Tag: terrorists

Man eyed Minnesota’s Mall of America for attack, pledging allegiance to ISIS, federal prosecutors say

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Mall of America exterior and interior

An 18-year-old man accused of telling an FBI informant he planned to carry out an attack later this month at Mall of America was arrested at gunpoint Tuesday in Richfield, Minnesota, during an arranged meeting to buy an assault rifle, according to a federal criminal complaint filed Wednesday. Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen and FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge Christopher Dotson discussed the case involving Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, a Twin Cities resident and U.S. citizen, in a news conference Wednesday afternoon, where Rosen praised the FBI for its “diligence” in thwarting the attack.

“They were able to detect a threat and disrupt it before the defendant carried out his intention to kill, in his words, maybe 30 to 60 people,” Rosen said. In the complaint, authorities say a “confidential human source” exchanged “hundreds of bi-directional messages through multiple social media and encrypted messaging applications” with Mohamud from December 2024 until Tuesday. In those exchanges, Mohamud allegedly “expressed his desire to travel to Somalia” to join al-Shabaab and “fight on its behalf and/or commit a mass casualty attack” in Minnesota. “The messages this defendant allegedly sent to others were chilling. They document the idolization of ideologically motivated violence, a callous disregard to the sanctity of human life, a blind hatred of people of other faiths and a cold commitment to carrying out his vision of violence in our community,” Dotson said.

“Mohamud allegedly sought martyrdom in carrying out his plans to murder innocent civilians.” The complaint says the FBI contacted Mohamud’s parents in May 2025, but they weren’t cooperative. “The FBI attempted to speak with his parents having seen that this young man was becoming radicalized, and those attempts were rebuffed by the parents,” Rosen said. “I just would say to parents all over Minnesota and, for that matter all over America, if you get the indication, especially if you hear from federal law enforcement, that your son or daughter is being radicalized to the point where federal law enforcement wants to come and give you that warning, heed those warnings.” In July, Mohamud told an informant he didn’t have enough money to go to Somalia, according to the complaint.

He allegedly said he would attack in the United States instead, and that if he did, he wasn’t doing it “for any worldly matter” but “for the sake of Allah only.”  Mohamud allegedly went on to say in a direct message to the source that he considered carrying out an attack at Mall of America in Bloomington or Valleyfair amusement park in Shakopee. An FBI affidavit says he wrote that he might buy two pistols online first. The complaint says Mohamud said he wanted to attack the mall “because it’s owned by Jewish.” He said he was inspired in part by last year’s deadly antisemitic attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. Last month, Mohamud told the source he wanted to carry out an attack at the mall during the Hmong Arts Celebration on Oct. 24, saying “it will be a lot of people,” according to court documents.

In another message last month, the affidavit says Mohamud wrote that he had been watching video of the 2016 attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and thought he could do the same. “I just walk in and shoot,” Mohamud wrote, according to the complaint. Court documents also note Mohamud sent the source a video on Discord in which he allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS. On Tuesday, Mohamud was arrested during an arranged meeting with the source in the parking lot of a Richfield park, according to Rosen. The affidavit says he had left an undercover employee’s vehicle with the rifle, four magazines and 200 rounds of ammunition when he was arrested. The filing describes the weapon as a Norinco AK-47 assault rifle, model Mac-90 Sporter, and the ammunition as about 200 live rounds of 7.62×39-caliber.

“They became aware that this was a radicalized young man who needed to be watched, and in fact, in this young man’s case, that radicalization progressed to the point where he planned in the most serious of ways to carry out a mass casualty attack,” Rosen said. Authorities allege Mohamud “knowingly received a firearm and ammunition” knowing, or having reasonable cause to believe, they would be used to commit a felony and a federal crime of terrorism, including providing or conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Source: Man eyed Minnesota’s Mall of America for attack, pledging allegiance to ISIS, federal prosecutors say – CBS Minnesota

You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
James 4:2

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Israel marks three years since October 7 attack with memorials and protests

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Lit candle, white flower bouquet, and Israeli flag on a stone ledge

Three years to the minute after the start of the deadliest single day in Israel’s history, the country marked the somber occasion with a series of ceremonies, memorials and protests at more than 400 locations. At 6:29 in the morning on October 7, 2023, Hamas-led gunmen stormed Israeli communities along the border with Gaza, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to the enclave. Those slain included children, women, elderly people and complete families.

