FBI Busts an ISIS Operative Planning a Major Attack

The FBI has arrested an 18-year-old Idaho man and recent convert to Islam for planning attacks against multiple churches on behalf of the Islamic State.

“Alexander Scott Mercurio, 18, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, was arrested Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Coeur d’Alene for attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS,” the Department of Justice released late Monday night. “According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Mercurio pledged his allegiance to ISIS and intended to commit attacks on its behalf. He planned to attack individuals at churches in Coeur d’Alene on April 7 using weapons, including knives, firearms, and fire.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray is calling the plans “truly horrific.”

“The defendant allegedly pledged loyalty to ISIS and sought to attack people attending churches in Idaho, a truly horrific plan which was detected and thwarted by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force,” Wray said. “This investigation demonstrates the FBI’s steadfast commitment to work with our law enforcement partners to stop those who wish to commit acts of violence on behalf of – or inspired by – foreign terrorist groups.”

From the complaint:

This case began when MERCURIO reached out to confidential human sources online and indicated his support for ISIS and terrorist organizations, more generally. The FBI was able to work with a confidential human source (CHS) who met with MERCURIO in person. MERCURIO proceeded to express support for terrorist organizations, specifically ISIS, online and in-person. MERCURIO spread ISIS propaganda online and solicited ISIS’s involvement in and approval of his propaganda efforts, discussed travelling from the United States to join ISIS, considered and planned ways to support ISIS financially, and most recently, set forth on a plan to assault his father with a metal pipe, acquire his father’s firearms, and attack a local church. At the beginning of 2024, his conduct escalated to MERCURIO planning to carry out a suicide attack on a church(es) in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. His attack plan involved using flame-covered weapons, explosives, knives, a machete, a pipe, and ultimately firearms. His plan grew more precise as he eventually identified the specific church and date on which he planned to attack.

MERCURIO planned to attack the church on April 7, 2024, a date intentionally selected by him so his attack would occur before the end of Ramadan. As the date drew near, MERCURIO devised a plan to incapacitate his father, restrain him using handcuffs, and steal his firearms to use for maximum casualties in his attack.

MERCURIO purchased items consistent with his planned attack; this included butane canisters and a metal pipe. In planning the attack, MERCURIO made a ba’yah statement, pledging his allegiance to ISIS and stating his intention to die while killing others on behalf of ISIS. MERCURIO transmitted that statement on April 6, 2024, consistent with a prior representation where he claimed he would transmit the statement a day or so prior to the attack. He planned the attack for April 7, 2024. Law enforcement thwarted MERCURIO’s plans before, according to MERCURIO’s timeline, he could harm his father and acquire firearms. Law enforcement executed a search warrant on his house and upon his person. At MERCURIO’s house, law enforcement found items consistent with his planned attack (butane canisters, lighters, a pair of handcuffs, a knife, a pipe, and a machete).

Law enforcement also found several firearms in MERCURIO’s father’s possession, stored as MERCURIO represented in his plans. Also, law enforcement found an ISIS flag in MERCURIO’s bedroom.

it’s called getting caught grifting

David Hogg Group Hit With Allegations Over Spending Practices and Policies

Gun control activist David Hogg has been hit with allegations over the spending practices of his group Leaders We Deserve PAC. Conservative outlets are reporting that the group spent comparably little on actual candidates as opposed to travel and expenses. His prior counsel is a familiar name in such controversies in Washington: former Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias.

Hogg created a group in the aftermath of the 2022 midterm elections to elect Generation Z politicians to offices throughout the country. The group was given favorable national coverage in major media outlets. He explained that contributions would be used to elect young Democrat candidates:

“[We’re] trying to pick them and say, you know, we would like to help you run for office, we’ll supply you with all of the resources that you need and help basically coach you and hold your hand to get there, which is kind of the gap that’s in the space right now, for at least young people at the state legislative level.”

Federal filings reportedly show that year-end 2023, Leaders We Deserve raised over $3 million. That is impressive for its first year in operation.

The conservative sites allege that the group spent “only about $263,000 on its stated mission of electing candidates from Generation Z to office combined with donations to other Democrat Party committees and groups—and instead spent more than $1.4 million on disbursements to themselves for payroll and to political consulting firms and legal fees, in addition to travel and entertainment expenses like hotels, flights, and meals.”

However, it reportedly spent more than $1,314,000 on travel and related expenses while giving $80,000 to the Elias Law Group.

Continue reading “”

Would-be robber shot and killed in south Sacramento backyard shooting; police investigate

The Sacramento Police Department is investigating a Sunday evening shooting in south Sacramento that killed a man
Officers were called just before 6 p.m. to a home on the 6900 block of 27th Street in the Woodbine neighborhood for reports of a shooting, police said. A 38-year-old man had been struck by multiple gunshot wounds and was unresponsive, according to radio dispatches reviewed by The Sacramento Bee.
The man died at the scene, said Officer Cody Tapley, a spokesman for the Police Department. The victim has not yet been identified by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office pending next-of-kin notification.
Preliminary information from the radio dispatches indicates the man who was shot entered a resident’s backyard and tried to rob two people on the property. One of the men being robbed then shot the victim, dispatchers said in the archived audio.
Multiple witnesses at the scene may have seen the incident unfold, according to the dispatches.
Police have not announced any arrests or any suspect description.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: BILL CLINTON ON HAMAS

You know things are bad when Bill Clinton is the voice of moral clarity in the Democratic Party. Here’s what he said in 2016:

“I killed myself to give the Palestinians a state. I had a deal they turned down that would have given them all of Gaza… between 96%-97% of the West Bank, compensating land in Israel, you name it.”

