from any terror organization,” but urged vigilance. 

Police have ruled out a connection to the blast in Central Park in July that blew off a teen's foot. Right now police are trying to figure out the motive behind the attack. 

“We do not know the motivation. We do not know the nature of it. That's what we have to do more work on,” de Blasio said Sunday. 

Cuomo had said Sunday that there was no evidence to suggest that the bombing was related to international terrorism, but he appeared to walk that back Monday. 

"Today's information suggests it may be foreign related, but we'll see where it goes," he said. 

On Sunday, the governor deployed nearly 1,000 additional State Police and National Guard troops across the city to guard transit stations and area airports as a precaution. He called for an additional 1,000 troops Monday. 

The White House said President Obama was briefed throughout the night and early Monday on the investigation into bombs found in New York City and New Jersey. Spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama will comment publicly later Monday. 

Cuomo said Monday he had spoken with the president about the evolving situation, and pledged that whoever was responsible would be brought to justice. 

"The disruption is going to be to their lives, not our lives," Cuomo said. "We've been through a lot worse."

After Three Terror Attacks in One Day, the President Jokes That He Was More Worried About the Birther Issue

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EDIT (11:20 PM): This evening, President Obama appeared at a political fundraiser in New York City itself and said nothing about yesterday's terrorist attacks.   

Yesterday morning at around 9:30 EST, a pipe bomb detonated at the scene of a 5K race in New Jersey. There were no casualties, partly due to the fact that the race had been coincidentally delayed. Two other pipe bombs were subsequently discovered.

At 8:30 PM EST a pressure cooker bomb exploded in Manhattan, injuring 29 people. Another would soon be discovered nearby with a note attached, written in Arabic.

Police now believe all five bombs were constructed by the same person or persons.

At 9:00 PM EST an ISIS "soldier," dressed as a security guard, initiated a stabbing rampage in a Minnesota mall. He injured 9 people before being shot dead by an off-duty policeman.

At shortly after 9:30 PM EST President Barrack Obama gave a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus where he told a joke about being more worried about the birther issue than about ISIL (ISIL is Obama's odd chosen term for what most people call ISIS).

In fairness, Obama probably didn't know about the Minnesota attack, which had ended minutes or even seconds before. But he must have known about the others. The New York explosion was at that time dominating Twitter and the news outlets, and police and counter-terrorism units were in the midst of blocking off sections of lower-Manhattan.

There's an extra spring in my step tonight. I don't know about you guys, but I am so relieved that the whole birther thing is over. (Laughter.) I mean, ISIL, North Korea, poverty, climate change — none of those things weighed on my mind — (laughter) — like the validity of my birth certificate. (Laughter.) And to think that with just 124 days to go, under the wire, we got that resolved. (Laughter.) I mean, that's a boost for me in the home stretch. In other breaking news, the world is round, not flat. (Laughter.) Lord.

The man is hilarious. His jokes are almost as funny as getting a finger sliced off, or a spray of ball bearings in the face.

But in one sense Obama wasn't joking. He clearly cares more about his own birth certificate than he does about, say, terrorism. Indeed, he probably cares more his birth certificate than anyone else does.

It reminds him of all those carefree nights under the palm trees that he spent in the choom car.

Before he realized that he could make a living as a motivational speaker.

Is Obama a Muslim? Please. Can anyone imagine him praying five times a day? Maybe if you put a mirror at the top of the rug.

But is he sympathetic to the Muslim idea, in all of its bombastic, obnoxious (and lethal) anti-Western sordidness - Allah this and Peace be Upon Him that, and happy Eid before we shoot you or sue you or Halal you to death?

To ask the question is to answer it.

Barack Obama hates America and everything it stands for.

And he doesn't give one golfball about protecting it from Muslim terror.

BREAKING: ISIS Claims Responsibility for Minnesota Mall Attack

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From CBS News:

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — An ISIS-run news agency claims the man who stabbed and wounded eight people at a mall in Minnesota​ before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer was a “soldier of the Islamic State.” 