The commemoration began with a national moment of silence at the time the attack started. At noon, bereaved families and civil grassroot protest groups will hold a national minute of reflection, joined by various public hospitals, local municipalities, universities and private businesses. Memorial events will also take place at the Nova festival site in the Re’im Forest, where over 370 people were murdered and 44 were abducted. Additional protest convoys and displays are expected throughout the country all day. Shir Mathias, whose parents Shachar and Shlomi Mathias were killed during the attack on Kibbutz Holit on the Gaza border, called Tuesday for a change in the country’s leadership.

“Just before we enter October 7, I have one message,” she wrote on X. “Everyone who had their hand on the wheel, those in uniforms and suits alike — must go home. I call on all citizens of Israel, change your profile picture to the most self-evident message: ‘Everyone must go home.’” On Wednesday evening, a national memorial ceremony will be held in Tel Aviv, and tens of thousands are expected to attend. The event is organized by the “Kumu” movement (“Rise Up” in Hebrew), which represents October 7 survivors and victims’ families, and will be hosted by former hostage Eli Sharabi and actress Shani Cohen. Israel held its official state memorials on Monday.

“Even three years after the outbreak of the war — when the State of Israel is stronger than ever — the terrible hours of the Simchat Torah attack remain seared within us,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, referencing the Jewish holiday on which the attack happened. At a cabinet meeting one day later, Netanyahu foreshadowed more war ahead, despite a stalled US-brokered ceasefire agreement one year ago. He said Israel has killed “4,000 out of 6,000” militants who infiltrated Israel on October 7, 2023. “We will reach all of them,” he said, amid near daily Israeli strikes in Gaza. Since the start of the war, more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

In contrast to the official ceremonies, most of Wednesday’s commemoration events are grassroots efforts, organized by survivors and victims of the October 7 attack, including the October Council and the Kumu movement. A recurring demand by both groups is to establish a state commission of inquiry, the most powerful investigative mechanism in Israeli law empowered to examine national-level disasters and decisions. Netanyahu has consistently resisted such calls for three years and has not appointed any other special inquiry to investigate the failures that day. Einav Zangauker, mother of freed hostage Matan Zangauker and one of the most vocal critics of the government, wrote Tuesday on X: “Three years since the day that changed my life and our lives as a people.

Three years of loss and pain. Three years of a basic demand for accountability. For those we lost, for those who returned and whose lives were changed forever, and for a country that deserves hope and repair.” The anniversary falls less than three weeks from the October 27 election in which accountability has become a central campaign issue. Netanyahu’s rivals have stepped up their criticism and have turned the anniversary into to a focal point of their campaign, especially after a string of media reports alleging that Israel received preliminary warnings from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt ahead of the attack. “This is a very deep failure,” said Gadi Eisenkot, currently polling as Netanyahu’s main challenger in the elections.

He accused the prime minister of dodging a state commission of inquiry. “Netanyahu knows better than anyone why he is running from the truth, why he wants to bury the truth,” he said at a recent conference. Eisenkot, whose son was killed in Gaza during the war, will spend the day visiting Israeli communities along the Gaza border, as will former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, another Netanyahu rival.

