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Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters, via aljazeera.net.

As TTAG reported yesterday, there were three incidents across the Atlantic that appear to have been connected to or inspired by Islamic State fanatics.

In Berlin, Germany, the death toll from yesterday’s attack by an unknown party who drove a truck full of steel beams into a crowded Christmas marketplace near the Kurfuerstendamm, western Berlin’s main shopping street, has risen to twelve, with at least forty-eight persons injured (eighteen of which are called “serious”.) A unit of the elite German SEK police force raided a camp for asylum-seekers set up at the former Tempelhof Airport (of Berlin Airlift fame,) last night and have detained a 23-year-old suspect who has been identified as “Naved B.” The BBC reports that he was apparently an asylum-seeker from Pakistan, whose application for asylum has not yet been completed.  German officials are uncertain if he is the person responsible for the attack. The registered driver of the truck, a Polish national, was found dead in the truck itself, and it is believed that he was NOT the driver at the time of the attack, according to the Guardian.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had been previously criticized for lax immigration policies, has called the attack an act of “terrorism”. The Interior Minister of the German State of Saarland, Klaus Bouillon — and a member of Merkel’s own Christian Democrat party — has gone a step further, saying that Germany is “in a state of war.”

In Ankara, Turkey, police officer Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş assassinated Andrey Karlov, the Russian Ambassador to the Turkish Republic using a Sarsilmaz K2P 9mm pistol. (GRAPHIC video here). The larger objective of the assassin (or whoever controlled him,) appears to have been to sabotage apparent Turkish-Russian cooperation in resolving the Syrian Civil War. One of the parties in the multi-sided civil war that the Russian-backed government was fighting was, of course, the Islamic State. Russia and Turkey had been backing opposite sides in Syria, although after the successful (but bloody) effort by the Russian-backed Syrian government to take the northern city of Aleppo, the two sides had been taking steps to work together in Syria. For its part, Turkey’s rather authoritarian government has been suggesting that the assassin was a supporter of Fethullah Gulen, a cleric based in Pennsylvania who Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed for an attempted coup earlier in the year, and that he had been cashiered from the police force during one of the post-coup purges. Russia and Turkey are currently conducting a joint investigation into the attack.

A third, more minor incident, occurred in Zurich, Switzerland, where three  people were reported shot outside of an Islamic Center “frequented by Somali migrants.”  Details remain sparse; a corpse was found in the vicinity, and police were at one point “working on the assumption that the dead person who was found is the culprit in the shooting at the Islamic Center in Zurich.” France24 reports that the dead person is a “Swiss man with Ghanaian roots and no apparent ties to Islamic radicalism.” It also reports that the person was armed with a gun “for which he had a permit.”

Donald Trump, now confirmed as President-Elect after 304 electors cast their votes for him yesterday, issued statements via social media condemning the attacks:

Innocent civilians were murdered in the streets as they prepared to celebrate the Christmas holiday,” he said. “ISIS and other Islamist terrorists continually slaughter Christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad….

Today there were terror attacks in Turkey, Switzerland and Germany – and it is only getting worse. The civilized world must change thinking!

Incredibly, according to the CBC, others saw these attacks and had different concerns:

There’s been a shift to right in European politics in the past year — from the rhetoric and the results of the Brexit vote, the tone of the French presidential campaign to the criticism of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s immigration and refugee policies.

And former Ontario resident Christian Nathler said he’s concerned the attack on the market will only further divide the country — and give right-wing parties a soapbox. Nathler learned of the tragedy unfolding two kilometres away from him when he received a message from a friend in Toronto asking if he was safe.

“I think, unfortunately, they’re going to have a lot more fuel for their campaign running up to next September,” the former Midland, Ont., resident said. “I think, before they didn’t have that landmark event that they could say, ‘Look what happens when you have an open border or when you have a poorly thought out integration process.’ And now they have that one thing that they can lean on.”

I have to confess: when confronted by a violent terrorist attacks that may have been inspired by a radical religious ideology, my first concern is not actually “how will this impact future immigration policy.”

