Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik Built Bombs Using Instructions from al-Qaeda Magazine (VIDEO)

At the Palm Springs Desert Sun, "FBI checking Al Qaeda link to San Bernardino shooting":

The FBI is investigating whether there's a connection between the San Bernardino shooters and Al Qaeda.

The shooters, Syed Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, had a dozen pipe bombs in their Redlands home and carried three other bombs that were combined into a single device, authorities said Thursday morning.

David Bowdich, assistant director of the FBI's Los Angeles office, said officials are checking whether the bombs were built using directions from an Al Qaeda online magazine, "Inspire."

The magazine is written in English and targets American and European readers.

Wednesday's attack would be reminiscent of the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing. Brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev built a pressure cooker bomb using instructions found in "Inspire."

More.

Tashfeen Malik Linked to 'Red Mosque' in Pakistan, Center for Jihadists — #SanBernardino

At Truth Revolt, "Terror Wife Linked to Radical Mosque in Pakistan":

Terror wife Tashfeen Malik is being linked to an infamous mosque in Pakistan connected to terrorism and whose imam has pledged allegiance to ISIS, according to reports from Britain's Daily Mail.

Malik and her husband Syed Farook killed 14 and wounded more than 20 people in a terrorist attack on Wednesday in San Bernardino, California.

While Farook was born and raised in the United States, and has a brother who is a decorated U.S. Navy vet, Malik is originally from Pakistan...

Here's the piece at Daily Mail, "EXCLUSIVE: ISIS loyalist woman in San Bernardino massacre is linked to Pakistan's most notorious radical cleric and mosque known as center for fundamentalists."

MSNBC Apologizes for Live News Coverage Inside Home of Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik (VIDEO)

Here's the video, "MSNBC takes viewers on tour of California terrorists' apartment."

And at MSNBC on Twitter, "WATCH LIVE: NBC News entering attackers' apartment," and "TUNE IN: Kerry Sanders is live inside #SanBernardino attackers' apartment."

More at TPM, via Memeorandum, "MSNBC: 'We Regret' Live Shots Of Kid Photos, ID Cards From Attackers' Home."

Apparently reporters paid landlord $1000 to get in the home https://t.co/ClXDUUS1pc

— Michelle Fields (@MichelleFields) December 4, 2015

Plus, from Ashe Schow, at the Washington Examiner, "MSNBC embarrasses itself inside San Bernardino attackers' apartment."

America’s Pathological Denial of Reality

From Caroline Glick, at FrontPage Magazine, "In America of 2015, natural conclusions about the San Bernardino jihadists are considered irresponsible, at best":

How much lower will America sink before it regains its senses? Wednesday, two Muslims walked into a Christmas party at a community service center in San Bernardino, California, where one worked. They were wearing [tactical gear] and carrying automatic rifles, pipe bombs and pistols. They opened fire, killed 14, and wounded 17.

The murderers, Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik were killed by police.

Speaking to the Daily News, Farook’s father said his son, “was very religious. He would go to work, come back, go to pray, come back. He’s Muslim.”

Farook’s neighbor told the paper that over the past two years, Farook exchanged his Western dress for Islamic gowns and grew a beard.

These data points lead naturally to the conclusion that Farook and his wife were jihadists who killed in order to kill in the name of Islam.

But in America of December 2015, natural conclusions are considered irresponsible, at best.

In an interview with CNN following the shooting, US President Barack Obama said the massacre demonstrates that the US needs stricter gun laws. As for the motives of the shooters, Obama shrugged. “We don’t yet know the motives of the shooters,” he insisted.

In other words, while ignoring what in all likelihood drove Farooq and his wife to murder innocent people, Obama laid responsibility for the carnage at the feet of his political opponents who reject his demands for stricter limitations on gun ownership.

Here is the place to note that California has some of the most stringent gun control laws in the US.

According to the victims, Farook and his partners were able to reload their weapons and shoot without interruption for several minutes until the police arrived because there was no one to stop them.

Obama wasn’t alone in deflecting attention away from the likely motivations of the murderers.

Wednesday evening, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), held a press conference at the Islamic Center of Orange County. Farook’s brother in law, Farhan Khan was carted out before the cameras to tell the world that he for one had no idea why his brother in law opened fire.

Two other speakers at the event were Hussam Auyloush, CAIR’s regional executive director and Muzammil Siddiqi, the director of the Islamic Society of Orange County.

