The Islamic State was quick to claim credit for this weekend’s carnage in St. Cloud and New York. After the bombing in Manhattan, Islamists celebrated on social media. And while local authorities struggled to understand the motivation of St. Cloud slasher Dahir Adan, ISIS hailed him as “a soldier of the Islamic State.”

Below are some updates to our earlier report.

Dahir Adan was brought down by Jason Falconer, a former police chief and off-duty officer. Falconer is also an NRA Certified Instructor and owner of Tactical Advantage shooting range. Once again, a good guy with a gun stopped the bad guy. Were it not for Mr. Falconer’s courage and expertise, the carnage at the St. Cloud mall could have been far worse.

Ahmad Khan Rahami, the Afghan immigrant and naturalized American citizen believed responsible for the New York bombing, was captured in a shootout with law enforcement authorities. He was discovered sleeping in the doorway of a bar. When a police officer approached him, he pulled out a gun, shot the officer in the abdomen and then fled the sceen. (Thankfully, the officer was wearing a bullet-proof vest and was not seriously injured.) It didn’t take long before other officers caught up with him.

Rahami was not on any known terror watch lists. He reportedly made several trips to Afghanistan in recent years. One friend told reporters, “At one point he left to go to Afghanistan, and two years ago he came back, popped up out of nowhere and he was real religious, and it was shocking.”

In 2011, Rahami and his family sued the city of Elizabeth, New Jersey, for alleged discrimination and harassment of their restaurant. Police reports indicate that the restaurant was “known for criminal activity,” and the family’s lawsuit was summarily dismissed.

Rahami carried out his attack in a progressive city where the left-wing mayor stopped the monitoring of mosques. The mayor did that because he said the surveillance was offensive to Muslims, which is exactly what Obama and Hillary Clinton say.

President Obama finally addressed the attacks [yesterday]. He warned reporters to “refrain from getting out ahead of the investigation.” Obama added, “At this point, we see no connection between [the Minnesota mall attack] and what happened here in New York and New Jersey.”

Really, Mr. President? Allow me to enlighten you: Radical Islamic supremacists are trying to kill us. That is the connection.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest added to the delusion when he told MSNBC, “When it comes to ISIL (ISIS), we are in a fight – a narrative fight with them. A narrative battle.”

A “narrative battle”? No, Josh, this is a very real battle with bombs and bullets, beheadings and genocide. The “junior varsity” team means to destroy us, and it’s time we stopped worrying about narratives.

Hillary Clinton is blaming Donald Trump’s “irresponsible, reckless rhetoric.” That’s just another way of saying we have to adopt Sharia law’s restrictions against criticizing Islam in order to prevent the Islamists from attacking us. So the terrorism is working. Islamic supremacists who want to impose Sharia law, just need to keep attacking us and progressives like Clinton will continue capitulating.

By the way, when Clinton spoke to reporters this morning, she declared herself to be an advocate of “tough vetting” for refugees. Is that “irresponsible, reckless rhetoric” or just another example of Donald Trump’s leadership?

Did you notice that Hillary Clinton and her media allies were more angry at Donald Trump for stating the obvious – that there had been a bombing – than they were at the Islamists who did the bombing? I was really hoping that Hillary would get tough and say that Islamists like those who committed these weekend atrocities belonged in a basket of irredeemable deplorables. But I guess that basket is already filled with us!

About That “Tough Vetting…”

Can the Obama administration or a future Clinton administration actually adequately vet immigrants, migrants and refugees from countries that are hot beds of Islamic terrorism? I wouldn’t bet on it. The confidence level in big government is virtually zero, especially when you consider current performance.

The Associated Press reports that an inspector general’s audit discovered that the Department of Homeland Security “granted citizenship to at least 858 immigrants from countries of concern to national security … who had pending deportation orders.” Feel safer now?

Under Obama/Biden/Clinton, great efforts have been exerted to release EVERY Gitmo terror suspect and send them “home” to Islamic countries. But our Homeland Security Department is accidentally granting citizenship to potential future jihadists!

Trump, Clinton & Guns

At a rally in Florida Friday evening, Donald Trump criticized Hillary Clinton’s anti-Second Amendment proposals and suggested that she lead by example. Trump said, “I think her bodyguards should drop all weapons. Disarm immediately. Take their guns away, let’s see what happens to her.”

Trump was merely pointing out the hypocrisy on the left. Hollywood stars and left-wing politicians have armed guards, but they want to deny average Americans their right to defend themselves.

Clinton’s media allies went nuts. They insanely accused Trump of advocating Hillary’s assassination.

Now just to be clear – only one candidate this year has actually been the victim of an attempted assassination and that was Donald Trump. The left assumes no responsibility for its overheated rhetoric comparing Trump to Hitler.

But let’s play along with the left’s logic for a moment.

After the Newtown school shooting, many conservatives suggested that we should arm teachers and have armed guards at schools. Hillary Clinton and the left mocked the idea, saying, “More guns aren’t the answer.”

Well, were Hillary and other liberals who insisted that schools not have armed guards suggesting that someone shoot up a school? Of course not.

Sadly, this is just one more example of how the left is incapable of having a serious discussion about serious issues.