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The sister of Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, the suspected Chattanooga, Tenn. shooter, allegedly once told a reporter, “There’s this misconception that Islam is a violent religion. Muslims are actually peaceful.” In 2010, Yasmeen Abdulazeez was interviewed for a Chattanooga Times Free Press article about how “Muslim teens seek acceptance, understanding.” Yameen Abdulazeez reflected on the anti-Islamic harassment she claims to have experienced. …

A QuikTrip convenience store destroyed during unrest in Ferguson will be rebuilt as a community center. Nearly one year ago, massive demonstrations occurred within the St. Louis suburb and across the nation to protest the death of unarmed Black teenager Michael Brown. He was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a white police officer. The center’s creation was funded by three companies: QuikTrip, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Starbucks. The center’s focus will be on much needed job-training and placement for African-Americans. The Urban League has also pledged to train and find jobs for 500 young people in this area by the end...

OCALA, Fla. — Thousands of people rode in motorcycles and trucks to attend a rally and Pride Ride Sunday in Ocala to show support for the Confederate flag. The event was intended as a peaceful rally in support of the Confederate flag, but gunshots rang out nearby and now police are investigating. No one was hurt, but police said at least six shots were fired from an apartment complex near the Livestock Pavilion where the 17-mile ride started. Residents of the predominately African-American neighborhood dispute that the gunfire came from their complex. They said they were being harassed by the...

As I have noted, I never bet more than a six-pack on politics. That keeps it at a level that is fun but not serious. In that regard, I made a bet last spring with state Senator Mike Doherty over whether Chris Christie would formally enter the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. I said yes. Mike said no. Frankly I was a bit surprised. Mike is a conservative Republican from Warren County who has been quite outspoken in his assessment of Christie's overbearing ego and ambition. I thought he of all people would predict that Christie would make...

Political reaction to the announcement that the Army plans to cut 40,000 soldiers within the next two years was predictable in Arizona. With Fort Huachuca scheduled to lose 114 soldiers by 2017, local Congresswoman Martha McSally issued a statement Thursday warning that the force reduction was “short-sighted,” and properly reminded people that the local post is conducting some of the military’s most important missions at a time when national security has never been more threatened. Arizona Sen. John McCain said the aggression of ISIS in the Middle East and events in the Ukraine have “overturned” any conceivable strategic rationale for...

Calling Iraq and Syria a "single battle space," Sen. Lindsey Graham said he'd place around 10,000 troops in Syria today if he were president, in order to eradicate the heart of the Islamic State group's attempted caliphate. That call amounted to one of the most aggressive proposals by a 2016 presidential candidate regarding dealing with Syria, which has been engulfed in years of fighting between the government, rebels and Islamic militants. In remarks before The Atlantic Council on Wednesday, Graham, R-S.C., said half-measures like arming the Kurds to fight the Islamic State group were insufficient, and name-checked two of his...

More than 10,000 students are expected to benefit from a last-minute bill passed by legislators this week that makes Oregon only the second state (after Tennessee) to offer free community college. The idea, according to state Sen. Mark Hass (D-Beaverton), is that a lot of needy students who might like to attend community college are currently failing to apply for federal grants that could pay for much of their education. The new legislation, Senate Bill 81, offers a carrot: If eligible students apply for and receive federal grants for community college, Oregon will pay the balance of their tuition. The...

UPDATE: 6:45 a.m. Monday: The Cape Horn Fire is now estimated to be around 2,000 acres. Crews have confirmed six homes have been destroyed, all on the eastern half of Cape Horn and containment is 0%. The fire spread rapidly overnight and evacuations have been issued by the Bonner County Sheriff's Office in the Cape Horn and Bayview areas using reverse 911.

The Washington Post ventured down to Bastrop, Texas on Saturday and found an undetermined amount of people who fear that President Obama is plotting to impose martial law in the Lone Star State as part of a military operation called Jade Helm. Other citizens of Bastrop, mainly Democrats, said that this paranoia was racially motivated because the president is African American. It is unknown exactly how many people hold to these views.

