Islamist attacks from 9/11 to Paris bloodbath



But hey - it's all the same as what Christians do all the time, right??

"McDonald had been acting erratically and was holding a small knife, authorities said."

Now, I'm *generally* inclined to give a cop the benefit of the doubt (despite encountering an occasional "bad apple"), but that seems a bit difficult to do in this instance.

"Warning: Some may find the video disturbing." (Yeah, & SOME may find it F***ING AWESOME!)

http://www.westernjournalism.com/watch-isis-thug-recording-video-when-suddenly-justice-interrupts-him-out-of-nowhere/



I thought about creating a Google account so that I could watch that video, but honestly, doing that seemed a bit ghoulish. GOD FORBID that I should EVER become anything like those bastards!!!

With that said, here's THREE CHEERS for tax dollars WELL SPENT!

ESPECIALLY when you can't reach ANYTHING on the top shelves!!

D@mn... I wasn't there - and I don't have any more knowledge about the situation than what's reported here...

But DAYYYYYYUUUMMM... If it's true that NONE of the other officers fired their weapons, then it would *appear* that Van Dyke acted in a manner that was not just WRONG, but STAGGERINGLY WRONG, as in "make yourself the poster child for BAD DECISION-MAKING for DECADES" bad...

The really SAD thing is, there will be people who take a completely-justifiable reason to protest, & who will take it *WAY* too far, & innocent people will suffer as a result.

THANK YOU gentlemen!!!

To the OP: Are you arguing that somehow, there should be some sort of "equal time" granted for Boko Haram as compared to al Qaeda/ISIS??!? (Seriously?)

If so, I would STRONGLY argue that you're looking at the situation in an unrealistic manner:

Boko Haram kills people in a "typical" manner - guns, grenades, maybe the occasional machete, etc. (That is NOT to say that ANY of those deaths are inconsequential, or they're not apocalyptically important to the people affected!)

ISIS on the other hand is ALL about "making an impact by using the media"!!! ISIS has displayed a SHOCKING understanding of Western media, & they've exploited that understanding to the utmost! Instead of "guns, grenades, maybe the occasional machete", ISIS locks their victims into iron cages & burns them alive. Or hangs them from chains (& burns them alive). Or beheads their victims using det cord. Or hacks off their heads using a Bowie knife. ANYTHING to cause SHOCK & HORROR to the Western audience that hears of those atrocities.

As I wrote the above, it occurred to me that there is an EXCELLENT analogy to use for ISIS - think of someone who places a large flashlight on the floor, aimed at a wall... And then capers and dances about, making sure that he casts the *largest* shadow possible on the wall... THAT is ISIS.

NOW - given the absolutely-MASSIVE disparity in media savvy by the two groups - do you SERIOUSLY still think that a piddly 10% disparity in coverage is due to racism??!? HELL, you could make a VERY strong argument that Boko Haram is OVER-REPRESENTED in news articles!!

Hmm. If I would've been the teacher, I would have looked at it & seen a timing mechanism/electronics, but NOTHING that even remotely resembled any type of explosive material, so I would have checked it out as a potentially-interesting electronics project, & talked with him about it. HONESTLY, it wasn't especially awesome, he probably just built a basic system around a 555 timer chip, which handles most of the work all by itself internally. (But hell, for a KID, that's doing pretty good.)

HOWEVER - if he would've had a couple wires going into a block of something that looked like Silly Putty (even as a gag!), I probably would've had a pretty extreme reaction...

GREAT... You come up with ONE example of a so-called Christian killing others, & try to use that in some kind of TWISTED "moral equivalence" ploy, trying to say that ALL religions have extremists??

Try THIS as an interesting intellectual exercise - call up news.google.com & perform the following two searches:

"christian attacks" - (hint: that brings up 478 results, MOST of which contain headlines similar to 'India: Anti-Christian attacks up 55%' OR 'Lebanon: Islamic summit slams anti-Christian attacks and violence...'.
"islamist attacks" - (hint: that produces "about 16,700 results", most of which seem to contain headlines like 'Bangladesh: Hundreds Protest Islamist Attacks on Writers' and 'Islamist attacks from 9/11 to Paris bloodbath'.)

Before posting that BLATANT IDIOCY, did you even stop to consider the fact that Christianity has had it's Reformation, where all of it's most-treasured beliefs were subjected to scrutiny?? Yet Islam REFUSES to allow critical examination of the Quran in a similar manner!!

When people abandon Christianity, it's adherents are saddened, but pray for those who depart.
Islam by contrast sentences those who leave that religion to DEATH.

BUT, since both religions are OBVIOUSLY "equal", PLEASE do me ONE favor - provide me a list of post-Reformation Christian equivalents to al Qaeda and ISIS. (No rush, I can wait...)

NOW - ANYONE who would *seriously* try to claim that there is some kind of "equivalence" between a Christianity & Islam... I'm just not even going to finish that statement, because I would PROBABLY get permanently banned from this site.

Suffice it to say that THAT argument isn't even COHERENT enough to warrant a serious response.

Brings to mind the lyrics of the best song that the Eagles ever performed...



Pretty contemptible in my eyes that they're trying to parley Ahmed's 15 minutes of "fame" into this blackmail scheme.

That, & they've (apparently) suddenly realized that Qatar isn't exactly a paradise - so you know that regardless of what the Irving authorities do, they're going to find their way back here, probably sooner rather than later...

In my case (as with several others, I suspect), a large part of it is events during the season bringing up reminders of family gatherings, wonderful meals, love & laughter. Now many of those people have passed on, & when I'm reminded of times that I spent with them, I feel their loss keenly.

