President Obama said today the San Bernadino shooters were not affiliated with a specific terrorist group or part of a bigger cell.

The President's team also affirmed that they had as of yet uncovered no indication the killers were part of an organized group or formed part of a broader terrorist cell.

Obama will address the nation on the shooting and our response to terror threats tomorrow night.

Yesterday, an unofficial ISIS news account praised the couple as supporters. Today, ISIS official radio station, al Bayan, referred to them as supporters in Arabic. The English audio version refers to them as "soldiers of the Khalifah" (available here at 3'20" in.) The French version says sympathizers. If supporters rather than soldiers is correct, which most analysts on Twitter seem to think is the case, the attacks may have been inspired by ISIS but not directed by ISIS (or al Qaida.)

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For the first time since the 1920's, the New York Times is featuring an editorial on the front page of the paper. It calls for gun control.

It is a moral outrage and a national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency. These are weapons of war, barely modified and deliberately marketed as tools of macho vigilantism and even insurrection. America’s elected leaders offer prayers for gun victims and then, callously and without fear of consequence, reject the most basic restrictions on weapons of mass killing, as they did on Thursday. They distract us with arguments about the word terrorism. Let’s be clear: These spree killings are all, in their own ways, acts of terrorism.

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I did good last week, hitting my 2 big plays and many others. Let's keep it going! the picks:

Michigan State @ Iowa +4 (5 units), North Carolina +5 (5 units) @ Clemson, USC +4 (4 units) @ Stanford, Air Force +7 (3 units) @ San Diego State, West Virginia -6 (3 units) @ Kansas State, Florida +18 (3 units) @ Alabama, Southern Mississippi +8 (4 units) @ Western Kentucky, Texas @ Baylor -21 (4 units).

Go Gators!

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

The South African appeals court has ruled the trial judge in the Oscar Pistorius case erred in dismissing the murder charge. He won't get a new trial. He now stands convicted of murder, and the case will be sent back to the trial court for resentencing.

Bad ruling as I've opined many times.

Shades of Sandy Hook, when the media, in its rush to be first,

misidentified Adam Lanza's older brother Ryan as the shooter.

It went viral, with photos, his FB page, the whole 9 yards. He lived in New Jersey and had nothing to do with Sandy Hook.

The Daily Beast just made a similar mistake, posting a photo of Syed Syed Raheel Farook and identifying him as the shooting suspect.

There are two men named Syed R. Farook who work for the County of San Bernadino. One is a restaurant health inspector. The other works in a tax department. They happen to be brothers. The health inspector is Syed Rizwan Farook, age 28. According to the latest press conference by San Bernadino Police around 10:15 pm PT last night, Syed Rizwan Farook, Syed Rizwan Farook (DOB 6/14/87), not Syed Raheel Farook, is the suspected shooter and is now dead. The other dead suspect is his wife or girlfriend, Tashfeen Malik (DOB 7/13/86).

Four hours after posting the wrong brother's photo and labeling him the suspected shooter, the Daily Beast removed the photo from the article and at the very bottom of its article adds:

UPDATE 12/3/15 1:04 A.M. An earlier version of this story identified one of the San Bernardino shooters as Syed Raheel Farook. We sincerely regret the error.

Of course, that does little to help Syed Raheel Farook, whose photo, as well as his wife's, has now spread all over FB and Twitter.

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Police say more than one shooter reportedly fled the scene of today's shooting at a social service center in San Bernadino. The police chief just confirmed 14 deaths and 14 injuries. The information they have now is there were three attackers.

Sgt. Vicki Cervantes, a San Bernardino police spokeswoman, told reporters at the scene that up to three shooters were believed to be involved in the attack inside the Inland Regional Center.... heavily armed and were possibly wearing body armor.

Police also detonated a device inside the building. Was there a bomb? Police say they don't know.

The FBI Assistant Director is on the scene and says it is too soon to say if it is a terrorist incident. The police chief downplays the holiday party rumor, although he said most of those shot were in one place.

The police chief says the shooters came prepared, were well equipped and were "on a mission." They had "long-guns" not handguns. [More...]

Unlike J, I believe the Supreme Court has grossly misread the Second Amendment and strongly favor restricting gun possession to law enforcement only. There is no individual right to possess a gun.

Discuss your views here.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's lawyers sparred in court with prosecutors today as a hearing was held on his motion for new trial.

Arguments centered on a recent Supreme Court ruling finding the law providing for stiffer penalties for crimes involving the possession of a gun or explosives to be overbroad and constitutionally vague. The ruling affects half of the counts of which Tsarnaev was convicted, and his lawyers say a new penalty trial is required.

Also addressed: Restitution, and Tsarnaev's conditions of confinement. In passing, the Judge indicated he is closer to unsealing many of the court pleadings.

The judge reserved ruling.

Climate change. The New York Times has this report. On the car radio yesterday, all the nay-saying pundits wanted to do was link it to terrorism. I learned nothing except what a waste of time it is to listen to cable news.

Here's a thread to discuss climate change.

Update: The soldiers were released and put in Red Cross vans. Also released as expected: Saja al Dulaimi, ex-wife of ISIS leader al-Baghdadi, She says she divorced him six years ago and intends to go to Turkey.

Lebanon and al Nusra have finally agreed on the terms of a prisoner exchange for the 16 Lebanese military members held hostage by the al-Qaida linked group since August, 2014. Nusra delivered the soldiers to the release point last night.

The actual release won't occur until the 15 or so Islamist prisoners who had been held at Lebanon's Roumieh Prison, arrive at the site. [More...]

After 20 years, activist Lori Berenson, convicted of aiding leftist rebels in Peru, is finally returning home to New York.

The 46-year-old has been living quietly in Lima with her 6-year-old son since her 2010 parole because she was barred from leaving the country until her 20-year sentence lapsed. Berenson told The Associated Press that occurred on Sunday.

The basics:

She was initially convicted of treason in 1996 by a court of hooded military judges and sent for nearly three years to a frigid prison at 12,700 feet (3,870 meters) altitude, where her health suffered.

After U.S. pressure and a legal defense aided by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Berenson was retried in a civilian court in 2001....

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