Thoughts on Orlando shooting

1) It's not a gun problem, it's a Muslim terrorism problem.  There was an Imam who recently visited a mosque in Florida who preached (while at the mosque) that gays should be killed.  Why was he allowed into the country?  Those idiots at the Westboro church get more hate than does Islam and all they do is hold up signs in protest.

2) It's not a Democrat or Republican problem, it's a Muslim terrorism problem. The shooter was a registered Democrat in Florida.  The Trump campaign was attacked by the media because some jackass punched a protestor.  Setting aside the fact that the vast majority (almost all) of the violence at Trump rallies has been instigated by Democrats, it should not reflect on a campaign that someone who commits violence is somehow supportive of that campaign.  That being said, it is the Democrats who are apologetic for Islam, who constantly natter on about Islam being a "religion of peace", and who attempt to cover up the fact that the vast majority of terror attacks are carried out by Muslims.  There is no comparable number of attacks carried out by members of any other religion and there is no evidence of any sort of "backlash" against Muslims, especially any backlash that has resulted in the death of Muslims.

3) Numerous Islamic countries have the death penalty for homosexuals.  And enforce it.  Where is the outrage.

Meanwhile we have our panties in a twist because a gorilla at a zoo had to be shot because a child was in danger (or potentially in danger).  It's a freaking gorilla.  I am sad that it had to be shot, but the child was potentially in danger.  Shoot the damn gorilla and get over it.  That got six solid days of coverage.

Meanwhile the fact that the shooter in Florida was a Muslim who was a registered Democrat will most likely be ignored by most in the mainstream media and this story will virtually disappear from the headlines in short order, except when President Obama and Hillary Clinton are caterwauling about the "gun culture" in the United States and attempting to overturn the Second Amendment by executive fiat.

I am increasingly supportive of Trump's proposal that we restrict Muslim immigration into this country unless those Muslim's have been properly vetted.  Oh, and on top of that, maybe we should actually profile Muslims when they do things that suggest that they are going to commit some sort of terror attack.  Nidal Hassan, Army major, was the subject of multiple complaints, none of which were investigated because he was a protected minority.  The Tsarnaev brothers were the subject of Interpol warnings to the FBI which were ignored because...  The Paris shooters (at least one of them) was checked by Czech (IIRC) immigration and the warning was ignored because...  The San Bernardino shooters had posted allegiance to ISIS on freaking Facebook but ...

Yeah, the ... stands for "they were Muslims" in every single case.

The number one priority

of the United States government should be you and me, the United States citizen, should it not?  Providing for our security?

Why then, would we let in any Syrian refugees, some percentage of whom may be radicalized Muslims, without screening the crap out of them?  Why can't they stay in camps while we screen them?  Why can't we profile and say that military age single men are not welcome?  To the extent that we have any responsibility at all to people who are not Americans, it should be clear that this responsibility falls far below any obligation to protect ourselves first and foremost.

The Obama administration shut down a program where the Department of Homeland Security was checking the social media feeds of visa applicants who were from Muslim countries or who exhibited Muslim ties.  Meanwhile they continue to attempt to use the NSA to collect data on the phone records of American citizens and to pressure Apple and other companies to prevent us from having encrypted communications.  Looking at public information, posted publicly on Twitter and Facebook is racist, but American citizens can't have security in our private communications.

The Obama administration is sending fully automatic military rifles, twenty and thirty round magazines (standard military issue) and other military hardware to Muslim fighters around the world.  Meanwhile they don't want us to have rifles that look like military rifles, even though they operate just like civilian rifles, and don't want us to have magazines that hold more than ten or seven rounds ("high capacity" magazines), in spite of the fact that we have a Second Amendment.

25% of Muslims in this country think that it is OK to kill Americans in the service of jihad, 50% of Muslims in this country believe that they should be allowed to live under sharia law instead of American law if they want, and we are not allowed to express concerns that Islam, a political system with religious underpinnings, is not compatible with American values.

Who should the government be focused on?  First priority, anyone from abroad who wishes to come here and harm us (mostly Muslims at this point).  Second priority, anyone in the country who is not a citizen who wishes us harm (visitors and residents).  Instead this administration has spent the last seven years caterwauling about "homegrown terrorists" (who they don't define as American Muslims, and who don't kill nearly as many people as Muslim jihadists) and targeting Tea Party and other conservative groups, despite the complete lack of evidence that any of them have any violent inclinations at all.  Perhaps if they spent as much time researching the backgrounds of Muslims wishing to emigrate to the United States as they do the financial records of conservative groups in Wisconsin, for example, we wouldn't have nearly these problems.