Pardon me if I'm misunderstanding, but your post makes it sound like anyone in this situation simply needs to "perk up!" & "be chipper!", & all will be right with the world. I would argue that such a viewpoint is grossly simplistic & not especially realistic for many people. No offense intended, I've tried to make this a response to your post, & not a personal attack.

I think that the answer (for me anyway) is to 'look outward' & become active in trying to make the season better for others, & to spend minimal time looking inward/back.

Too bad he can't give himself a "raise" from being like 4'1", huh???

Crap - you beat me to it!!

My body... I'm DEAD SEXY!!

Yeah, I can sure understand that. I've lost both parents now, & no kids, so not a whole lot of reason for me to get excited about the season.

Hey EmJ, thanks for the reply. That sounds like a pretty good setup as long as someone's emotions don't get out of control (and I know that girls AND guys can have that happen!) If I found myself in that kind of situation... Hell, it probably wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen!

It's tough to think of the correct "words I should use", since sure as heck, someone's going to misinterpret "good fun friendship" too...


Yeah, I can see that as a possibility. I'd want to get to know her a little bit first though. I'm not in a hurry to jump into something new at this point.

This is an interesting topic for me, since it refers to what is probably my biggest gripe against this site - I take the time to read what the ladies write in their profiles, & write a nice (hopefully fun) email that proves that I paid attention to what they wrote, and...

Crickets.

You can keep going after the first few get no response, but when that's what happens 99% of the time, it's difficult to maintain ANY degree of enthusiasm for the pursuit - and in all honesty, I don't even bother any more. If I wanted THAT kind of fun, I'd send out resumés - it's the same idiotic game. These days, I just hang around the forums for laughs.

(And the above is why I initially posted this in the Politics forum - I had a pretty good idea that sooner or later, it would turn into a discussion about the perceived virtues of self-defense...)

I believe that you missed the intent of my statement - the idea that I was intending to convey is this:

If someone is acting in such a way as to pose a threat to my continued existence, THAT is the biggest threat that any of us can face - you can't escalate beyond death. Death is essentially "playing for ALL the marbles" (so to speak). Given the fact that your opponent is posing the ultimate threat to you, then a commonsense law (IMHO) would recognize that, & allow an innocent defender to respond accordingly.

The simple FACT is:

The bad guys are NOT going to "play by the rules". And as long as there are people in our societies who want to prey upon others, there will always be a need for the good people to be able to oppose them on equal terms.

Do you seriously think that the police are sufficient to that task??
I am a BIG fan of the police, I've had a couple of LEOs in my family, & I train with some. I hugely appreciate what they do, & what they go through in order to help all of us live more peaceful, civilized lives. But it's simply UNREALISTIC to think that they can be everywhere, stop every threat before it happens.


Well, what's the environment that I'm in?? What are the threats that might need to be faced?? If I'm in Iraq, some parts of Mexico (or even in Detroit! ), then an M-16 AND an RPG might be the appropriate choice!

But (and I say this respectfully), your argument makes use of a bit of hyperbole. Once the defender has the (legal & physical) means to use lethal force, then additional force is superfluous.


Meaning that all you can do when a bad guy appears is to run, or cower & pray that the police show up in time. Many of us feel that those are REALLY BAD options to have to choose between.

To me, it's instructive to compare the Paris attacks to a somewhat-similar attack that occurred here in Colorado in 2007 http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2015/06/19/colorado-springs-vs-charleston-the-church-massacre-that-ended-differently-n2014783

In both instances, you had an unprovoked attack by someone using military-type rifles on scores of people who were going about their normal lives, in circumstances where it was very unlikely that any of them would be armed.

In Paris, no one was armed, and 130 people died. In Colorado, you had a security guard who had a single handgun - she was able to stop the attacker before the police arrived. As a result, only TWO people died in that attack (although that gunman also killed two others in a separate attack the night before).

And I have to comment on one thing that you said - and please know that I don't intend for this to offend. You wrote:



In one sense, it's difficult for me to respond objectively to this statement. To me, it reeks of a patronizing, infantilizing government that doesn't allow it's citizenry to direct their own lives. It comes down to ONE very basic question - do you trust your citizens/neighbors/etc. to make good decisions, and to act responsibly?? If SO, then why not allow them to own guns?? If NOT, then why would you let them own cars, or knives, or to purchase gasoline, etc???

It's worth remembering that other countries (most notably Switzerland, who no doubt shares many of your European values) trust their citizens with firearms, and they seem to get along fine.

I just thought of a question that I would like to pose to you - Are you able to agree with me that a gun is just an object, with no intrinsic "good" or "evil" of it's own? (I would honestly like to hear your answer to that.)


Good! I hope that your sense of safety remains for the rest of your days.


It truly saddens me when I read that. In my eyes, our right to own firearms is the bulwark that guards all of our other freedoms. It's an awesome right that comes with corresponding (& equivalent) responsibilities.

I WISH that, during your trip here, I could get just a small bit of your time to take you out to a range where you could bust some clay targets - people who are unfamiliar with the sport can't believe how much fun they have!! Or even to have you put holes in a soda can with a little .22 pistol.

I truly think that if you gained just a small bit of experience shooting, & experiencing the "sporting" aspect of it, you would have a LOT less fear.



Sometimes. And sometimes, unfamiliarity breeds fear.

I truly hope that you have a WONDERFUL time when you visit next year!!

Why do I get the feeling that (in this instance) that's actually the correct spelling??