#ObamaCare: 'Working the Way It's Supposed to...'

Yes, working to destroy the American healthcare system.

From Reason TV, "5 Reasons Obamacare Won't Save You."



Yeah, it's all f-ked up. At the Hill, "DC Delays Key Pieces of Obamacare Exchange."

Also at Reuters, "Computer Snags Delay Parts of Obamacare In Some U.S. States," and Politico, "Obamacare Faces New Delay In Small-Business Enrollment."

Yep, failing the way it's supposed to!

PREVIOUSLY: "#ObamaCare's Uphill Battle in Colorado."

Katherine Webb for Carls Jr.

Via Theo Spark.

Paul McCartney on Jimmy Kimmel Live

McCartney played live on Jimmy Kimmel's Monday night --- a big deal in music-land, to say the least.

The live stream recording is on Kimmel's MySpace page. Tight set. Totally freakin' rockin'. It's beautiful. McCartney's in full health and vigor. It makes me happy to watch and listen. It makes the world happy. As one commenter writes, "Paul has found the fountain of youth through his music!"

Here's the studio interview:



Also see Part II and Part III.

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Paul McCartney shuts down Hollywood Blvd. for Kimmel concert":

Paul McCartney doesn't really need the publicity, but when he desires it he sure can make a dent. On Monday he and his band shut down a stretch of Hollywood Boulevard to perform a handful of songs for a lucky few thousand as part of "Jimmy Kimmel Live." Many in the crowd had been waiting much of the day for a chance to catch the ex-Beatle in action.

Flanked by the El Capitan and Dolby theaters, McCartney was pushing his forthcoming album "New" by doing a few songs for TV, but stuck around for a set that included older songs we wanted to hear.

His list was full of big-ticket songs. He and his touring band tore through Beatles classics "Hey Jude," "Let It Be," "Back in the USSR," "Magical Mystery Tour," "Birthday," "Lady Madonna" and more, and peppered in solo and Wings songs such as "Band on the Run," "Another Day," "Jet" and three new works, including the excellent title track.

Keep reading.

More at LAist, "Photos, Video: Paul McCartney Shuts Down Hollywood Blvd. to Rock 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' With Old and 'New' Tunes."

Senate Approves Stopgap Spending Bill Restoring #ObamaCare Funding

At the New York Times, "Budget Clash Nears as Senate Restores Funds Cut by House."

And at the Washington Post, "Senate passes spending bill; showdown with House looms":

The Senate passed a short-term spending bill Friday after voting to restore funding for President Obama’s health-care law, sending the measure back to a fractured House just four days before a threatened federal government shutdown.

The vote on final passage was 54 to 44. The measure is intended to keep the government operating through Nov. 15.

The fate of the bill remained uncertain in the House, where the Republican Party’s rebellious right wing is blocking a strategy by Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) for navigating a series of deadlines to keep the government funded and avoid the nation’s first default.

Senators began holding a series of votes starting after midday to move the bill forward. They voted 79 to 19 to invoke cloture on the House-passed bill, formally ending debate on it so that it could be amended to delete House Republican provisions to defund the health-care law. The cloture motion required 60 votes for passage.

The Senate subsequently voted 54 to 44 to restore funding for the health-care law. Minutes later, the body approved the overall bill by the same numbers.

They were straight party-line votes that highlighted the core disagreement between the two parties and the two chambers on how to proceed with funding the federal government.

All members of the Senate Democratic caucus voted to restore the funding and to pass the bill, while all Republicans present voted no. Two Republican senators, Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), were absent Friday and did not vote.

House Republicans are vowing to reject the restoration of funding for the law commonly known as Obamacare, and may opt to send the bill back to the Senate again with more changes. But with the government shutdown hanging in the balance, House leaders had not yet signaled early Friday how they will proceed.

And on it goes.

I'll have more later.

Meanwhile, check Memeorandum for updates.

Cue Apocalypse: Metallica Rocks 'Through the Never'

At LAT, "'Larger than life' proves too small for Metallica":

SAN DIEGO — Singer and guitarist James Hetfield wore a familiar trickster grin and a pair of 3D glasses as he bobbed his head to the thundering riffs of "Enter Sandman," but it was a different sort of arena that was playing host to the world's bestselling hard-rock band.

