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Just south of Nashville, Tennessee, along Interstate 65, there sits a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest riding on horseback, surrounded by Confederate battle flags. For those with little more than a passing interest in American history, Forrest may be only known to you as the person after whom Forrest Gump was named in the movie. Others will know that he was a Confederate general and the first Grand Wizard of the KKK. It’s been sitting there on private land since 1998, but given recent events you can imagine that it’s become the target of renewed political interest. The Metro...

WINCHESTER, Va. – The horrific murder of four Marines in Chattanooga showed the vulnerability of military recruitment centers. They are in public locations, and by law, they are “gun free zones” — meaning the military that are there are not allowed to carry their weapons. As the country realized the Marines that were killed were WINCHESTER, Va. – The horrific murder of four Marines in Chattanooga showed the vulnerability of military recruitment centers. They are in public locations, and by law, they are “gun free zones” — meaning the military that are there are not allowed to carry their weapons....

WINCHESTER, Va. - The horrific murder of four Marines and one Navy petty officer in Chattanooga showed the vulnerability of military recruitment centers. They are in public locations, and by law, they are “gun free zones” -- meaning the military that are there are not allowed to carry their weapons. As the country realized the Marines that were killed were unarmed at the recruiting center, people have started showing up to provide security. At 8 a.m. Friday morning, one man decided to spend his day off standing guard outside of a military recruitment center in Winchester, Virginia. He is not...

To honor service members killed in Chattanooga, President Obama orders flags be flown at half-staff at White House and other federal sites until sunset July 25. (CNN)The White House and U.S. Capitol both lowered flags to half staff by Tuesday afternoon, after they were out of sync Tuesday in their tributes to the five U.S. service members who were slain by a gunman in Chattanooga last week. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky announced Tuesday that flags at the Capitol would be lowered to half-staff in honor of the victims. "Out of respect for...

resident Obama has ordered that flags be lowered to half-staff at the White House and federal buildings across the country to honor the victims of last week's shooting rampage in Chattanooga, Tenn., after facing pressure from lawmakers and others. In a proclamation issued early Tuesday afternoon, Obama said of the Chattanooga victims, "We honor their service. We offer our gratitude to the police officers and first responders who stopped the rampage and saved lives. We draw strength from yet another American community that has come together with an unmistakable message to those who would try and do us harm: We...

WASHINGTON — The White House provided no explanation Monday amid questions over why the president had not ordered flags across the nation to half-staff in the wake of a Chattanooga, Tenn., shooting that killed five servicemembers. Spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama offered condolences last week and may speak to veterans at VFW conference Tuesday about the shooting, but he had no further comment. Obama has issued presidential proclamations that lowered flags at federal facilities and military bases after many mass shootings, including attacks at the Washington Navy Yard, Fort Hood in Texas, and Sandy Hook elementary in Connecticut....

<p>CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Paula Proxmire was surrounded by screaming street preachers, angry protesters and unsettled mourners who had just arrived from Sunday church.</p> <p>Her son, Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith, 26, had died on Saturday from wounds suffered in a shooting rampage here. The attacker was an aimless, depressed 24-year-old Muslim man whose online postings suggest he may have been motivated by radical Islamist movements...</p>

resident Obama did not sing "Amazing Grace" at a Chattanooga church over the weekend. Instead, he took in a Broadway show and played a round of golf. Governors in a number of states lowered the American flag to honor those lost --but the flag was not lowered at the White House. Five members of the Armed Forces were gunned down by a Muslim terrorist on American soil last week and yet the flag was not lowered to half-staff at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I’d like to know why.

Four Marines and a Navy petty officer were shot dead in cold blood and one police officer was wounded last Thursday in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The murderer, Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, was not on any watch lists or any terror suspect lists.

FBI agents have found evidence that Chattanooga shooter Mohammod Abdulazeez was following a radical American member of al Qaeda online in 2013, as well as pages of writing that showed the young man was suicidal and looking for a way to absolve what he considered were his sins, according to a representative of Abdulazeez's family. Video tapes of Anwar al-Awlaki, the high-profile American al Qaeda cleric and recruiter, have circulated on the internet and have been popular in jihadist circles long after al-Awlaki's death by American drone strike in September 2011. ....there is no evidence so far that Mohammod Abdulazeez,...