The CBC also spoke with Imanuel Zadig Onnasch, who also mouthed sentiments akin to Nathler that the CBC apparently wanted to push. But Onnasch also said something more enlightening:

“I never thought something like this could happen here.”

As the great firearms instructor and marine Col. Jeff Cooper was fond of observing, awareness is critical. The people who are unaware — who are, mentally, in ‘Condition White,’ as he referred to it, are the ones who will be sucker-punched one day and (if they survive) have nothing to say for it later other than “I can’t believe this happened to me.”

I’m not sure how anyone with the slightest degree of awareness and intelligence could go through life without imagining that a terrorist attack might be possible — in Europe! Apparently there are.

Those of us who choose to carry a firearm for purposes of personal self-defense, however, need to keep something else in mind. It isn’t enough to simply carry a gun. It isn’t a talisman that will ward off bad juju. Sure, carrying a gun a is an important first step. But do you know how to use it? Have you considered the conditions under which you’d clear leather and fire with intent to stop an attack, even if it means killing another human being? Because if you haven’t, you really need to — now. Carrying a gun is find, but never forget that it’s just a tool; your mind is the weapon.

As I’ve said before, we live in an era where the threat is diffuse. Attacks can come from deep-cover agents backed by quasi-state actors like the Islamic State. But we also need to be on guard for outwardly stable people who apparently wake up one day and, inspired by religious ecstasies, decide to commit mayhem and murder against those who do not share their faith.

We’re still in a fight. And condition yellow is the new condition white.

 

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47 COMMENTS

  1. I don’t have any droll comments to add except why in Chiraq are they going full-retard protecting the German outdoor market? No credible threat whatsoever except Deutschland. Its not like these attacks are limited to krauts only(of which I’m one). It’s anyone not jihad Moose-lim…and I can’t see ANY connection in Switzerland.

    • fww,
      they aren’t, really. i think the attempt stems from this christian themed gluewein fest as being so high profile jesus. and a plump target.

      “‘There is no threat to Chicago or the surrounding area, but CPD will be adding extra officers at the Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza, including additional foot and bike patrols, and specialized units, according to police spokesman…’

      Wow. Bikes and Foot Patrols. Versus a 25-ton semi-tractor racing along at 40 MPH. We aren’t normally betting persons, but we’re going to have to lay a lot of toothpicks on the truck winning that cage match. No offense to the Bike guys and gals who we have a lot of respect for – you’re just out of your weight division.”

      from 2nd city cop

  2. “We’re still in a fight. And condition yellow is the new condition white”.—This has been my position for the last several years–people who elect assholes like Obummer & Merkel the Moron really share a lot of the blame

  3. In the immortal words of W. C. Fields, the time has come to grab the bull by the tail and face the situation, which we can’t do without violating the terms of service here. if your theory does not agree with reality, believe reality and come up with a new theory.

    the problem is something in common between all of these attacks. the problem is that people who believe seriously silly stuff also believe that their made up deity demands they kill anyone who does not believe the same seriously silly stuff. the fact that this is illegal is irrelevant to the seriously silly believers, because one of their seriously silly beliefs is that followers of their made up religion do not have to obey the laws of kings and nations, their seriously silly holy book is the only law they must follow.

    calling Bruce Caitlynn does not make him a woman, saying guns cause violence does not explain the abject absence of “gun violence” in gun stores with a thousand guns on display, and failure to notice that every city with rent control has a major homeless problem does not diminish the major homeless problem.

    people who believe seriously silly stuff are the proximate source of the problem. people in charge who refuse to admit the reality that people who believe seriously silly stuff enable this stupidity. step 1 is to get the people holding the reins to rein in the people who believe seriously silly stuff

    step 0, before step 1 is to state, out loud in public for the record that people who believe seriously silly stuff are the root of the problem.

    apparently the whole world is operating under the mistaken belief that the feelings of the people who believe seriously silly stuff who masquerade as special snowflakes between bombings must be protected. we have a first amendment which makes it abundantly clear that this is not the case

    it is time to bring theory into line with reality by stating that reality will be the basis of public policy, then take action on the basis of said policy.

    I will continue to breathe while waiting, because turning purple will not affect those who make and implement public policy.

