UPDATED: Thoughts on the Uvalde massacre

Do not look here for witty comments on the massacre of nearly two dozen innocent people -- most of them children -- at Uvalde TX. Don't even expect a lengthy "think piece", as I have no questions that haven't already been asked, no solutions that haven't already been proffered. I have only these few thoughts....

25 years ago, in A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson asked what kind of world we live in where even park rangers carry service revolvers. Bill, that is not all the world, just the American part of it. The "gun culture" has become hard-wired into Americans. Many think, with some cause, that if everyone else has a gun, why should I be the only one unable to defend myself?

Park rangers carry sidearms, one supposes, because they are responsible for the safety of park users. They might need to shoot a bear or a rabid skunk... or a stalker who prowls the woods looking for innocents to rape or murder. (Bill Bryson writes of a double murder, still unsolved, in Shenandoah National Park.) By that reasoning, it may be that teachers, responsible as they are for the safety of their pupils, should carry guns. 

That thought has been expressed before. After Sandy Hook. After Columbine. These tragedies dramatize the question of gun control -- should there be more or less? -- which dominates political debate this week. 

The SJWs, Democrats and other liberals seize on the opportunity to express outrage and demonize conservatives, Republicans and other law-and-order types. So we have the disgraceful exhibition of Beto O'Rourke (D) interrupting the press conference of Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) to score what can only be called a political "own goal". Shameful.

The anti-Trumpers, SJWS, BLMers etc are having a much harder time with this one than with the Buffalo massacre. They can't put it down to anti-black racism / white supremacy, because the shooter and victims were all (apparently) Hispanics. And the murderer wasn't an illegal alien either, so those arguing for or against amnesty have nothing to say.

But the loony left and t hose pushing the "diversity and inclusivity" agenda will keep trying. One of the more ridiculous appeals I've seen is that of Jaden Janak, a PhD candidate at the University of Texas and a junior fellow at the Center for Applied Transgender Studies. "These children and adults who were murdered yesterday were just living their lives," Mr/Ms/whatever Janak said yesterday. "They didn't know that yesterday was going to be their last day. And similarly, as trans people, that's a fear that we have all the time." Oh dear...

Enough politics. To close, I want to talk about the expressions of grief and other responses to this and just about every other similar incident. "Thoughts and prayers" is such a tired cliché, so overworked, that people (particularly politicians) seem to feel something further must be done to honour the dead, and show sympathy and support for the bereaved. 

"Taking a knee" is too political a statement. So we have the lowering of flags on public and private buildings even beyond the border of the US of A. (Agent 3 reports that this has been done at schools in a suburb of Toronto.) So often does this happen that it's becoming unusual to see flags flying at full staff. Upon seeing a flag at half-staff [not "half-mast". Ed.], people ask "Who's died now?" The gesture is now so commonplace as to be meaningless.

So also with the makeshift memorials of flowers, candles, balloons and teddybears which appear within hours at the site of any violent death, whether criminal or accidental. Putting a stuffed animal on the pile in front of the crime scene is nothing more than virtue-signalling, like placing a wreath on a war memorial.

What good do these "tributes" do for those who have died, or for their grieving families? Within a couple of days, the toys and flowers become nothing more than a pile of trash, to be removed under cover of night by the sanitation engineers. Wouldn't it be better to contribute to a GoFundMe appeal to help with funeral expenses, or a worthy charity which is trying to help heal our sick society? 

UPDATE ADDED 27/5/22: Canada's Global News reports that Meghan Markle, the Princess of Woke, yesterday visited the memorial site for the victims of the Uvalde school massacre. Dressed in attire appropriate to the occasion, she placed white flowers tied with a purple ribbon at a memorial outside the Uvalde County Courthouse. Mercifully, she refrained from making a speech. 

The Duchess of Sussex (her other title) lives in California with her husband Prince Hairy and their two mixed-race children. Further comment from me would be superfluous.

Remembering the martyrs of Tiananmen Square

It is not only Christians who are persecuted to the point of martyrdom in Communist China. (See "World Day of Prayer for the Catholic Church in China", WWW 24/5/21.) Nor Uyghurs, who are being herded into "re-education schools" reminiscent of the worst excesses of Nazi Germany. Ordinary Chinese -- students, workers, and other "plain people" -- have been struggling against the might of the Communist police state for decades. 

Many have given up their lives in the fight for democracy and freedom. Today let us pause for a moment to remember those who, were killed by the "People's Liberation Army" (sic), in what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre (天安门大屠杀). 

32 years ago today, troops armed with assault rifles and accompanied by tanks fired at the demonstrators and those trying to block the military's advance into Bejing's Tiananmen Square. The protests started on April 15th and were forcibly suppressed on June 4th, when the Communist government declared martial law and sent the PLA to occupy parts of central Beijing. Estimates of the death toll vary from several hundred to several thousand, with thousands more wounded.

Today in Hong Kong, now a "special economic zone" (read: colony) of the People's Republic of China, police arrested an organizer of the annual candlelight vigil commemorating what the Commies call "the June 4th incident". People were warned not to attend the event, banned by the pro-Communist city government in an attempt to silence pro-democracy voices.

This is the second yeare the vigil has been prohibited. Last year, authorities were quick to blame the ban on the risks of large crowds gathering during the Kung flu pandemic. That excuse won't wash this year. It's just part of the Communists' continuing campaign to control the once-free city, including a new national security law, election changes and arrests of many activists who participated in the "yellow umbrella" pro-democracy protests that swept Hong Kong in 2019.

Hong Kong had been the last place in China where the massacre was publicly commemorated. In past years tens of thousands of people gathered in Victoria Park to honour the victims who died when the Communist Chinese military put down student-led pro-democracy protests. In Tiananmen Square itself this morning, security was increased and police checked identities of pedestrians while tour buses shuttled Chinese tourists onto the square as on any other day.

But, dear reader, it's not just another day. Please take a moment to remember and, if you're so inclined, pray for those who have suffered and are still suffering under the yoke of Communist imperialism. Today Hong Kong, tomorrow east Asia. And then, the rest of the world!

Do not forget the martyrs of Tiananmen Square

In the People's Republic of China (aka Communist China), foreign teachers of English, History or any subject are forbidden to teach about, talk about or even mention the "Three T's". The first two are Tibet (as in "Chinese occupation of" and "genocide") and Taiwan (which stubbornly refuses to admit that it is and has always been a province of China). The third "T" is the Tiananmen Square massacre, an atrocity perpetrated by China's Communist rulers 30 years ago today. The story is encapsulated in this single iconic image.

In China, the massacre of student protesters is referred to (when mentioned at all) as "the June Fourth Incident" or "Six Four". Student-led demonstrations in Beijing in mid-1989 inspired a popular (except with the Red government) national movement called the "`89 Democracy Movement". In response to the protests, the Communists declared martial law and sent in the military to occupy central parts of Beijing. People's Liberation Army troops armed with assault rifles and accompanied by tanks fired at the demonstrators, killing perhaps as many as 2500 and wounding 1000s more.