Source: Israel marks three years since October 7 attack with memorials and protests | CNN

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Galatians 2:20

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DPS arrests man for threatening ‘violent attack’ on Texas Capitol

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Texas Highway Patrol officers inspect a roadside vehicle beside a patrol SUV at dusk

The Texas Department of Public Safety arrested a Bexar County man Wednesday in connection with the threat of a “violent attack” on the Texas Capitol. He has since been charged federally with possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Keep Watching 4 DPS special agents worked alongside the FBI and local law enforcement to arrest 40-year-old Benny Caldera Jr. around 3 a.m. at his home in Converse. 

Caldera was charged with felony terroristic threat against a public servant. Federal prosecutors said Thursday that Caldera allegedly told another person he planned to go to the Capitol and “shoot it up,” while expressing anger toward the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. Caldera allegedly said of AIPAC, “These people have to be exterminated,” according to a federal criminal complaint. Prosecutors said he also stated during a recorded conversation that he had made up his mind and had said goodbye to his parents. According to a statement from DPS, the agency received “credible information” about the threat — planned for Oct. 1 — on Tuesday and “worked through the night” to arrest Caldera. 

Federal prosecutors said DPS obtained an arrest warrant and a search warrant for Caldera’s home after receiving the report. The FBI conducted surveillance before DPS agents arrested him inside the residence Wednesday. During a search of the home, DPS agents found a .357 revolver loaded with six rounds and a 12-gauge shotgun in Caldera’s bedroom closet, along with six 9mm rounds, according to the complaint. Investigators said the serial number on the revolver had been obliterated and appeared to have been filed off.

Caldera was charged in federal court with possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number and was scheduled to make his initial appearance Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Chestney. The federal charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison if he is convicted. AThe FBI is investigating the federal case with assistance from DPS. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Lathrop is prosecuting the case.

Source: DPS arrests man for threatening ‘violent attack’ on Texas Capitol

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17

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Trump and Rubio question U.K. handling of possible plot against air base after 5 men released on bail

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Five adults leaving City Jail Reentry Services with bags and a box

President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have criticized British counterterror police’s handling of a possible plot targeting a U.K. air base used by U.S. forces, with Rubio calling it a “very serious” incident and alleging that it “clearly involved” a foreign actor, and the president suggesting it “might be” Iran. Five British nationals, all men in their mid-20s, were arrested Sunday morning in an English village near the British air force base RAF Fairford on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act.

The base has been used by American bombers to launch attacks on Iran during the seven-month war. All five men were released on bail Monday, with the head of the U.K.’s Counter Terror Policing unit stressing they would remain “subject to stringent conditions on their movement and contact with others” and that they “absolutely remain under investigation as we explore multiple lines of enquiry.”

The fact that they were released so quickly and not charged with any suspected crimes, and that authorities did not report finding any explosives or weapons, has fueled speculation, however, that the men may not have been planning to attack the base at all. Some local media outlets have cited U.K. security sources saying the men may just have been looking to steal fuel.

“A very serious thing?”

Reacting to the news in the Oval Office Monday, Mr. Trump said he was “surprised that they released them. I wouldn’t have done that.” He said U.S. and British authorities had worked “very closely” on the matter, adding: “We know everything about them. We would not have released them.” The president added that the incident “might be” linked to Iran, but when pressed for more information, he replied: “I’d rather not. I mean, I know the answer, I could be very specific, but I’d rather not say. I would not have released them.”

Rubio, meanwhile, said Monday that many people following the incident were “disturbed that some of these people have been released on bail.” “What could have happened in the U.K. over the weekend is a ‌very serious situation,” Rubio told Fox News, saying it “clearly involves the hands ‌of a foreign actor,” without offering any further explanation for the assertion, which went further than British authorities have in characterizing the incident. “There’s a lot more news that’ll come out on this in the days to come, but there’s only so much I can say right now at this point about it, other than this is a very serious thing,” he said.

“Just thieves siphoning fuel?”