    • explainist,

      Excellent commentary.

      Since you are very big on reality (as am I!), please note a ginormously important FACT: Progressive minds operate on altruism, fantasy, and emotion. For that reason, they are quite literally incapable of operating your way, “if your theory does not agree with reality, believe reality and come up with a new theory.”

      If reality does not agree with their theory, they simply double-down on their altruism, fantasy, and emotion. This is why they always say that reality will finally align with their theory when we finally implement enough love, compassion, laws, government oversight, or whatever.

      Case in point: every time that socialism (which is simply “communism light”) fails, adherents tell us that it failed because we did not give ourselves over to it completely. If we would have just given even more control to government, it would have worked. The fact that socialism cannot work — because it violates core principles of human behavior — never dawns on the adherents. Rather than admit that government employees are inherently selfish, lazy, incompetent, and greedy, adherents wave it all away and demand more government.

      • As my beautiful wife is wont to say, you are entitled to your own opinions, not your own facts.

        Unfortunately it seems conflating the two has become a popular pastime.

      • The truth is considered blasphemy by those who hate truth. I happen to believe you are writing truth.

        I disagree that altruism is part of the issue. The Left operates on emotion, delusion, and faith – while many call themselves atheist. They are so incapable of honest self-appraisal they cannot see they have simply come up with a substitute religion and substitute god.

        This belief system produces the fanaticism we see in the Left today. It is only equaled by the fanaticism of the Islamic, and both are founded on false premises.

        Fanatics reject any truth but the one they choose to follow, and ignore all evidence that their truth is not true.

      • As I am fond of saying to my progressive friends:

        You cannot bleed for every cause. You’ll bleed out long before you get anywhere.

        Yet still they try…

    • Explainist, very nice. But you neglected to mention the seriously silly concept to end them all, the concept that “free stuff” exists, and that therefore we should each get ours or light our hair on fire trying. Without that one, most people would be too busy trying to improve life for themselves and their families, they would not have time to propose seriously silly crap.

  4. “I think, unfortunately, they’re going to have a lot more fuel for their campaign running up to next September,” the former Midland, Ont., resident said. “I think, before they didn’t have that landmark event that they could say, ‘Look what happens when you have an open border or when you have a poorly thought out integration process.’ And now they have that one thing that they can lean on.”

    Odd comment. Openly admitting that things are poorly thought out and not working yet seemingly lamenting that reality might intrude into Euro politics. Just plain odd.

    Also, Marine in the context of the USMC is a title and a proper noun. Therefore the M is capitalized.

  5. And how does as usual a minor yet RARE incident with little to minimal casualties compare to the usual mass shootings that happen everyday in the US?

    Switzerland is the 3rd world hellhole of the EU with homicide rates higher than UK, Germany, Luxembourg, Australia, Japan and Singapore of all places.

    Meanwhile why does no one mourn about the toddler that was shot dead by a creep with a gun.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/toddler-killed-road-rage-shooting-111617593.html

    Illegal guns or not, They came from a legal manufacturer.

    Europeans don’t want nor care about our rights here. All your faulty debunked “more guns, less crime” logic will do is give the “bad guys” weapons. Just like how the NRA armed various drug cartels and radical attackers that caused the charlie hebdo attack, the bataclan murders in Paris France, the martins place siege in Sydney, Australia, the Canadian parliament attack and the shooting in Germany a few months back.

  6. Another terrorist attack, because western countries have what moral obligation to take in refugees from other regions, again?

    Because telling people to stay in their own countries and solve their own problems is bigoted how?

    Because we can’t help the refugees in their own countries by sending aid to help rebuild the infrastructure and homes why?

    Okay, sending the refugees back isn’t going to entirely solve the problem because all they need is an internet connection to gain access to radical websites, but it’s a big first step.

    • Couple of things.

      First, I have to ask, what is causing the refugees to want to leave, and who’s leaving? If it’s a natural disaster (flood, famine, etc.) that has a relatively short expected time-frame to return to normal, I have no problems with temporary refugees. Help them out, help them rebuild when they go home, great. And that sort of thing impacts the whole population. Civil war? Much longer duration, so some additional thought is needed at the least.

