Thread: 50 killed in shooting at Florida nightclub in possible act of Islamic terror

Shocking Fact About Orlando Terrorist Reveals ISIS May Have Infiltrated U.S. NUKE Facilities

Omar Mateen, the radical jihadist who slaughtered 49 people at an Orlando night club in the worst terror attack on American soil since 9/11, was employed as a security guard who had passed an array of background checks.

Counter Jihad reported that Mateen worked for the security company G4S Secure Solutions USA Inc., a company with many federal contracts.

In addition to performing various jobs for the federal government, G4S is also used as security for over “90 percent of the United States’ nuclear facilities.”

This is something that should worry all of us because if Mateen could get through their background checks, that means other terrorists could be working for G4S and we wouldn’t know about it.

The Islamic State terror group and other terror organizations have long desired to set off a weapon of mass destruction on American soil or sabotage a nuclear power plant and cause a meltdown that could conceivably kill thousands of people.

A meltdown at a nuclear reactor would have the potential for death toll from 9/11 to look small. Thousands could die, and thousands more sickened with cancers and other diseases for the rest of their lives.

If these terrorists have managed to infiltrate G4S, that means that they could be working at nuclear power facilities all across America and could potentially sabotage these facilities, or let other terrorists in to do the job for them.

Hopefully the FBI will be taking a close look at the thousands of people employed by this security agency in order to ensure that America’s nuclear facilities are secured against any potential attack.

After the terror attack in France that killed over 100 people, French authorities found video footage of a nuclear reactor in the house of one of the terrorists.

These terrorists are looking for any weakness they can exploit at nuclear reactors around the world. With so many lives at stake, we can’t afford to be politically correct anymore. We need to get a lot smarter with our national security.

By: Davis on June 14, 2016 at 12:09pm

Shocking Fact About Orlando Terrorist Reveals ISIS May Have Infiltrated U.S. NUKE Facilities

MUSLIM TERRORIST PRAYED FOR HOURS AT MOSQUE BEFORE MURDER

June 14, 2016 Daniel Greenfield

In case you're confused, and it is easy to confuse all the Muslim terrorists from that tiny minority of extremists, we are talking about Larossi Abballa in France, who livestreamed a police officer's murder on Facebook, not Omar Mateen, who shot up a gay bar.

Larossi Abballa prayed for hours at the mosque and then read the Koran until the Imam asked him to leave. So obviously all this had nothing to do with Islam.

The Islamic State terrorist who brutally slaughtered a police chief and his wife at their home made a video at the scene, promising that Euro 2016 "will be a graveyard", according to reports.

Known homegrown jihadist Larossi Abballa made the chilling video after repeatedly stabbing Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and his wife at their home on the outskirts of Paris last night.

Their child was in the room with him as he filmed the video.

The Koran teaches its followers well.

Muslim Terrorist Prayed for Hours at Mosque Before Murder

FBI investigates whether wife of shooter knew about massacre plan

By Adam Goldmanmark Berman And Matt Zapotosky , Washington Post POSTED: 06/14/2016 10:13:38 PM PDT | UPDATED: ABOUT 14 HOURS AGO


A member of the FBI raises police tape near the Pulse nightclub June 13, 2016 in Orlando, Florida.
(BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Getty Images)


ORLANDO, Fla. -- The 30-year-old wife of the gunman who opened fire inside an Orlando nightclub is facing intense scrutiny as the FBI tries to determine whether she had advance knowledge of the massacre, according to federal authorities.

In interviews with Noor Salman, the FBI has learned that she accompanied her husband, Omar Mateen, on at least one trip to the club prior to the attack to do what a U.S. law enforcement official described as "reconnaissance."

The FBI has not arrested Salman, as agents gather as much evidence as possible to determine whether she provided her husband with any assistance as he prepared for the assault at the club or had any inkling of his plan.

The focus on Mateen's wife came as investigators continued to seek a concrete motive in the attack that left 49 people dead. Mateen, 29, said he carried out the attack because he wanted "Americans to stop bombing his country," according to a witness who survived the rampage and heard the shooter make a 911 call.

Mateen made at least one other phone call during the standoff to an acquaintance in Florida, according to two U.S. law enforcement officials. It's unknown what Mateen told this person.

A second U.S. law enforcement official said that investigators recovered Mateen's phone, which they were able to access. The official said it was not an iPhone.

President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the gunman "was an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized."

Obama, speaking after a meeting with his National Security Council, also said that the investigation has not turned up any suggestions that the gunman was directed by a foreign terrorist organization. "It is increasingly clear, however, that the killer took in extremist information and propaganda over the Internet," said Obama, who plans to travel Thursday to Orlando. Obama said that the Islamic State, a militant group also known as ISIS or ISIL, has made its propaganda "pervasive and easily accessible" and that it appeared the shooter in Orlando "absorbed some of that."