Auyloush insisted that he had no idea would could have possibly prompted Farook and his wife to murder those gathered at the center. Auyloush raised the prospect that they could have been mentally ill, or perhaps they just didn’t like the victims, or maybe they were garden-variety extremists.

For his part, Siddiqi insisted that Islam had nothing to do with the shooters’ decision to murder innocent people, (how he could be so certain, is unknown).

Siddiqi added that he hopes law enforcement bodies will conduct a full investigation into the “people and motives,” behind the attack.

To a degree, the very fact that Siddiqi had no compunction about stepping in front of the cameras just hours after the attack is proof that the US has lost its way.

If American elites were even semi-competent, Siddiqi would have faded into the shadows, never to emerge again 15 years ago.

Siddiqi is a known jihadist sympathizer. His close ties to jihadists have been a matter of public record since 2000.

In October 2000, Siddiqi spoke at an anti-Israel rally in Lafayette Park in Washington, DC. There he warned the American people that they must abandon their support for Israel lest “the wrath of God” be unleashed against them.

According to a profile of Siddiqi compiled by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, (IPT) in the late 1990s Siddiqi gave a speech extolling jihad and foreseeing Israel’s replacement with an Islamic state.

Among other things, Siddiqi said, “In order to gain the honor, jihad is the path, jihad is the way to receive the honor.”

Siddiqi converted Osama bin Laden’s senior aide, American jihadist Adam Gadahn. Gadahn converted to Islam at the Islamic Center of Orange County in 1995. According to a 2007 New Yorker profile, Siddiqi employed Gadahn at the Center in the years following his conversion. It was during this period that Gadahn was radicalized. He then went to Pakistan and joined al Qaida.

In 1992 Siddiqi hosted a blind sheikh named Omar Abdel Rahman at the Islamic Center. He stood beside Rahman and simultaneously translated his lecture about jihad to the audience of worshipers.

The next year, Rahman masterminded the first jihadist attack on the World Trade Center...

 Still more.

PREVIOUSLY: "EXCLUSIVE: First Photo of San Bernardino Terror Suspect Tashfeen Malik Released," and "#SanBernardino: FBI Seized .22 Caliber Rifle, Dozens of Boxes of Ammo, Weapons Accessories, Invoices from Gun Sellers, Laptop, and Several Data Storage Devices."

#SanBernardino: FBI Seized .22 Caliber Rifle, Dozens of Boxes of Ammo, Weapons Accessories, Invoices from Gun Sellers, Laptop, and Several Data Storage Devices

At the Los Angeles Times, "FBI seized guns, ammo, computer and notebook from home of San Bernardino shooters."

PREVIOUSLY: "EXCLUSIVE: First Photo of San Bernardino Terror Suspect Tashfeen Malik Released."

EXCLUSIVE: First Photo of San Bernardino Terror Suspect Tashfeen Malik Released

At ABC News, "First Photo of Female San Bernardino Shooter Tashfeen Malik."

And at ABC 7 News San Francisco:

#BREAKING: 1st photo of San Bernardino terror suspect Tashfeen Malik, obtained by @ABC https://t.co/5jrNJLMErY pic.twitter.com/HLI9lmNQuT

— ABC7 News (@abc7newsBayArea) December 4, 2015

PREVIOUSLY: "Tashfeen Malik Pledged Allegiance to Islamic State During #SanBernardino Jihad Massacre (VIDEO)."

All Muslims Are Potential Terrorists and Suspects

Well, obviously.

This is the Islamic State attack on the homeland that Americans feared in the yesterday Washington Post poll conducted in the wake of the Paris attacks.

We're not safe. The Obama administration simply does not take the threat seriously, so we're going to be in greater danger until a Republican is elected.

At Astute Bloggers, "THE SAN BERNARDINO ATTACK PROVES ALL MUSLIMS ARE JUSTIFIABLY POTENTIAL TERRORISTS AND SUSPECTS."

Tashfeen Malik Pledged Allegiance to Islamic State During #SanBernardino Jihad Massacre (VIDEO)

At Free Beacon, "Report: San Bernardino Attacker Pledged Allegiance to Islamic State." (Via Memeorandum.)

And at CNN, via Memeorandum, "San Bernardino shooting: Attacker pledged allegiance to ISIS, officials say."