      True, all one needs these days to get radicalized is an internet connection, but ask yourself this: would you rather such an individual self-radicalize 2 miles away in your county, or 5000 miles away in his or her own country? Who’s more likely to blow up, run down, or knife you or your neighbors when “the time comes”?

      • Another thing to consider is the general attitude of the regions you’re taking refugees from. I don’t think anyone can disagree that there is a lot of hostile sentiment toward the west in the countries that the refugees are coming from. Taking them in in large numbers just isn’t smart in that case.

        Well, of course it’s better to have the radicalization happening far away, but by now the send them all back option is long past. There are second generation Muslims who were born in Western countries and are legal citizens. They follow the same religion as ISIS and are susceptible to radicalization. The advantage of sending the first generation refugees back though is it reduces the number of people who are likely to be radicalized.

        Civil wars are terrible. Just about every country has had them and I think we should do something, especially since we share a good portion of responsibility for this mess, I just don’t think we’re doing the right thing here. None of this seems like it’s our conflict, the refugees don’t seem like they’re our problem. If anything, our aid should be passive and humanitarian. I don’t know why we’re funding armies and taking refugees. I don’t know why we ever sent our citizens to die for some piece of dirt in the desert that we have no connection to. I just don’t know why this is a thing that is happening. But what do I know? I’m just some hick from Ohio. I’m not concerned a lot about what is going on on the other side of the planet.

      • Here’s some interesting information on “who is coming to Europe, claiming to be a refugee?”

        http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/09/30/europes-asylum-seekers-who-they-are-where-theyre-going-and-their-chances-of-staying/

        As you can see, only about 20%, in this Pew review of the data, are from Syria.

        Most (over 70%) are male. Slightly more than half are of “military age.” All told, over 40% of all “refugees” are military-age males.

        Given the geographic disparity from “war torn” areas, we can conclude two things:

        1. The majority of these Muslims flooding into Europe aren’t “refugees.”
        2. They’re not families fleeing their native countries – they’re men leaving their countries.

        We have a word that describes this coincident set of facts: “Invasion.”

        • Shannon Watts, is that you? I know you’re kinda old, but I still wouldn’t mind seeing you naked. How about doing something useful for a change and spreading some holiday cheer?

        • AA-A-ARGH! DG, Cjstl’s kidding! Or crazy! He doesn’t (can’t) mean it! Puhleeze do not! My eyes are burning just at the thought!

  7. ‘I have to confess: when confronted by a violent terrorist attacks that may have been inspired by a radical religious ideology, my first concern is not actually “how will this impact future immigration policy.”‘

    Really? These days?

  8. Um the attacks the past few years have been citzens mosty not immigants correct? San b, us citzen and mail order bride not from syria. Orlando us citzen. First paris attacks all 3 french citzens. Second paris and belgium attacks, europe masterminding by french and belgian citzens. Was niece attack an immigant? Idr. In berlin they let the immigant out after one day they had ruled him out. It seems to me the home grown muslim terrorists are way more of a problem than immigants.

        • That is what a couple in Oklahoma thought, but were attacked by a gang of FIVE thugs deliberately looking for very secluded properties to rob. However, they homeowners were not complacent; as I remember, 2 shot & all 5 captured. Hate to say it, but seems like you DO need to be prepared any where.

  9. Johannes Douglas Paulsen the third! It sure wasn’t a K2P in Turkey, that isn’t a 9mm muzzle in Dean’s picture, and this is a gun blog! Go clean your room!

    TTAG is supposed to be a safe space for people of the gun. You’re triggering my MSNBC PTSD. Don’t distract from the story with needless speculation! Maybe Putin hacked TTAG with some fake news…

    Keep it real in condition yellow, folks. Except for you journalists and fact checkers out there, who should conduct your labors in a very dark shade of condition red. Am I right… comrades?