The international community and human rights organizations condemned the Chinese government for what can only be called a massacre. Western countries imposed arms embargoes on China. The Communists made widespread arrests of protesters and their supporters, suppressed other protests around China, expelled foreign journalists, strictly controlled coverage of the events in the domestic press, strengthened the police and internal security forces, and demoted or purged officials it deemed sympathetic to the protests. Some of those arrested died in prison, and some languish there even today.

The suppression halted the "open and reform" policies of liberalization instituted by Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s. Considered a watershed event, the protests set the limits on political expression in China up to the present day. Its memory is widely associated with questioning the legitimacy of Communist Party rule and remains one of the most sensitive and most widely censored topics in China. Even now, as noted above, foreign teachers are forbidden to mention the massacre, on pain of instant dismissal and deportation.

Foreign visitors do well to feign ignorance of "the June Fourth Incident". Real ignorance, however, is inexcusable, which is why Walt is posting this reminder. In Hong Kong there is still -- for a limited time only -- some liberty to speak out for democracy and freedom of expression. Here we see a student at Hong Kong University cleaning the monument memorializing the Tiananmen Square massacre. We in somewhat free countries must not forget what happens when you dare to oppose a repressive totalitarian government like that of Communist China or... some other country....

Further reading:
"Encroaching Totalitarianism in The West", by E. Jeffrey Ludwig, in American Thinker, 4/6/19
Harrison Salisbury: Tiananmen Diary: Thirteen Days in June, Little, Brown & Co., 1989

UPDATE on Utrecht massacre: suspicions confirmed!

Walt is sorry, but not surprised, to have to close the betting on the ethnicity and religion of the gunman who murdered three innocent people and wounded at least nine more earlier today in Utrecht, Netherlands. See my first post below for my prediction. If you lost, just send your money by PayPal.

Yes, the Dutch politie (= police) have identified the suspect, who is still at large, as 37-year-old Gökman Tanis, who they say was born in Turkey. Nothing yet about his status in Turkey -- citizen or refugee/asylum-seeker -- or his religion. I suppose it's possible that Mr Tanis is a Turkish Christian -- modern-day Turkey was the location of many of the earliest Christian churches -- fleeing persecution by the quasi-Islamist Turkish government. If anyone wants to bet that way, I'll take the other side of the coin and bet that Mr Tanis is a follower of the Prophet Mohammed.

As to his motivation, don't be surprised if, when [if? Ed.] he's arrested, Mr Tanis says he was avenging the deaths of the Muslims killed in Christchurch, New Zealand, on the weekend. Do be surprised if the lamestream meeja call the Utrecht massacre an act of "Islamic terrorism". It is now absolutely forbidden to suggest that fanatical Muslims could be responsible for any of the 1000s of murders of non-Muslims in the Middle East, Europe, and the ROTW.

Walt notes with disgust the leaders of the Western world falling all over themselves to condemn racism, Islamophobia, white supremacy, yada yada yada, following the Christchurch massacre, and of course sending the customary thoughts and prayers, yada yada yada, to the survivors, their families, and Muslims everywhere. How about some of the same for the survivors and families of those killed or wounded in Utrecht today? Don't hold your breath because, after all, they weren't Muslims.

What is a "hate crime"?

Federal prosecutors have filed hate crime charges against Robert Bowers, the Pennsylvania man they say stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue and opened fire, killing 11 people. Because the people were Jews, and because Mr Bowers allegedly made anti-Semitic statements during the shooting and even in the hospital where he was being treated, and allegedly targeted Jews on social media, he has been charged with committing "hate crimes", for which he may be sentenced to death.

Walt would like to know if the same charges would have been laid had Mr Bowers shot up a Catholic church full of worshippers (like you'd ever find that, nowadays) or a non-denominational public (read: secular) school.

Would the same charges have been laid had the attacker been a Muslim fanatic, or would the murders then be called acts of terrorism? What's the difference between a terrorist crime and a hate crime?

And what if Mr Bowers had been black, and had shot up a meeting of the Aryan nation...or a station full of white cops? That would certainly be a hate-filled act, but if a black man did it, would he not be justified, in the eyes of the NPCs, because of... well, you know....

I believe that there is no excuse, other than self-defence, for killing another human being. That goes double for the killing of the innocent -- infants and unborn children! See "True story of Philadelphia baby-killer now a movie", WWW 24/10/18.

But the "minority status" or the victims or of the killer should make no difference to the "justice" applied or received. That is why slogans like "Justice for Trayvon Martin" make no sense unless the NPCs who shout them also demand justice for the victims of ISIS, justice for the innocent bystanders shot by gangstas, and, yes, justice for the millions of babies whose lives were "terminated" by the likes of Kermit Gosnell, paid by Planned Parenthood with the support of your tax dollars.

I believe also that justice does not include retribution. I am not so naïve as to think that nutbars and recidivists can be rehabilitated and made useful members of society if we just "love" them enough. Hug-a-hoodie just doesn't work because hate cannot always (or ever?) be overcome by love. But an eye for an eye is not the solution.

I am opposed to the death penalty because I am opposed to murder. People like Mr Bowers need to be removed from society, for the protection of society, but in a civilized society, permanent incarceration or perhaps banishment to a Siberia is as far as we ought to go. State-sanctioned murder is no different from "murder by crazy freelancer".

As for "hate crime", I call that a redundancy, since all murder involves hate of some kind. As used by the NPCs today, "hate crime" is just another expression intended to make straight white people -- especially men and Christians -- feel guilty, guilty, guilty! If I were Emperor of the World, I would banish "hate crime" from the statute books and even from the dictionaries. Sadly, hate is part of human nature. You can't overcome hate by mandating "love"... or political correctness.

Footnote: If you're not sure what "NPC" means, click here to see "Why The NPC Meme Triggers NPCs", from The Truth Factory.

What motivates mass murderers?

Even leaving aside the almost daily attacks by Islamic jihadis, mass murders have been much in the news lately.

A couple of days ago, a Canadian aviation "expert" said he was "100% certain" that the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 -- still undiscovered somewhere at the bottom of the Indian Ocean -- was an extreme case of murder-suicide, perpetrated by the plane's pilot. Last month, 10 people were killed and 16 wounded by a young Toronto man who for some reason decided to drive a rented man down the sidewalk of a busy main street.

And in the USA, there are "school shootings", not in the ghettos of Los Angeles, Chicago, or Detroit, but in white(ish) locales in states like Florida (Parkland) and Texas (Santa Fe). The massacre at Columbine happened just over 19 years ago. Since then, there have been hundreds, hundreds of similar "incidents".

Why do people kill dozens, scores or even hundreds of innocent people? What is their motivation for mass murder? These are questions I ask myself every time something like this happens. It seems to me that only two reasons are possible. Someone who would commit such an atrocity must either be:

A - a fanatical follower of the Religion of Peace (read: Islam) or some other extremist religious and/or political group; or

B - someone whose cheese has slipped off his cracker (read: a psychotic individual).

In "Toronto killer of 10 'seemed a little off'... that's all", the perpetrator of the recent massacre in Canada's Proudly Diverse City is described as "kind of a loner, kept to himself, and 'seemed a little off'." Later it emerged that he identified himself as an "incel" -- "involuntarily celibate" -- someone who couldn't score with women and so decided to take his frustration out on the world.

