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Friday, January 3, 2025

Federal Authorities Determine New Orleans Attacker Acted Alone

National Review: Federal authorities have found “no definitive link” between the New Orleans terrorist attack and the Tesla Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas, both of which happened on New Year’s Day. Authorities also said Thursday that they are no longer investigating “people of interest” related to the attack in New Orleans, in which a Texas-born U.S. citizen drove a truck adorned with an ISIS flag through a crowd of people. Deputy assistant of the FBI’s counterterrorism division Christopher Raia confirmed on Thursday that the agency now believes Shamsud-Din Jabbar acted alone… The suspect attempted to “run over as many people as he possibly could,” New Orleans police superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said. Raia said Thursday that Jabbar was “100 percent inspired by ISIS” and said the bureau will prioritize efforts to understand the “path to radicalization” that led to the attack (National Review). CBS: He also said Jabbar stated in a post on Facebook that he had joined ISIS last summer. Shortly before the attack, “He posted several videos to an online platform proclaiming his support for ISIS,” Raia said (CBS).

Reports Indicate the U.S. Is Not Prepared to Protect Citizens Against New Method of Terrorism

Just the News: A year before twin New Year’s Day incidents in New Orleans and Las Vegas darkened the start of 2025, the Department of Homeland Security commissioned a study that warned America was facing a new era of terrorism and was ill-prepared to protect its citizens from that threat. “Attacks on soft targets (STs) and crowded places (CPs) (ST-CPs) represent a significant challenge in the 2023 security environment,” Rand Corp’s Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center reported to the agency, urging a significant change in posture for a security apparatus that spent two decades hardening defenses against the sort of foreign-inspired and spectacular attacks that al-Qaeda pulled off on Sept. 11, 2001. Rather than flying planes into hardened security targets of major institutions like the Pentagon or World Trade Center towers, a growing number of foreign-inspired or domestic-grown terrorists and mass shooters have deployed low level tactics – vehicles, improvised explosive devices and guns – on targets with less security but that still house large numbers of potential human victims, the report noted (Just the News). Reporter Ross Garber: New Orleans officials were warned in 2019 that Bourbon Street was vulnerable to terrorist attack by vehicle, said attack was “highly possible,” and recommended that improvements be made “immediately” (X).

New Orleans Police Superintendent Unaware of Sidewalk Barriers in Storage

Collin Rugg: New Orleans Police Superintendent says she had no clue that New Orleans had sidewalk barriers to defend against terror attacks, which are now being used today. What a total embarrassment. Reporters seemed shocked when Anne Kirkpatrick bizarrely admitted that she was unaware of sidewalk barriers, something that would have likely saved lives had they been installed on New Year’s. According to video footage, the New Orleans terror attack suspect appeared to get around police barricades by going on the sidewalk (X). AmericanPapaBear: New Orleans Police Superintendent says she had no clue that New Orleans had sidewalk barriers to defend against terror attacks. We are being led by weak people from the top down (X).

Multiple Gunmen Open Fire on Crowd Outside Nightclub in NYC

NBC New York: At least 10 people were shot when three to four gunmen opened fire on a group standing outside a Queens nightclub where a private event was taking place Wednesday night, the New York Police Department said in an early morning press briefing Thursday. All of the victims in the 144th Street shooting outside Amazura nightclub — six females, four males — are expected to survive, police said. Authorities are investigating if the shooting is gang-related. They say there is no nexus to terror…Authorities say that’s when three to four males, believed to be in their mid-to-late-teens to early 20s, walked up and opened fire on the group standing outside the club. About 30 shots were fired. At least 10 people were hit. No arrests have been made (NBC New York). New York Post: None of the victims are in critical condition and all are expected to survive (New York Post).

Former Chief of NYPD Home Raided Following Sexual Assault Allegations

Townhall: Law enforcement officers on Thursday raided the home of Jeffrey Maddrey, the NYPD’s former chief of department following allegations of sexual harassment. A police lieutenant accused Maddrey of engaging in “quid pro quo sexual harassment” in which he allegedly offered overtime pay in exchange for sexual favors. He is alleged to have pushed her into various sexual encounters after he was promoted to chief in June 2023 (Townhall). Politico: Maddrey’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Maddrey has denied he sexually assaulted a woman working for him, saying the relationship was consensual (Politico).