  10. Paulsen, working all day gets you out of the news loop. The Pakistani who was detained from a nearby (mile and a half) refugee camp because he resembled the man seen running from the semi was released for lack of evidence. No new suspects, and the gun used to kill the Polish driver has not been located. Who he was is a mystery, and may never be known without forensic evidence left in the cab to connect him to the crime, i.e., traceable fingerprints.
    The shootings in Zurich have no apparent connection to terrorism, as the three shot were Muslim and the shooter thereafter killed himself, for reasons presently unknown. Sounds personally to me.
    Finally, the assassin in Ankara is an unknown quantity since security forces killed him instead of capturing him. Now his family has been arrested and will have to answer for his crime. The Turkish FM says he was a Gulenist, maybe one of the tens of thousands of police officers fired after the attempted coup (which was so badly executed that I just have to consider that it may have been a false flag operation carried out to allow Erdogan to consolidate and secure total power), others have hinted that this was a CIA operative carrying out a revenge attack for the fall of Aleppo (I REALLY don’t think so). Gulen has denied any involvement and condemned the attack. And the accusation is pretty much par for the course for the Erdogan acolytes.

  11. If you murder innocent civilians to forward your cause, you do nothing but get the people to hate you. You want to forward your cause you go after the government people, Not an ambassador, that is why all of these things do not pass the smell test.

  12. I said it before and I will say it again, libertarians, socialist and republican senator Lindsey Graham all agree rapists and murderers have every right to travel across open borders to rape and kill.

    The Pakistani driver accused of this massacre came from a country where private firearms ownership is illegal, and the education of girls is a low priority.

    What people don’t want to take about is that traditional American immigration came from christian Europe. Our culture and beliefs where very similar.
    That is why you could have a Christmas Truce during the Great War in 1914, between christian English and christian German soldiers.

    A Muslim has attacked a Christian, Christmas event. The atheist may not think this is an attack on the Christian religious people. But that is how the muslim terrorist thinks.
    The only thing that will stop these attacks is to kick out these invaders.
    Just as you can have a strong arm robbery. We have a strong arm invasion. Thousands of young men with no weapons but with strong arms is an organized weapon of invasion.
    Fixed bayonets in a charge would be enough to force them back to the third world hell hole they came from. If they want a new life then let them hang their leaders from lamp posts and then they can have a fresh start in their own country.

    • I’m atheist, and it is quite clear to me that this is an attack on Christian people. It is also an attack on “Western” culture (I use quotations because I’m not sure that Germany is very representative of Western culture).

      The problem with Islam, and the thing that has the progressives all tied in knots, is that a religion is not in and of itself inherently violent. It is what its practitioners make it. There was just a discussion on another post as to whether Christianity was a peaceful religion. It certainly isn’t if you follow the Old Testament, and a number of the posters scoffed at the notion of pacifism and turning the other cheek.

      A majority of Christians are peaceful people, just as a majority of Muslims wish to live in peace. The difference is that a far greater minority of Muslims do not. Let’s conservatively estimate that a fifth of the Syrian refugees spilling into Europe are jihadists in disguise. The progressives are correct in claiming that is a minority, but they overlook the fact that it is an extremely dangerous minority, one that could easily become a formidable army with proper organization.

      I understand the progressive mentality. That desire to rise above, that fear of appearing racist or even the slightest bit intolerant. The misguided notion that a little bit of love will set everyone free. The problem is that good intentions become blinders, and blinders get you killed.

      • As a Christian living in the year 2016, I honestly don’t understand why anyone atheist, christian or what ever thinks the Old Testeament is how western people think the world should be. Or that they want it to be this way.
        Even the Amish who live a primitive life don’t stone people, because they also came from a Christian reformation history.

        Hard headed Atheists and hard headed christians both forget we have a 1st amendment in our Bill of Rights. Both of them twist the meaning of the 1st amendment just like the people who twist the meaning of the 2nd amendment.

        Christians follow the New Testament. Jewish people follow the Old Testament. And jews are not stoning people to death! But Muslims still stone people to death in the 21st century.
        Both christians and jews have had their own reformations. The western world does not conduct itself in the backward ways the Muslim world does.

        Islam is incompatible with western culture. Yes I know I will be called a raaacist. People who call you a racist are dishonest cowards. They are weak. Socialist, libertarians and republican senator Lindsey Graham are weak people.