The Santa Fe TX high school student who allegedly opened fire on his classmates on yesterday has been described as "a quiet and unassuming teenager who enjoys sports and showed few if any warning signs of violent behaviour." He was a member of a dance group at a local Greek Orthodox church and an avid videogame player, known among his classmates mostly for playing on the school's junior varsity football team. A teammate told a Houston TV station, "He stuck to himself. He had a few friends but never really talked to many people. For him to do something like this, it's crazy."

Exactly! But how did those young men -- they are always young men -- become "crazy"? And how are we supposed to protect ourselves and our communities against the crazy behaviour that kills?

To guard against Islamic terrorists, the authorities tell us "If you see something, say something!" But that doesn't work in the case of people like Deimitrios Pagourtzis, the Sante Fe High School killer. The only odd thing that people noticed about him was that he liked to wear a trench coat, even in the Texas heat. What are you gonna do, call 9-1-1 and tell them "my classmate keeps coming to school in a trenchcoat!"?

For that very reason, stricter gun controls won't work, unless America can be turned into some kind of liberal Utopia in which no-one, absolutely no-one has a gun, which seems highly unlikely, to put it mildly. And if that were so, what is to stop a crazy man [or woman! Ed.] from finding another weapon... like a rental van. If you have a good answer to my question, something that doesn't involve locking up every oddball and eccentric in the land, please tell the world... quick!!!

VIDEO: Students say we need to bring God back into our lives

Agent 9 sent us the link to this short (2:17) video, posted to YouTube back in 2015 by students at East Catholic High School, in Manchester CT. The recent massacre at Parkland School makes it even more relevant now than it was when first posted.



The message the students want to get through to the rest of us is that we should be more concerned with God than with being politically correct.
No more "prayer shaming", they say. Let's bring God and prayer back into our lives. Amen!

Why no-one wants to take in Somali "refugees"

When President Trump issued his latest proclamation, "Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry into the United States by Terrorists or other Public-Safety Threats" last month, the usual gang of do-gooders, SJWs and bleeding hearts denounced it as "racist", "Islamophobic", yada yada yada, since all but one of the countries named are Muslim majority states. One of those is Somalia, a failed state which has been exporting "refugees", including Islamic terrorists, to Europe and America for decades.

Use the search feature at the right to get a complete list of the many times Walt has written about "Somalis", and you will soon see why people from that wretched shithole of a "nation" should be at the top of the list of prohibited visitors or immigrants. Here are links to some of the more recent posts.

"Had enough Muslim immigrants yet?", WWW 20/9/16
"The Muslim invasion of Canada has begun (but not where you think)", WWW 6/1/17 - Most of the asylum-seekers mentioned in this piece wound up in Toronto, in the "Dixon" neighbourhood, which will be mentioned in a moment.
"Somali tribesmen of MN (!) fall for anti-vaxxers' BS, get sick and die", WWW 8/5/17
"Edmonton Muslim terrorist attack: Walt told ya so!", WWW 2/10/17
"Somali-Canadian Muslim convicted of planning terror attack on NYC", WWW 7/10/17.

Apparently no-one made the connection between the Islamic terrorist wannabe mentioned in the first post on my list, and the one mentioned in the last post. They are both Somali Muslims. So is the guy charged with attempted murder in the Edmonton "incident". He was first described by Canadian "authorities" and the lamestream media as a "refugee". Turns out his refugee claim was actually made in the USA, where he lived for some time until he was ordered deported. One step ahead of ICE, he then fled to the Great No-longer-white North, where he was welcomed by the gullible Canucks. The Mounties probably helped him with his luggage, as they have with the 1000s of illegals who have crossed the border at Emerson MB and Lacolle QC.

Speaking of those who crossed at Emerson -- see second story on the above list -- Torontonians may be dismayed, but will not be surprised to learn that almost all of them took the welfare and resettlement money given to them by the soft-hearted and soft-headed Canadians and made their way to Toronto, where they were welcomed into the ghetto known as "Dixon", in northern Etobicoke. That area is largely inhabited by Somali refugees, countrymen and perhaps kinsmen of Canada's Minister of Immigration and Refugees (sic), Ahmed Hussen.

Walt has e-mailed the Honourable Mr Husssen for comment on a spate of recent shootings in his community. Last week The Economist released a new index ranking Toronto as the safest city in North America. This comes as news to the residents of Dixon, who held a protest meeting last week (attended only by women and children -- the Somali men were elsewhere) to call for government help (= money) to deal with the seemingly relentless violence that cut short the lives of two young Somali "refugees" last this week alone.

Abdulkadir Bihi, 29, of Toronto was fatally shot last Thursday afternoon when police located him in a vehicle in front of an apartment building on Dixon Road. Police have since charged two suspects with first-degree murder in connection to the homicide. Four days later, a 16-year-old boy died of his injuries in hospital following a triple shooting in the parking lot of Kingsview Village School on Dixon Road and Islington Avenue.
The two other victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The deceased was identified as Zakariye Ali of Toronto. All involved -- victims and shooters -- are Somalis.

Now we come to this weekend's bloody atrocity in the place those people came from -- Somalia, first and foremost among the world's failed states. It is hard to argue with the proposition that Somalia is a dangerous place, even for natives. Not only political conflict, but tribal and clan warfare have raged there since early 2009 -- and that's just the current phase of yet another Muslim civil war into which the West got sucked in the name of peace-keeping. Remember Black Hawk Down? That was about the Battle of Mogadishu, way back in 1993, in which American forces took on Somali militia fighters, with predictable results. (I wrote earlier today about the latest phase of the war in Iraq. See the pattern?)

Mogadishu this weekend was the scene of two massive truck bombings. The death toll is now (Monday morning) over 300, with a like number wounded and injured. Somalia's alleged government -- whose writ does not run even in the country's capital city -- is blaming the al-Shabaab, an affiliate of al-Qaeda. The Islamic terror attack was one of the worst in the world in recent years, and the worst in Somalia ever. Al-Shabaab, Africa's deadliest Islamic extremist group, often targets high-profile areas of Mogadishu. Earlier this year, it vowed to step up attacks after both the Trump administration and Somalia's recently elected president announced new military efforts against the group.

In the wake of the massacre, the one-worlders, bleeding hearts and chattering classes will be calling on President Trump to "temporarily" except Somalia from the list of countries whose nationals aren't allowed to enter the USA. "Be human!", they will clamour, pissing and moaning about those poor people whose lives are in danger, who want to come to America (and maybe onward to Canada, or the other way around) to find peace and security.

At the risk of appearing hard-hearted, Walt would suggest that the only threats to the lives and well-being of most Somalis are threats posed by other Somalis! If you don't believe me, look at Dixon. They bring their political and religious strife with them, as part of their psychological baggage. Better, for us at least, that they stay at home.

