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Wake up the President? Terrorist Mass Murder at New Zealand Mosques [Updated midday Friday]
On Friday afternoon, 15 March 2019, New Zealand time, there was a horrific terrorist attack at least two mosques in New Zealand. They are 20 hours ahead of the U.S. West Coast time. According to the initial reports, an attacker livestreamed the event. The image, at right, was captured by media before the video was taken down. There apparently was a lengthy manifesto. There have been multiple people arrested. It appears this was an attack by white New Zealand and Australian citizens on Muslims.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: “This can only be described as a terrorist attack.” The linked BBC page has a series of videos. The PM is not inclined to tweet. Indeed, you can see her last communication was in October.
The initial casualties being reported are 40 killed and over 20 wounded at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand:
Of the confirmed 40 people killed, 30 were killed at Al Noor mosque and 10 killed at Linwood mosque. That 10 figure includes three people who were outside Linwood Avenue mosque at the time.
The casualty reports have trended up to 49 dead and 48 being treated in area hospitals. Follow the live blog on the Christchurch mosque shootings, at the Strait Times, out of Singapore, for a regional view.
Initial reports indicated a single shooter, self-identified as “Brenton Tarrant,” methodically gunning people down, starting with worshipers who had just begun their Friday evening prayers.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed that one of the four people taken into custody is Australian. Media reports had said that a man who called himself “Brenton Tarrant” – a white, 28-year-old Australia-born man – claimed to be the shooter and livestreamed the shooting for 17 minutes.
If it was only the one shooter, not only was he uninterrupted in his slaughter, but he had the freedom to drive from one mosque to another and continue his killing spree.
So, our intelligence and law enforcement community has to be asking if this is a small cell trying to make itself look significant on the internet? Is anyone in the U.S. following, interacting with, the individuals or network implicated in the attack? Are there any signs emerging overnight of people who start chattering about a copycat attack here?
The clock is ticking towards Friday evening prayer services at mosques in the United States. So, what steps are being taken to prevent an attack on one or more mosques here? At the same time, are there signs of Muslims or other Jew-haters deciding that this is as good an excuse at the last one for attacking Hasidic or Orthodox Jews on the streets, or targeting Jewish businesses or places of worship come Saturday?
A lot of professionals are surely working through our nighttime. Before waking President Trump, DHS Secretary Nielsen and National Security Advisor Bolton had better have a clear assessment and recommended a course of action.
Rest assured that the Jew-haters, led by Rep. Ilhan Omar, will shout Islamaphobia, and the media arm of the left will blame guns and President Trump. The Democrats’ failure to properly censor targeted hatred of Jews will now be praised as just the right, balanced message. In New Zealand, there is both widespread gun ownership and very strict controls and inspections for ownership fitness. Their history is not ours, and their politics are not ours. Accordingly, we should be careful in any attempted analysis or drawing of conclusions.
Update—midday Friday, U.S. West Coast time:
* The most comprehensive straight news summary, updated regularly, is in the Strait Times article “‘One of New Zealand’s darkest days’: At least 49 killed in terror attacks on Christchurch mosques.”
* National Security Advisor John Bolton spoke to reporters on the White House driveway, prior to joining the president, vice president, and national security team for a national security meeting at the Pentagon. Bolton was very measured in his words on both the New Zealand attack and North Korea developments.
* Secretary of State Pompeo had an excellent statement on the terrorist attack in New Zealand, followed by a very strong statement on Yemen, and the International Criminal Court. He echoed the New Zealand PM’s language, calling it an “hour of darkness.”
* President Trump’s first tweet of the day read:
My warmest sympathy and best wishes goes out to the people of New Zealand after the horrible massacre in the Mosques. 49 innocent people have so senselessly died, with so many more seriously injured. The U.S. stands by New Zealand for anything we can do. God bless all!