Save $30.00 on Amazon Fire HD 6 Kids Edition Tablet

Shop for the holiday, Fire HD 6 Kids Edition, 6" HD Display, Wi-Fi, 16 GB, Blue Kid-Proof Case.

More, Sales & Deals on Luggage and Travel Gear.

Once again, for under the tree, from Nicholas Stargardt, The German War: A Nation Under Arms, 1939–1945, and Alistair Horne, Hubris: The Tragedy of War in the Twentieth Century.

Plus, Stephen Kotkin, Stalin: Volume I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928.

Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer Has Run Out of Time for a Turnaround

That's the first thing I thought when I heard the company might be up for sale.

At the New York Times:

Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer has run out of time for a turnaround.

After three years, it’s clear that neither the chief executive, nor maybe any potential replacement, can save the flailing Internet company. The board’s job should be to determine the best way for tidying up the company’s affairs. Ms. Mayer’s best legacy could turn out to be that she got a good price for Yahoo’s core business.

Ms. Mayer has tried to drum up excitement by investing and buying smaller firms in mobile, video and social technologies. That hasn’t worked. Yahoo is expected to earn less than half as much as it did in 2012. The future doesn’t look any brighter, as companies cut into its advertising revenue with software that blocks online ads.

It’s doubtful that any other executive could do better. After all, Yahoo has had six bosses over the last decade, and none were able to figure out how to turn things around. History shows that struggling tech companies rarely regain momentum. Top engineers flee, new technologies and rivals are ignored and sclerosis sets in.

Given that reality, it might be futile for the board to try to replace Ms. Mayer. Instructing her to dismember the company might be the best approach and a way for her to salvage her reputation...

Ouch. That's harsh.

Still more at that top link.

VIDEO: FBI Uses Robot to Search Suspect's Home in #SanBernardinoShooting

From Sean Hannity, last night:

Climate Fanaticism is Sponsored by the Students' Unions

This is from Toronto's Financial Post (via Blazing Cat Fur):

Engage in a discussion with university students or peruse the social media pages they stare at on their devices, and it quickly becomes evident that climate change is the political issue youth are most passionate about. University campuses are home to a sizable contingent of climate justice activists, who proclaim loudly that climate catastrophe is imminent unless we cripple the fossil fuel industry and end capitalism.

Much of the climate fanaticism is sponsored by the students’ unions. There are campaigns to ban the sale and distribution of plastic water bottles on at least two dozen campuses in Canada. The plastic bottle ban is supported by the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), which claims that “communities, not corporations, must control water resources and services.” Evidently, the exchange of money for water is so offensive to their socialist sensitivities that it must be purged from campuses. Surely it won’t be long before students’ unions are setting up “safe spaces” students can retreat to when they feel “triggered” by the sight of plastic bottles.

In addition to the bottle ban, there is a strong and growing movement on campuses – also organized in part by the CFS – lobbying for universities to divest from fossil fuels. The fossil fuel industry “is a rogue industry and it’s immoral for our colleges to continue investing in it,” claims the CFS. According to them, fossil fuel companies are “spending millions of dollars to corrupt our political process,” they are “profiting while our children and communities pay the price” and “their greed for profit threatens the entire planet.” All that’s left is for the CFS to launch a campaign to have the scientist-muzzling, climate-denying oil puppet Stephen Harper deported for setting Canada on the path to Armageddon...

Keep reading.

Official from Loma Linda University Medical Center Discusses #SanBernardinoShooting (VIDEO)

At ABC News:

Inland Regional Center Serves People with Developmental Disabilities (VIDEO)

Watch, at ABC 10 News San Diego, "Regional Center serves people with disabilities."

More at WaPo, "Here’s the inspiring work done at the disability center, site of the Calif. shooting."

Chaos in San Bernardino After Mass Shooting (VIDEO)

From CNN:



PREVIOUSLY: "Cellphones Were Link to Loved Ones in #SanBernardinoShooting."

Cellphones Were Link to Loved Ones in #SanBernardinoShooting

At the Los Angeles Times (which has the best coverage), "'Active shooter.' For those trapped in San Bernardino, cellphones were a link to loved ones."

Also, updates, "What we know."

British Parliament Authorizes New Airstrikes Against Islamic State in Syria (VIDEO)

The British Labour Party's been having an existential time of it.

See the Telegraph UK, "Monday was Labour’s blackest day."