The ISIS-run Rasd news agency reported the claim on Sunday, saying the attacker had heeded calls from the extremist group for attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition. 

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. 

St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson said the attacker, who has yet to be identified, 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 and asked a victim if they were Muslim. 

Police say they are 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.” 

All eight victims from Saturday’s attack were treated at a hospital for wounds that weren’t life-threatening and all but one were later released. 

Ashley Bayne, who was visiting a friend at the J.C. Penney store in the malldescribed 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.”

BREAKING: St. Cloud Mall Attacker Referenced Allah, Asked People if They Were Muslim Before Stabbing Them

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People stand near one of the entrances to the Crossroads Center Mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota

The stabbing at this Minnesota Mall was roughly simultaneous with the bombing in New York. There were also three pipe bombs discovered earlier this morning at the scene of a 5K race in New Jersey.

This Muslim connection was announced almost five hours after the event.

From KSTP (ABC5) in St. Paul, Minnesota (12:44 AM CST):

Crossroads Mall in St. Cloud will remain closed through Sunday as police investigate a stabbing that left eight people injured and the suspect dead. 

"At approximately 8 p.m., an armed suspect entered the Crossroads Mall. That individual made some references to Allah and we confirmed that he asked at least one person if they were Muslim before assaulting them," said St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson. 

According to authorities, the suspect was later shot by an off-duty police officer. Investigators say the suspect was carrying at least one knife. 

Of the eight victims, one was admitted to the hospital. Investigators say the injuries were not life threatening. 

Police believe the suspect acted alone. 

"Right now we don't have any information that would indicate that anyone else is involved," said Anderson. 

The mall will remain closed through Sunday as investigators continue multiple crime scenes within the building. 

"Right now, the entire mall is an active crime scene," said Anderson. 

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."

Bizarre Journalist Meltdown: Trump Literally Makes Major Garrett Cry

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Yesterday, the Donald Trump campaign invited the media to what was billed as a "news conference" where he would make a "major announcement" on the birther issue. Naturally, hundreds of journalists took him up on the offer and a number of networks gave the event live coverage.

The event began with military veterans praising Trump and, as the live cameras kept rolling, the event just . . . kept going with military veterans praising Trump. After 30 minutes of military veterans praising Trump, the candidate quickly stated that Obama was born in the United States, blamed Hillary for starting the birther controversy and congratulated himself for "finishing it." The birther component took all of 30 seconds, after which Trump stepped down and ignored questions from an obviously frustrated and increasingly riotous rush of journalists. 

He then invited pool reporters on a tour of his new hotel.

In response, Major Garrett of CBS had a meltdown on live TV:

Many others, if not as angry as Garrett, were still clearly miffed. Breitbart reported on the reaction from CNN and BET:

“I really don’t quite know what to make of that except for that we got played again by the Trump campaign which is what they do,” said John King afterward, pointing out that Trump tricked them into covering a live event. 

“We just got played. We just got played,” he repeated. 

Marc Lamont Hill a host of BET News, called Trump’s stunt “repugnant.” 

“Donald Trump has never give a speech this short before on any issue!” he said. 

“He talks for hours sometimes when it’s supposed to be five minutes.”

Many headlines claimed that Trump had tricked the media into filming an "infomercial" for his new hotel. As CNN's Jake Tapper suggested, they were "Rick-rolled."

I think the intention was political rather than commercial.

But Rick-rolled gets it precisely right.         

via GIPHY

If Hillary Loses, Will Historians Credit Jimmy Fallon?

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Last night, this happened.

Fallon was good-natured as always. But it was devastating.

IF Hillary loses, I suspect they will partly credit Jimmy Fallon in the same way that when Gerald Ford lost, they partly credited Chevy Chase.

If Hillary wins, Fallon's a dead man.