Metallica had come to Comic-Con International in July to premiere the trailer for its movie "Metallica Through the Never," and the charismatic frontman had turned his chair to watch the clip unspool along with the 6,500 fans in the San Diego Convention Center's main hall. Towering likenesses of the musicians strode across a massive stage outfitted with electric charges, laser lights and fire pots, while a young roadie encountered an angry mob led by a mysterious figure on horseback known as the Death Dealer.

"It's our 'Apocalypse Now,'" drummer Lars Ulrich said.

Continue reading.

Also, "Review: 'Metallica Through the Never' an intriguing but weird beast."

James Delingpole Slams IPCC's 'Junk Science'

At Telegraph UK, "95 per cent of intelligent people know the new IPCC report is utter drivel," and "Global warming believers are feeling the heat":

At the heart of the problem lie the computer models which, for 25 years, have formed the basis for the IPCC’s scaremongering: they predicted runaway global warming, when the real rise in temperatures has been much more modest. So modest, indeed, that it has fallen outside the lowest parameters of the IPCC’s prediction range. The computer models, in short, are bunk.

To a few distinguished scientists, this will hardly come as news. For years they have insisted that “sensitivity” – the degree to which the climate responds to increases in atmospheric CO₂ – is far lower than the computer models imagined. In the past, their voices have been suppressed by the bluster and skulduggery we saw exposed in the Climategate emails. From grant-hungry science institutions and environmentalist pressure groups to carbon traders, EU commissars, and big businesses with their snouts in the subsidies trough, many vested interests have much to lose should the global warming gravy train be derailed.

This is why the latest Assessment Report is proving such a headache to the IPCC. It’s the first in its history to admit what its critics have said for years: global warming did “pause” unexpectedly in 1998 and shows no sign of resuming. And, other than an ad hoc new theory about the missing heat having been absorbed by the deep ocean, it cannot come up with a convincing explanation why. Coming from a sceptical blog none of this would be surprising. But from the IPCC, it’s dynamite: the equivalent of the Soviet politburo announcing that command economies may not after all be the most efficient way of allocating resources.

Which leaves the IPCC in a dilemma: does it ’fess up and effectively put itself out of business? Or does it brazen it out for a few more years, in the hope that a compliant media and an eco-brainwashed populace will be too stupid to notice? So far, it looks as if it prefers the second option – a high-risk strategy. Gone are the days when all anybody read of its Assessment Reports were the sexed-up “Summary for Policymakers”. Today, thanks to the internet, sceptical inquirers such as Donna Laframboise (who revealed that some 40 per cent of the IPCC’s papers came not from peer-reviewed journals but from Greenpeace and WWF propaganda) will be going through every chapter with a fine toothcomb.

Also at IBT, "James Delingpole Leads Climate Change Sceptics in Trashing IPCC's 'Sexed-up' Report."

Stacey Dash on Hannity LIve

I caught this last night.

She's a sweet lady --- and she's got a book forthcoming as well.

At Twitchy, "‘It’s personal’: Stacey Dash calls Eric Holder’s war on school vouchers immoral."

Gory, Horrific Details of Kenya Mall Massacre — #Westgate

At Pamela's, "JIHAD IN KENYA: "EYES GOUGED OUT, BODIES HANGING FROM HOOKS, AND FINGERS REMOVED WITH PLIERS": HORRIFIC CLAIMS OF TORTURE EMERGE AS SOLDIERS REVEAL GORY KENYAN MUSLIM MALL MASSACRE."

'Eyes gouged out, bodies hanging from hooks, and fingers removed with pliers': Horrific claims of torture emerge as soldiers reveal gory Kenyan mall massacre details Kenyan soldiers claim to find scenes of torture by mall terrorists They say children found dead in food fridges with knives still in bodies Men were said to have been castrated and had fingers removed...

Also at BCF.

And at My Pet Jawa, "al-Shabaab's Savagery Detailed."

Liverpool Model Punches FEMEN Protesters at Paris Fashion Week

At Independent UK, "Model 'punches' Femen protesters who storm catwalk during Paris fashion week."

And at Canada's National Post, "Model Hollie-May Saker furious after topless protesters ‘ruin’ Paris Fashion Week show."

And at WWTDD, "Crazy Topless Feminists Also Hate Fashion."

Muslims Need to Confront Muslim Evil

From Dennis Prager, at Town Hall:

With this weekend's massacre by Muslim terrorists at a mall in Nairobi, Kenya, and Muslim terrorists killing about 80 Christians at a Christian church in Pakistan, most people wonder what, if anything in addition to a continuing war on terror, can be done to minimize the scourge of Islamic terror.