        • Yes, and a whole bunch of white people are tired of being called racists, and tired of being told that we are responsible for the behavior of every other white person. That’s like telling black people that they’re responsible for the gang bangers. And it’s avoiding personal responsibility. Progressives don’t get that. They feel the need to shame the rest of us and pretend like they’re assuming responsibility for the general failures of a minority of their race. I guess it gives them some sort of catharsis.

          I agree with most of what you say, but I’m not sure where the hostility towards Libertarians comes from. My interpretation of libertarianism is freedom in its purest form. I believe that I should be able to say and do whatever I please as long as I am not harming or threatening another person. As Austin Petersen said, “I believe that married gay couples should be able to defend their marijuana fields with fully automatic weapons.”

          There are parts of that quote that offend many conservatives and liberals alike. That is why I’m a Libertarian.

        • “People who call you a racist are dishonest cowards”

          people who call you racists are leaving off the last word – “Dis-missed”

          people who assign the value of racist to people who disagree with them put their intellectual superiors in a pigeonhole and invalidate their existence. when your existence is invalid, your opinions ( or irrefutable facts which they misrepresent as opinions ) inherit that invalid status. they evade the need to reply with facts by applying a technique which renders those facts irrelevant – in their mind only.

          if you explain this in front of a crowd containing a mix of philosophies and viewpoints, you render their attempt at invalidation null and void. if you explain this in front of a crowd containing special snowflakes, it has no effect.

        • To libertarians, because you asked.
          I suggest you read about the libertarian Party selection of former governor William Weld, republican from Massachusetts, for the position of vice president. There you will see why I believe libertarians are weak.
          Also does the libertarian party platform call for open borders or no enforcement of American National borders???

        • I look at Weld as a calculated play to draw in more of the dissatisfied Democrat vote. I don’t consider him a Libertarian in the slightest, just another East Coast RINO. But with more votes comes more recognition, more funding, greater relevance, etc. So the pick served its purpose. Fewer than 1% of those dissatisfied Dems went for Jill Stein.

          I don’t agree with Johnson on everything, but I do agree with his immigration policy. Providing work visas for those illegal immigrants already in the country, which would include vetting (he didn’t specify how they would conduct the background checks) and Social Security cards. They would start paying taxes on their wages (i.e. contributing to society), and there would be a pathway for them to bring their families into the country once they demonstrated the ability to financially support them. He would implement a “one strike you’re out” policy for immigrants who violate the work visa process. A fence or wall would be unenforceable, and would just drain Border Patrol resources. By making it easier to get into the country to work, BP would have more time to focus on keeping criminals and terrorists out. And until such time as we start forcing our welfare class to do the jobs no one else wants (my view, not the LP’s), the immigrants and migrant workers are doing those jobs.

          I talked to a migrant worker early one morning while I was waiting to get back into the country after a rough night in Mexicali. This guy gets up every day at 3:00 AM, arrives at the border line by 3:30, and waits in line until 5:00. He then works in the fields around El Centro until about 6:00 PM. He gets home around 7:00 and eats dinner. He’s so worn out every night that he barely has time to talk to his wife and kids before he has to go to bed so he can get up early the next morning and do it again. This guy is doing it right. He legally crosses the border every day, unlike millions of his countrymen, who snuck across and are living here illegally, just so they don’t have to go through that. And, even though he was tired, even though the line was long and he had absolutely no reason to do so, this guy let three drunk, white-collar Americans cut in front of him in line. He took pity on us because we had waited in the wrong line for 30 minutes thinking “official US documents” included driver’s licenses.

          I look at my friend from the border checkpoint and I can immediately see the failures of the current system. Why should this guy, who crosses the border every day, have to wait in that long-ass line for an hour-and-a-half? Shouldn’t he have documents and a streamlined process to get him through that line and off to his job every day? Something like the TSA’s Known Traveler process? And he’s a special case, because he lives and works right on the border, so he has the option to cross over every day. Millions more don’t have that luxury, so they hide out eight-to-ten deep in parasite-infested slums, live and work in fear, and break a myriad of laws every day just to earn a little money to send back home to their families. I just don’t see how sending 11 million people back home solves anything. Since they’re doing the jobs no one else wants, it would create an enormous vacuum, and severely damage the economies of all of the border states. Much better to document these illegals, so we know who they are and where they are. And much better to document these illegals so we can tax their wages and collect the hundreds of millions of dollars that we’re currently missing out on.

