All information is preliminary, but media are reporting that a would-be suicide bomber was arrested on his way to the U.S. Capitol today. According to Politico : A Moroccan man suspected of plotting a suicide attack at the Capitol was arrested Friday near the building, according to the U.S. Capitol Police and media reports. “This arrest was the culmination of a lengthy and extensive operation during which the individual was closely and carefully monitored,” spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider said in a statement. “The U.S. Capitol Police was intimately involved in the investigation for the duration of the operation. At no time was the public or Congressional community in any danger.” Fox News says the would-be suicide bomber thought he was wearing a vest filled with live explosives, but that the ordnance was actually inert: The man thought undercover FBI agents assisting him in his plot were associates of Al Qaeda. …When he was arrested Friday in Washington, he was carrying with him a vest supposedly packed with explosives, but the material inside was not actually dangerous, Fox News was told. A short time earlier, he had been praying at a mosque in the Washington area. His destination was Capitol Hill. The public was never in danger, as he had been under constant surveillance for some time, officials said. In a statement that did not get into the details of the alleged plot, the U.S. Capitol Police said the suspect was “closely and carefully monitored.” Capitol Police confirmed the suspect was arrested on Friday. “At no time was the public or congressional community in any danger,” the department said. A senior source involved with law enforcement at the Capitol also told Fox News the investigation was “all very controlled.” The source said the U.S. Capitol Police was involved with the FBI and other agencies in tracking the suspect “not more than a year.” More from WaPo : The Moroccan man entered the United States with a family member, and at some point, he came to the attention of the FBI, said a law enforcement official. Undercover FBI agents gave the man inoperable explosives and a gun, and he was followed Friday into the District, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. The man was arrested in a parking lot near the Labor Department, which is just a few blocks from the Capitol, the man’s apparent target, according to the official. Kudos to the FBI for another successful sting operation, and another attack prevented (though we should be prepared, again, for recriminations from some corners, including the claim that undercover FBI assets “assisting” the suspect may have pushed him farther along in the process of planning and executing an attack than he would have gone without their assistance and encouragement [ UPDATE: I told you so] ). Predictably, the media can’t make up their minds whether this would-be bomber was a “lone wolf,” a term which has become incredibly over- and mis-used in discussions about would-be terrorists.  The AP ups the absurdity quotient by claiming that the suspect “was not believed to have any known connections to al Qaeda,” given the fact that, as noted above, “the man thought undercover FBI agents assisting him in his plot were associates of Al Qaeda ” (emphasis added). More on this as it develops.

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Alleged Would-Be Suicide Bomber Arrested in Washington, DC

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Thanks to Congressman Issa. WASHINGTON (AP) –  Newly released Justice Department emails sent to Capitol Hill for a congressional inquiry into a gun-smuggling operation indicate that the head of the department’s criminal division suggested letting some illicit “straw” weapons buyers in the U.S. transport their guns across the border into Mexico where they could be

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Friday Afternoon News Dump: Holder Releases More Fast And Furious Emails…

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Unions are shady? Shocker! Via The Blaze: “For more than two years, the Michigan Education Association [MEA] has had a manual that urges its members to use students as propaganda in contract negotiations and also lays out how to organize strikes,” writes Tome Gantert of Michigan Capitol Confidential. Considering the fact that teacher strikes are illegal

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Report: Michigan Union Manual Instructs Teachers How To Use Children As “Propaganda”…

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Larry Sabato: Do Endorsements Matter?

On January 24, 2012, in Barack Obama, Congress, Uncategorized, by concernedcoloradoan

Despite decades in Congress, Newt Gingrich has only 11 Capitol Hill endorsements—versus 72 for Mitt Romney. Visit link: Larry Sabato: Do Endorsements Matter?

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Larry Sabato: Do Endorsements Matter?

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Some highly selective reporting from the Associated Press: Several hundred Occupy protesters rally at Capitol By BEN NUCKOLS January 18, 2012 WASHINGTON (AP) — Several hundred protesters affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement converged on the West Lawn of the Capitol Tuesday to decry the influence of corporate money in politics and voice myriad Read more here: AP Buries ‘Occupiers’ Smoke Bombs At WH

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AP Buries ‘Occupiers’ Smoke Bombs At WH

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