Footnote: Oh... Forgot to identify the three Somali "refugees" in the pix above. Check out "Minneapolis: Somali 'refugees' terrorize neighborhood", a story completely ignored by the Star-Tribune since it happened in July of 2016, during the election campaign. Briefly, a group of 20-30 Somali "refugees" terrorized a small neighbourhood filled with million dollar homes, screaming about "jihad" while waving Somali flags, shooting off fireworks and driving their cars onto sidewalks and lawns. They also threatened to kidnap women and rape them because "Sharia law says it's legal."

VIDEO: Thinking about gun control

This weekend's unexplained... and unexplainable... massacre in Las Vegas has been politicized to the Nth degree by the Democrats, lamestream media and others whose agenda is to overturn the Second Amendment and take our guns away, leaving weapons only in the hands of criminals, terrorists and "the Authorities". I've been thinking about that. Being a libertarian, I'm inclined to resist the calls for disarmament of ordinary people, but tragedies like Mandalay Bay and Sandy Hook give me pause.

I have some experience with guns. In my misspent youth [a century ago. Ed.] I was into Dr Hunter S. Thompson's fun trio of drugs, firearms and loud music. Get ripped on reds 'n' white and go out on a dark night and blast the shit out of some inanimate object -- good times, good times. The key word there is "inanimate". I was never a hunter. I did shoot skeet, but Mrs Walt found it hard to clean and cook. But there was something mighty satisfying about firing a good shotgun, like this Ithaca 51.

I used to keep mine, safely stored, in my cabin in the pines, a good half-hour by car from the nearest town of any size. I have always subscribed to the theory that a man's home is his castle, and was secretly hoping for an opportunity to defend my little castle with the Ithaca or either of a couple of pistols I kept for just such an occasion. The shotgun would have been best. Cut the intruder in half with a deer slug. Yeah. Just as Bill Burr says at the 2-minute mark of this video.



Eventually I discovered that the Authorities and Forces For Good in the community don't want us to defend ourselves and our property. If someone breaks into your home or place of business, they say, don't challenge them, especially with a weapon. They could use it against you! Just call 9-1-1 and the police will take care of you. I call BS on that! I tried it when a young punk walked into my office after hours, looking for trouble. I gave him what he was looking for -- a warning shot across the bow, so to speak -- and then called the police. Guess who wound up in the dock (not the kind where you park your boat)? That's right. It was me! [Should be "It was I!" Ed.]

Right, Ed. We must watch our grammar. But we have no time for that now. To get my train of thought back on the rails, imagine what would have happened if I had actually shot that kid! I would likely be writing this blog with a pencil on prison stationery. [But that's what you... oh... never mind. Ed.] Law-abiding citizens who exercise whatever right to self defence is left to them by the nanny state get the shitty end of the stick every time, while criminals and terrorists get the other end. It ain't right!

I will grant you... I have to grant you, given the terrible reality of events like this weekend's massacre, that every now and then some deranged individual will go right off the deep end and take out some innocent people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mandalay Bay was the worst, but it wasn't the first. On the other hand, perfectly sane but perfectly evil people do the same thing. Look at Orlando. Look at San Bernadino.

Several people said that if some of the people shot in those terrorist attacks had had guns of their own, the death toll would have been considerably lower. IMHO that's right. We can't depend on our police to protect us, either because they are afraid of being called "racists"and "Nazis" or because they themselves are the thugs and bullies who like to shoot people just for the fun of it. Our best defence against terrorists or other marauders is a peaceful but vigilant and well-armed citizenry.

Please don't tell me that's a ridiculous notion, a classic example of American exceptionalism. Swiss laws on the possession and use of firearms are based on a longstanding tradition of shooting as a part of the national identity. The practice of the Swiss militia is to have the citizen soldiers keep their rifles in their homes. And we're talking about military-style guns, not just hunting rifles or shotguns.

What is needed, to avoid repeats of Mandalay Bay or Pulse or Sandy Hook, is not a ban on firearms, but more careful screening and enforcement to make sure that guns are kept out of the hands of terrorists and idiots. In Switzerland, in order to buy most weapons, the purchaser must obtain a weapon acquisition permit. Any adult citizen who is not psychiatrically disqualified nor identified as posing security problems, and who has a clean criminal record can request such a permit. The same rules apply to the purchase of ammunition.

In the result, although the percentage of Swiss who own firearms is probably higher than that of the USA, the murder rate in Switzerland is much, much lower. And so far there has not been a single terrorist attack. Think about it. Banning guns is not the answer to ails the Paranoid States of America today. It's not the guns. It's the people who have them.

Further reading: "The Culture of Death—and of Disdain", by Peggy Noonan in The Wall Street Journal, 5/10/17. "Why do Americans own so many guns? Because they don’t trust the protected elites to protect them."

ISIS claims responsibility for Mandalay Bay massacre, FBI says no

Latest numbers from Las Vegas show 58 dead and over 500 injured in the Mandalay Bay massacre, making it the deadliest mass murder in American history. Las Vegas police have confirmed that Stephen Paddock, 64, is being considered the perpetrator. He was found dead in his hotel room, across from the site of the outdoor country music festival which he shot up.

"Stephen Paddock" doesn't sound like an Arab or African name, and a photo plastered all over the internet shows him as a rather scruffy-looking whitey. The question on everybody's lips, likewise all over the net, is: why did he do it? A little-known website called SITE Intelligence Group Enterprise, run by one (((Rita Katz))), reports that ISIS has issued a "formal communiqué" credit for the shooting. Here's what they tweeted.

The post, in the Jihadist News section of the website, claims that Stephen Paddock is one and the same as "Abu Abdul Barr al-Amriki". They show an ISIS communiqué declaring that he heeded the response of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to attack coalition countries.

A statement from the ISIS news agency Amaq said, "The Las Vegas attacker is a soldier of the Islamic State in response to calls to target coalition countries. The Las Vegas attacker converted to Islam a few months ago." No evidence is given for any of that. Police searched Mr Paddock's hotel room and his home, but haven't come up with any evidence that he had ties to the Islamic terrorist group.

Apart from the SITE report, all we've heard so far is the suggestion that the late Mr Paddock was "known to local law enforcement". And now -- just a few minutes ago -- Agence France Presse tweeted a denial from the FBI that there is any connection between the perp and ISIS. Here it is.

Walt finds the contradiction between what SITE says and what the FBI says more than passing strange. Either the FBI is lying -- something they've never done before -- or SITE, (((Ms Katz))) and her colleagues are guilty of (at least) creating and spreading "fake news". But why would they do that? Stay tuned!

UPDATED: Black racist shoots up Nashville church

No, we're not talking about how Dylan Roof, an avowed white supremacist shot up the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston SC, back in June of 2015. He killed nine people and wounded three others, in hopes (the state alleged) of starting a race war. Mr Roof was found competent to stand trial in federal court, and in December 2016 was convicted of 33 federal hate crime and murder charges stemming from the shooting. On January 10th of this year, he was sentenced to death.

Mr Roof was separately charged with nine counts of murder in the South Carolina state courts. This past April, he pleaded guilty to all nine state charges in order to avoid a second death sentence and was sentenced to life imprisonment for each, clearing the way for his eventual federal execution.