The answer lies with Muslims themselves. Specifically, it means that Muslim religious leaders around the world must announce that any Muslim who deliberately targets non-combatants for death goes to hell....

Muslim leaders -- specifically, every imam in the world who is not a supporter of terror, the leaders of the most important Sunni institutions, such as the Al-Azhar Mosque and University in Cairo, and religious leaders in Saudi Arabia and the in Gulf states -- must announce that any Muslim who participates in any deliberate attack on civilians goes to hell.

This must be announced as clearly and as repeatedly as, for example, Muslim condemnations of Israel.

Just as the promise of immediate entrance into paradise animates many Muslim terrorists, the promise of immediate hell would dissuade many Muslims from committing acts of terrorism. Just as the promise of 72 virgins animates many Muslim terrorists, the promise of hell would dissuade many Muslims from terrorism.

Whenever non-Muslims ask Muslim organizations about Muslim terrorism, these organizations trot out the various anti-terrorism statements they have issued. But these are largely useless because: a) they are usually issued by Western Muslim organizations; b) even when they are issued by Middle Eastern Muslims, they almost always include condemnation of "state terrorism," which is Muslim-speak for condemnation of any use of force by Israel; and c) these statements usually also condemn non-Muslim terror, as if Christian or Jewish or Buddhist terrorism is as great a threat to humanity as is Muslim terrorism.

Therefore the statements that need to be made by every Muslim teacher, school, mosque and organization that does not support Muslim terror must be unequivocal. They need to state that any Muslim who targets any civilian for death -- whether that civilian is Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu or of no religion -- goes to hell.

In addition, there need to be large Muslim demonstrations against Muslim terrorism. I understand that Muslim clerics who would organize such demonstrations in the Muslim world might be risking their lives. But what about Muslims in America and Europe?

There have been huge Muslim demonstrations against cartoons depicting Muhammad and any other perceived "insult" against Islam. But I am unaware of a single demonstration of Muslims against Muslim terror directed at non-Muslims.

And if morality doesn't persuade Muslim leaders to issue such a statement and organize such demonstrations, perhaps self-interest will. To just about everyone in the world outside of academia and the media, Islam is not looking good. Muslim leaders should be aware that with Muslims burning Christian churches and Christian bodies in Pakistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Egypt and elsewhere, and the regular massacring of innocents by Muslim terror groups, the protestations by Muslim spokesmen that "Islam is religion of peace" are beginning to wear thin. For a religion that seeks converts, this is not a positive development.

On the other hand, perhaps not that many Muslim religious leaders do believe that Muslim terrorists are going to hell.

Don't stop there.

Any regressive leftist who does not denounce the killing should go to hell.

Some India Reynolds for Friday #Rule5

She's lovely.



Via Twitter.

Previous India Reynolds blogging here.

#ObamaCare's Uphill Battle in Colorado

At USA Today, "Colorado: Microcosm of confusion on health law":

DENVER — President Obama's legacy just might be in the hands of people such as Matt Wright.

The 31-year-old real estate agent worries less about his lack of health insurance coverage than he does about the costs of buying it when the Affordable Care Act mandates kick in, on top of all the expenses of providing for his 4-year-old daughter. "I have an open mind with a bunch of 'if's,'" he says.

In Colorado and across the country, the insurance marketplaces known as exchanges are scheduled to open Tuesday, and the success or failure of Obama's signature legislative achievement is at stake. Passing the health care overhaul defined much of his first term in the White House, and defending it from Republican assault has defined much of his second — including in the current budget showdown.

Americans who don't have insurance, or who have been buying individual policies, or who work for some small businesses, are urged to go online to shop for plans and to determine if they're eligible for federal tax credits to help cover the cost. Whether the system is easy to navigate and the plans judged a good value are likely to set attitudes toward a law that at the moment remains unpopular — shaping Obama's legacy.

USA TODAY decided to explore the issue in Colorado, one of the nation's most critical swing states and the place where Barack Obama was nominated for president in 2008 with a pledge to overhaul the nation's health care system. The news organization sponsored a statewide poll this month and convened a focus group of 10 Denver-area residents who don't have health insurance.