It’s not just the white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan seeing surging membership as the S.C. General Assembly prepares to take up the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the S.C. State House. Law enforcement sources tell FITS an equally ominous trend is elevated black gang activity – which is being exploited by militant black groups in an effort to counter the pro-flag movement. These sources tell us rival gang leaders are putting aside past differences – uniting and mobilizing in anticipation of upcoming pro-flag rallies being held at the State House. In fact they’re...

It begins… Leftists want the Minnesota flag taken down because it shows white men working on a farm and an Indian with a spear. Seriously? The Star Tribune reported: “The Minnesota state flag depicts a white man as a hardworking, rugged individualist, and an Indian riding a horse and holding a spear. The current interest in the removal of the Confederate battle flag from public displays and store shelves provides an excellent opportunity to examine what the Minnesota state flag represents. The images on the flag are interpreted by state documents as innocuous symbols of the state’s history. A critical...

Very dangerous pursuit in west LA.

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.rgj.com/story/news/politics/2015/07/02/hagar-ted-cruz-advantage-wooing-adelson/29655093/

SIERRA VISTA — Tuesday’s storm dropped marble-sized hailstones and more than an inch of rain on many parts of Sierra Vista, flooding streets and contributing to a rollover injury accident near the airport. It was just after 7 p.m. when Sierra Vista police received a report of a single-vehicle rollover on Highway 90 near Airport Road.

A road raging Muslim recently got a taste of Texas hospitality after spouting off at another driver. The incident took place in Houston, Texas, where two drivers reportedly became entangled in a verbal altercation over who had the right of way. For reasons still under investigation, 42-year-old Ziad Abu Naim – the Muslim — got out of his car “swinging” and approached the car of Robert Craig Klimek, 43. However, the chaos quickly ended as onlookers noted hearing a single pop. As it turns out, Klimek had shot Naim in the face, fully neutralizing the threat. Emergency services took the...

Presidential candidate Ted Cruz will be at FoxTale Book Shoppe in downtown Woodstock on July 3 to promote his new book “A Time for Truth: Reigniting The Promise To America.”Admission is $30 and includes a first edition copy of the book. The book-signing event begins at 10 a.m., and the store, located at 105 E. Main St., will open to the public after the event concludes. “The event ticket includes you and a guest,” said Ellen Ward, co-owner of FoxTale Book Shoppe. “You will have an opportunity to meet Sen. Ted Cruz and get your book signed.” As the son...

So the organization gave the money back. And now they want your help. A $50,000 donation is cause for celebration at the Queen Anne offices of the Girl Scouts of Western Washington. “We have these little clapper thingies, and the clappers go mad when we get that kind of gift,” says the council’s CEO, Megan Ferland. So when Ferland came back to the office earlier this spring and announced that she’d just landed a $100,000 donation, the place went mad. Not only did it represent nearly a quarter of the council’s annual fundraising goal, it would pay to send 500...

An estimated over 1 million people turned out to cheer on Chicago's 46th Annual Pride Parade Sunday, which included at least three weddings and a guest appearance by the Stanley Cup. But the rainbow-bedazzled partiers also had their share of random mayhem, including a person who allegedly drove a car into the parade, a woman who attempted to streak in front of Rahm Emanuel on a public dare from a Greek billionaire and the much more pointed die-in protest staged by a handful of #blacklivesmatter activists to raise awareness about the perceived white-washing of the LGBTQ movement. With last Friday's...

Archaeologists from the University of Reading will start a three-year excavation on land between the prehistoric monuments of Stonehenge and Avenbury this summer. Exploring the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire is expected to reveal more about the lives of the people who worshipped at Stonehenge. The work will be done in collaboration with Historic England, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Wiltshire Museum. The site is a barely explored archaeological region of huge international importance. The project will investigate Marden Henge. Built around 2400 BC Marden is the largest henge or Neolithic earthwork in the country and one of...

Donald Trump brought his in-your-face presidential campaign to Chicago audience on Monday, declaring that if is he is elected, he would make America “rich,” stop illegal immigration and “knock out” federal health-care reform that the U.S. Supreme Court last week ruled the law of the land. And even as NBC became the latest network to sever its ties to Trump after he characterized Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals, Trump insisted he had nothing to apologize for, saying his remarks were “100 percent correct.”(continued)