Asked about the release of the men, a British legal expert told CBS News Tuesday that it would be “reasonable to release suspects on bail to see where they go and who they talk to.” “It wouldn’t be the first time these tactics have been used,” said the analyst, who declined to be named. “I don’t think the police are being stupid or casual in this.”  There has been speculation — not commented on yet directly by British police — that the five men may have been diesel fuel thieves targeting local farms, or perhaps an external fuel supply for the base, for resale.

It’s a crime that has proliferated in the U.K. as the Iran war has driven up diesel and gasoline prices, according to a May report from intelligence agency DeterTech. Two people described as military sources, speaking Monday to local news outlet Wiltshire 999s, were quoted as saying the suspects were “just thieves siphoning fuel,” with barrels and other equipment found in their vehicles. The British police have said no viable explosive device was discovered in the three vans driven by the men. Images of the police working around those vehicles have shown large, seemingly empty barrels that were removed from at least one truck.

Bad actors working “knowingly or unknowingly” for a foreign state?

Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of the London Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terror unit, told reporters Monday the incident “may be activity committed by proxies, or individuals either knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state.” Iranian authorities have warned that any bases used to attack the country would be considered legitimate targets. Iran has denied any link to the arrests near RAF Fairford. The Iranian Embassy in London said in a statement shared Monday on social media that the regime “categorically rejects and strongly condemns the recent unfounded and malicious speculations published by some British individuals and media outlets attempting to link Iran” to the incident.

Iran has, however, like Russia, been accused of using individuals who may be unaware they are even working for a foreign state to conduct sabotage attacks across Western Europe. The Iran-aligned group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia — or The Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Righteous (IMCR) — has claimed responsibility for several incidents over the past few months, including attacks on synagogues in the Netherlands and Belgium, and multiple attacks on north London’s Jewish community. A representative of the group told CBS News in March that it would “keep threatening U.S. and Israeli interests worldwide until we’ve avenged every child in Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, and the resistance nations,” and it urged people “to stay away from Zionist and American interests.”

In July, the U.K. government said the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “almost certainly directed IMCR attacks across Europe.” Experts have characterized those incidents as part of a growing pattern of Iran and Russia outsourcing sabotage by recruiting sometimes unsuspecting people, often young men, to carry out low-level attacks for financial compensation. On Tuesday, law enforcement authorities in NATO member Estonia said they had determined an arson attack against a defense industry company in mid-August was a “deliberate and pre-planned act commissioned by Russian security services.”

Source: Trump and Rubio question U.K. handling of possible plot against air base after 5 men released on bail – CBS News

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
1 John 4:16

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FlyDubai flight to Israel makes emergency landing, passenger says “co-pilot tried to murder the pilot” and crash jet

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A FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Israel was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after a violent attempt by one of the pilots to seize control of the aircraft and crash it, passengers and Israeli officials said.  “As they were approaching Israel, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot and apparently attempted to crash the plane with everyone on board,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement, lauding passengers and other crew members who intervened.

The prime minister said he instructed Israel’s “security establishment to prepare for potential additional threats.” An Israeli security official told CBS News authorities were investigating the possibility that the incident could have been an attempted Sept. 11-style terror attack, and whether the attacker was working alone.  Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called it “an attempted jihadist terror attack, which was thwarted only thanks to the heroism of several Israeli passengers who broke into the cockpit, overpowered the terrorist, and with their own hands returned control of the aircraft to an additional flight crew that was present,” according to a statement.

However, in an interview with CBS News later Wednesday, Netanyahu indicated that the co-pilot’s motive was still unknown.  “This guy was trying to jam the equipment between the two flight seats, the pilot seats,” Netanyahu said, referencing witness accounts. “He wasn’t sitting in the pilot seat trying to stabilize the plane, he was trying to jam the equipment.” The plane diverted to make an emergency landing in Tabuk, where there is a civilian airport adjacent to a Saudi military base. No passengers were injured in the incident, but the pilot who was attacked by his fellow crew member reportedly sustained stab wounds, and Saudi authorities said two crew members were hospitalized with unspecified injuries. 