What we found underscored the uphill battle for "Obamacare" three years after it was signed into law. Confusion about the law is widespread, including among those who are supposed to benefit from it, and opposition as fierce as ever.

By 52%-33%, Colorado residents disapprove of the Affordable Care Act. More than two-thirds say they don't understand it very well, and a majority predict the overall effect of the law on the country in coming years is going to be mostly negative.

Continue reading.

It's failing. Barack Hussein's signature legislative "accomplishment" is failing, badly.

No matter. Idiot leftists are still blindly touting their healthcare utopia, despite overwhelming evidence of the inevitable crackup. Damn losers. So sad.

Oracle Team USA Rallies for Historic America's Cup Win

At LAT, "Team USA rides a comeback wave to America's Cup victory":

SAN FRANCISCO — The end came with a burst of speed and a charge across San Francisco Bay.

As the sleek, massive American catamaran sprinted upwind, tactician Ben Ainslie called to his crew mates.

"This is it," he hollered. "This is it."

Defending champion Oracle Team USA easily beat challenger Emirates Team New Zealand on a bright Wednesday afternoon to complete one of the greatest comebacks in sports history and win the 34th America's Cup.

Down eight races to one and facing elimination for the better part of a week, Oracle managed a string of victories to reach a winner-take-all finale and prevail, 9-8, in the longest, closest series in 162 years of Cup history.

"We faced the barrel of the gun at 8-1," Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill said of his 11-man crew. "What did these guys do? They didn't even flinch."

For Emirates, the final day was a disheartening end to nearly three weeks of racing that saw wild momentum swings and the rival boats crisscrossing and bumping at up to 50 mph as if they were stock cars.

"The Oracle boys just found another couple of gears through the regatta," Emirates tactician Ray Davies said. "Hats off to them."

Only twice before in the Cup's history had the competition come down to a deciding race. British sailing historian Bob Fisher could not recall such nip-and-tuck battles throughout a series.

"There were lead changes," he said. "We haven't seen lead changes at the America's Cup for years and years."

Emirates took an early lead when Oracle wobbled at the first mark, its twin bows plunging into the water, sending up plumes of spray. "Thought we'd keep it exciting for you guys," Spithill later quipped.

The American boat soon made up the difference, showing impressive acceleration on the upwind stretch that had once proved so frustrating.

The race was decided on that third leg, Oracle opening a lead it would never relinquish, crossing the finish line 44 seconds ahead.

More video, "America's Cup 2013: New Zealand defeat is 'very hard to swallow'."

Heroes of Kenya Siege

A couple of stories.

At Britain's ITN, "Incredible footage: Hero policeman saves terrified family in Kenya mall siege (VIDEO)."

And at the Telegraph, "Revealed: American family rescued by Muslim hero of attack on Kenya's Westgate mall."

Obama Adviser Dan Pfeiffer: We're Not for Negotiating With People With a 'Bomb Strapped to Their Chest'

Profiles in Democrat civility.

At Twitchy, "Adviser Dan Pfeiffer likens GOP to ‘people with a bomb strapped to their chest’."

Instead of negotiating with the democratically-elected opposition, the Democrats attack Republicans and terrorists and hostage-takers.

Seriously, people who aren't normally affected by such childish rhetoric are taking exception. Infantile ideological games. You have to roll your eyes after a while. The adults will be back in charge in due time.

U.S. Sees Direct Threat in Attack at Kenya Mall

Wow.

And I thought we had "decimated" al Qaeda.

Hardly, according to the New York Times:

NAIROBI, Kenya — Viewing the deadly siege at a shopping mall in Kenya as a direct threat to its security, the United States is deploying dozens of F.B.I. agents to investigate the wreckage, hoping to glean every piece of information possible to help prevent such a devastating attack from happening again, possibly even on American soil.

For years, the F.B.I. has been closely watching the Shabab, the Somali Islamist group that has claimed responsibility for the Nairobi massacre and recruited numerous Americans to fight and die — sometimes as suicide bombers — for its cause.

The Shabab has already attacked most of the major actors trying to end the chaos in Somalia — the United Nations, Uganda, aid groups, the Somali government and now Kenya. The United States has spent hundreds of millions of dollars bankrolling anti-Shabab operations for years, and there is growing fear that the group could turn its sights on American interests more directly, one of the reasons the Obama administration is committing so many resources to the investigation in Kenya.