Published in General
I think the killer’s motive is very simple, he hates islam and gave back some of what they have dished out, irregardless of all his blathering. The islamist never stop to consider the innocent’s of the people they destroy, neither did this killer.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the citizenry of a nation deciding what its identity should be. That decision should be made at the immigration level. Who we let in does shape a national identity. Somehow the powers at be have decided that screening for compatible groups to let in is somehow immoral. I dispute that. There is nothing wrong for me to vote based on how my neighborhood and country is shaped. It’s not s question of supremacy, as some of these racists put forth. It’s question of living under and preserving the culture I have been raised in. I admire the Japanese in that they have decided to preserve their identity.
That said, once immigrants are let in, they are entitled to the full rights of legal inhabitants.
Actually, from his ‘manifesto’:
And
I’m not for tit-for-tat using innocent people as a tennis ball, especially when it comes to murder, but I cannot understand the reaction to the Muslim groups – at least here in the US, but probably across the world – who are using this incident as political leverage. The leftist groups, especially the Muslim ones, can shut their friggin oral orifices when it comes to complaining about genocidal murder. Scott Morefield excellent column states:
Morefield also has a couple of links to listings of Islamic persecutions and outright murders of Christians world wide. In almost every majority Muslim country, Christians are harassed, treated as second class citizens, or outright murdered. And we give Muslims all the religious freedoms in the world, while almost every Muslim country refuses to even allow the building of a Christian church. If they are going to try to score political points, then I, and I assume most sympathetic Christians to the innocent slaughter, will start getting outraged.
Edit: I meant I cannot understand the reaction… I originally had “can” in error.
are never reported.
Since February of this year, Islamic Fulani tribesmen have murdered 120 Christians in Nigeria.
Just as “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
If a Christian is murdered by a Muslim and the media doesn’t report it, do the cries of the victim make a sound?
Exactly Morefield’s point. Yes, indeed.
It sounds like he probably doesn’t believe in white supremacy. Maybe it’s time to quit using that as a catchall term.
We are already outraged! But our leaders are back boneless to make any laws to stop the carnage of Christian and Jews. Only muslims seem to be a protected species, because we expect them to kill us, and we fear. We don’t expect Christian and Jews to kill us. Jews in Israel don’t attack, they defend themselves.
I’m outraged too. I just don’t want to suggest that the New Zealand incident was justified. I am appalled at the Muslims who are turning this into a political football. It’s very short sighted on their part. There’s no way they can win this finger pointing game.
If Trump is a populist, then the thought leader on nationalist resurgency is not Trump.
It’s instigation lies elsewhere and it’s presence in the US is still relatively weak compared to some European countries.
(Agree with Zafar, just ruminating)
It’s certainly sloppy.
I also doubt he believed in religious war. (?)
his actions are being shoe horned into one point of view or another, but I think they aren’t so easily classified.
Extreme race preference would be the closest I can think of. Perhaps racism?
Back Boneless would be a great name for a steel guitar player.
Doesn’t his document sort of say generally what he believes? That there is a major project to kill / diminish the Caucasian race, as defined be those that do not consider themselves caucasian by out breeding and other methods. He is probably right since that is basically what I have heard all my life from the Left. Part of the anger against Trump is because the Left felt they were already at the point that they believed a old white man / GOP was no longer electable, thus Trump was a surprise.
Read @brianwatt‘s It’s Wrong to Support Jordan Peterson or Buy His Vile Book
Bottom Line Up Front: New Zealand is now controlled by the red-green coalition. That is why Jordan Peterson’s book telling young men to take responsibility for their own lives and live decently is banned by their leading bookseller, while Mein Kampf is perfectly acceptable to tell. Mein Kampf targets JEWS. That makes it acceptable to the book seller and to the Socialist Prime Minister.
Every Jew needs to get a gun now and buying a plane ticket to Israel is highly recommended. “Either Jews disappear the Diaspora, or the Diaspora will disappear the Jews.” — Ze’ev Jabotinsky in 1936