Vice President Joe Biden, speaking at an event in New York, suggested Tuesday that the investigation had shown that the incident was "more straightforward" than it initially appeared.

"We are getting to the bottom of this, and it's becoming clearer and more straightforward than a lot of us even thought," said Biden, who had attended a national security meeting before the event. He did not elaborate.

The bloody siege left 49 people killed and more than 50 others injured. Mateen died in a shootout with police after law enforcement decided to end the standoff three hours into the attack.

The FBI has said it was also exploring whether anti-gay bigotry prompted the attack on the popular gay nightclub. Adding another dimension to the probe, at least two witnesses at Pulse said Mateen had previously visited the gay nightclub. They also said they had seen him on Jack'd, a dating app for gay men.

The bureau was also facing questions over whether it missed warning signs during a 10-month probe of the shooter that ended two years before the massacre.

During that investigation, the gunman had been placed on a terrorism watch list. His wife, Salman, had apparently never come to the attention of the FBI.

The first U.S law enforcement official said the wife warned Mateen not to carry out the attack, apparently as he was leaving Saturday night for Orlando. The official said the couple surveilled the club between June 5 and June 9. FBI officials said Mateen bought the guns in early June.

It is not clear whether Salman has a lawyer. Her family, who live in the San Francisco Bay Area, declined to comment Tuesday.

The FBI investigated Mateen beginning in 2013, putting him under surveillance, recording his calls and using confidential informants to gauge whether he had been radicalized after the suspect talked at work about his connections with al-Qaida and dying as a martyr.

It was during this probe, which ended in 2014, that Mateen was placed on a terrorism watch list. After the FBI closed its preliminary investigation into Mateen in 2014, his name emerged months later in a separate probe, this one looking into a Florida man who became the first American suicide bomber in Syria. Investigators said they did not find any significant ties between the two men who attended the same mosque in Fort Pierce, Fla.

The night of the shooting, Patience Carter, 20, said she heard the gunman explain his motivations during a 911 call in which he also pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State.

At one point, while Carter was in the club bathroom with several other hostages, she said the gunman asked if there were any black people in the room. When one man said yes, the shooter said, "You know I don't have a problem with black people," Carter recalled during a news conference. "This is about my country," Mateen said. "You guys suffered enough."

These comments further add to the uncertainty regarding what may have inspired the gunman, who was born in the United States to parents from Afghanistan. At various points, Mateen has also invoked opposing militant groups such as al-Qaida and Hezbollah.

In his comments during the 911 call from the club, Mateen also referenced the Boston Marathon bombers, according to officials. Mateen's claim that he carried out the shooting to "stop bombing" echoed a message Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev scrawled in a note before he was taken into custody by police. Tsarnaev, who was sentenced to death last year, wrote that the U.S. government was "killing our innocent civilians" and that as a Muslim, "I can't stand to see such evil go unpunished."

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), speaking near the scene of the slayings, said Tuesday that investigators were working diligently to sort out what happened in Orlando and why. He said he had been focused on talking to victims' family members and did not offer any new details on the status of the investigation.

Scott also called for the federal government to share more information with its state counterparts in the wake of the shooting. While he did not specify how more sharing of information might have prevented the massacre, Scott said it was broadly important that federal officials share what they learn with local law enforcement - especially in immigration or refugee cases.

He referred to terrorist attacks in Paris in November that killed 130 people, saying that he told the federal government afterward, "Look, until you can tell me how you're going to vet people, don't send refugees into my state."

Even though Mateen was born in New York, the shooting has fueled a resurgent debate on U.S. immigration policy. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called Monday for barring immigrants from areas of the world with a history of terrorism as part of a proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.

During his remarks Tuesday afternoon, President Obama dismissed the suggestion from Trump and others that he use the phrase "radical Islam" when discussing attacks.

"What exactly would using this label accomplish?" Obama asked. "What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is, none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction."

In his remarks, Obama was sharply critical of Trump's comments about Muslims. During a speech a day earlier, Trump had accused American Muslims of harboring terrorists and accused them - without evidence - of knowing about the attackers in San Bernardino, California, and Orlando, and not speaking up to stop them.

Trump has rejected calls for more gun-control laws in the wake of the shooting. Obama, as he has before, again said Tuesday that the country could do more to reduce gun violence.

The political fallout from Orlando also reverberated on the world stage. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein called on U.S. authorities to adopt "robust gun control measures."

