Gates of Vienna News Feed 9/8/2011

A massive power outage hit Southern California earlier today. The blackout was triggered when a breaker was tripped on a line from Arizona to California, leaving 1.4 million customers without electricity in the intense heat.

In other news, the Department of Homeland Security has warned that there is a “specific, credible but unconfirmed” threat of a terror attack on New York or Washington D.C. around the anniversary of 9-11. The most likely scenario is thought to involve a vehicle bomb.

Meanwhile, President Barack Hussein Obama says that Al Qaeda is on the verge of defeat.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Insubria, JP, Kitman, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.