And today's news, "MPs back call to 'confront Isil's evil' by voting resoundingly 397 to 223 to launch air strikes in Syria."

Here's the speech from Labour's former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett:

MPs vote in favour of air strikes against Isil.

Hilary Benn spearheaded a show of defiance against Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday night as MPs voted in favour of air strikes against Isil in Syria following his call to “confront this evil”.

The House of Commons voted by 397 to 223 in favour of extending RAF action across the border from Iraq.

The margin of victory was far great than expected and included 66 Labour MPs, 11 of whom were shadow ministers - further undermining Mr Corbyn’s position.

More at that top link.

UPDATE: Suspect ID'd as Syed Farook #SanBernardinoShooting

There were loads of rumors earlier on the alleged Islamic background of one of the suspects, but the Los Angeles Times is now reporting on the official identification of one of the terrorists.

See, "San Bernardino shooting live updates: Syed Farook named as a suspect in attack that killed 14."

Also at NBC News, "JUST IN: Suspect in #SanBernardino shooting ID'd as Syed Farook; Another believed to be Farook's brother: Sources."

PREVIOUSLY: "UPDATE: Video Shows SWAT Swarm Inland Regional Center #SanBernardinoShooting."

UPDATE: Video Shows SWAT Swarm Inland Regional Center #SanBernardinoShooting

Here's a very concise Facebook update from Molly Grantham, at WBTV, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

And at ABC News 7 Los Angeles, "Video shows SWAT swarm Inland Regional Center, woman thought it was drill."

More at the Los Angeles Times, "Developing Police have killed man and woman connected to San Bernardino mass shooting."

PREVIOUSLY: "At Least 14 People Murdered in Mass Shooting in San Bernardino (VIDEO)."

At Least 14 People Murdered in Mass Shooting in San Bernardino (VIDEO)

This story is developing.

At the San Bernardino Press-Enterprise, "SAN BERNARDINO SHOOTING: Massive police response following shootout with suspects in SUV (BREAKING)."

And at the San Diego Union-Tribune, "14 dead, more than a dozen wounded in California shooting":

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — As many as three gunmen believed to be wearing military-style gear opened fire Wednesday at a Southern California social services center "as if they were on a mission," killing at least 14 people and wounding more than a dozen others, authorities said.

Hours later, police hunting for the attackers riddled a black SUV with gunfire several miles away, and one person lay motionless in the street — dead or dying — with a gun nearby. Officers appeared to remove a second person from the vehicle.

San Bernardino Police Sgt. Vicki Cervantes said authorities had not immediately confirmed whether those in the SUV were involved in the morning carnage. And the hunt went on, apparently for a possible third gunman. A law officer suffered minor injuries in the afternoon shootout.

It was the nation's deadliest mass shooting since the Newton, Connecticut, attack in December 2012 that left 26 children and adults dead.

Police shed no light on a motive for Thursday's massacre, which came just five days after a gunman opened fire at Planned Parenthood in Colorado, killing three.

"They came prepared to do what they did, as if they were on a mission," San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said, noting the attackers carried long guns — which can mean rifles or shotguns.

Witnesses said several people locked themselves in their offices, desperately waiting to be rescued by police, after gunfire erupted at the Inland Regional Center, which serves people with developmental disabilities. Some people telephoned their loved ones and whispered to them what was going on.

The attack took place in a conference area where the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health was renting space to hold a banquet, said Marybeth Feild, president and CEO of the center. She said the building houses at least 25 employees as well as a library and conference center.

FBI agents and other law enforcement authorities converged on the center and searched room to room for the attacker or attackers, but it was feared that they had escaped.

Ten of the wounded were hospitalized in critical condition, and three were in serious condition, San Bernardino Fire Chief Tom Hannemann said. Police cautioned that the numbers of dead and wounded were early estimates that could change.

No weapons were recovered at the center, though authorities were investigating unidentified items in the building and brought in bomb squads, Burguan said.

San Bernardino police spokesman Sgt. Vicki Cervantes told The Associated Press there were reports from witnesses of one to three gunmen.

As the manhunt went on, stores, office buildings and at least one school were locked down in the city of 214,000 people about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, and roads were blocked off...

More at the link.

And note that this is an AP report, so expect the Union-Tribune to have more with local news updates throughout the night.

Here's the YouTube page for CNN, and also the website is here.