Terrorism
October 29, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
The Islamist violence in France that John describes in his post below is the bloody tip of the spear of the Islamic world’s reaction to President Macron’s attempt to defeat terrorism. Turkey’s president, the deplorable thug Erdogan, attacked Macron’s response to the beheading of that teacher in a Paris suburb, claiming that Macron “needs treatment on a mental level.” The Washington Post described Macron’s response as “a crackdown on Muslim
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October 9, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
The FBI has accused Michigan militia members of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The kidnapping was to be part of a wider plan to overthrow several state governments believed by militia members to be violating the Constitution, according to the FBI. Whitmer, her fellow Democrats, and their media allies are blaming President Trump for inciting the militia lunatics. Whitmer repeated the falsehood that Trump has refused to condemn white
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September 12, 2020 — Scott Johnson
With incredible courage and composure, the passengers and crew of United Flight 93 waged our first counterattack against al Qaeda on 9/11. Recounting Todd Beamer’s call to GTE operator Lisa Jefferson, the AP’s Joann Loviglio began to piece the story together a few days later in “Last words from victims: ‘Let’s roll.'” In the video below, Jefferson recalls her conversation with Todd Beamer. In a 2002 letter to William Buckley,
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September 11, 2020 — Scott Johnson
I first wrote about Rick Rescorla in 2003 after finishing James Stewart’s Heart of a Soldier, the book based on Stewart’s New Yorker article “The real heroes are dead.” (“The real heroes are dead” is what Rescorla would say in response to recognition of his heroism on the battlefield in Vietnam.) It’s a good book that touches on profound themes in a thought-provoking way: life and death, love and friendship,
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September 11, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Following 9/11 the New York Times ran Portraits of Grief profiling many of those lost in the 9/11 attacks. The Times attributes authorship of these artful profiles collectively to Kirk Johnson, N.R. Kleinfeld, David Barstow, Barbara Stewart, Jane Gross, Neela Banerjee, Constance L. Hays, Lynette Holloway, Janny Scott and Somini Sengupta. We can’t capture the magnitude of the loss, or the meaning of who and what we lost, but the
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September 5, 2020 — Scott Johnson
The Star Tribune is still in search of “white supremacists” allegedly involved in the the festivities in Minneapolis that followed the death of George Floyd on Memorial Day. Now the federal authorities in Minnesota have just unsealed charges against two self-described Boogaloo Bois working the scene of the riots in Minneapolis. The Star Tribune has previously profiled one of the charged defendants. These guys are militant revolutionaries who sought to
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August 9, 2020 — Scott Johnson
The best analysis I have found so far on the August 4 explosions in the port of Beirut is set forth in David Wurmser’s August 7 column “Lebanon: What happened?” Also useful is this backgrounder disseminated by the Shurat HaDin/Israel Law Center. I thought readers might find it of interest. With Shurat HaDin’s kind permission, I am posting it below: As the Lebanese people struggle to recover from the catastrophic
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August 3, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
The Israeli military carried out airstrikes against Syrian targets Monday night. The strikes were a response to an attempted terrorist attack that was thwarted along the Syrian border on Sunday night. The thwarted attack consisted of four terrorists planting explosive devices inside Israel. IDF forces spotted them, opened fire, and thwarted the attack. Reportedly, all four terrorists were killed. Afterwards, the Israelis found weapons and a bag containing explosive devices
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August 1, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
In a unanimous ruling, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has vacated the death sentence given by a jury to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the two radical Muslim jihadist brothers who set off pressure-cooker bombs at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. The bombs killed three people and injured 260 others. Fortunately, the other bomber, Dzhorkar’s brother who apparently masterminded the attack,
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March 3, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
I added a question mark to the title of this post about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan because there is room for reasonable disagreement as to the wisdom of our withdrawal. To answer my own question, though, I think withdrawing is the wrong move. We have accomplished a lot in Afghanistan. We crushed al Qaeda there and, as John says, we ensured that Afghanistan would no longer be a launching
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March 2, 2020 — Steven Hayward
John’s post below about the Afghanistan problem is fitting and right, and I write to agree with him. It seemed better to do a separate post than an appended comment as is our frequent practice among us. John pays tribute to the faithfulness of our fighting forces who believe in the mission, and it is right to honor their courage and willingness to take the supreme risk. Two observations. First,
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February 23, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Democrats seem nearly unanimous in their outrage over the assassination of the leading Iranian terrorist, Qasem Soleimani. Some Republicans have also expressed opposition to President Trump’s decision to take Soleimani out. I thought it was a great move. I’m delighted that Soleimani has joined Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the ranks of those wondering where the heck those virgins are. However, I questioned whether
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February 2, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Earlier today, a man described by authorities as an Islamic terrorist stabbed three people in Streatham, a part of south London. He stole a knife from a store and immediately began stabbing people with it; one was injured critically. Police arrived within a few minutes and shot him. (One thing about the London police, they aren’t shy about saving taxpayers the money involved in trial and incarceration.) The terrorist, like
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January 15, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Rep. Brian Mast is a double amputee courtesy of the munitions disseminated by Qassem Soleimani in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. (Rep. Mast himself sustained his injuries in Afghanistan.) We posted Rep. Mast’s remarks condemning his Democratic colleagues on the floor of the House last week in “Brian Mast speaks.” Rep. Mast followed up his remarks on the House floor in the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing yesterday (video below, C-SPAN
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January 12, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Rep. Brian Mast is a double amputee courtesy of the munitions disseminated by Qassem Soleimani in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. Rep. Mast himself sustained his injuries in Afghanistan. Beyond the 600-plus Americans whose deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq by such munitions can be attributed to Soleimani are the many more who have been grievously wounded and disfigured. Rep. Mast is representative of them in his person and spoke up on
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January 10, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, the House passed a resolution designed to prevent President Trump from taking additional military action against Iran without specific congressional authorization. The resolution calls on the president “to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran” unless Congress declares war or enacts “specific statutory authorization” for the use of armed forces. Three Republicans and an independent voted for the resolution. Eight
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January 10, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Leading Democrats speak in unison over President Trump’s decision to order the termination of Iranian terrorist mastermind Qassem Soleimani after he reported for work in Baghdad last week (Washington Free Beacon supercuts video below). TDS runs deep, but (to borrow the Dems’ preferred locution on this issue) they seem to object in principle. They seem to believe what they are saying. God help us when they return to power with
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