Mr Roof was white. His victims were black. The massacre was undoubtedly a hate crime, and rightly denounced as such by all right-thinking people (and I mean "right-thinking" in a moral, not political sense). Let us see what happens now that the roles have been reversed.

Yesterday, in Antioch TN (just down the road from Nashville), one woman was killed and seven other people were hurt after a suspect identified as a Sudanese immigrant opened fire at the predominantly white Burnette Chapel Church of Christ.

Law enforcement officials identified the the perp as Emanuel Kidega Samson, 25, who immigrated, with his family, from Sudan in 1996. The family qualified as refugees from the civil war which was then (and still is) raging in that impoverished and backward country.

Mr Samson is suspected (LOL - "suspected") of bringing at least two pistols to the church, along with a ski mask which he donned before opening fire. An usher, Robert Engle, confronted the gunman at one point and was pistol-whipped, causing significant injury around his head. During the scuffle, Mr Samson too was injured. It was initially reported that he had shot himself, but police now say it might have been that his gun discharged unintentionally.

Nashville police took Mr Samson to the hospital. Following treatment he was released, and is expected to be charged with murder and attempted murder. The FBI and the US Attorney's office have opened a civil rights investigation. It is not yet clear whether the "civil rights" which may have been violated are those of Mr Samson or his victims. In today's America, who knows...

No word has reached us, yet, of demonstrations being planned by SPLC, BLM, the masked marauders of AntiFa or other SJWs.

UPDATE ADDED 30/9/17: The Washington Post reported yesterday that a note in Mr Samson's car indicated a possible plot spurred by the fatal 2015 shootings at Emanuel AME church in Charleston. Reuters tried to get confirmation or at least a comment from representatives of the US Attorney's Office, the FBI and the Nashville police. No-one would utter a word because, as we all know, racism is a white thing... only a white thing.

UPDATED: Who's responsible for latest Afghanistan massacre?

Which group of Islamic terrorists is responsible for yesterday's massive suicide car bombing in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan? The body count so far is 90 dead, at least 400 wounded. That's more than four times the number of casualties in last week's ISIS-related Manchester massacre, but you won't be seeing much handwringing and crocodile tears from Western politicians or in the lamestream media, because hey, these are just towel-headed Muslims. Who cares? And that answers the question in today's headline.

It's worth noting, though, that this was one of the worst attacks Kabul had seen since the Prez (Obama -- how quickly we forget) declared victory in Afghanistan and started the drawdown of foreign forces from the country at the end of 2014. The bombing, which took place in what was supposed to be Kabul's safest neighbourhood, raises serious questions about the Afghan government's ability to secure the war-battered nation.

If the Afghans' democratically elected government (LOL) can't control their own country, must we go back in to pacify the Taliban and/or ISIS for them? There was talk of "re-engaging" even before yesterday's blast. Indeed, more than 8000 of US troops and "advisors" are still there, along with personnel from other NATO countries -- excluding Canada, of course -- but they are steadily losing ground. In fact, the Kabul government's writ runs only to the perimeter of the city, if that.

Last month, the Afghan Taliban announced the beginning of their spring offensive, promising to build their political base in the country while focusing military assaults on the international coalition and Afghan security forces. American and Afghan forces have been battling the Taliban insurgency for more than 15 years... and counting. If anyone has a persuasive argument as to why we should continue, please write it on the back of a postage stamp and send it to Walt at the usual address.

FURTHER READING, added 1/6/17: Don Murray, a formerly a CBC reporter and now a freelancer, thinks WE are responsible for the latest Taliban (or ISIS) attacks in Afghanistan, in the sense that, if "we" weren't there, the fanatical Islamists wouldn't be blowing things up. Read "Afghan civilians bear brunt of US-led war". The secondary title is "Few American, NATO troops now die in the conflict but their presence ensures ever more Afghans will get killed". Hmm. Could be.

VIDEO: What REALLY happened at Québec City ???

What REALLY happened at Québec City is a good question, a very good question. Here's a précis of the story so far, as reported in the lamestream media and discussed on WWW here, here and (especially) here.

Just over a week ago, President Trump announced a temporary ban on travel to the USA by nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries. The ban was decried immediately by all right-minded progressive thinkers. One of the most vociferous decriers was Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. A week ago he got up on his hind feet to declare that the ban and its author were evil, all Muslims are wonderful peace-loving people, and any of them who were turned away from the USA would be more than welcome in Canada.

Even as Hairboy was speaking, two (2) people burst into the Islamic Centre (mosque) in the Sainte-Foy district of Québec City and opened fire on worshippers caught with their bums in the air. A shout of "Allahu akbar!" was heard. Six followers of the Prophet were killed and several more (numbers vary) wounded. Québec City cops immediately arrested two "suspects". One was Alexandre Bissonnette, a French-speaking Canadian. The other was Mohamed Belkadir, a "Muslim Canadian" said to be "of Moroccan origin".

After a night in police custody, M Belkadir was declared to be No Longer A Suspect, and released. Inspector Clouseau called him a "witness", not a suspect. M Trudeau chastised Fox News for describing him as a "Moroccan". The "witness" said police treated him very nicely.

That's the processed cheese version of a story which becomes more complex the more you think about it. What, Walt wonders, is the sharp cheddar version? What really happened there? The Velveeta version leaves unanswered these very good questions:

• What kind of "witness" is Mohamed Belkadir? Do they mean he was just an innocent bystander? Or is he now a Crown witness? (That's the Canuck term for someone who has turned "state's evidence".)
• How come other witnesses said there were two attackers, but the police now say there was only one?
• How come Alexandre Bissonnette has been charged with six counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder, but none (0) of terrorism or anything like that?
• Why did the reports of someone shouting "Allahu akbar!" disappear from the stories in the lamestream media?

I could go on, but will leave it to The Rebel's Gavin McInnes to propound what is certain to be dismissed as a conspiracy theory. Is it possible, he asks, that M Belkadir got a plea deal from the authorities? Why would such be offered? For reasons of political correctness, and to spare the Liberal governments of Canada and Québec the embarrassment of having to admit that the country has a Muslim problem. Have a listen.

UPDATED: Québec massacre: whodunnit... and WHY?

Since January 1st, 99% of the news -- not just in the Excited States of America but overseas -- seems to involve President Donald Trump. Since his election, the USA and the world -- the Western world at least -- is more polarized than ever before. The lamestream media and the self-righteous liberals want us to believe that it's all Mr Trump's fault, but the polarization began long BT (Before Trump). It arose out of the consequences of the failed social and foreign policies of the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations.

The American people elected President Trump because they were fed up with seeing the USA going downhill, so they bought into Mr Trump's promise to make America great again. So now, everything that happens, anywhere in the world, good or bad, happens because of something Trump did. Case in point: Sunday night's massacre of six Ahmadiyya Muslims (19 others were wounded or injured) in Québec City, the heart of French-speaking Canada.

When the news broke, we were told there were two shooters, and possibly a third who was the object of a search by a SWAT team. But two shooters for sure. I wrote "Two suspects have been arrested. We have not been told whether they are 'Muslim Canadians' or 'old stock Canadians'..." Turns out it was one of each! Québec city police identified the two men arrested following the deadly shooting as Alexandre Bissonnette and Mohamed Khadir.