Passenger Asaf Rajuan has been credited with fighting off the attacker in the cockpit before two off-duty pilots took control of the plane. “Whoever is hearing me, we need help,” Rajuan said in a video posted to social media from the plane after the co-pilot had been subdued. “We are in the Tabuk area of Saudi Arabia, which we don’t know. All the passengers are OK, but not the pilot. We need help.” According to Netanyahu, the pilot who carried out the stabbing was placed under arrest and was “being questioned by the Saudi authorities.” An Omani official confirmed to CBS News that the attacker was born in Oman and currently holds Omani citizenship. In a social media post, the Israel Foreign Ministry identified the wounded pilot as Capt. Smit Machchhar, an Indian national.

It described him as a “hero” who “fought back after being stabbed in the cockpit.” According to the foreign ministry, Machchhar unlocked the cockpit door to allow passengers and crew to enter and intervene.  “Together, their extraordinary courage saved 174 lives,” the foreign ministry said.  The plane landed in Tel Aviv shortly before 8 p.m. local time on Wednesday. People could be heard singing and chanting as the passengers disembarked. Family members came to the airport to celebrate their loved ones’ safe return.  One passenger said the plane dropped “very, very sharply suddenly” multiple times before balancing out. Passenger Miryam Shira Ohayon said the plane was “pretty much out of control” when the stabbing took place over Jordan.

“The co-pilot tried to murder the pilot and basically carry out a suicide attack on the plane,” she told reporters by speakerphone held up by her mother, who was waiting at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv. “It was really on the way to crashing, and it was simply the resourcefulness of many people who took control of the co-pilot and neutralized him.”  “There was also a doctor who gave first aid, and people who treated both of them. Other than the pilot, there were no injuries, but the bigger fear was really a crash, which is exactly what he was trying to do,” Ohayon said. Another passenger told The Jerusalem Post that intervening passengers shouted at two off-duty pilots at the back of the plane “to run and take control” of it, and one of them did so after the passengers managed to remove the attacker from the cockpit.

One passenger seated at the front of the plane said a “group of young people fought” with the attacker.    The crew of FlyDubai flight 1073, a Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft, transmitted an emergency alert shortly after takeoff on Wednesday, according to publicly available flight tracking information. CBS News’ British partner network BBC News said flight tracking data showed the aircraft plummeted more than 17,000 feet in two minutes around 8:21 a.m. local time. The Israeli Air Force was first to notice something was wrong, an Israeli official with direct knowledge of the situation told CBS News. The air force noticed the flight deviating from its flight path and descending at an alarming rate, the official said.

When it tried to contact the plane, it received no response. It then got the emergency alert that specified a hijacking, not just a distress call. At that point, according to the official, the flight was still several hundred miles from Israeli airspace. However, even 90 seconds or so into the incident, the air force feared a 9/11-style attack, so it immediately made the decision to close Israeli airspace, and seconds after that it scrambled several jets, the official said. The jets never left Israeli airspace because it became clear that the plane had turned toward Saudi Arabia, and that Saudi Arabia had scrambled its own jets, the official said.  This sequence of events occurred within the span of about two to three minutes, according to the official, and the entire episode lasted about 15 minutes. 

A statement from FlyDubai said only that “an altercation occurred in the flight deck” and that the aircraft “was successfully secured by on-duty FlyDubai crew traveling on the flight, who diverted and landed the aircraft safely” in Saudi Arabia.  The airline said “all passengers and crew are safe and accounted for,” and it confirmed that two replacement aircraft had been deployed to Tabuk to “relieve the passengers and crew,” though many Israeli passengers told media outlets they would not reboard a FlyDubai plane.  “At this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation,” the airline said in its statement, urging “all parties to refrain from premature speculation while authorities gather the facts.”

