Florida Republican Congressman John Mica was just on MSNBC to demand to know why the shooter in Orlando, Omar Mateen, wasn't on a terrorist watchlist, why the authorities 'failed to connect the dots?'
Well why didn't George W. Bush foresee 9/11?
The obvious reason is we can never foresee everything. Indeed, there's nothing that shows us that humans are particularly good at predicting the future.
The question for Mica is why does his party want to allow those who are on a watchlist to have firearms? Firearms for terrorists is the one issue the GOP decides to become libertarian on.
Here's what is known about Mateen:
"The gunman was Omar Mateen, an American citizen living in Port St. Lucie, Fla., federal law enforcement officials said."
"Ronald Hopper, an assistant agent in charge of the F.B.I.’s Tampa Division, raised the possibility that the killer was an Islamist radical, and law enforcement officials said they were investigating the slaughter as an act of terrorism."
“We do have suggestions that that individual may have leanings towards that, that particular ideology,” Agent Hopper said at a news conference. “But right now we can’t say definitively, so we’re still running everything around.”
"Federal law enforcement officials said they had found no indication so far that the attacker was linked to any wider organization, though they and the police were investigating several possible terrorism angles, both overseas and in the United States. Past terrorist attacks, like the massacre in December in San Bernardino, Calif., were carried out in the name of Islam by people who were “self-radicalized,” apparently having no direct ties to any organization but inspired by groups like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda."
"The Islamic State in particular has encouraged “lone wolf” attacks in the West, specifically the United States, a point reinforced recently by the group’s spokesman in his annual pre-Ramadan speech. Noting that some supporters have lamented that they cannot strike at military targets, he took pains to explain why killing civilians in the land of the infidel is not just permitted but encouraged."
"Terrorist groups have not claimed responsibility for the Orlando shooting as yet, but a social messaging account linked to the Islamic State gloated about the attack."
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/us/orlando-nightclub-shooting.html?
And, it's starting already:
"Michael Oren, ex Israel ambassador to US:"If I were Trump I'd emphasize the Muslim name, Omar Saddiqui Mateen. This changes race" @channel10
https://twitter.com/NTarnopolsky/status/742014546748002304
Let's resist the rush to judgment and let law enforcement do it's job:
Josh Rogin:
Reminder: FBI Director later said San Bernardino attackers had NO connection to ISIS. Early reports can lead to false narratives."
https://twitter.com/joshrogin/status/742028463918309376
Daniel Nisman:
I said this after #sanbernardino - AR15s are military grade assault weapons made to kill as many people as possible, as easily as possible."
https://twitter.com/DannyNis/status/742026955042791428
Nadav Pollak:
https://twitter.com/NadavPollak/status/742027559186108417
Well why didn't George W. Bush foresee 9/11?
The obvious reason is we can never foresee everything. Indeed, there's nothing that shows us that humans are particularly good at predicting the future.
The question for Mica is why does his party want to allow those who are on a watchlist to have firearms? Firearms for terrorists is the one issue the GOP decides to become libertarian on.
Here's what is known about Mateen:
"The gunman was Omar Mateen, an American citizen living in Port St. Lucie, Fla., federal law enforcement officials said."
"Ronald Hopper, an assistant agent in charge of the F.B.I.’s Tampa Division, raised the possibility that the killer was an Islamist radical, and law enforcement officials said they were investigating the slaughter as an act of terrorism."
“We do have suggestions that that individual may have leanings towards that, that particular ideology,” Agent Hopper said at a news conference. “But right now we can’t say definitively, so we’re still running everything around.”
"Federal law enforcement officials said they had found no indication so far that the attacker was linked to any wider organization, though they and the police were investigating several possible terrorism angles, both overseas and in the United States. Past terrorist attacks, like the massacre in December in San Bernardino, Calif., were carried out in the name of Islam by people who were “self-radicalized,” apparently having no direct ties to any organization but inspired by groups like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda."
"The Islamic State in particular has encouraged “lone wolf” attacks in the West, specifically the United States, a point reinforced recently by the group’s spokesman in his annual pre-Ramadan speech. Noting that some supporters have lamented that they cannot strike at military targets, he took pains to explain why killing civilians in the land of the infidel is not just permitted but encouraged."
"Terrorist groups have not claimed responsibility for the Orlando shooting as yet, but a social messaging account linked to the Islamic State gloated about the attack."
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/us/orlando-nightclub-shooting.html?
And, it's starting already:
"Michael Oren, ex Israel ambassador to US:"If I were Trump I'd emphasize the Muslim name, Omar Saddiqui Mateen. This changes race" @channel10
https://twitter.com/NTarnopolsky/status/742014546748002304
Let's resist the rush to judgment and let law enforcement do it's job:
Josh Rogin:
Reminder: FBI Director later said San Bernardino attackers had NO connection to ISIS. Early reports can lead to false narratives."
https://twitter.com/joshrogin/status/742028463918309376
Daniel Nisman:
I said this after #sanbernardino - AR15s are military grade assault weapons made to kill as many people as possible, as easily as possible."
https://twitter.com/DannyNis/status/742026955042791428
Nadav Pollak:
https://twitter.com/NadavPollak/status/742027559186108417
UPDATE: At this point, Maaten's father has said that he believes the cause of this was that his son saw gay people kissing and doing their thing in public in front of the night club a few weeks ago with his own son and was outraged that this is done in public.
Whether this was the sole motive or the triggering event, clearly homophobia is part of this. Yet, the Right wing shouldn't gloat over this as they are pretty homophobic themselves.
They sort of mirror this same religious fundamentalist attitude.
Anyway, how do you say it's not a hate crime at least among other things?
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