"Mohamed Khadir" turned out to be Mohamed Belkhadir, a Canadian resident originally from Morocco. He had been shovelling snow when he heard gunshots; when they stopped he entered the mosque to call 911. "I saw the image of someone with a firearm, I didn't know it was police. I thought it was a shooter who'd returned," M Belkhadir told Radio Canada. Naturally he fled, but was caught and arrested outside the mosque within mere minutes. Yesterday afternoon he was released, after police confirmed he was a witness and not involved in the shooting.

Of course there was no question of racial profiling there, except perhaps on the part of folks like Ezra Levant and (ahem) your obedient servant. As I wrote in yesterday's update, a witness reported hearing shouts of "Allahu akbar!" I admit to jumping to the conclusion that the massacre was yet another episode in the Muslim civil war, an attack by Islamic extremists on moderate Ahmadiyya Muslims. How M Bissonnette fitted in was unclear, but it was possible (I thought) that he was yet another "homegrown terrorist", perhaps a radicalized convert to Muslim. Canada has had a couple of cases like that in the recent past.

Now the police say that there was only the one shooter -- Alexandre Bissonnette -- who they have charged with six counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder. What motivated this man to shoot up a mosque-full of innocent Muslims? The answer, according to the Canuck media this morning, is... wait for it... Donald Trump!

That's right, boys and girls! The official liberal party line is that President's Trump's "anti-Muslim" rhetoric and ban on travellers from seven predominantly Muslim countries has "emboldened" Islamophobes and "haters" like M Bissonnette to step up their "crusade" against the followers of Islam, "the religion of peace".

What we know about Alexandre Bissonnette is that he's a French-speaking "old stock Canadian", born and raised in la Belle Province. According to his Facebook page (since taken down), he is from Cap-Rouge, a suburb of Québec City. He was a student at Université Laval, and worked part-time in a call centre. He and his twin brother were renting an apartment near the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec, where the shooting took place. A neighbour described M Bissonnette as very introverted, "a very closed-off young man."

A neighbour of M Bissonnette's parents called him "a child," adding "You couldn't find one more calm than that. He never did anything, he always kept to himself. We never heard of anything." Another neighbour, Réjean Bussiè​re, described M Bissonnette as "a young man who is extremely withdrawn." The Bissonnette brothers were not the kind to bother others, M Bussiè​re said, "but they were not social people."

Do you see anything there to suggest M Bissonnette is the sort of person who would take it into his head to go out and kill some Muslims? The suggestion that he's an Islamophobic nutbar was, in fact, planted by a group of activists calling themselves "Bienvenue aux réfugiés", whose mission is to welcome refugees -- especially Muslim refugees -- the Great No-longer-white North. On their Facebook page, they expressed "pain and anger" over the news, adding that the suspect "unfortunately known to several activists in Quebec City for his pro-Le Pen and anti-feminist positions at Laval University and on social networks."

Aha! Alexandre Bissonnette likes Marine Le Pen! And he doesn't like feminists! Indeed, according to police, his Facebook page showed M Bissonnette to be a follower of "several profiles that espouse right-wing ideologies". So there you have it. The proper conclusion to which we should now jump is that M Bissonnette is a Trumper -- secretly if not overtly -- and probably a member of a vast right-wing conspiracy to kill every Muslim North America, if not the world. No less an authority on right-wing conspiracies than J.K. Rowling tells us so.

UPDATE ADDED 5/2/17: Gavin McInnes gives his take on what really happened. He thinks the Muslim guy got a plea deal to negate the suggestion that there is a Muslim problem in Canada. Click here to see the video: running time 7:41.

UPDATE on Québec mosque massacre - "Allahu akbar!"

As the dawn comes up like thunder over the Citadelle and the Château Frontenac [Enough purple prose. Get on with it. Ed.] OK, here's what we know, in the cold light of dawn, about last night's terrorist attack in Québec City.

First, the body count. Six confirmed dead. 19 wounded or injured.

What kind of an attack was it? Canuck Prime Minister Trudeau called it "cowardly". Philippe Couillard, the Premier of Québec, went somewhat farther, calling the shooting "barbaric". He was also the first to mention the dreaded T-word -- "terrorist". Now several officials have called the massacre an "act of terrorism". But for reasons of political correctness they are leaving out the adjective "Islamic". All they will say is that the motive of the shooters is unclear.

Two suspects have been arrested. They are said to be "residents", which is the Canadian term for people who are in their country but not citizens. Like students from overseas. Or "refugees". Or immigrants who couldn't be bothered taking out Canadian citizenship. One of the "residents" is reported (but not confirmed) to be "of Moroccan origin". Uh-oh.

Walt is waiting to see how the Liberal governments of Canada and Québec are going to spin this one. If the murderers turn out to be, errr, Muslims (as I suggested last night), they're going to have a hard time blaming this on racist white guys, Islamophobia or Donald Trump. I will withhold further comment until I have official statements to ridicule.

UPDATE OF THE UPDATE!!! This just in from Radio Canada (the French part of the CBC).
"A witness who asked to remain anonymous told Radio-Canada that two masked individuals entered the mosque. 'It seemed to me that they had a Québécois accent. They started to fire, and as they shot, they yelled, 'Allahu akbar!'"

Québec city police identified the two men arrested following the deadly shooting as Alexandre Bissonnette and... wait for it... Mohamed Khadir. The gendarmes are investigating the possibility that the two may have been students at nearby Laval University.

So... Islamic terrorists... Looks like Walt was the first to suggest the possibility, at the end of last night's post. Lifetime pct .991. The question now: Are they home-grown or imported? If that latter, President Trump's "drastic" immigration ban starts to look sensible, doesn't it!

The question arises: why would Islamic terrorists attack a Mosque? Isn't that brother attacking brother? My research into the CCIQ (Islamic Cultural Centre of Québec) has been made difficult by the fact that their website (reported by Google as possibly hacked) has now been taken down. But it looks to me as if the CCIQ was a community of Ahmadiya Muslims. The Ahmadiyas are regarded by other Muslims, particularly the ultra-orthodox Sunnis, as heretical. They have been attacked by other Muslims in the UK and elsewhere. So my guess is that what has happened is that the Muslim civil war has come to Canada. As long as that country's Liberal government continues to hold the doors wide open, last night's attack would seem to be only the beginning.

Poisoned fruits of American meddling in the Muslim civil wars

Before we get to Esteban Santiago and yesterday's "incident" in Fort Lauderdale, let me tell you (since the American lamestream media can't be bothered with this little story) about the late Lionel Desmond, pictured below with his late wife and late daughter.

Mr Desmond was an "African-Canadian" who served with the Canadian Army in the American-led invasion of Afghanistan. On Tuesday night he shot his wife, daughter and mother in their home in rural Nova Scotia, before turning his gun on himself.

The Mounties refused to give specifics about the two guns seized at the home or Mr Desmond's mental health. "Those are details that we're not able to release at this time and, of course, a person's medical condition is protected information," said Cpl. Jennifer Clarke. However, family members and friends have said he suffered from PTSD.

PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder. In a rant about the sanitization of English, George Carlin said PTSD is what we called "combat fatigue" in World War II and "shell shock" in World War I. Putting it another way, something that happened to Mr Desmond in Afghanistan -- something he saw or heard or did -- made him crazy.

Lionel Desmond had no business being in Afghanistan. He was sent there by the Canadian government to assure the US government that Canada was standing shoulder to shoulder with America in their quest to defeat terrorism and bring democracy and the American way of life Army to the benighted Muslims. The invasion of Afghanistan was ill-conceived and ill-executed. The price of intervention is still being paid not just by "the natives" but by 1000s of American, British and Canadian servicemen (or "servicepersons", if you like) and their families. The Desmonds are four more casualties of the Muslim civil war.

Now we come to Esteban Santiago, who yesterday added another five dead and eight wounded to the list of casualties. We know how that turned out. Mr Santiago is a Hispanic American, and, the authorities say, a decorated veteran of the American invasion of Iraq. He served from 2007 to 2016 in the Puerto Rico National Guard and Alaska National Guard including a deployment to Iraq from 2010 to 2011. He received half a dozen medals before being transferred to the inactive ready reserve in August of 2015.

Since returning from Iraq, Mr Santiago served in the Army Reserves and the Alaska National Guard in Anchorage. He was serving as a combat engineer in the Guard before his discharge for "unsatisfactory performance," according to spokesthingy Lt. Col. Candis Olmstead. His military rank upon discharge was E3 (Private First Class), and he worked one weekend a month with an additional 15 days of training yearly. Lt. Col. Olmstead would not elaborate on his discharge, but the Pentagon said he went AWOL several times and was demoted and discharged.

Last November, Mr Santiago turned up at an FBI office in Anchorage, behaving erratically. He told the Feds the government was controlling his mind and telling him to go and fight for ISIS. Did this alarm them? Apparently not, for they turned him over to local police, who took him to a medical facility for a mental health evaluation. His brother, Bryan Santiago, told AP that his brother's girlfriend had recently called the family to alert them to his treatment.

Bryan Santiago said his brother never spoke to him directly about his medical issues. "We haven't talked for the past three weeks," he said. "That's a bit unusual... I'm in shock. He was a serious person... He was a normal person." Esteban Santiago's aunt in Union City New Jersey didn't see it that way. Maria Ruiz Rivera told the press the suspect in the Fort Lauderdale massacre had recently become a father and was "struggling" after a tour of duty in Iraq. "It was like he lost his mind," Ms Ruiz said in Spanish. "He said he saw things."

Esteban Santiago is in custody in Fort Lauderdale, helping authorities with their investigation, as the saying goes. Walt assumes they're asking him why he packed an assault rifle -- literally -- unpacked it in the baggage claim area of FLL, calmly loaded it and fired randomly into a crowd of travellers. What happened to him in Iraq? What things did he see that unhinged him so? What did the voices he heard say to him? Was he "radicalized"... or just plain crazy?

Whatever happened to Mr Santiago, the fact remains that there was no reason for him to be in Iraq other than the total and utter failure of American foreign policy through the administrations four (4) presidents. Can we expect any change when Donald Trump takes office in less than two weeks? Let's hope so... but don't count on it. (Lifetime pct .987.)

Muslims cause more trouble in Europe and Middle East

Walt has returned from a long and blissful weekend on an island far removed from the hurly-burly of politics, race riots and Islamic terrorism. (See? Unlike the Prez, I calls it by its name, as I sees it!) I cut myself off from TV and the Internet. It didn't really matter because I knew, even before it happened, what the news would be.

Donald Trump was officially chosen as the Republican candidate for the presidensity. The lamestream media found further "evidence" of his unsuitability in the speech given by his current other half, about 6% of which seems to have been lifted from a speech given by Mrs 0 eight years ago. So what. There's no copyright in ideas, and how many different ways can you say people should work hard, dare to dream, keep their promises -- did Mrs 0 really say that? -- yada yada yada. Big deal.

In Armpitistan this weekend, ISIS claimed responsibility for a "joint suicide bombing" Saturday that killed dozens of people during a peaceful demonstration by a minority group in Kabul. An Afghan freelance journalist told CNN, "I saw tens of people laying [sic] down in blood around me and hundreds of people running away from the scene." So far, 80 corpses and more than 260 wounded people were taken to hospitals in the Afghan capital, according to a spokesthingy for the Afghan Health Ministry. I'm not sure what a "joint suicide bombing" is. Maybe people should stay out of those joints!

And today in Iraq -- pronounced "Ee-rak", please, not "Eye-rak" -- terror struck the streets of Baghdad yet again after a suicide bombing killed at least 21 people in a residential neighbourhood. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Kadhimiya, which injured more than 35 others. The claim by ISIS was released by the terror group's media wing Amaq and on pro-ISIS social media accounts circulated by its supporters. The attack came just weeks after the deadliest terror attack in war-weary Baghdad in years, when a suicide truck bomb plowed into a busy shopping district killing almost 300, most of whom were co-religionists of the Islamic terrorists.

Muslim troubles continue in Germany too, where terrorists, either inspired by or working with ISIS, continued apparently random attacks. There was the massacre in Munich on Friday, the work of a "German-Iranian", whose motives were, according to the Polizei, "unclear". Then today a 21-year-old Syrian "refugee" was arrested after killing a pregnant woman with a machete. Inspector Katzenjammer said the homicide did not appear to be linked to any militant groups or designated terrorist entities. All the same, that's the second or third -- I've lost count -- killing by Muslims of Middle Eastern descent in the last week.

But, as Vince Offer used to say, wait... there's more.

Word has just reached us via the mojo wire that, in the southern German city of Ansbach, a man was killed when an explosive device he was believed to be carrying went off near an open-air music festival, injuring 10 others. Local police said that just after 10 PM local time on Sunday they were alerted to an explosion in the city centre. "A man — according to our current knowledge, the perpetrator — died" in the blast, they said in the short statement.

The German news agency DPA reported that the nearby open-air concert with some 2,500 in attendance was shut down as a precaution after the explosion. The Bavarian Interior Ministry (responsible for the police and the security of the Vaterland) told DPA that it appeared to possibly be a bombing attack, saying that there was evidence that there was a "deliberate explosion." That's good police work, boys!

So here we are again... or still.... Islamic terrorists keep killing people in Europe and the Middle East. Yet the lamestream media and the Democrats keep saying The Donald is a fascist and a madman for calling for controls on Muslims coming to America. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it? Speaking of which, the Democratic convention is set to start tomorrow in the City of Brotherly Love... well, about six miles from the city centre, actually. Expect a lot more nonsense between now and next weekend. Stay tuned.

Further reading (and viewing): "'It’s the Immigration Problem, Stupid'", on Dr. Rich Swier's blogsite. Includes video of Senator Jeff Sessions speaking at the GOP convention.

