Chattanooga & ISIS, Gawker's Woes, and the Communist Crucifix

By Kit

Sorry for the lateness, it has been a busy week. I decided to forego my planned post on Donald Trump in light of the events of the past 48 hours. And, to apologize for my lateness, I will give you two, nearly-full length posts on the Chattanooga Shooting and another on Gawker's recent woes, with a small third one on the Crucifix given to Pope Francis.


Chattanooga Shooting & Lone Wolf Terrorism

The Chattanooga shooting that killed four marines is only the latest in a spate of jihadist-inspired, small lone wolf attacks in the US and the West, nearly always on very soft targets; the attempting hacking of four NYPD officers, the recent shooting in Texas, the hostages in Australia, the attack on the National War memorial in Ottawa, etcetera. The plan for each of these was similar to those of your typical mass shooter, grab a gun (or hatchet) and kill as many people as you can before you are taken down. Very simple.

They also have a low body count, except for Charlie Hebdo, never racking up more than 5 dead, and that is assuming they manage kill somebody. But, a low body count does not make it any less terrible, or less frightening to a society. Even if they were stopped by armed citizens.

The anarchists of the turn of the century, who, like the modern jihadists, were nearly always lone wolves with even less ideological or material support than these terrorists have today (apparently, anarchists aren’t very good at organizing themselves) and, though their attacks were deadly, the body count was still low. That didn’t stop their attacks, including assassinations of world leaders such as US President McKinley and French President Sadi Carnot and the bombing of cafés that included women and children (anarchist Émile Henry said, “There are no innocent bourgeois”) and tram lines, from gripping the city of Paris in fear in the Sin de Ficlé. Everyone lived in fear because anyone could be in an attack.

And, like with the Anarchists, the world has been trying to respond. Like in the late-19th century, we have declared a “War on Terrorism”, with world leaders vowing to hunt them down and bring them to justice. And, if there is any lesson to be learned from the anarchist attacks of the Turn of the Century it is that there is very little you can do to stop them.

It is hard to imagine what immigration reform can do to stop these attacks if Muslim youths become radicalized already US citizens, naturalized or born. Perhaps, we could further slow down and bureaucratize what is often an already very slow and very bureaucratic system and hope that when they are radicalized they are still deportable. Of course, given that non-US citizens can own guns and even acquire a Concealed Carry license (rights we should feel queasy about ending), it might do very little.

Arrest the radical imams inspiring them? The Smith Act, the only law under which they could be prosecuted, has been long since gutted by Supreme Court rulings in the 1950s. And, given our value of free speech, and the potential for certain members of the Left to try and use such a law, it might be wise to let the Imams rant.

I’m afraid the only thing we can do is go to the source. These young men are being inspired to launch these attacks because every day they look at the Middle East and see ISIS conquering more land, expanding their caliphate, and executing or enslaving nonbelievers, all while flipping a finger at civilization. People are drawn to the winning team and right now, that is ISIS.

You want to stop attacks like this. Stop ISIS. Defeat them, push them back. If you want to stop losers like the young man who killed the four marines from being inspired to carry out such attacks, destroy what is inspiring them.


Gawker's Woes

Gawker is in trouble. They published a story accusing David Geithner, CFO of Conde Nast, brother of former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and a married man with a wife and kids, of soliciting sex with a gay porn star/escort. Immediately, some people noticed some problems. First, he had never engaged in advocacy against gay rights so there was no charge of hypocrisy (see, Ted Haggard) nor was he a major public figure, or even a minor one, the Chief Financial Officer of Condé Nast is not someone who appears even irregularly in the news. So, why run the story?

And it gets worse from there. The porn star/escort was not only the sole source for the story, and a conspiracy theory crackpot to boot, but it appears that this was all part of a shakedown he was trying to carry out against Mr. Geithner. Apparently, and he admits this in the story, the porn star wanted help from Mr. Geithner with a housing dispute along with money for the sexual services. Help him and he will kill the story, don’t help him and the story will run.

Immediately, there was a backlash. Everyone from Christina Hoff Sommers to Lean Freakin’ Dunham have attacked them for the story. In response, Gawker has taken down the story. Many on the left seemed surprised and shocked by this behavior.

What is surprising by all this is that people are surprised. Gawker is a gossip site that has since its birth run stories that the most deplorable super-market tabloid would find beneath their standards. They make TMZ seem like a bastion of journalistic excellence in comparison. Yet for years this behavior was over-looked, meriting only the occasional criticism.

Your average gossip magazine or site, which Gawker and its readers sneered at, behaved like that lady who leans over the table or counter and whispers “I heard John Smith had an affair with Jane Doe.” Lurid with a touch of self-righteousness, after all, that lady would never have an affair. Gawker has always been different. They outed gays for no reason other than it seems to compel other high-profile gays into coming out lest they find themselves in Gawker’s sights.

But the writers and editors at Gawker got away with this for years by fashioning themselves as a progressive news outlet who repeatedly condemned racist and sexist online harassment and peddled progressive causes. They might be outing gays left and right but they, owned by a gay man, advocated for gay rights and viciously attacked those who did not. Though they published leaked nude photos of celebrities, Gawker and it’s sister site, the far left feminist Jezebel, attacked Reddit for the nude photos leaked on its site during the “Fappening.” Yes, they doxxed politicians like Sarah Palin (and sent a daughter of her’s messages using the leaked information) and egged on social media shame campaigns against individuals but they praised Marxist radicals like Anita Sarkheesian, John McIntosh, et al in accusing groups like Gamergate and Sad Puppies of the same activities and then viciously attacking them.

In short, they were rank hypocrites.

And for years, the media indulged in and abetted this hypocrisy because they toed party lines on those progressive causes they held dear. Now, it is nice to see that at least some in the left-wing media have standards.

Communist Crucifix

Recently, Pope Francis was given a Crucifix by President Morales of Bolivia, a marxist, adorned upon a hammer-and-sickle. A disgusting gift, considering how many Christians were imprisoned, tortured, and killed by Communist regimes but the Pope accepted the gift graciously. Many conservatives are angry, shouting that the Pope should have rejected the gift, maybe clubbing that Marxist Head-of-State with it. But he didn’t so they are angry.

Now, I have my own critiques of the Pope on Climate Change (I’m skeptical) and economics but in this case, I saw his face when he was first presented with it. He did not look pleased.

In fact, his reaction to the gift was a lot like the reaction we all have when we receive a really bad gift for Christmas or our birthday (like clothes, when you were a kid).

Your first reaction: Horror/Shock/Disgust.
Then, you gather yourself and put on your poker face.
You smile.
You graciously accept the gift and say thank you.

Later, you find out if the giver checks eBay often. If not, you sell it. If he does then you find throw it out or donate it. Or, if even that is not available, you put it in the attic and let it gather dust, eventually giving it away 10 or 20 years later when he has long forgotten about the gift (or moved away/died).

But in this case eBay and donating it to Goodwill that is not an option for the Pope so into Vatican attic it goes, along with all the other tacky gifts Popes have received.