The war on terror has come to our shores...

[kentuck]

It is a common human failure to not see reality on first glance. However, the many years of military adventures around the world, mostly the Middle East, has finally found its way to America.

Unlike the Middle East, we have not yet experienced car bombs, as they have in the war zones. However, we did have the OKC bombing and the first WTC bombings involving vehicles.

The present war on terror in America is taking the shape of so-called "lone wolves". They do tend to be of Middle Eastern or Asian heritage. Many of these people, mostly young men, have become indoctrinated thru the modern social media. They have not totally assimilated into the American culture.

This new war on terror is exacerbated by these "lone wolves" easy access to weapons, including assault weapons, and the inability of our political Parties to address the problem.

The massacre in Orlando may have been a hate crime but it was also an act of terror. We may see another mass killing, sooner rather than later, if our politicians do not do something to stop the spread of these dangerous weapons into the hands of these "new" terrorists.

Political correctness aside, this is the way I see it.

[kentuck]

3. Yes, I have heard of 9/11...

It has metastasized to a different type of monster, in my opinion. Lone wolves with easy access to guns are the new threat, in my opinion.

[kentuck]

14. tiny...

until it is you or yours.

[malaise]

2. Or you know they could stop bombing up other folks

homelands.

[Old Codger]

4. that

Would be a good start for sure...

[Albertoo]

5. Except that Muslim supremacism is not motivated by the US attitude on anything

The goal is to make the reign of Islam universal. The means to reach that goal are just tactical considerations. The US making war here or there has minimal bearing on the strategic objective.

If you do not believe me, please refer to the countless texts and videos where islamists clearly state that the black flag of Islam shall one day fly over the WH and Buckhingam Palace. To them, bombing their homelands would be just resisting their plan, nothing more.

[librarylu]

9. Somehow they remind me of our Rightwingers

who think they can overthrow the government.

[Albertoo]

12. Except that a worldwide Caliphate is a mainstream ideal among Muslims

Rightwingers who want to overthrow the government are just fringe nuts

[librarylu]

21. Some of those nuts have arsenals.

I think it was here that I read about the Tea Party member who posted his plan on their website for an armed but "bloodless coup" on President Obama and his cabinet. Presumably the Secret Service was supposed to just stand by and let this happen.

I realize Great Britain has lost most of her empire but the Nazi flag never flew over Buckingham Palace. Here? I think we'd nuke the White House before we'd let the black flag fly.

An English cyber friend is about as afraid of Muslims as I am of Martians. He says they're 3% and barely noticible. He lives in London.

Not saying radicals can't do a lot of damage (remembering 9/11) but I doubt the idea of a Caliphate by means of violence is all that mainstream.

I was just thinking the weaponry doesn't seem to be up to drones anymore than that of the fringe nuts. Both countries have very well equiped armies. It wouldn't be easy.

[Albertoo]

29. I know

But most lots of folks with big arsenals are not complete nuts. The real nuts with arsenals are a small fringe, hopefully monitored by the FBI. Meanwhile, there is a bulge of radicalism in Islam; something which is logical given the demographic bulge in Muslim countries and the demented funding the oil countries have thought clever to pour on radicalism for decades.

About your friend in the UK, "as afraid of Muslims as (you are) of Martians", I fear, with all due respect, he's wrong. Public street burnings of Salman Rushdie's books, Sharia courts condoning underage arranged marriages (on tape), forcibly segregated swimming hours in the public swimming pools of Tower Hamlets (London borough), I would discern some cause for concern.

[Nye Bevan]

6. There was an attempted Jihadist car bombing in Times Square in 2010:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Times_Square_car_bombing_attempt

[kentuck]

7. Yes, I had forgotten that one!

Thanks!

[scscholar]

8. There's no proof Orlando was an act of terror!

It was a disturbed person that decided to commit a hate crime.

[Nye Bevan]

11. I know. The fact that he pledged allegiance to ISIS is neither here nor there (nt)

[Agschmid]

13. He pledged allegiance to several organizations...

Some of which are currently at odds with each other.

I hate to say it but this guy's actions had nothing to do with ISIS... At least IMO.

[kentuck]

16. Right!

He was not sane and rational like the other lone wolves...

[Agschmid]

17. I certainly didn't say he was "sane and rational".

But it's a tell, and a pretty clear one.

[scscholar]

20. Lynch already confirmed that part will be deleted from the 911 call, so...

you have no cause to claim that.

[friendly_iconoclast]

30. That was reversed, he statements of support for ISIS are being included. So much for that theory...

[Albertoo]

15. Pledging allegiance to ISIS means nothing, of course.

[840high]

19. No proof it wasn't an act of terror.

[Fumesucker]

18. Mission Accomplished

That's been the aim all along, bring terrorism here and people will be screaming to have their rights taken away.

[kentuck]

22. Starting with their right to own an assault weapon and to intimidate everyone else?

The right to bear arms is not the same as preventing terrorists from purchasing them without a record. No right is that sacrosanct, not even freedom of speech. There is a limit to what you can say and where you might say it. There is no difference with guns. It is no infringement of anyone's Second Amendment rights to try to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists that mean to do our people harm and have no loyalty to our country. We have a right to protect ourselves.

[Fumesucker]

23. You know I've sat here and watched DU go justifiably nuts over 50 dead in a mass shooting

The funny thing is I've also watched DU yawn about 42 dead in a mass shooting, just a momentary blip on the radar screen.

In both cases it was Americans doing the shooting but only one shooting was paid for and sanctioned by the government, in other words by us.

The main reason I rejected my Christian upbringing was that upon reading the Gospels as a young person I realized that the sin Jesus the Christ most often and most harshly denounced was hypocrisy and I never saw any other Christians pointing that out.

[kentuck]

24. I think it is something we should debate.

It's difficult to debate when there is no room for compromise. However, I don't remember who said it, but something about eternal vigilance being the price of liberty... It makes me very uncomfortable to see the direction our country is headed.

[Initech]

25. We're more likely to be killed by a guy with a gun than Al'Qaeda or ISIS.

And we cannot be free if we live in fear of getting shot.

[kentuck]

27. I think you are right.

We should have a right to walk into a family restaurant and not have someone walk in with a legal open-carry firearm on his side. The joyful time ends rather quickly. It is a loss of some type of freedom.

[Warpy]

26. They'll use it just the way they used the war on drugs

and remove still more civil rights from us. We've pretty much lost the Fourth Amendment and it looks like they're working on the First.

You do know this, right?

[kentuck]

28. Don't bring me down.

Must you be so real?