CNN

A US Army soldier discussed bomb-making techniques and bombing a major American news network’s headquarters, as well as named presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke as a possible target before being arrested this weekend, according to court documents released on Monday.

Jarrett William Smith, 24, was charged with distribution of information related to weapons of mass destruction after offering to teach others bomb-making and discussing bombing the news network’s headquarters, according to documents in Kansas federal court. He was stationed at Fort Riley in Kansas before his arrest on Saturday. The arrest of Smith comes amid a wave of arrests and charges the Justice Department has made disrupting possible domestic terror plots.  Continue reading “US Army soldier arrested after allegedly discussing bombing news network”

CNN

As the rock was smashed into his face, the attacker’s words hit Rabbi Avraham Gopin almost as hard. “He said ‘Jew, Jew’,” Gopin recalled in an interview with WCBS, a CNN affiliate. “It was hate,” the rabbi added. The attack broke his nose and knocked out two teeth.

Gopin, 63, had gone out to get some fresh air in a park in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, late last month, when someone came up and began punching him. When Gopin tried to defend himself, the attacker hit him in the face with a rock. Continue reading “Orthodox Jews fear being targets of rising anti-Semitism”

CNN

President Donald Trump told reporters Monday that “it’s looking like” Iran was behind this weekend’s attack on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia but suggested it was too early to say for sure. He also said he was “not looking to get into new conflict, but sometimes you have to.”

“Well, it’s looking that way,” Trump said in the Oval Office when asked if Iran was responsible. “We’ll let you know definitively. … That’s being checked out right now.” Continue reading “Trump says it looks like Iran was behind Saudi oil field attack”

CNN

President Donald Trump on Sunday evening tweeted that the US has “reason to believe that we know” who is responsible for an attack on a Saudi Arabian oil field and the country is “locked and loaded depending on verification” following the crippling strike.

“Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!” Trump said.  Continue reading “Trump says US ‘locked and loaded depending on verification’ of attack on Saudi oil field”

CNN

The White House and Capitol Hill are considering a phone app connected to the National Instant Criminal Background Checks (NICS) as one of the options in their discussions for plans to reduce gun violence, according to a Senate source and a person familiar with the talks.

The proposed app would be used for background checks using private sales, and not for purchases involving commercial dealers, one of the sources told CNN. The Washington Post first reported on the app.  Continue reading “White House considering phone app for background checks as part of gun control proposals”