      • Islam is, in and directly of itself, violent.

        Most people who say that “Islam isn’t violent, it has observers who make violent interpretations” are blissfully ignorant of what Islam is, how it is taught, and upon what it rests.

        If you study the Islam (and I have now, since over 10 years ago, when someone who knew something about Islam told me how ignorant I was and I decided to rectify the situation), you find out two things:

        1. The earlier parts of the Qur’an are nice, high-minded ideals. The latter part of the Qur’an, written around or after the time that Muhammad battled for control of Mecca, aren’t at all nice, high-sounding idealistic stuff. The post-Mecca part of the Qur’an is filled with violence and oppression. IMO, the history of Islam has two broad groupings in time: Before Mecca and after Mecca.

        The Qur’an also instructs followers to to heed the example of Muhammad, and to follow his example of a life without sin (insofar as Islam views sins). This instruction is only a few times in the pre-Mecca part of the Qur’an, and dozens of times in the post-Mecca Qur’an.

        In Islam, what was written later in time takes precedence over anything addressing the same idea or topic earlier in time. So when we’re being fed the high-minded stuff from the earlier parts of the Qur’an, there’s quite a bit of sleight of hand being done there.

        Post-Mecca Islam doesn’t have too much of the “love thy neighbor” feel about it.

        2. If one follows the instructions in the Qur’an to emulate Muhammad, one is led to ask “OK, where do I find details on how Muhammad acted about topic X, or in situation Y?” Well, there’s a book for that, and it’s called the Sira or Sirat Rasul Allah (Life of the Prophet of Allah). Most westerners know nothing of this book – but you hear the “radical” Islamist groups reference it quite frequently. There’s an entire movement in modern Islam that preaches that Islam cannot be known by the Qur’an alone – it must be arrived at by a study of the Qur’an, the Hadiths and the Sira together.

        The Sira is held to be a biography of Muhammad. Therein, one finds that Muhammad started out preaching what we see earlier in the Qur’an, and in later life, became a despot and straight-up mass killer. Later in his life, Muhammad’s idea of preaching Islam to cities, tribes, etc was “Convert or die.”

        The interpretation of Islam spread by ISIS (eg, there are other groups who hew to the literal Islamic texts as well) is based upon what is accepted in the Islamic world as historical facts, the literal texts of Islam (as they exist, and they have written examples of the Qur’an and other writings going back to the century after Muhammad was alive) and (insofar as he is represented in the Sira) and the actions of Muhammad, whom Muslims believe lived a life without sin and is therefore above and beyond criticism.

        The Muslims living a life in harmony with non-Muslims? Well, Islam has a view on them, too. They’re apostates – ie, “not real Muslims.”

        • DG speaks the truth.

          I will add a little to what he said.

          DG alluded to what Muhammad said “at Mecca” and what was said later, (at Medina).

          If there is conflict between things in the Quran the chronologically later replaces the earlier. This is called abrogation and it is explicit, later replaces earlier.

          The Quran direct Muslims to lie to kafir (infidels) to further Islam. That is the main job of CAIR in America.

      • Cjstl
        Your hard working illegal friend from south of the border should not be here. His job should be done by an American citizen. If we had no welfare state then the young would be doing these jobs and learning the value of work.

    • Quote:
      The Pakistani driver accused of this massacre came from a country where private firearms ownership is illegal,….
      End Quote

      You are seriously mistaken about Pakistan gun laws. They are very permissive. You can walk into shops in NW Pakistan and buy about any weapon you want for low prices. AK47 are a dime a dozen.

      At Peshawar’s Karkhano Market anyone can find antique Enfields used by British troops in World War I, Soviet AK-47s from the 1980s, and M-16s stolen from NATO warehouses in Afghanistan.

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