Two U.S. officials told CBS News that there were four people with dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship aboard the flight.  Netanyahu had warned in recent days of unspecified, escalating security threats to Israel and its interests amid its ongoing operations against Iran-allied Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.   FlyDubai is the lower-cost sister carrier of the United Arab Emirates state-owned flagship carrier Emirates. The UAE has become a popular vacation destination for Israeli tourists since the two nations normalized ties in 2020. Israel has not experienced a plane hijacking in decades, but it maintains some of the strictest airport security in the world.  Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, in a social media post on Wednesday, said “the naive notion that our enemies value life and that we should have mercy on them received another reminder this morning in the form of a terrorist who planned to crash a plane and murder the 180 Israelis on board.”

Israeli politician Benny Gantz, who is running in the upcoming Israeli elections but polling badly, wrote on X: “It’s still too early to know what the sequence of events was in this morning’s Flydubai flight to Israel, but it’s already clear that Israelis are a rare breed.” “The resourcefulness and courage displayed by the passengers on this flight, in the face of clear mortal danger, are exactly the stuff our people are made of,” he said. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also posted about the incident Wednesday, saying: “Well this had everyone in the Middle East (esp Israel) on FULL ALERT this morning.”   “Glad it wasn’t more serious,” he added, “but having pilots inflight detouring to ‘fist city’ not your ordinary experience.”

Source: FlyDubai flight to Israel makes emergency landing, passenger says “co-pilot tried to murder the pilot” and crash jet – CBS News

The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.
Psalm 145:18

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25 years after 9/11, Massachusetts to mark attacks with statewide moment of silence and “Tribute in Light”

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Massachusetts is marking 25 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks with a statewide moment of silence on Friday and special tributes that include illuminating Boston buildings in remembrance of the tragedy. Gov. Maura Healey said she is directing flags in the state to be lowered to half-staff. She’s also “calling on residents, schools, businesses and organizations to observe a statewide moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. on Friday, September 11, marking the time the first plane struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center.” Reading of the names After the moment of silence, there will be a reading of the names on the State House front steps of the 206 people from Massachusetts who were killed in the attacks.  You can watch it live on CBS News Boston.      

The two planes that terrorists hijacked and flew into the World Trade Center, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, both took off from Logan Airport in Boston. Madeline Amy Sweeney Award Every year on 9/11, the Madeline “Amy” Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery is awarded inside the State House to a local resident. Last year’s recipients were Jesse Winocour and Jason Papa, two Everett Department of Public Works employees who rushed into a burning home to save 14 people from a fire. Sweeney was a flight attendant from Acton working on Flight 11. She contacted the airline’s ground crew with information about the hijackers just minutes before the plane crashed into the World Trade Center. Tribute in Light The State House will be lit up with red, white and blue colors on the evening of 9/11. 

Several other Boston landmarks will be lit up in “Memorial Blue” as part of a worldwide “Tribute in Light” that represents the clear blue sky over New York City on the morning of 9/11. Participating buildings include the JFK Presidential Library, the Prudential Tower, Fenway Park, South Station Tower, The Hub on Causeway, the Hynes Convention Center, State Street – One Congress and the old Hancock Building. A 9/11 tribute featuring twin light beams on the summit of Mount Washington may also be visible in parts of Massachusetts, organizers say.  Boston 9/11 events At 11 a.m., there will be a rededication of the 9/11 memorial at Boston’s Logan Airport.

A wreath-laying for families who lost loved ones in the attacks will be held at Boston Public Garden at 1 p.m. in the 9/11 Garden of Remembrance.  The American Red Cross is hosting its annual Day of Remembrance blood drive all day at Fenway Park.  At 3:30 p.m. in Ashburton Park at the State House, the annual Massachusetts Fallen Firefighters Memorial ceremony will honor the first responders who gave their lives trying to help others in the attacks. 