Oh, and as a not insignificant side benefit, we wouldn't be having our Constitutional rights stripped away in the name of safety.

NYTimes makes a point (but not the one they intended)

These are the worst three examples they could find of anti-Muslim backlash.

The worst.

“Falls Church, VA (11/19/2015) — A Virginia man was charged with leaving a fake explosive device at a mosque, as well as inflicting an estimated $200 damage to the mosque’s gate.

“San Antonio, TX (11/20/2015) — A man in military fatigues was arrested for entering a mosque, cursing at worshippers, and wiping his boots on prayer rugs. A nearby school run by the mosque reportedly canceled classes in response.

“Corpus Christi, TX (11/20/2015) — A letter sent to a local mosque reportedly included a cartoon depiction of Muhammad — and action offensive to many Muslims — along with the instruction ‘Convert To Christianity Before It’s Too Late!!!’”

Nobody died, nobody was injured, nobody was hurt in any way at all, except for their feelings.  The three perpetrators are jerks, but if this is the extent of the backlash, there isn't a problem.

A (presumably liberal) commenter breathlessly  pointed out that they forgot to include the "armed" men protesting outside a mosque in Texas, but as usual, he did as liberals do; he freaked out over "scary" guns.  I'm guessing he didn't know that it is perfectly legal to walk around armed in Texas and in many other states.  I'd be willing to bet that not one single protester specifically decided to be armed "for the protest" but just clipped on the gun like they do every other day of their lives.  Even then, not one single Muslim was shot, killed, or otherwise hurt.

The idea that the biggest problem facing us is not Islamic jihad (295 dead in the last week, 1495 dead for the month of November in case you were wondering) but instead is a mythical "backlash" against Muslims in America which has netted dirty prayer rugs, insulting cartoons, sternly worded letters, and boorish behavior, is a joke.  Or it would be if the goal were not to keep us from fighting back against the real threat or radical Islam.

I, for one, intend to ignore the hysteria about non-existent anti-Muslim backlash and instead be on my guard for anyone yelling Allahu Akbar while I am in a crowded public place.

Religion of Peace: San Bernardino edition

So three Muslims who recently visited Saudi Arabia shoot up a workplace in San Bernardino with automatic rifles, return to their home where they apparently had giant piles of explosives, and are subsequently killed by police.

CNN reports that their motivations are unknown and then has an expert in workplace violence and Mark Kelly, husband of Gabby Giffords, on.

Mark Kelly claims that this type of shooting doesn't happen in states with strong gun control laws.  Does he know where San Bernardino is?  California, home to some of the toughest gun laws in the country.

Well, to give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe by states he meant countries.  Heard of France, Mark?

OK, lets break this down a bit further.  Automatic rifles?  I can't get an automatic rifle without getting a license from the federal government and coughing up tens of thousands of dollars.  They have been virtually banned since the 1930s and it isn't that easy to legally buy one.  So what new law do Mark Kelly, the President, and most Democrats want us to pass to keep people from getting these guns?

They want to add those on the "no fly" list and the "terror watch" list to the list of prohibited persons, people who can't buy guns. (Click the link for the ACLU's take on these lists).  Before we get to the lists, however, let's remind ourselves of the process for buying a gun in this country.  Shannon Watts, a well known anti-gun activist claimed that suspected terrorists could just walk into a gun shop and buy a gun, no questions asked. This is a flat out lie. In order to buy a gun from a dealer, the source of the vast majority of guns, you have to go through a criminal background check.There are a variety of things that will keep you from completing your purchase including felonies, domestic violence convictions, and determinations of mental incompetence.  What they all have in common, however, is that a judge actually found you to be guilty of one of these things, plus right to legal representation, a jury for criminal trials, and all the other things that go with the justice system in the United States.  Things that are not present in the creation of these lists.

OK.  So who is on those lists, how does one get on the list, and how does one get off the list.

Part 1: Senator Ted Kennedy was on the first list for a while.  No particular reason except that someone named Edward Kennedy was presumably being investigated so they added the name to the list.  Bam.  Senator Kennedy gets stopped while trying to board a plane.  Apparently there is an eight year old Cub Scout on the list somewhere back east.   Are you on the list?  Well, hard to tell.  They won't tell you if you are on the list until such time as they keep you from boarding a plane.  There may be as many as 700,000 people on the terror watch list

