Goofy muddle about terrorism

New York Daily News

The befuddled reaction to the latest slaughter is simply bizarre, as if it's never happened before or as if the motives of the San Bernardino shooters were somehow mysterious. As soon as I saw the Middle Eastern names of the suspects, it seemed likely to me that they were what are called "individual jihadists," that is, Muslim extremists engaging in terrorism on their own initiative, inspired formerly  by Al Qaeda but now by ISIS.

The muddle continues on the front page of today's NY Times: "F.B.I. Investigating California Rampage as a Potential Act of Terrorism." Gee, do you think? And the hed on the story just below: "A Couple Who lived Quietly, Motives Unknown," even though the story linked above reported that the authorities already essentially knew what their motives were: they were inspired by radical Islam. 

And the shooter's father said this two days ago: “He was very religious. He would go to work, come back, go to pray, come back. He’s Muslim.”

Instead we get this stupidity: "But officials emphasized that they did not know what set off the attack, and said that they were not ready to call it terrorism." 

This is like the stupidity the feds displayed after the Fort Hood shooting in 2009, which, apparently for legal reasons, they insisted on calling "workplace violence," not terrorism, even though the shooter made his religious motives clear. 

If there really is a legal problem here, then change the fucking law so that the "authorities" don't look like complete morons and incompetents. It's not exactly reassuring to the citizenry when our rulers talk like idiots during one of these incidents.

And of course all good liberals rush to point out that Islamic terrorists are a minority in that faith, that most Muslims are non-violent, etc. Yes, of course, but obviously Islam has a problem, and Islam's problem is also our problem---and will continue to be our problem for the foreseeable future.

Yes, praying to a non-existent god will availeth us not, but gun control would help.

The Onion says it best.