Source: 25 years after 9/11, Massachusetts to mark attacks with statewide moment of silence and “Tribute in Light” – CBS Boston

Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.
Proverbs 23:4

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How teachers are keeping the lessons of 9/11 alive for a new generation of students

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Empty elementary classroom with colorful learning displays and arranged desks

In West Des Moines, Iowa, roughly 1,100 miles from Ground Zero, history teacher Ann Krois is tackling one of the most defining moments of the past half-century. “Teaching students about 9/11 is critical,” Krois told CBS News. “I want them to understand what their previous generation experienced, that trauma, and how an event like that brought millions of people, not even just in the United States, but globally, together.”

Krois was in the third grade and had never even seen a skyscraper when terrorists turned four airplanes into weapons, killing almost 3,000 innocent people — a catastrophe that’s now history class for eleventh graders like Fitz Carpenter. “I actually learned some new stuff. I didn’t know how many people were evacuated on the boats,” Carpenter said. To develop her lesson plan, Krois joined a group of teachers from all over the country this summer at New York City’s 9/11 Memorial and Museum. It’s part of a program designed to teach teachers what happened at Ground Zero from those who were there.

That includes people like retired firefighter Bill Spade, the sole survivor of Staten Island’s elite Rescue 5. He was one of the last men to evacuate the north tower before it collapsed. “I can see the smoke coming from that first tower, that North Tower,” Spade said at one of the sessions for educators. “I hear the chief say, ‘We need four more rescues here and we have jumpers.'” In Alabama, Chris Theilacker carries a different perspective. Just age 25 on Sept. 11, 2001, the young Army officer deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan following the attacks. Today, he’s a high school teacher, passing along lessons of the global war on terror and of the resilience that followed. “It’s one of those watershed moments in U.S. history,” Theilacker said.

“It must be taught, the patriotic side of it, the messy side of it. It’s a great rallying moment for what we can achieve when we decide to work together.” Krois believes that every teacher in the U.S. should be required to talk about 9/11. “I know it’s hard to try to teach on September 11th to students, because, you know, some of them, it’s just their second week of school. But at some point, it definitely needs to be every state’s standard,” Krois said.

Source: How teachers are keeping the lessons of 9/11 alive for a new generation of students – CBS News

For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.
James 3:2

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Leader of Antifa Cell Members in North Texas Sentenced to 100 Years in Prison for Terrorist Attack on ICE Facility

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Judge holding gavel in courtroom with man and supportive woman standing before him

Seven Additional Defendants Also Sentenced Before One-Year Anniversary of Attack to a Combined 450 Years in Prison Today, the Justice Department announced that eight North Texas Antifa Cell operatives were sentenced for their roles in rioting, using weapons and explosives, providing material support to terrorists, obstruction, and the attempted murder of an Alvarado police officer at the Prairieland Detention Center on July 4, 2025.

This is the first sentencing of defendants affiliated with Antifa following President Donald J. Trump’s executive order designating the group as a Domestic Terrorist Organization in September 2025. Benjamin Hanil Song, who was convicted of the attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, was sentenced to 100 years in prison. Together, the Prairieland terrorists received a combined sentence of 450 years in prison: 

  • Maricela Rueda was sentenced to 70 years in prison;
  • Cameron Arnold was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
  • Savanna Batten was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
  • Zachary Evetts was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
  • Bradford Morris was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
  • Elizabeth Soto was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
  • Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

“The sentences handed down today make clear that Antifa terrorists who attack law enforcement and federal facilities will face swift and uncompromising justice,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Their violent extremism has no place in our country, and the Department of Justice will continue to aggressively investigate, disrupt, and prosecute those who threaten law enforcement officers or undermine the rule of law.”

“Today’s sentencings show the FBI remains committed to identifying, locating, and dismantling Antifa and its funding networks across the country,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Acts of violence against our law enforcement partners will not be tolerated, and we continue our work to protect communities across the country from domestic terrorism.” “These sentences justly punish the vicious, armed attack that these Antifa cell members planned and executed against law enforcement and detention center officers on the night of July 4th last year,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould for the Northern District of Texas.

