The culprit is identified as Omar Seddique Mateen (29) of Port St. Lucie, Florida. Mateen was killed by police in the early morning hours after a shoot-out.
The first main question that I have, of course, is whether or not this was a terror attack?
Was this an example of the Jihad come to America?
While the FBI is looking into the matter it is already clear how Democrats and progressives will react in distinction from Republicans and conservatives.
The Democrats and progressives will point the finger of blame in various directions, but none of them will be in the direction of Mateen, nor toward the ideological well-spring of his behavior, which is considered off-limits for criticism among progressives.
Instead the Democrats and progressives will look toward sociology and psychology and will condemn the NRA while implicating Trump. You will recall that it was said that the Fort Hood Jihadi had contracted Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder vicariously through his patients and Obama did his best to obscure the Jihadi nature of the attack by terming it "work-place violence." The various other Jihadi attacks are generally described as committed by unaffiliated crazy people. In Europe they tend to talk about the failure of native Europeans to properly care for their Muslim populations leading to the often violent alienation of Muslim youth.
Obama will likely soon make a statement to the country vowing to maintain vigilance against "violent extremism" and will admonish the people of the United States not to equate this massacre with Islam in any way.
There will also, of course, be a renewed push for gun control. In fact, if you look over the comments in Daily Kos' treatment of this story you will see that they are talking about practically nothing but gun control.
ArchTeryxMuch of the American political right-wing, on the other hand, has already decided that this was a Jihadi attack and I suspect that they're probably correct, but we do not know, yet.
This was an act of war within our own borders, and it has nothing at all to do with terrorism, Islam, or any of what the howler monkeys of the right are currently screeching about. This was an act of war against us all by the gun humpers, and it’s high damn time we mobilized to take the fight right back to them.
If the motive for the attack was grounded in a Koran-Sharia based contempt for Gay people then, obviously, it was a prominent case of Jihad in America. The killer need not be directly connected to Islamist organizations, nor do any of those organizations need to take credit.
All that needs to be determined is if this was, or was not, a theologically-motivated shooting.
Of course, were Omar Mateen's name David Smith, and were he an Evangelical Christian, the Left would already have concluded that it was a religious attack and would spit huge amounts of toxins toward that community.
My bet is that this was, in fact, a Jihadi attack, but I am willing to withhold judgement until we learn more.
Update:
Various news outlets are reporting that Mateen did, in fact, call 911 and pledge allegiance to ISIS sometime during the hours-long period of hostage-taking and massacre.
If this is, indeed, the case then there can be no question that this was a Jihadi attack.
Welcome to the Age of Jihad in America.
Second Update:
News media is starting to report that ISIS is taking credit for the Orlando attack.
It's Ramadan. ISIS throws gays from buildings. Iran is more civilized, they only hang them.
ReplyDeleteThis guy called it in and claimed allegiance to ISIS. He indirectly worked for the government.
The insistence not to address the issue by refusing to acknowledge it is a failure. This is not a matter of gun control. Most people know most Muslims here do not condone such atrocities. Enough red herrings!
It is ironic, and sad, that pinkwashing seems more important to many gays. Maybe more will see the light of who really hates them.
Wonder if this guy attended this:
Deletehttps://youtu.be/qBlwxqqAprQ
The media should stop showing his mug or at least put an X over his face.
DeleteSo, I listened to Obama's comments.
ReplyDeleteHe called the act one of "terrorism" but refused, of course, to refer to the nature of that terrorism.
He seems to believe that the source of that attack is generalized free-floating hatred. No one in the administration has, apparently, even the slightest clue where that hatred comes from.
It's just floating about there in the aether and somehow snuck into this guy's head through his ears.
He also expressed concern about guns in American culture and admonished us not to turn on any of our fellow Americas.
But, mainly, he just sounded beat.
I don't know if it was fatigue or sadness, but it was a very low-energy speech.
I suppose that is not surprising.
Obama must have spent hours with his advisors coming up with nothing informed to say about this.
DeleteI turned on MSNBC this morning and it didn't take five minutes before the gun itself became the topic of focus rather than the shooter and his beliefs.
To me he seemed to go farther than ever. He may have to bite the bullet on this one, especially if the LA thing also involves Ramadan inspired terror.
DeleteI've come to the conclusion that Obama is indeed either a Muslim, or is "questioning" whether he might be.
DeleteWhat an horrific and appalling attack in Orlando. Utterly dreadful.
ReplyDeletePeople here in the UK are standing in sympathy with the victims and their families, and with America.
My heart goes out to all who have been affected. And to everyone here.
Jeff, I know you actually live in Florida; that must be particularly hard.
On this truly terrible day, my very, very best wishes to you all.
Love, Kate. X
Good to hear from you again Kate. You've been missed around here.
DeleteI have been living down here in FL since last August. Before that I was in CT (Newtown shootings), 60 miles from NYC (9/11) happened one month after I moved there from the San Francisco Bay Area (massacre at 101 California Street, Loma Pieta Earthquake, Jim Jones mass suicide happened shortly after I moved there, assassination of Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk). Interesting things seem to happen wherever I go. If I ever decide to come to England I'll give you fair warning.
But seriously, this nonsense can't keep going on. Something is going to have to be done.
DeleteMy suspicion is that very little of substance will be done by the US, or the West, in general, to counter and defeat the Islamic political movement that gives us these terrorist attacks.
DeleteA big part of the reason for this is the self-cencorship on the question of Islamism among the Democratic Party.
If you cannot name something then you cannot in any meaningful way consider it or discuss it.
And if you cannot consider it or speak of it, because you cannot name it, then you can do nothing meaningful about it.
This desire to veil political Islam from the public consciousness was Obama's unspoken decision when he came into office and now we're all stuck with it. Further, the Democratic Party is acting as an enforcer of this veiling through slandering anyone who does wish to talk about the threat of political Islam as a vile "racist."
They've taken the Civil Rights Movement and turned it into a club against anti-Jihadis.
It would be something akin to accusing those opposed to Nazism as being racist toward Germans.
Has Code Pink has blamed the Jews yet?
ReplyDeletethey will, soon enough.
DeleteY'know, I wouldn't be so sure about that, Kumar.
ReplyDeleteIf 9/11 was not a wake-up call, I would not expect this to be. I hope that you are right, of course, but I am not the least bit sure of it.
In fact, 9/11 was not only not a wake-up call to address the problem of political Islam, it had the opposite effect. It ended up stifling the possibility of addressing the problem because the West, including many within the US, still suffer from the post-WWII hangover of western colonial guilt.
Thus as the US went into retreat it gave space for the advancement of Sharia through blowing shit up and killing people.
In any case, I very much hope that you are right.
you do have a point Mike, but part of the reason the left, well at least the American left could do it, was because a Republican was President. Now that a Democrat has been President (for 7.5 years), its a lot harder. Especially because some Democrats do know that continuing to be seen as weak on Islamic terrorism will hand Trump the WH.
ReplyDeletePredicting the future has never been my strong suit.
ReplyDeleteWe shall see, my friend.
My guess is not many.
ReplyDeleteI've been in touch with some of my more politicized Gay friends and they still think the enemy are Christians and the NRA.
We'll see if the mood changes as this current attack sinks in.
well what do ya know? Hillary finally (for the first time since '05) used the term Radical Islamism
ReplyDelete