Part 2: How does one get on the list?  Well, no one is quite sure.  Presumably if you are being investigated for terrorist ties you would be on the list.  What if you have the same name as someone who is being investigated?  Yup, probably on the list.  What if someone in the government is pissed off at you?  You could end up on the list.  In fact the bill that the Democrats are currently pushing, Senate Bill 551 would give the Attorney General of the United States the authority to deny you firearms.   You can go to court to get your name cleared, according to the legislation, but do you have the money to take the United States Government to court?  Oh, and finally the legislation allows the AG to withhold the information on why you were denied if he or she determines that it would harm national security to provide the information.  Basically you can't have guns cause the AG says so and the AG doesn't have to say why because...national security.  I suppose you could assume that the USAG would never stoop to using such a tactic for political purposes (cough, cough, IRS, Milwaukee Prosecutor's Office) but I prefer to assume that someone in power could abuse that power and prevent that abuse by limiting the power.  Huffington Post wrote an article last year in which they listed seven ways you could get on the list, including "being unlucky".

(Amusingly enough (if it weren't for the ongoing destruction of personal liberties in this country fueled by sites such as HuffPo) they also routinely run articles bemoaning the fact that the terror watch list isn't used to prevent people from buying guns.  Apparently the terror watch list is only a horrible abuse of government power unless it is being used to restrict Second Amendment rights.)

Part 3: How do you get off the list?


<<crickets>>

No one really knows.  First you have to know you are on the list, which you probably don't find out until you aren't allowed to fly on your vacation, then you have to file a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security, and then, apparently, they don't actually have to notify you of their decision.  I guess you just buy another plane ticket and try to go on vacation again.

You can find more information here, and here.

Wait, what was the point?  Oh yeah.  Meanwhile I am at work, arguing in the break room about why we label Muslim terrorists as Muslim terrorists, but we just call Christians "nutjobs" when they shoot someone up in the name of their religion.  Point out that the Quran is filled with calls to violence and they claim that it has been misinterpreted.  Point out that the language is perfectly clear and not subject to misinterpretation and they claim that is has been mistranslated.  Point out that your father is a middle eastern scholar who is fluent in Arabic and they point out that the Old Testament told the Jews to kill all the Hittites and Amorites and Caananites.  WTW?  Specific instructions to drive five or six tribes out of the place you want to live in approximately 5,000BC is somehow morally equivalent to instructions to kill anyone who is not a Muslim or who converts away from Islam?  How do you even have a rational discussion with these people?  They are so intent on providing moral cover for Islamic jihad that they are willing to bring the rope to their own hanging.  The problem here is not workplace violence, it is not gun culture, it is not religion in general, the problem here is Islam.

All I want to do is make enough money to surf, hang out with a nice girl, and not being f'd with by the government.  I can't do it in California, the only place in the United States with decent climate and decent surfing so I am stuck here, in the freezing cold and pouring rain with no surf.  I don't want to be involved in politics, I hate politics, but here I am being involved because the option is to let these people make the decision.  My punishment is to have to deal with a self destructive polity who apparently think that they don't deserve to live.

The numbers are in

February 2015

1977 murders.  Apparently it was a productive month for the global jihad.

Donate to TROP?
Weekly Jihad Report Feb 21 - Feb 27  Jihad Attacks: 51  Allah Akbars*: 9  Dead Bodies: 452  Critically Injured: 512  *Suicide Attacks
Monthly Jihad Report February, 2015  Jihad Attacks: 232  Countries: 23  Allah Akbars: 42  Dead Bodies: 1977  Critically Injured: 2354

In unrelated news

German paper that reprinted Charlie Hedbo cartoons hit by arson attack.

What a crazy coincidence.  Probably a bunch of Buddhists outraged by some cartoon mocking their religion.  You know, those religious extremists who could come from any religion, not one particular religion.

Peter Kassig, Muslim convert?

Someone at work brought up to me the other day the fact that Peter Kassig, the former Army Ranger and humanitarian aid worker, was a muslim convert.  I was at a bit of a loss to explain this as I had not previously been aware of his conversion.  I found out a little more today, however.

He converted while in captivity.  This is important.  He didn't convert while he was a free man.  His parents claim that he wasn't forcibly converted, that he was thinking about it prior to his captivity, but I don't see the relevance.  He may or may not have converted to Islam, but he was beheaded as an American, in an effort to prevent America from interceding against a brutal religious movement.

The reality is that a Methodist aid worker allegedly converted to Islam while a captive of ISIS, and now is being celebrated as a Muslim hero under the name Abdul Rahman, including by the President.

What a load of rubbish.

Freedom of Expression and the religion of peace

Not sure where this came from but it's too good not to post.  As near as I can tell it originated at the protests in London against the Mohammed cartoons.  It's been a few years but it serves as a good reminder that we are under attack from radical elements of Islam.  I would argue that this movement is not a small minority but a significant force in the Religion of Peace and that they have no interest in freedom of anything.  There are other posters from the same protest stating that "Freedom of Speech" can also go to hell.  Not theirs, of course, just ours.