“We are in this fight together,” said Robert F. Godec, the American ambassador to Kenya. “The more we know about the planning that went into this, the way it was conducted, what was used, the people involved, the better we can protect America, too.”

Less than a day after the bloody standoff ended, more than 20 F.B.I. agents wearing flak jackets and helmets were combing through the wreckage strewn across the steps of the mall. Dozens more agents will be headed to Nairobi, American officials say. Some of them are members of the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force squad that investigates extremist groups operating in the Horn of Africa, a law enforcement official said.

Over the next few days, agents, including a full Evidence Response Team, will be collecting D.N.A., fingerprints and other biometric information, poring through surveillance footage and examining guns, laptops, cameras and computers — anything to gain insights into how the attack was carried out and the hierarchy, planning and structures behind the group, especially if they have any ties back to the United States.

American officials are mindful that Kenya, one of its closest allies in Africa, has become a precarious buffer zone between the United States and Islamist militants who have declared foreigners legitimate targets in their war.

More at the link.

And also, "A Shaken Kenya Is Hit by 2 More Deadly Attacks by Militants."

No surprise. These murderers are doing exactly as they've promised. At the Times of Israel, "Al-Shabab vow to continue attacks on Kenya."

The #ObamaCare Death Toll Rises

From Michelle Malkin, "Obama Lied, My Health Plan Died":

Like an estimated 22 million other Americans, I am a self-employed small-business owner who buys health insurance for my family directly on the individual market. We have a high-deductible PPO plan that allows us to choose from a wide range of doctors.

Or rather, we had such a plan.

Last week, our family received notice from Anthem BlueCross BlueShield of Colorado that we can no longer keep the plan we like because of “changes from health care reform (also called the Affordable Care Act or ACA).” The letter informed us that “(t)o meet the requirements of the new laws, your current plan can no longer be continued beyond your 2014 renewal date.”

In short: Obama lied. My health plan died...

Continue reading.

And ICYMI, "'You Can Keep Your Plan' — The Left's #ObamaCare Lies."

After 20-Plus Hours, Senator Ted Cruz Still Going Strong Against #ObamaCare

I wasn't expecting this.

But I've already dropped my kid off at school, and after a long night, Senator Cruz is still speaking as this blog entry goes live.

See the Washington Post, "After 20-plus hours, Sen. Cruz still talking in an effort to defeat Obamacare":

By 5 a.m., the length of Cruz’s marathon discourse — he is not allowed to leave the Senate floor, even for a bathroom break — had surpassed lengthy filibusters by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in March and the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) in 1964. He earned a lead spot on all three network morning news shows, acknowledging that he was “a little bit” tired but still looking remarkably fresh. The television anchors dubbed Cruz’s effort a “talk-a-thon,” even as they explained to viewers that his effort would not derail the legislative process.

Just before 9 a.m., Cruz told the near-empty chamber — and C-Span II viewers — that he had been reviewing a bit of the libertarian writer Ayn Rand’s literature overnight. He then started reading from “Atlas Shrugged.”


The Cruz talk-a-thon was the latest example of the increasingly stark division among Republicans, both on Capitol Hill and nationally. The Texas newcomer, just 42 and nine months into his first term in office, is carrying the banner for conservatives who urge a take-no-prisoners approach in confronting the president, even if it means shuttering the government.

But the move angered senior Republicans, who complained that Cruz and the other junior senators pushing this strategy did not understand the wounds the GOP suffered during the mid-1990s shutdown battles with President Bill Clinton. Back then, the party controlled both the House and Senate, a luxury compared with its tenuous majority in the House today.

He's still talking, via C-SPAN, "Sen. Cruz Continues Floor Speech; Senate Procedural Vote on CR Later Today."

Also at Free Beacon, "Ted Cruz Talks ‘Star Wars’ On The Senate Floor." And see Memeorandum.

Confessions of Pop's Wildest Child

There's a method to her madness.

Seriously.

Since twerking the VMAs it's been Miley 24/7.

At Rolling Stone, "Miley Cyrus: She knows what you think about her – and she totally doesn't care."

Also at the Other McCain, "Obligatory ‘Miley Cyrus Topless’ Post."