GOP Demands Answers from Treasury Department After CCP Hack

Daily Wire: Republican lawmakers are demanding that the Biden administration provide answers on which China-sponsored group it believes is responsible for successfully hacking the Treasury Department last month. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and Rep. French Hill (R-AR) demanded this week that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen brief them on the breach of department employee workstations and the unclassified documents stored on them. Scott is the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, while Hill is the vice chair of the House Committee on Financial Services. “This breach of federal government information is extremely concerning,” the lawmakers wrote on Tuesday. “As you know, Treasury maintains some of the most highly sensitive information on U.S. persons throughout government, including tax information, business beneficial ownership, and suspicious activity reports” (Daily Wire). Washington Times: The department is required to give an update on the situation in 30 days, but the GOP lawmakers want it sooner. They called the breach “unacceptable” and requested a briefing from the department no later than Jan. 10 about the incident. They said they wanted to know how much information the department knew about potential breach threats and what the department has done in the subsequent days to make sure a similar event doesn’t happen again. The Treasury Department said late last month that a China state-sponsored actor infiltrated workstations and unclassified documents in early December (Washington Times).

Biden Gives Liz Cheney Presidential Citizens Medal for Her Work on the January 6 Committee

Townhall: President Joe Biden will award former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and 19 others with the Presidential Citizens Medal. Biden leaves office later this month. The Presidential Citizens Medal is awarded to individuals who display “Exemplary deeds or services, for his or her country or fellow citizens.” It is the second-highest civilian award in the United States, second to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. According to The Washington Post, Cheney’s anti-Donald Trump stance is what contributed to Biden giving her the medal (Townhall). Brit Hume: This is repulsive. That investigation was done by a committee all of whose members were chosen by Nancy Pelosi, and was produced like a TV show. There was no cross examination of witnesses. The media fell for it, but it was utterly one-sided. A show trial (X).

Decades of Spying Led to Israel’s to Dismantling of Hezbollah

New York Times: Right up until he was assassinated, Hassan Nasrallah did not believe that Israel would kill him. As he hunkered inside a Hezbollah fortress 40 feet underground on Sept. 27, his aides urged him to go to a safer location. Mr. Nasrallah brushed it off, according to intelligence collected by Israel and shared later with Western allies. In his view, Israel had no interest in a full-scale war. What he did not realize was that Israeli spy agencies were tracking his every movement — and had been doing so for years… Israel’s decimation of Hezbollah was a significant victory for a country that, one year earlier, had suffered the greatest intelligence failure in its history, when Hamas-led fighters invaded it on Oct. 7, 2023, killed more than 1,200 people and took 250 hostages… Israel was in a standoff with Mr. Nasrallah and his top commanders of Hezbollah, the “Party of God,” for decades, and Israeli intelligence assessments have concluded that it will take years, possibly more than a decade, for the group to rebuild after their deaths. The group of leaders now in charge has far less combat experience than the earlier generation (New York Times).

South Korean Authorities Raid Airline Responsible for Deadly Plane Crash

Wall Street Journal: South Korean police raided the offices of the airline and airport operator involved in Sunday’s fiery plane crash that killed 179 passengers, with the search warrant issued on charges of professional negligence resulting in death. There were just two survivors of the Jeju Air flight, with the Boeing 737-800 jet skidding off the runway, slamming into a concrete-reinforced embankment and erupting into flames. The crash at Muan International Airport, located in the country’s southwest, represented one of the worst aviation disasters in years… No individual has been charged at this time, police said. Under South Korean law, professional or gross negligence that results in death can carry punishment of as much as five years in prison (Wall Street Journal). NBC: It remains unanswered why the aircraft did not deploy its landing gear and what led the pilot to apparently rush into a second attempt at landing after telling air traffic control the plane had suffered a bird strike and declaring an emergency (NBC).

10.

British Police Arrest Man After Social Media Post Gave Someone “Anxiety”

Has there ever been a greater example of why the first amendment is so necessary? Elon Musk: Elderly man arrested in Britain for “causing anxiety” with a social media post. This is insane. Thank God there is a constitutional right to freedom of speech in America (X)!