Mass killing in Orlando gay nightclub

[Martinus]

For a slightly lighter touch, Glenn Beck's message to the gay community:

We are not gay or straight, not black, white or brown, Christian or atheist.

We are all human. Hatred, bigotry, murder is a HUMAN disease.

It is experienced by the wealthiest 1% and the poorest 1%. In the all white neighborhood and the black or immigrant neighborhood. East and west, farm or city, north and south, left and right.

We must find our way to one another.

I will fight for HUMAN RIGHTS, because I do not have anymore rights than you and you must have all of mine and I, yours. Why narrow rights down?

"Equal rights!" should be our rallying cry!

The only race that I will both defend and condemn is the human race.

The color of your skin doesn't matter nor does mine.

I think Penn Jillette is more honorable than some Who claim to be people of faith.

I will argue that my daughter should not have to share a bathroom with a man who claims to "feel" like a woman, but I will defend his right to live his/her life as he chooses and I will stand in front of him if someone chooses to persecute him.

I am Mormon, but should they come for the Catholic, then "I am Catholic."

Come for the Jew and I am a Jew."

Slaughter the peaceful Palestinian and "I am Palestinian."

The Muslims who are crying out to us and our government for help in their own American communities are being silenced by those who wish to control them both Muslim and American. Both left and right.

I will not condemn all Muslims as I would not condemn all Germans in WW2. Nor as we did with the Japanese Americans and put them in concentration camps.

However, I will always speak the truth.

Islam as practiced by the majority of Muslims in the Arab world, who embrace Shariah law is evil and a plague on mankind, woman, children, gay, Muslim and not.

These things will take greater courage to say out loud as each day passes with the majority of Americans remaining silent and our political parties and media so "misguided."

Lies, fear, manipulation, thirst for power do not belong to one political

Party over another. Nor one race, class or creed over another.

Totalitarian tendencies, corruption, and a twisting of God is not in one religion and not others.

All of these things are part of the human race.

With honor, courage, love, honesty, humility, character, faith in something bigger than oneself and a lot of hard choices and work we can overcome what we suffer from.

But only if we unite and help one another. If we look for the best in others and expect it from ourselves.

If we turn the other cheek while standing firm in the truth; if we dismiss easy answers and make the difficult choices, we will make it.

It will not be easy or popular, but the cure is simple.

I will stand in your defense.

I will comfort you in the storm.

I will make your plight mine as we are all human and an injustice toward you is an injustice to me.

Taking a stand really only matters when you link arms with those who don't share your own viewpoints or lifestyle.

That is when it is hard and when it makes a real difference.

I cannot unite, however, with those who do not share the same principles and values.

I value Truth, Liberty, Life and the right of each of us to be sovereign in our own lives.

Those who wish to destroy those values I will stand against you and be immovable even if I stand alone.

But if you share the same values even if our ideas, lifestyles, faith or policies are radically different, I will proudly stand with and for you.

Will you join me?

‪#‎iwill

‪#‎Orlando

‪#‎isis

‪#‎gaypride

I think he means well, but he is sooooooooo nuts.

[Phillip V]

Trump calls shooter "an Afghan", blames American Muslims for failing to "turn in the people who they know are bad", warns against "tremendous flow" of Syrian refugees, suggests President Obama sympathetic to Islamic terrorists

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/us/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-speeches.html

"They're trying to take over our children and convince them how wonderful ISIS is and how wonderful Islam is. And we don't know what's happening."

[Martinus]

And to make sure not just right wing nutters are called out, here's a statement from the Planned Parenthood Black Community:

Islam doesn't foment the violence alleged gunman Omar Mateen enacted, toxic masculinity & a global culture of imperialist homophobia does.

Toxic masculinity enables rapists & rape culture, violent heterosexism & attacks on reproductive freedom.

Admittedly, the difference is that Glenn Beck, as far as I understand, is not currently funded with US taxpayers' money.

[Martinus]

Trump calls shooter "an Afghan", blames American Muslims for failing to "turn in the people who they know are bad", warns against "tremendous flow" of Syrian refugees, suggests President Obama sympathetic to Islamic terrorists

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/us/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-speeches.html

"They're trying to take over our children and convince them how wonderful ISIS is and how wonderful Islam is. And we don't know what's happening."

I think he is right, especially on the point of there being not sufficient self policing among Muslims. Unlike your typical mass shooter situation (where the usual community feedback is "oh he was such a quiet guy"), you are getting feedback from all quarters here saying "oh, I guess we all knew he would do something like this". That's inexcusable. And I agree with Trump that it should be made a crime not to report reasonable suspicion like that to the police.

[11B4V]

I still want to know why it took three hours to end this by OPD.

[The Brain]

I don't get it. Was he gay or homophobic or muslim?

[Monoriu]

I think the alternatives of not allowing immigration are much worse.  Demographically the Middle East is exploding, and if that population can't go anywhere at best it'll collapse into an Africa like hellhole.  At worst it'll end up with increasingly violent wars and conflicts for probably the next couple of decades.  OTOH Europe is on the other end of the demographic problem, with aging populations and declining birth rate.