Al Qaeda's Minnesota Recruiting Blows Lid Off Obama's 'Tide of War is Receding' Propaganda

From Katherine Zimmerman, at the Wall Street Journal, "Al Qaeda's African Surge Threatens the U.S." (via Google):

On Tuesday, after a four-day siege by terrorists who murdered at least 67 people, the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, still appeared not to have been secured by government forces. The attack by more than a dozen heavily armed members of the Somalia-based al Shabaabterrorist group—including reportedly several Americans—was a thoroughly planned operation. Teams of the al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists entered the mall's first and second floors in a two-pronged attack. The terrorists lined up hostages, separated Muslims from Christians and others, then tested the self-proclaimed Muslims on their knowledge of Arabic and Islam. Those who failed were shot, children included. The militants then settled in with the surviving hostages to repulse attempts to extract them.

Who are these terrorists? Al Shabaab—in Arabic, "the youth"—traces its roots to the militant wing of the Islamic Courts Union, an Islamist political movement that rose to power in Somalia in 2006. A U.S.-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in December 2006 toppled the ICU, whose leaders fled. But al Shabaab remained and rapidly consolidated power as the dominant insurgent force. When less capable African Union peacekeepers replaced Ethiopian troops, al Shabaab recaptured much of southern and central Somalia by 2009.

There they might have remained if not for a United States- and United Nations-backed effort to beef up the African Union force. A far more robust and battle-tested Amisom (the African Union Mission in Somalia) pushed back al Shabaab, and by September 2012 the group had lost the strategic town of Kismayo, and with it much of al Shabaab's revenue and reputation.

What followed is essential to understanding the resiliency of local Islamist extremist groups and the evolution of al Qaeda. As al Shabaab began losing ground in Somalia, a leadership battle ensued between those who wanted to be part of a global Islamist movement and others with more parochial aims. In 2012, al Shabaab declared itself part of al Qaeda, eliminating dissenters through assassination.

Al Shabaab's decision to relegate the fight for Somali territory to secondary status was a major change. A group that had espoused more limited aims was suddenly abandoning its desire for local power in favor of a more idealized global fight. It is this model that is propelling al Qaeda, allowing the Islamist network to spread in Syria, Sinai, Iraq, Libya and Yemen.

Groups like al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Ansar al Shariah in Libya, Ansar Beit al Maqdis in the Sinai, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have metastasized from local to networked global al Qaeda groups. Al Shabaab is following al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which first hit Saudi targets and then moved on to the United States.

Yet the U.S. government insists on calling al Shabaab a local, Somali threat, playing down the potential threat to the U.S. The Obama administration has clung instead to the narrative that al Qaeda is on the "path to defeat" and its remnants are "lethal, but less capable," as President Obama put it in May.

A major tip-off in al Shabaab's transformation was its effort to recruit Americans. According to U.S. officials, 50 or so U.S. citizens have made their way to Somalia since 2007 to join al Shabaab. This includes members of the Somali diaspora and non-Somalis, such as Syrian-American Omar Hammami, who called himself Abu Mansur al Amriki, aka "the American," before he was killed earlier this month in Somalia, the victim of an internal dispute.

American Somalis began joining al Shabaab to fight the Ethiopians in 2007. Insight into its recruitment has come from the courtroom testimony of individuals who were arrested for providing material support to al Shabaab upon returning from Somalia: A local recruiter would promise vulnerable Muslim youths in the U.S. entry to paradise if they fought the Christian invaders. The youths would slip away for the trip to Somalia, often without the knowledge of their families....

Last month, al Shabaab released a video featuring what it called its "Minnesota Martyrs." Minnesota is home to the largest U.S. population of Somalis. The 40-minute video, the first in a promised series, featured three Americans. The video glorified the three young men, saying they had given their lives on what is now a global battlefield. Although some within the group may see Africa as their battleground, those who have cemented the relationship with al Qaeda understand that jihad stretches from Morocco to the Philippines, from Tanzania to Iraq. And as al Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri has made clear, to the United States.

If reports now surfacing regarding Americans involved in the Nairobi attack—al Shabaab's response to the Kenyan military presence in Somalia—are confirmed, it will be difficult for the Obama administration to continue claiming that al Shabaab is purely local. The terror group has the means for a major attack, and al Qaeda's focus on the U.S. provides the motive...

RTWT at Google.

Also at CBS, "Kenya mall attack terrorists included "two or three" Americans, Kenyan foreign minister Amina Mohamed says."

Related: At the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "Slick video rekindles fears that Al-Shabab is recruiting Minnesotans."