Last week we told you about the assassination attempt on Philadelphia Police Officer Jesse Hartnett. Edward Archer, who fired 13 shots at close range into Officer Hartnett’s patrol car, confessed to police that he did so “in the name of Islam.”

In recent years, Archer made two trips to the Middle East — one to Saudi Arabia for the hajj and one extended visit to Egypt.

At a press conference Friday, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said, “In no way shape or form does anyone in this room believe that Islam or the teaching of Islam has anything to do with” the shooting of Officer Hartnett. “It is abhorrent,” Kenney continued. “It is terrible and it does not represent the religion or any of its teachings.”

I don’t know where Mayor Kenney got his advanced degree in Islamic studies, but perhaps he should review some recent history.

• The Islamic State has regularly urged its supporters in its propaganda videos to attack police.

• The Boston Marathon bombers, both radical Islamists, deliberately targeted an MIT police officer, shooting him three times, in the head, neck and hand.

• In October 2014, an Islamic convert was shot dead after attacking New York City police officers with an ax.

• Two months later, New York City Police Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were gunned down sitting in their patrol car. The assassin, Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley, fled into a nearby subway station and shot himself.

An informant has warned Philadelphia police that Edward Archer, Officer Hartnett’s attacker, has several associates who are more “radical” than he is. Officials are warning that “the threat to [Philadelphia] police is not over.”

Meanwhile, other pundits are pointing to another connection to radical Islam, one much closer to home. Several months ago, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan delivered a speech in Florida in which he called for ten thousand volunteers to rise up and murder white people. Given events at the time, the speech was widely perceived as a threat to police officers.

Obama’s Empty Seat

President Barack Obama will deliver his last State of the Union Address [to]night. Obama is expected to trumpet the “progress” his administration has made over the past seven years.

In keeping with modern tradition, the White House has invited several guests who are emblematic of that progress to sit with the first lady during the address. Among those selected for this honor are advocates of Obamacare, the president’s immigration amnesty policies and same-sex marriage.

But the president has added a special, symbolic twist to this year’s address. There will be an empty seat in the first lady’s box representing “the victims of gun violence who no longer have a voice.”

Perhaps President Obama’s empty seat will inaugurate a new tradition, one that opens a number of possibilities for future presidents. For example:

How about an empty seat representing all the babies lost to the violence of abortion who never had a voice?

How about an empty seat for men and women of faith and religious business owners who are rapidly losing the right to voice an opinion in America?

How about an empty seat for police officers killed in the line of duty?

How about empty seat representing the allies around the world that we used to have?

How about an empty seat for the Christian victims of genocide that is taking place in the Middle East?

Ultimately, the seat we want to avoid seeing empty is one representing a dying Judeo-Christian civilization, which is in danger abroad and here at home.

FBI Probe Expands

In the past 72 hours, there have been several developments related to the ongoing federal investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server for official government business. Here is a brief summary:

• Friday, in response to a court order, the State Department released (at 1:30 in the morning) thousands of pages of new documents related to the email investigation.

• The number of classified emails on Mrs. Clinton’s unsecure private server now exceeds 1,300. In a June 2011 email, then-Secretary of State Clinton specifically directed a top staff member to remove identifying headers on a classified document and send it to her “nonsecure.” Former U.S. Attorney Joe diGenova said that this email by itself could constitute a felony.

• Fox News reports […] that the federal investigation is expanding. Agents are said to be looking into the Clinton Foundation’s access at the State Department.



The issue of Bill Clinton’s speaking fees reemerged recently when the Wall Street Journal reported that “two dozen companies and … one foreign government paid former President Bill Clinton … more than $8 million … around the time they also had matters before Mrs. Clinton’s State Department.”