"It is hard to find a rational justification that explains the ease with which people can buy firearms, including assault rifles, in spite of prior criminal backgrounds, drug use, histories of domestic violence and mental illness, or direct contact with extremists - both domestic and foreign," the top U.N. human rights official said in a statement.

At one of the many memorials after the massacre, the names of the dead were read aloud at a gathering on the lawn of Orlando's main performing arts venue. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower was bathed in rainbow colors at night. Hours later, French President François Hollande warned of a "very large scale" terrorist threat facing his nation and the West.

"France is not the only country concerned, as we have seen again in the United States in Orlando," he said.

Amid the public outpouring of grief and anger, the Florida Attorney General's Office initiated a review into a proliferation of more than 100 requests on the money-raising GoFundMe site and others claiming to be seeking donations for victims and their families.

It is possible all are legitimate, but "we just need to go through each one of them," said Attorney General Pam Bondi.


FBI investigates whether wife of shooter knew about massacre plan

FBI looking at whether Orlando gunman had a secret gay life

By Jay Reeves and Allen G. Breed, Associated Press POSTED: 06/15/2016 03:26:01 AM PDT | UPDATED: ABOUT 10 HOURS AGO

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The murky picture of Orlando gunman Omar Mateen grew more complex Tuesday with word that the FBI is investigating whether he had been a regular at the gay dance club he attacked and had been leading a secret life as a gay man.

As victims described the bloody horror of the massacre during a riveting hospital news conference, investigators continued to gather information on the 29-year-old American-born Muslim -- and took a close look at his wife, too -- for clues to the attack that left 49 victims dead.

An official who was briefed on the progress of the case but insisted on anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation said authorities believe Mateen's wife knew about the plot ahead of time, but they are reluctant to charge her on that basis alone.

A number of possible explanations and motives for the bloodbath have emerged, with Mateen professing allegiance to the Islamic State group in a 911 call during the attack, his ex-wife saying he was mentally ill, and his father suggesting he was driven by hatred of gays.

On Tuesday, a U.S. official said the FBI is looking into a flurry of news reports quoting patrons of the Pulse as saying that Mateen frequented the nightspot and reached out to men on gay dating apps. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation.

Some psychologists raised the possibility that Mateen was sexually conflicted and lashed out against gays, or that he was casing the nightclub for an attack and trying to find victims online.

Jim Van Horn, 71, told The Associated Press that he saw Mateen repeatedly at the bar and talked to him once.

"He was a homosexual and he was trying to pick up men," Van Horn said. "He would walk up to them and then he would maybe put his arm around 'em or something and maybe try to get them to dance a little bit or something." The attack early Sunday ended with Mateen being shot to death by a SWAT team. Of the 53 people wounded, six were listed in critical condition Tuesday and five others were in guarded condition.

At a news conference at Orlando Regional Medical Center, shooting survivor Patience Carter described praying to die as she lay on a nightclub bathroom floor covered in water and blood. She said Mateen talked about wanting the U.S. to "stop bombing my country," a possible reference to his father's native Afghanistan.

"I really don't think I'm going to get out of there," Carter, 20, recalled. "I made peace with God. 'Just please take me. I don't want any more.' I was just begging God to take the soul out my body."

In Washington, President Barack Obama said investigators had no information to suggest a foreign terrorist group directed the attack. He said it was increasingly clear the killer "took in extremist information and propaganda over the internet.

He appears to have been an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized."

Mateen's father, Seddique Mateen, denied his son was gay and said that if he had been in the nightclub before, he may have been "scouting the place." The elder Mateen, who lives in Port St. Lucie, Florida, said that apart from the time his son got angry a few months ago over seeing two men kissing, he never saw any anti-gay behavior from him.

FBI looking at whether Orlando gunman had a secret gay life

Congressman John Garamendi Plans to Reintroduce ‘No Fly, No Buy’ Bill

Judy wrote:

I support the Republicans who stood up for the 2nd Amendment, who stood up for the innocents on No Fly and Terror Watch Lists.

So the act of using violations of the 2nd Amendment to prevent a terrorist from buying weapons does nothing but violate the 2nd Amendment.

