The Morning Briefing: Terror in the UK, MSM Blows Off Attack, 700K+ U.S. Visa Overstays and Much, Much More

Manchester Arena incident. Armed police close to the Manchester Arena, the morning after a suicide bomber killed 22 people, including children, as an explosion tore through fans leaving a pop concert in Manchester. Picture date: Tuesday May 23, 2017. See PA story POLICE Explosion. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire URN:31419103

Welcome to Tuesday Morning.

Here’s what’s on President Trump’s agenda today:

In the morning, President Donald J. Trump will participate in an arrival ceremony with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority.

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  • The President will then participate in a bilateral meeting with President Abbas.
  • Later in the morning, the President will give remarks with President Abbas.
  • In the afternoon, the President and First Lady Melania Trump will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at Yad Vashem.
  • The President will then give remarks at Yad Vashem.
  • Later in the afternoon, the President will give remarks at the Israel Museum.
  • The President and the First Lady will then depart Tel Aviv, Israel. en route to Rome, Italy.

AWKWARD

On Facebook, Caroline Glick points out:

It’s ironic and inappropriate for President Trump to be meeting with PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas the morning after the suicide bombing in Manchester.
The PLO is the architect of modern terrorism. They invented its methods and then worked hand in glove with Hamas which introduced suicide bombings to the West.

Not incidentally, Britain’s first suicide bombers blew up Mike’s Place night club in Tel Aviv, adjacent to the US embassy in 2003. The bombers were Asif Mohamed Hanif from London and Omar Khan Sharif from Derby.

They had links to the July 2005 bombers.

The PLO’s Fatah group, which Abbas leads and Hamas took joint responsibility for the Mike’s Place bombing.

Suicide bomber thought to be responsible for Manchester terror attack

ICYMI: Last night there was a terror attack in Manchester, England. The attack took place outside an Ariana Grande concert and left at least 22 dead and 59 people injured.

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The investigation is ongoing and authorities are trying to determine if the the attacker is part of a larger network. We’ll certainly be learning more as the day progresses.

He said that the the priority was to establish whether he was working alone or as part of a network. More than 400 police officers have been deployed in the wake of the attack.

“The attacker, I can confirm, died at the arena,” he said. “We believe the attacker was carrying an improvised explosive device, which he detonated, causing this atrocity.” The attack was beyond despicable, as is all

A familiar modus operandi.

The bombing appeared intended to inflict the maximum possible damage on young concert­goers — many of them in their early teens — who were making their way out of the Manchester Arena. Police said the blast occurred about 10:30 p.m., minutes after pop star Ariana Grande had finished her set.

The explosion set off a panicked reaction as fans struggled to flee and parents and teens searched for one another amid the carnage. Well into Tuesday morning, fathers and mothers who had lost contact with their children posted desperate pleas for information on social media using the hashtag #ManchesterMissing

Prime Minister Theresa May said authorities are “working to establish the full details of what is being treated by the police as an appalling terrorist attack.” Britain has been on high alert for a terror attack, now a regular occurrence in Europe, for years.

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No one should be surprised that…

ISIS claims responsibility for terror attack

The Jerusalem Post is reporting that ISIS has taken responsibility for the attack.

The Daily Mail has a healthy collection of ISIS freaks celebrating the terror attack on Twitter.

One message on Twitter posted by a user called Abdul Haqq said: ‘It seems that bombs of the British airforce over children of Mosul and Raqqa has just came back to #Manchester.’

Others shared messages encouraging so-called ‘lone wolf’ attacks as well as videos threatening the west and the United States.

More fun stuff from the Daily Mail:

One Telegram user said: ‘We hope that the perpetrator is one of the soldiers of the caliphate.’

Others posted banners saying ‘the beginning is in Brussels and Paris, and in London we form a state,’ in reference to previous similar ‘lone wolf’ attacks in Belgium and France for which the group has claimed responsibility.

“I get up and look round, there’s just bodies everywhere,” the man, named Andy, told the network.

“I reckon 20-30 bodies. I can’t say if some of them were dead but they looked dead. They were covered in blood and were really seriously hurt.”

What terror attack?

If you had your TV tuned to CNN or MSNBC, you might be wondering what is all this talk about a terror attack?” Of course if you are reading this or hang around PJ Media, you probably do not watch either one of those cable stations.

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The Daily Caller writes:

CNN and MSNBC largely ignored breaking news of a terror attack Monday night in England for nearly an hour to rehash news about President Trump and accusations his campaign colluded with Russia during the election.

Initial reports of explosions at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester came in around 6 p.m. EST, and Fox News began extensive coverage of the attack around 6:50 p.m. By then at least 20 were reported dead and hundreds wounded in what was quickly becoming a clear instance of a major terror attack.

Priorities, priorities.

More blah, blah, blah:

“Police say there have been a number of fatalities and a serious incident after a concert at Manchester arena,” Matthews said in the opening of his segment. People at the arena are heard screaming in the background of his segment, as a video clip from the arena plays. A senior U.S. intelligence official tells NBC news there has been an explosion. We’ll get the latest on that in a minute.”

“We begin however, with the shocking news in Washington tonight,” he continued, quickly switching to a topic deemed more important. Matthews spent the next 20 minutes discussing the report on Trump, before briefly getting back to the attack.

You know what else is shocking? Chris Matthews.

DHS Report: 700K+ foreigners overstayed their visas

This seems important.

More than half a million foreigners stayed in the United States after their visas expired during the last fiscal year, according to a new report released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Monday.

Of the more than 50 million foreigners that entered the U.S., 1.47 percent — or 739,478 people — stayed in the country past the length of their visa. That includes those who stay one day over their allowable time, as well as people who have no intention of ever leaving the U.S.

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And this is not just a problem here in the U.S.:

The U.K. followed by Germany, Italy and France had the largest total number of people overstaying their travel visas for business or pleasure, among countries that participate in the Visa Waiver Program, which allows citizens of 38 countries to travel to the U.S. for business or tourism without a visa.

The visa waiver program promotes commerce and ease of travel, but it also creates national security risks, as Europeans from those countries who have fought with ISIS in the Middle East return home.

“They have learned how to make IEDs, employ drones to drop ordnance, and acquired experience on the battlefield that by all reports they are bringing back home,” said DHS Sec. John Kelly at a recent speech.

“They can more easily travel to the United States which makes us a prime target for their exported violence,” he added.

When are we going to have a serious examination about vetting people who want to immigrate the U.S.? Here’s some more confidence-inspiring information about our tracking systems:

This inefficient process has contributed to a backlog of more than 1.2 million visa overstay cases – taking months for ICE to determine a visa holder’s status and whether someone poses a national security threat, found the report.

Wonderful.

Chaffetz postpones Wednesday hearing

After chatting with former FBI director James Comey, House Oversight Chair Jason Chaffetz has postponed a hearing where Comey was expected to testify.

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“Spoke with Comey. He wants to speak with Special Counsel prior to public testimony. Hearing Wed postponed. @GOPoversight,” Chaffetz tweeted.

Comey has agreed to a separate request to testify publicly before the Senate Intelligence Committee, a session that’s expected to be scheduled for after Memorial Day.

The gift that keeps on giving.

Final Morsels:

Frozen space sperm still fertile

Ashley Madison still going strong

White House leakers identified?

Murder suspect explains his victim “disrespected Islam”

EPA top target for cuts in Trump budget

More “f*ck Trump” from the Democrats

Bernie supporters turn on CA Dems

That’s all I’ve got, now go beat back the angry mob.

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