I used to think Hillary got special treatment from Jim Comey’s FBI but now I don’t know. Maybe they’re just bad at their jobs.

Calling your son a terrorist, then telling police you didn’t mean it, and then having him actually become a terrorist a few years later is quite a coinkydink. What did old man Rahami know and when did he know it?

The father made the statement about his son being a terrorist to New Jersey police in 2014, when Mr. Rahami was arrested after a domestic dispute and accused of stabbing his brother. The information was passed to the Joint Terrorism Task Force led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Newark. Officers opened what is known as an assessment, the most basic of F.B.I. investigations, and interviewed the father, who then recanted. An official, when asked about the inquiry, said the father made the comment out of anger at his son. It is not clear if officers interviewed Ahmad Rahami.

No one’s going to prison based on a bare accusation, even by their own parent, especially when it’s made in the heat of an argument. But when the father of a young Muslim male from Afghanistan who’s just been accused of stabbing someone tells you his kid is a terrorist, that might warrant some follow-up with the suspect himself. When he was caught yesterday, per the Times, Rahami had a notebook with him filled with mujahid fantasies about “killing the kuffar.” He’s probably been babbling about jihad to his confidants for years. He’s also been to Pakistan several times over the last decade, another red flag if you’re worried about an accused “terrorist” developing his terrorism skills. In fact, Rahami was reportedly in Pakistan from April 2013 to March 2014, the same year his father made the accusation to New Jersey police. Were the feds curious about what he might have been doing there after his dad dropped the T-word?

Another interesting tidbit via the Daily Beast: Ahmad wasn’t the only Rahami who admired jihadis.

Rahami’s motive is not yet known. However, one of Rahami’s brothers, Mohammad K. Rahami, posted a jihadi message to Facebook in 2013. “I bring the men who desire death as ardently as you desire life,” the image made by Ansar Al-Furquan read. The quote is from a companion of the Prophet Muhammad.

According to Fox News, investigators are working off of the assumption that Ahmad Rahami didn’t act alone. As for the elder Rahami, the NYT notes that he confirmed for reporters this morning that he spoke to the FBI two years ago. You’ll see that in the first clip below. When he was asked if he thinks Ahmad is a terrorist, he replied, “No, and the FBI, they know that.” Watch the second clip below, though, when NBC put that question to him again (at 2:10). That’s one long pause.

There sure have been a lot of terrorists over the last few years who were once on the feds’ radar screen, only to slide off somehow before reemerging as killers. It’s weirdly comforting to think that’s a product of incompetence, since in theory you can always hire better police. The terrible truth is that it’s likely a product of the threat being too great for federal and local cops to manage as well as they’d like. They can’t follow everyone who needs following, so they prioritize. Rahami evidently was a low priority, until he wasn’t.