Speaking today from a Paris counter-terrorism summit, Attorney General Eric Holder declared the United States to be “at war” with “lone wolf” terrorists who are able to “float under the radar screens.”
Exactly how a nation can he at war with people who by definition don’t have any explicit affiliation is unclear, but Holder insisted the administration is determined to “take the fight” to the lone wolves.
Officials have been keen to present lone wolves as a major problem since the Ottawa attack, which was carried out by a man with no known connections to any terror groups.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R – TX) urged Europe to impose more travel restrictions to prevent would-be fighters from being able to go to Yemen and Syria to get training from militants.
Why on earth would a 'lone wolf' need to go to Yemen or ANYWHERE but the good old US of A to get military training? It's easy enough to join the Marines or the Army and soak up all the combat techniques and weapon training you can handle- just ask any number of gang members who did exactly that and took that knowledge back to the block when they got out.
If you can't get in the military, no problem- any number of weapons handling courses available year-round from gun dealers as well as 'combat sports' facilities. If you've got the money, somebody out there has an RPG you can be taught to fire accurately in a short time. Machine gun training is even easier to find.
The point is, it's not a matter of locking down the entire civilian population of a nation because of threats real or imagined- it's a matter of removing the conditions that breed 'lone wolves'. Granted, some people simply can't be helped- but others stay on the radar for years until one day *poof* away go their inhibitions and it's target practice at Wal-Mart. But what motivates these 'lone wolves' in the first place? Ahhh, there's the $64,000 question.
Answer that, and you'll have the problem half solved. Too bad most of those reasons point right back to our own government and its actions, huh?
Excellent post; you summed up everything and made several great points.
Holder is another empty suit. The USG is the #1 arms dealer on the planet.
A few years ago, I attended a gun show circuit held in Pennsylvania. It was
mind-boggling the amount and type of weapons I encountered. Everything
from semiautomatic pistols to assault rifles were peddled.
Not only were the KKK and Minutemen stockpiling arms like they were going
out of style, the average Joe and Jane six pack were stocking their cupboards.
How did you know they were KKK, were they wearing their sheets? And were those Minutemen in colonial garb?
'Assault rifles' are also semi-automatic, just like my dad's shotgun. Scary!!!
Good for Joe and Jane Sixpack, whom you obviously disdain deeply. Or maybe you'd prefer the only ones who had firearms were the cops? Then everyday can be Ferguson.
"it's not a matter of locking down the entire civilian population of a nation because of threats real or imagined- "
Well, actually, it is. But the threat isn't "lone wolves" attacking civilians. It's enraged civilians overcoming their fear and obedience training enough to turn on Our Dear Leaders.
That day is coming, and Our Dear Leaders know it.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R – TX) – another fine example of the 1% attempting to tell other countries how to manage their own citizens. Perhaps the rest of the US should demand that Texas impose travel restrictions on Texas politicians to destinations outside Texas. Texas politicians have been saying for years that nothing good ever comes out of Washington, D.C., so we'd be doing them a favor by not making them mingle with those unsavory types in DC.
Political conflict — Collision of organized moralities
For all governments of men are ruled by the organized will of the high achiever upper-half of society, namely the organized morality of the voting majority.
For in our Western nations, a high achiever’s paradise has been established, whereby everyone gets to achieve the maximum self-worth, wealth, political power and self-glory that their brains and sex-appear can muster. A fake morality surely, as everyone ends up enriching themselves upon the misery of those in a lower class and the laboring-class lower half of society ends up with no liberty due to their not having the wealth to hire the politicians needed to gain liberty.
Whereas, in a Muslim nation, the fake morality is the illusion that force is the only way to overcome evil and that government deadly force is the cure all for any kind of crime most evil. The end result, all political conflict is regarded as evil, a thing that can be resolved only by force.
So, on the one hand we have a capitalist free morality government forcing everyone to be most immoral and anti-social, while on the other hand, there is an equally anti-social Muslim government forcing everyone to have a physical outward self-righteous form of morality.
Problem is, both forms of government do criminal violence to the only true morality, that force can never overcome evil, as force is the ultimate conclusion of all evil.
For a freewill socialist government, with everyone willing to share and share alike, this is what true morality is all about.
"Freewill socialist government" is an oxymoron.
"Freewill socialist government"- isn't this essentially what the basis of Communism was supposed to have been, this idea of 'share and share alike'? I'm not trying to be argumentative in any way, it's just interesting how nuances of terminology shape our perceptions of any given thing.
"Gluten-Free!" says the label on that loaf of bread, so immediately we're supposed to think it's better for us (or at least better for some people)- but bullets and grenades are gluten-free as well 😀
I was very surprised to see Holder as the US representative. Practically no one in Europe has ever heard of him and he is a lame duck waiting for his successor to be confirmed. According to US media reports on the internet, he didn't even take part in the march. That will certainly be seen as a snub in Europe. Obama himself would have been perfect, but a US presidential visit is a huge security circus, particularly with him having to walk through the streets. Biden would have been a good second and Kerry would have been very aceptable. The knock-on consequence is to further discredit the US in Europe and further strengthen the EU as the only game in town. Of course, that may well be precisely what Obama wants.
If the threat of terrorism causes the USA to flush the Constitution and the Bill of Rights down the toilet bowl and replace it will all sorts of NAZI legislation like the Patriot Act …….if the threat of terrorism causes the USA to spend more and more of it's GDP and resources on war, defense, security and intelligence then how might we not conclude that the terrorists (who hate us god our freedom) have already won?
There's not a lot of difference in principle between shrugging off the loss of innocent lives because crazies are upset your precious leader from centuries ago is insulted by in a cartoon as compared with shrugging off the similar loss of lives by crazies running amok because someone fixing that problem threatens a precious constitutional amendment.
The differences between humans are miniscule compared with the similarities.
DoJ claiming a 'war' on anything is absurd…like an admission that 'justice' = Rules of Engagement in it's eyes—almost an implicit claim of omniscience.
But, I gotta say, I love this 'new' Lone Wolf schtick…
Entire Precinct Made Up Of Loose Cannons
News • Local • scandal • legal • movies • police • ISSUE 43•42 • Oct 19, 2007
LOS ANGELES—Thirty-four lone-wolf detectives and beat officers from Los Angeles' 77th Police Precinct received unpaid three-month suspensions Monday for unprofessional and insubordinate conduct that their chief said he's tolerated for the "last goddamn time."
The police officers have been subjected to scathing public criticism over the years for their tendency to play by their own rules, which include refusing to obtain warrants, beating up junkies to extract information, and hurling corrupt city officials through plate-glass windows on more than 60 occasions.
"I called those sons of b-tches into my office one by one and made them hand over their badges and guns," Los Angeles Police Department chief William J. Bratton said. "I know deep down that McCluskey's a good man, but he needs to shape up or ship out. Same goes for Conroy, McAdams, Peterman, Black, Grimwald, Tobias, Keating, and McAllister."
"Also Cobb, Williams, Miller, Sanchez, Rutgers, Grodinger, Spencer, Smith, Anderson, Garcia, Walker, Thompson, Nelson, Collins, Ellroy, Morris, Coleman, Gibson, Payne, Matthews, Gonzalez, Jacobs, Hoffman, Walters, and Hopkins," Bratton added.
Although the precinct has boasted a 100 percent arrest rate since 1988, fewer than 2 percent of the indicted offenders have gone to trial, since the vast majority of drug dealers, child molesters, and serial killers investigated by the 77th Precinct have died or disappeared before their court dates. […]