Europe is not an example of worst case immigration, or rather not all of it is.  Different policies and different populations have ended up with very different results, some quite positive.  Even in the US on the whole Muslim immigration has been quite successful, and it's a mistake to take a few high profile problems as indicative of some sort of deeper issue.  I think there are some strains of Islam that are prone to violence and extremism, but the solution isn't to keep Muslims penned up and isolated, it's to expose them to western thought, western government and western culture.  Trying to forcibly change governments and social culture in other countries has almost always been a disaster, but immigration properly done has a spectacular success rate of creating converts.  A few will have a negative reaction, most others will not.

I think immigration policy should be about benefiting the nation that receives the immigrants, not trying to transform Islam or even making the world at large a better place.  The US should, for example, select the immigrants that have a reasonable chance of bettering the US, based on their age, skills, education, background etc. 

[11B4V]

I don't get it. Was he gay or homophobic or muslim?

d. All the above

[11B4V]

I think the alternatives of not allowing immigration are much worse.  Demographically the Middle East is exploding, and if that population can't go anywhere at best it'll collapse into an Africa like hellhole.  At worst it'll end up with increasingly violent wars and conflicts for probably the next couple of decades.  OTOH Europe is on the other end of the demographic problem, with aging populations and declining birth rate.

Europe is not an example of worst case immigration, or rather not all of it is.  Different policies and different populations have ended up with very different results, some quite positive.  Even in the US on the whole Muslim immigration has been quite successful, and it's a mistake to take a few high profile problems as indicative of some sort of deeper issue.  I think there are some strains of Islam that are prone to violence and extremism, but the solution isn't to keep Muslims penned up and isolated, it's to expose them to western thought, western government and western culture.  Trying to forcibly change governments and social culture in other countries has almost always been a disaster, but immigration properly done has a spectacular success rate of creating converts.  A few will have a negative reaction, most others will not.

I think immigration policy should be about benefiting the nation that receives the immigrants, not trying to transform Islam or even making the world at large a better place.  The US should, for example, select the immigrants that have a reasonable chance of bettering the US, based on their age, skills, education, background etc.

Rather insidious

[jimmy olsen]

Trump calls shooter "an Afghan", blames American Muslims for failing to "turn in the people who they know are bad", warns against "tremendous flow" of Syrian refugees, suggests President Obama sympathetic to Islamic terrorists

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/us/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-speeches.html

"They're trying to take over our children and convince them how wonderful ISIS is and how wonderful Islam is. And we don't know what's happening."

I think he is right, especially on the point of there being not sufficient self policing among Muslims. Unlike your typical mass shooter situation (where the usual community feedback is "oh he was such a quiet guy"), you are getting feedback from all quarters here saying "oh, I guess we all knew he would do something like this". That's inexcusable. And I agree with Trump that it should be made a crime not to report reasonable suspicion like that to the police.

There has been a lot of self policing and reporting by American muslims Marty. This isn't Belgium.

[jimmy olsen]

Powerful stuff

https://twitter.com/jahimes

I will not attend one more "Moment of Silence" on the Floor. Our silence does not honor the victims, it mocks them.

The Moments of Silence in the House have become an abomination. God will ask you, "How did you keep my children safe"? Silence.

God will ask you why you did not defer to the will of the people as children poured out their blood. And we will answer with silence.

If whatever God you worship is in fact a God of love and peace you had better use the Moment of Silence to pray for our souls.

If God is an angry God, prepare to know a hell well beyond that lived day to day by the families of the butchered. I will not be silent.

Here on earth, God's work must truly be our own....

James Agee had it right: "The deadliest blow the enemy of the human soul can strike is to do fury honor."

Maybe Congress will sense the urgency and vote this week to ban people on terrorist watch lists from buying guns. Right? *crickets*

Nope. We'll have a moment of silence. Perfectly emblematic of Congressional gross negligence.

[Solmyr]

Seedy's "self hating gay" theory may be correct:


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/pulse-orlando-nightclub-shooting/os-orlando-nightclub-omar-mateen-profile-20160613-

http://gawker.com/orlando-shooter-was-reportedly-a-regular-at-pulse-and-h-1781920316

Clearly, gays are the problem. We should eliminate Marty just in case he radicalizes too much.

[Razgovory]

Huh, heard this was some kind of Latino night at the club.  So it's win/win for Trump.

Fuck off you miserable git.

I think some of them may have supported BLM people so it's a win for you as well.

Having seen movies of Black Lives Matter activists in action, I can't really blame the police for being a bit trigger happy with those people. I mean, I can see even a trained policeman to be concerned for his or her life when around them.

It must be confusing to have so many people you hate and want dead.  What happens a member of one group kills another.

[Razgovory]

sin
noun
1.
an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.
"a sin in the eyes of God"
synonyms:   immoral act, wrong, wrongdoing, act of evil/wickedness, transgression, crime, offense, misdeed, misdemeanor;

Yes, Grumbler we all know what words mean, so please stop being stupid.

[Razgovory]

Huh, heard this was some kind of Latino night at the club.  So it's win/win for Trump.

Make sure you mention this one next time you go to confession.

Why?  It's not a sin to make the extreme right feel bad.