You don't end up on the no fly or terrorist watch list because you cursed in church. In its simplest form, adding extra time to wait for a gun purchase if you made the list is in the best interest of all Americans. A waiting period even if you are no longer on the list makes common sense especially if you support banning all Muslims from entering the US until we can figure things out. Even our nominee thinks that we should revisit this:

Trump to meet with NRA about banning gun sales for terror watch list

By Nolan D. McCaskill and Seung Min Kim
06/15/16 10:01 AM EDT
Updated 06/15/16 01:05 PM EDT


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Donald Trump will meet with the National Rifle Association to discuss preventing people on the terror watch list or no-fly list from buying guns, he announced Wednesday.
“I will be meeting with the NRA, who has endorsed me, about not allowing people on the terrorist watch list, or the no fly list, to buy guns,” Trump tweeted Wednesday.
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His announcement comes in the wake of the worst mass shooting in American history, during which a gunman slaughtered 49 people and injured 53 others inside an LGBT nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday.
Following November’s terrorist attacks in Paris in which 130 people died, Trump backed a Democratic-pushed measure to bar people on the watch list from purchasing guns.
“If somebody is on a watch list and an enemy of state and we know it’s an enemy of state, I would keep them away, absolutely,” Trump told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in November.
After the Orlando shootings, Senate Democrats have re-upped pressure on Republicans on their proposal that would bar people on federal terror watch lists from purchasing firearms. But GOP senators have largely aligned behind a counter-proposal from Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas), who has said his own plan would accomplish much of the same goals as Democrats, yet better protect due process for people who mistakenly end up on federal terror lists.
Under Cornyn’s proposal, the attorney general would be able to delay the gun purchase by a person who is on the terror watch list for up to 72 hours and file an emergency petition in court to ban the purchase altogether. A judge would then have the final call on whether there’s probable cause that the person trying to buy a gun will commit terrorism.
Both proposals failed to advance in December, although Cornyn’s plan got more votes in the GOP-controlled chamber.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a frequent Trump critic who has said he will not support the Republican nominee in November and even encouraged fellow Republicans to un-endorse him, told CNN he agreed with Trump’s decision to meet with the NRA, adding that the real estate mogul should “stay on this path.”
“This idea that gun control will make it safe, I don’t buy. But let’s look at the issue of no-fly lists and terrorist watch lists,” Graham said. “I really do believe most Americans feel that if you can’t get on a plane because you’re such a risk, you probably shouldn’t have a gun. I think Mr. Trump is smart to see if we can sit down and find a way forward that will allow people to be denied a gun but also the chance to say the government got it wrong when it came to me being a terrorist.”
In the House, Democrats are pushing so-called “No Fly, No Buy” legislation to prevent people on terror watch lists from purchasing guns. During a Wednesday news conference convened by House Democrats, New York Rep. Steve Israel suggested Trump’s NRA meeting will be irrelevant.
“If Donald Trump decides today that he supports ‘No Fly, No Buy,’ it will be just the latest disagreement that House Republicans say they have with him. It is irrelevant,” he said during a news conference convened by House Democrats.
“If con-man Don can convince the NRA to move forward on this, God bless him,” added New York Rep. Joe Crowley. “But again, it just goes to show the power of the NRA, that their presidential nominee will go on hand and knee begging for them to give them a pass on this issue so that it can trickle down to all the other Republican members of the House. It’s ludicrous. It is crazy.”
Trump’s position breaks from the NRA, which endorsed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee last month and dismissed such bans just one day ago as “ineffective” or “unconstitutional,” if not both.
“Restrictions like bans on gun purchases by people on ‘watch lists’ are ineffective, unconstitutional, or both,” the NRA tweeted Tuesday.
But the NRA seemed to shift that stance in a post to Twitter on Wednesday, writing that the organization was "happy to meet" Trump to discuss the issue.
"Our position is no guns for terrorists—period," the association wrote. "Due process & right to self-defense for law-abiding Americans."
NRA Institute for Legislative Action executive director Chris W. Cox reiterated as much in a statement released by the association, expressing willingness to meet with Trump but emphasizing that its position remains unchanged.
“The NRA believes that terrorists should not be allowed to purchase or possess firearms, period. Anyone on a terror watchlist who tries to buy a gun should be thoroughly investigated by the FBI and the sale delayed while the investigation is ongoing,” Cox said in the statement.
“If an investigation uncovers evidence of terrorist activity or involvement, the government should be allowed to immediately go to court, block the sale, and arrest the terrorist,” he continued. “At the same time, due process protections should be put in place that allow law-abiding Americans who are wrongly put on a watchlist to be removed.”
The NRA in November maintained that it “does not want terrorists or dangerous people to have firearms,” arguing that “any suggestion otherwise is offensive and wrong.”
“The NRA’s only objective is to ensure that Americans who are wrongly on the list are afforded their constitutional right to due process,” Jennifer Baker, the NRA-ILA’s public affairs director, said in a statement at the time. “It is appalling that anti-gun politicians are exploiting the Paris terrorist attacks to push their gun-control agenda and distract from President Obama’s failed foreign policy.”
Bianca Padró Ocasio, Louis Nelson and Nick Gass contributed to this report.


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Another club shooting in Florida