Cathy Wells, the mother of Lance Cpl. Skip Wells who was murdered last week in Chattanooga, joined Sean Hannity on Monday night. Cathy told Sean she has not received a call from President Obama. Sean Hannity: Have you heard from the president? Cathy Wells: No. Hannity: Does that surprise you? Cathy: No. Hannity: The same White House, I didn’t even see the flags at half-mast. Did you? Cathy: I know some states are doing it… Hannity: I’m talking about Washington. Cathy: No. Hannity: Is this the same White House that after the Supreme Court decision put rainbows on the White...

WASHINGTON - The man suspected of killing five members of the U.S. military in Tennessee last week was in Qatar at least once during a 2014 trip to the Middle East, according to two U.S. government sources who said reasons for the stopover were still unknown. U.S. investigators are trying to piece together Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez's travels to the region to see if he was radicalized by a militant group such as Islamic State. But they have no evidence he was in contact with militant groups or individuals.

Bits and pieces have emerged over the past few days about Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez’s troubled life. But two significant pieces of the puzzle are missing: Why did he ambush two military sites, killing four Marines and a sailor? And was he propelled to do so by his own demons or at the direction of someone else? Until last Thursday’s shooting, the Kuwait-born 24-year-old was not on the radar of terrorism investigators. As a result, a portrait of his background, contacts, computer use and travels must be assembled from the ground up and pieced together. He blended into everyday life in...

Qur’an 3:32 - “Obey Allah and His Messenger; But if they turn back, then surely Allah does not love the unbelievers.” Jihad came to Chattanooga, Tennessee --- the heart of the Bible belt. Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, the son of a Palestinian and an immigrant from Kuwait, murdered four American Marines in cold blood for one reason and one reason only -- he was a devout Muslim. Qur'an 47:4 - “Do not hanker for peace with the infidels; behead them when you catch them.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – The Tennessee Department of Transportation has “respectfully denied” the Metro Council’s request to block the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue on Interstate 65. The council approved a resolution to ask TDOT to plant trees blocking its view to the public on July 8. The statue, which is surrounded by Confederate flags, sits on private property near the Harding Place exit. Monday, the department sent the following statement to News 2: TDOT does not plant foliage on its right-of-way with the sole intention of blocking items on private property based on what might be offensive to some and...

As of Monday morning, July 20, the U.S. flag continued to fly at the top of the pole above the White House and at the U.S. Capitol building, five days after a gunman launched attacks in which he murdered five U.S. military personnel at facilities in Chattanooga, Tenn. President Barack Obama has yet to order the flags to half-staff following this tragedy. By contrast, in 2012, President Obama did order the flags flown at half-staff on the same day as the shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. […] Federal law states: “By order of the President,...

Michael Bloomberg-funded Everytown for Gun Safety has launched a “six-figure ad buy” to push for more gun control in the wake of alleged gunman Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez’s attack on Marines and sailors in Chattanooga.

This Sunday marks three days since an Islamist gunman opened fire Thursday on military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killing five unarmed servicemen and wounding a policeman. President Barack Obama still has not ordered the lowering of the U.S. flag to half-staff at the White House and federal properties as a sign of respect and mourning for those killed, even though he (and former President George W. Bush) did so for previous mass killings by lone gunmen. In contrast it was only a matter of hours after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage last month before Obama bathed the White House...

The Armed Services Committees are working to allow commanders to carry personal firearms through the National Defense Authorization Act. The House Armed Services chairmen are working together to “do more to protect our troops” following a deadly shooting on July 16 in Tennessee, according to a statement released Friday. A recent shooting in Chattanooga, Tenn. which claimed the lives of four Marines at military recruiting stations, has rekindled debate over rules prohibiting members of the military from carrying concealed weapons on military bases. ... The concealed-weapon amendment, if included in the final version of the bill, would allow the commander...

epublican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has lashed out at US President Barack Obama for his handling of the lethal attacks on army sites in Chattanooga, Tennessee last Thursday, calling the shootings an "act of war." Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, a Kuwaiti-born naturalized US citizen, went on a shooting rampage at a naval base and army recruiting station murdering five, with one victim dying on Saturday of his wounds. The Muslim shooter, who is the son of a Palestinian Arab who previously was on a terrorist watch list, had posted several cryptic Islamic messages before the attack and said he...