Nice massacre: UPDATED with comment from Rex Murphy

At least 84 people have been killed in city of Nice, on the French Riviera, after an armed man drove a tractor-trailer for well over a mile at full speed through a crowd who had gathered to watch the Bastille Day fireworks over the seafront. The attack on France’s national day came eight months after 130 people were killed in coordinated attacks on a stadium, bars and a rock concert at the Bataclan venue in Paris. In January of 2015 another dozen people were killed in the Charlie Hebdo attacks. That makes three major terrorist attacks in 18 months, with 226 killed, and counting....

By whom and for what? In a rare moment of comprehension, President François Hollande said the Nice killings on Thursday night appeared to be a terrorist attack. But, he and the lamestream media rushed to say, it was too early to speculate on the motivation, identity or possible affiliation of an attacker. That was last night. This morning, in the cold light of dawn, French security forces revealed that the driver of the monster truck was Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, an immigrant from Tunisia.

Tunisia is a former French colony on the Mediterranean coast of Africa. There were two massacres of innocent people, mostly tourists, in Tunisia last year. On 26 June 2015, 38 people were killed when an armed gunman attacked a hotel in Sousse. Three months earlier, 22 more were killed in an attack at the Bardo National Museum. The attackers were Islamic extremists, acting on the commands of the Holy Qu'ran to kill infidels wherever they might be found.

M Bouhlel was an Arab and a follower of the Prophet. He is said to have been "known to police", but was not on any security watchlist. No-one heard his last words, amidst the screams of the dying, and the bangs of the fireworks and gunfire, but Walt wouldn't be surprised if his last moments sounded like this!



Further reading: "Why Terrorists Keep Succeeding in France" by Leonid Bershidsky, on Bloomberg, 15/7/16. Key point: inadequate policing and a failure to integrate immigrants.

And still more reading (added 17/7): "The world is becoming immunized to the horrors of terrorism". Rex Murphy in the National Post. Quote: "How many lone wolves does it take to make a pack?... Western leaders spend more time trying to muffle the domestic reaction to terror attacks than on the terror attacks themselves. They readily fire up the increasingly numb and hollow tropes of racism and xenophobia when ordinary people speak what they actually feel after each fresh horror.

"It is little wonder, then, that people turn to more radical solution offered by the likes of Donald Trump and Nigel Farage: when legitimate expressions of concern are put off limits, people will seek a voice for their fears and worries.... The merciless character and unappeasable appetites of murderous jihadism call for real and determined leadership."

LATEST on gay nightclub massacre - what kind of terrorism?

Very disconcerting news on the mojo wire at sunrise this morning, about a mass shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub. [Aren't all nightclubs supposed to be gay?... Oh... I see what you mean... Ed.] Some 20 people of the LGBT persuasion have been killed and at least twice that number wounded, just at closing time when, as one witness aid, "they were taking their last sips."

The alleged shooter is reported to have killed himself, which will make it difficult for Inspector Bubba to interrogate him. However, an FBI spokesthingy says the massacre is being investigated as an act of terrorism. But (Walt asks) what kind of terrorism was it? Domestic or imported? Did the shooter act alone or was he part of some terrorist cell? Was this an egregious example of homophobia? Anti-semitism? Anti-Americanism? Or just plain old Islamic terrorism?

I can almost hear the Clintonistas and anti-Trumpers praying [Do they do that? Ed.] "Please, Allah, let it not be a Muslim or a black guy!" But this is (obviously) a breaking story so Walt will refrain from making any phobic comments until more facts are known.

IN THE COLD LIGHT OF DAWN... Orlando cops are now saying there are fifty (50) dead, including the gunman.

Congersman Alan Grayson (Dem-FL) immediately laid down the PC party line, telling reporters, "It's no coincidence the attack took place where it did and when it did. Because it's a gay club and it might be that we've seen the commission of an awful hate crime last night."

Unfortunately for those hoping and praying there was no Muslim connection, the killer was identified as Omar S. Mateen, of Port St. Lucie FL. Mr Grayson hastened to assure us that Mr Mateen "was a U.S. citizen. That's not true of some of his family members." Mr Grayson did not say which part of Ireland Mr Mateen's family came from.

Ooooops. Turns out the Mateens weren't from Ireland after all. CBS News says they came from... wait for it... Afghanistan. How did they get into the USA? Not as refugees, surely!

There has so far been no motive confirmed for the shootings, but FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Ron "Claude" Hopper said the gunman "may have leanings" toward Jihadist ideology. No shit, Sherlock!

Umpqua "white supremacist" shooter turns out to be, errr, mulatto

"Mulatto" is a word you don't hear much any more -- archaic and politically incorrect. Some people think it means a person who's half black and half white, like the Prez. But percentages don't matter. Ed.'s Annadale's English Dictionary defines "mulatto" as "a person that [sic] is the offspring of parents of whom one is white and the other a negro".

In South Africa a person of mixed race -- black and white -- is called "coloured". You wouldn't expect such a person to be a white supremacist, would you. But that's the label the controlled lamestream media are trying to hang on Christopher Harper-Mercer, the deranged (?) young man who murdered nine people and injured nine others at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg OR at the end of September.

The "authorities", media and other Forces For Good in America -- including the Prez -- are falling all over themselves to portray the late Mr. Harper-Mercer -- he shot himself after being wounded by police -- as some kind of neo-Nazi, white supremacist, racist pig. Here are some examples, as posted on The New Observer website.

LA Times, 2/10/15: "The gunman was described Friday as a 'hate-filled individual' with anti-religion and white supremacist leanings who had long struggled with mental health issues, law enforcement sources said."

On the same date, the Times also reported that Mr. Harper-Mercer’s Facebook profile included "a reference to Nazi Germany", although they did not reveal exactly what that "reference" was. Another unnamed "federal law enforcement source" is quoted as saying that "authorities had obtained some of Harper-Mercer's writings, as well as a note he left behind, suggesting that he supported white supremacist causes and opposed organized religion."

It's not just the American meeja. On October 3rd, the UK's Sunday Express went well over the top with this headline: "Hero who tackled France train attacker should have been at uni where Nazi fanatic killed 9".

That's enough examples. Suffice it to say that the "white supremacist" slander has been repeated by the controlled media across the USA and around the world. What they ignore -- deliberately -- is that Mr. Harper-Mercer was a mulatto, the son of a white father and black mother. Here's his picture, before and after the Photoshop treatment which CNN denies ever using.

Whaddya think? In South Africa, they used to use a "pencil test" to determine if a person was white or coloured. A pencil was pushed through the person's hair. How easily it came out determined whether the person "passed" or "failed". Obviously this isn't going to work in the case of Mr. Harper-Mercer, so we're left with only his physiognomy and skin colour. He's a shade or two whiter than the Prez, but still appears to be a "person of colour" -- a strange type to be a white supremacist.

In fact, Mr. Harper-Mercer was an open anti-white racist, as evidenced by this comment made last August on a "Black Lives Matter" site.

[Note from Ed.: I know it's a bit hard to read. Enlarging the image didn't help. What he wrote is "Fuck white racist pigs like Bernie."]

Why, then, this concerted effort to portray him as the opposite of what he was? Surely it couldn't be a deliberate attempt to incite hatred against white people... could it?!