US media and Jihad

A news alert from the Washington Post:

"Abdul Razak Ali Artan, an Ohio State student, drove a speeding car into a crowd outside a classroom building Monday morning officials said, then got out and slashed at people with a large knife, sending 11 people to the hospital in what authorities said was a planned assault. 

Officials said they had no information on a possible motive and said that campus video cameras showed Artan was alone in the car."

As soon as I saw this guy's name, I knew what his motive was: individual Jihad. 

Google "stabbing jihad" and you quickly get a list of other recent examples.

I loathe Donald Trump and everything he stands for, except that he at least pretended to take Islamic fascism seriously, which surely got him some votes. Banning all Muslims from entering the US is dumb and probably unconstitutional, but acknowledging that we have an Islam problem is at least a start at understanding the issue.

Local liberals have a problem understanding this issue.

President Obama and Hillary both carefully avoided mentioning Islam after such attacks, apparently for diplomatic reasons and not wanting to offend Muslim majority countries. (See The speech on Islam that Hillary needs to give and Liberals failing to talk honestly about Islam.)

Islam has an extremist problem, and Islam's problem is also our problem. If Muslim countries don't like our leaders saying that, too fucking bad.

Unlike some of Trump's associates, I don't think Islamist extremism by individuals like this is an "existential" threat to our country's existence. 

But it is now and in the future a threat from people like the Ohio State student, who see it as their divine duty to kill unbelievers wherever and however they can. These fanatics can't destroy the US, but they can do a lot of damage and kill of lot of people. The battle will go on for the rest of our lives, since there is no obvious or easy solution to individual jihad.

We should be grateful that this fanatic didn't have an automatic weapon.

Islamic State claims it "soldier" carried out Ohio State attack

See also 9/11 and Jihad Terror: A Legacy of Over 13 Centuries

Elizabeth DeVos: Anti-gay activist is Secretary of Education

Getty Images

From Trump moves to destroy public education:

...During the campaign, Candidate Trump endorsed a vastly expanded “charter school” system and pledged to divert $20 billion in federal funds away from public schools. It would end up financing Southern segregation academies, religious schools, and private and for-profit ventures. To do this Trump was going to tie federal dollars to individual children, so wherever they went, the dollars would follow.

Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education could hardly be worse. Right-wing billionaire Elizabeth “Betsy” DeVos has spent decades and millions of dollars in campaigns to privatize, defund, and destroy public education in her home state of Michigan and in the United States...

DeVos is a product of Christian education and she and her family members are involved across-the-board in right-wing activities including anti-gay marriage efforts and covert for-profit military operations. DeVos never worked in public education in any capacity and her children all attended Christian academies...

See also Meet the New Kochs: The DeVos Clan's Plan to Defund the Left and Trump Picks Antigay Activist Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education