Whoops, here we go again

Law enforcement officials told NBC News that Alexis created a webpage with the name "Mohammed Salem," but they said he never did anything with it. 

Why do the media and the government always rush to reassure us that there appear to be no ties to Muslim terrorism?

Why do we always find out later that the shooter had ties to radical Islam?

Why would a Buddhist create a page using the name "Mohammed Salem"?

Questions that will probably be answered eventually (after the story has been forgotten)  but ignored by the mainstream media.  Doesn't fit the meme of "angry white racist" or "evil gun nut".

The Religion of Peace

You may not have seen this on the nightly news because if doesn't fit with the meme, but here is a list of churches that have been torched by the Muslim Brotherhood:

Catholic churches and convents

1. Franciscan church and school (road 23) – burned (Suez)
2. Monastery of the Holy Shepherd and hospital – burned (Suez)
3. Church of the Good Shepherd, Monastery of the Good Shepherd – burned in molotov attack (Asuit)
4. Coptic Catholic Church of St. George – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
5. Church of the Jesuits – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
6. Fatima Basilica – attacked – Heliopolis
7. Coptic Catholic Church of St. Mark – burned (Minya – Upper Egypt)
8. Franciscan convent (Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) – burned (Beni Suef, Upper Egypt)
9. Church of St. Teresa – burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
10. Franciscan Church and School – burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
11. Convent of St Joseph and school – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
12. Coptic Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart – torched (Minya, Upper Egypt)
13 Convent of the Sisters of Saint Mary – attacked (Cairo)
14. School of the Holy Shepherd – attacked (Minya, Upper Egypt)

Orthodox and Evangelical Churches

1. Anglican Church of St. Saviour – burned (Suez)
2. Evangelical Church of St Michael – surrounded and sacked (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
3. Coptic Orthodox Church of St. George – Burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
4. Church of Al-Esla – burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
5. Adventist Church – burned, the pastor and his wife abducted (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
6. Church of the Apostles – burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
7. Church of the Holy renewal – burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
8. Diocesan Centre Coptic Orthodox Qusiya – burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
9. Church of St. George – burned (Arish, North Egypt)
10. Church of St. George in al-Wasta – burned (Beni Suef, Upper Egypt)
11. Church of the Virgin Mary – attacked (Maadi, Cairo)
12. Church of the Virgin Mary – attacked (Mostorod, Cairo)
13. Coptic Orthodox Church of St. George – attacked (Helwan, Cairo)
14. Church of ​​St. Mary of El Naziah – burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
15. Church of Santa Damiana – sacked and burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
16. Church of St. Theodore – burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
17. Evangelical Church of al-Zorby – Sacked and destroyed (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
18. Church of St. Joseph – burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
19. Franciscan School – burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
20. Coptic Orthodox Diocesan Center of St. Paul – burned (Gharbiya, Delta)
21. Coptic Orthodox Church of St. Anthony – burned (Giza)
22. Coptic Church of St. George – burned (Atfeeh, Giza)
23. Church of the Virgin Mary and father Abraham – burned (Delga, Deir Mawas, Minya, Upper Egypt)
24. Church of St. Mina Abu Hilal Kebly – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
25. Baptist Church in Beni Mazar – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
26. Church of Amir Tawadros – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
27. Evangelical Church – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
28. Church of Anba Moussa al-Aswad- burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
29. Church of the Apostles – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
30. Church of St Mary – arson attempt (Qena, Upper Egypt)
31. Coptic Church of St. George – burned (Sohag, Upper Egypt)
32. Church of Santa Damiana – Attacked and burned (Sohag, Upper Egypt)
33. Church of the Virgin Mary – burned (Sohag, Upper Egypt)
34. Church of St. Mark and community center – burned (Sohag, Upper Egypt)
35. Church of Anba Abram – destroyed and burned (Sohag, Upper Egypt)

Christian institutions

1. House of Fr. Angelos (pastor of the church of the Virgin Mary and Father Abraham) – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
2. Properties and shops of Christians – Burnt (Arish, North Egypt)
3. 17 Christian homes attacked and looted (Minya, Upper Egypt)
4. Christian homes – Attach (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
5. Offices of the Evangelical Foundation – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
6. Stores, pharmacies, hotels owned by Christians – attacked and looted (Luxor, Upper Egypt)
7. Library of the Bible Society – burned (Cairo)
8. Bible Society – burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
9. Bible Society- burned (Asuit, North Egypt

Thanks to Hans Rupprecht