“Their terrorist acts, attempted murder, vandalism, and explosives launched at a detention facility were a far cry from a peaceful protest or First Amendment expression.  Because of the prompt action of first responders that night and tenacious work of our law enforcement partners, in tandem with the prosecutors in my office, eight people have been rightly punished for these violent acts and their attempts to conceal them.  We will continue in this mission to hold others accountable who perpetrate such violence and fund these ANTIFA groups in the Northern District of Texas.” “The sentences handed down today send an unmistakable message: Attacks on federal officers and facilities will not be tolerated. The men and women of ICE serve with integrity and courage, often in challenging and dangerous environments. 

The calculated violence carried out by these Antifa cell members at Prairieland was an assault on law enforcement and an attack on the rule of law itself,” said Acting ICE Director David J. Venturella. “Nearly one year after this cowardly act, justice has prevailed. ICE will continue to stand firm against those who threaten our officers, our facilities and our mission.” The sentences follow a 12-day trial that began on Feb. 23, where jurors heard testimony from 46 witnesses and considered over 210 exhibits supporting the charges against nine indicted defendants: Cameron Arnold, also known as Autumn Hill; Zachary Evetts; Benjamin Song; Savanna Batten; Bradford Morris, also known as Meagan Morris; Maricela Rueda; Elizabeth Soto; Ines Soto; and Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada. 

All were convicted. Ines Soto was granted a continuance and will be sentenced on July 1. Seven others, Seth Sikes, Nathan Baumann, Joy Gibson, Susan Kent, Rebecca Morgan, Lynette Sharp, and John Thomas, pleaded guilty prior to trial to one count of providing material support to terrorists and they will be sentenced on July 1.  Testimony and other evidence at trial established that the defendants were members of a North Texas Antifa Cell, part of a larger militant enterprise made up of networks of individuals and small groups primarily ascribing to an ideology that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and the system of law.

An expert testifying in the government’s case told the jury that ANTIFA’s coordinated efforts involve obstructing Federal law through organized riots, violent assaults, and armed confrontations with law enforcement officers, increasingly targeting agents and facilities related to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement in opposition to the agency’s deportation actions.   Evidence at trial revealed that most of the ANTIFA Cell involved in the Prairieland attack looked to Benjamin Song as a leader. Song acquired firearms that he distributed to co-defendants and recruited members at gun ranges and combat sessions he conducted, as well as from various ideologically aligned groups.

For example, defendants Ines Soto, Elizabeth Soto, and Savanna Batten were part of a group that created and distributed insurrectionary materials called “zines,” according to trial evidence. Trial testimony reflected that, late at night on July 4, 2025, at least eleven of the defendants rioted and attacked the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was using to house illegal aliens awaiting deportation.  The defendants dressed in “black bloc”—dark clothing with head and face coverings that concealed their identities—designed to hide each individual’s identity but also to aid and abet those members engaged in illegal acts by making members indistinguishable from one another to law enforcement. 

Evidence introduced at trial revealed that the defendants brought eleven firearms, body armor, and eleven military-grade first aid kits with tourniquets and other items to treat gunshot wounds to the scene of the attack.  Many of these items were introduced by the government as exhibits.  Additionally, DNA and fingerprint evidence linked many of the defendants to the items at the scene, and evidence obtained on phone locations supported that those who participated in the attack all turned off their phones or placed them in Faraday bags to prevent tracking on the night of the attack. After ANTIFA Cell members arrived at the detention facility, they began shooting off and throwing fireworks (explosives) at the facility and vandalizing vehicles and a guard shack on Prairieland property:

Source: Office of Public Affairs | Leader of Antifa Cell Members in North Texas Sentenced to 100 Years in Prison for Terrorist Attack on ICE Facility | United States Department of Justice

In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise.
Proverbs 10:19

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