“Hamas is really smart. When they decide to rocket Israel, they insinuate themselves in the hospitals, in the schools, in the highly populous areas, and they are smart. They said they try to put the Israelis in a position of either not defending themselves or killing innocents. They’re good at it. They’re smart. They’ve been doing this a long time.”

Why can’t anyone in the Biden Administration point this out to the American public (and to the Palestinian Authority)? It has long been reported second-hand that the person Clinton hated the most from his time as president was not Ken Starr, but Yassir Arafat, for turning down the deal that would have gained Clinton the Nobel Peace Prize and redeemed his morally stained presidency.

ATF Report Finds Licensed Gun Dealers Rarely Supply Illicit Traffickers

The ATF released a decades-long report on gun trafficking this week. There is a lot of data to sift through, but one thing that stands out is how rare it is for a licensed gun dealer to be involved in trafficking.

Just 1.6 percent of cases the ATF examined during a five-year period implicated a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL), a significant decline from the last time the ATF did a report like this. As Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman explains, that undermines one of President Joe Biden’s key gun initiatives.

It wasn’t all good news for the gun industry this week, though. Gun sales were down for the third month in a row. That should be concerning given how long the hangover from pandemic-era record sales has lasted and the fact that even a presidential election featuring a candidate calling for an “assault weapons” ban hasn’t motivated buyers.

Plus, gun-rights lawyer Matt Larosiere joins the podcast to explain why he believes the Second Amendment applies to nearly everyone in the US–even those here unlawfully. That topic has been one of our most-viewed this year. So, it seemed like a good idea to get a bit more in-depth on the topic.

A new ATF report undermines the Biden administration’s rationale for cracking down on gun dealers.

On Thursday, the ATF released Volume Three of the National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment. The report, the first comprehensive analysis of criminal gun trafficking by the agency since 2000, examined over 9,700 ATF firearm trafficking investigations between 2017 and 2021 to create a picture of the most common sources of black-market firearms.

It found sales by unlicensed private sales and straw purchases represented just over 80 percent of all cases. Stolen firearms accounted for another quarter of the trafficked guns.

On the other hand, the report identified just 136 cases of illegal trafficking by Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs). That represents 1.6 percent of cases during the five-year period.

Continue reading “”

Be Alert.

There has been a lot of unofficial chatter, and even a few official statements of concern, over the possibility of terrorist attacks in the U.S. (thank you open borders!). Quite a few of us think it is a given. Something that happened at Church yesterday makes me even more concerned.

A young male came into the Church during the service, wearing dark clothing that had the air of a delivery uniform, with one of those urban draw-string backpacks on. Under one arm he was carrying what looked like a (decent sized) cardboard box with a delivery label on it. He came in and sat down (most were standing at the time) and stayed a while.

My first thought was ‘heck of a time for a delivery’ and the second thought was ‘uh oh.’ I kept a discrete eye on him, and it turns out the friend sitting next to me was keeping an even stronger eye on him. He got up and left, and my friend went to be sure he was leaving and see where he went — which was to the church across the street.

Now, this could be entirely innocent, however… The box was more than large enough to have held a single SMG or multiple regular pistols with spare mags. It could have held one or more explosive devices (may have walked over to be sure nothing left on the floor or secured under a pew despite not seeing any indication he had tried to access the box). My friend’s thought was to be sure he wasn’t going out to arm up before coming back in. Both of us, I think, have a concern he was casing churches in the area.

Could be innocent. Could be recon. Know I’m going to have an eye out and am inclined to see about giving an unofficial heads up to some LE types.

To all of you out there: keep your head on a swivel, have a plan, and be prepared. Things are such I will be amazed if biological material does not impact the rotary impeller and soon. Keep your family and friends close, and your things where you can find them in the dark.

‘Scholar’ . I didn’t know there was an alternate spelling for tyrant

University scholar wants licensing of journalists, gov. agency to monitor ‘misinformation.

What could go wrong?

A visiting McGill University scholar wants an “Interpol-like agency” to monitor the internet and the licensing of journalists by the government — all in the name of combating “misinformation.”

According to True North, during a recent lecture Raphaël Melançon said Canada’s Bill C-18, aka the “Online News Act,” can only have a “limited impact” on mis/disinformation.

“There is what we can do in Canada in our jurisdiction but there’s also the fact that you have lies coming from abroad and our laws do not apply to what happens outside of our borders,” Melançon (pictured) said. “Liberal democracies [need] to ensure the same regulations are applied elsewhere.”

Melançon, a consultant and journalist who’s worked for the Quebec and Canadian federal government, said countries can create an intergovernmental agency whose job would be to make sure information on the “internet and social media is correct.”

Melançon also recommended the “professionalization” of journalism by requiring licenses for those in the profession.

“At the moment in Canada anyone can pretend to be a journalist,” he said. “To this day members of the press have no obligation whatsoever regarding what they write or say in media.”

MORE: ‘Disinformation’ expert professor: U.S. needs ‘common sense’ speech restrictions

From the article:

[Melançon ] went on to say that specific outlets should be barred from newsgathering at government events.

“That to me is a problem. Should so-called journalists from partisan media such as the far-right Rebel News or the Falon Gong-controlled Epoch Times be allowed to cover government PR press conferences or should they rather be considered as activist organizations and treated like so?” he said.

Melançon said that a proposed system of journalist licensing should take into account academic background and also “past actions.”

“If you propagate fake news, you’re out,” said Melançon.

According to the event description, the talk zeroed in on “how the advent of the Internet and social media has, in the past two decades, contributed to amplifying social tensions, polarizing public opinion, and radicalizing political discourse in Canada,” and how events like COVID, BLM, and Freedom Convoy protests “played an active role in the growing popularity of far-right (‘alt-right’) and far-left (‘woke’) movements.