Somali Terrorist group threatens attacks on U.S. and Canadian malls, including the Mall of America. CNN

A screencap from the Youtube video threatening attacks. Youtube

Jeh Johnson, Homeland Security Secretary advises "caution" after a threat from Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab. CNN. Invoking the specter of the 2013 Westgate mall attack in Kenya, the terrorist group specifically named the Mall of America as a possible target, along with malls in the U.K. and Canada. The threat is considered serious because Al-Shabaab has been trying to recruit in the Minneapolis area because of its large Somali population, which is the largest in the United States. However, Al-Shabaab has never hit a target outside of East Africa. Jeh Johnson used the occasion to point out that the Department of Homeland Security is about to run out of funding due to disagreements between congress and the White House. 

My Comment:

Not sure how real of a threat this is. On the one hand it seemed that Jeh Johnson was pushing an agenda hard. He wants his funding and a terror threat is a good way to get it. The dust up over immigration isn't worth a terror attack. That's the argument at least. I'd put my blame on the president if something happened, but is the threat real? It's possible. Al-Shabaab has been very active in the Minneapolis area. From what I understand though, that activity is recruitment, not terrorism. They want fighters to attack their enemies in Somalia, not the United States.

That's the theory. In practice they do have a reason to want to attack the United States, other then the tired old terrorist justifications. They have a personal motive to attack America. Revenge. We killed their leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, back in 2014 in retaliation for the Westgate Mall attack. So they have every reason to attack. The question is do they have the ability? That's a question I don't know the answer to. At the very least it is a very strong possibility. It is also a very strong possibility that the Department of Homeland Security is deliberately overplaying the threat in order to get funding. The Obama White House never lets a crisis go to waste, and if they can figure out a way to push through a budget despite the objections to it, they will. In short, though the video is probably genuine and there is a real possibility of an attack, you should realize that the Department of Homeland Security has a huge agenda here. 

So should you stay home instead of going to the mall today? If your mall is the Mall of America, or any other listed in the video, I'd consider it. I doubt an attack would happen that fast though. My advice is to avoid the mall if you can but if you have to go, pay attention to your surroundings. You should do that at all times anyways, but it pays to remind people. From what I understand the Mall of America has its own police force, but I still wouldn't want to risk it if I had any other choice. Of course I haven't been to a shopping mall in close to a decade so maybe my priorities are different. If it was a terror threat to a place I actually go, then I might be saying something different. 

Still, I am guessing this is just a lot of sound and fury amounting to nothing. I seriously doubt there are all that many "lone wolf" Somali gunmen running around that will attack just because of this video. I'm not ruling it out, but I am guessing that this is one of these stories that will lead nowhere. Hope I don't have to eat my words.