Editorial

Aiding and Abetting

David A. Lombardo

How many journalists does it take to change a light bulb? Three: One to report it as an inspired government program to bring light to the people; one to report it as a diabolical government plot to deprive the poor of darkness; and one to win a Pulitzer prize for reporting that the electric company hired a light bulb assassin to break the bulb in the first place. 

You know, the press used to be referred to as the Fourth Estate; its job was to keep an eye on the other three: the executive, legislative and judicial branches. Admittedly, the press has had a checkered past which lead a pundit to long ago observe, "There are government lies and newspaper lies, but in a democracy they are different lies." 

Having said that, the press has come a long way since colonial times, when it would simply make up heinous lies about candidates the publisher didn't want to see elected. Oh, well...maybe times haven't changed all that much, but at least the press has, for better or worse, traditionally been adversarial to the other three estates, acting as a watchdog for John Q, but not so much anymore. Take, for instance, the press' support for this president's categorical denial that terrorism and Islam are linked. 

The official word, from whatever golf course the president happens to be on at the time, is that terrorist attacks should not be associated with the word Islamic even if appended to the word "radical" or "extremist," and the press carries the water to John Q. This president continues to speak of terrorist attacks as workplace disputes, random acts of violence and lone wolf perpetrators. He constantly would have John Q believe none of these acts have anything to do with Islam. 

While it is increasingly difficult for the press to ignore major terrorist attacks such as that which recently occurred in Paris, the truth is, the White House and its lackey press is hiding the truth from John Q. Since the September 11th attacks, there have been 24,861 deadly Islamic terrorist attacks: 78 since January 1st of this year, including the execution of a child and 11 other Iraqis by ISIS in front of their families; two people beheaded in Egypt; a police woman investigating a traffic accident in Paris was ambushed by a Muslim extremist; and an al Qaeda suicide bus bomber blows 37 people up at a college in Yemen. White House spokesman Josh Earnest went on the record saying, "We have chosen not to use that label of radical Islam because it doesn't seem to accurately describe what happened." 

Really? Witnesses at the scene of the Charlie Hebdo massacre report constant shouts of "Allah Akbar" and "We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad" as the gunmen mowed down innocent people. In what alternate universe does that not constitute Islamic terrorism? 

And then there's this: these terrorists are hardly secretive about their religious affiliation, their goals and their actions. They are actively on Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets. Islamic terrorists have never seen a video camera they didn't love. They are such media whores they make Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson look like pikers. For the love of God, how can anyone on Earth not fully understand what's going on? You'd have to be living under a rock not to know-or in the White House. 

But all that is going on "over there" somewhere, and America is relatively safe from terrorists, right? You know, aside from the 2,996 Americans killed on September 11th, that is. Well, not exactly. Since 9/11 there have been 40 separate acts of terrorism in the United States committed by radical Muslims, accounting for 62 deaths. Perhaps more important, there have been plenty of mass murder plots against Americans by Islamic terrorists that were thwarted by the FBI, law enforcement and overseas intelligence operations both before and after 9/11, as well as several that were simply botched, such as the attempt to blow up Times Square. The truth is the ratio is 3058 Americans killed and one Muslim retaliation killing. 

Oh, yes, there has been one Muslim-American killed in revenge: a Muslim convenience store owner who was gunned down by Mark Anthony Stroman in Texas. Stroman, a white supremacist with a felony criminal record, hardly qualifies as an upstanding citizen. He did claim to be motivated by anger after having watched the Twin Towers fall. Regardless, he was sentenced to death in court.

When you look at the complete list of terrorist acts committed by Muslims since September 11th, it comes out to about five a day, but that's a conservative figure, because many such attacks in third world countries never get picked up by international news sources, even those resulting in multiple losses of life. 

Which brings me to the point: this president, aided and abetted by the press, is covering up the truth about Islamic terrorism. It's here, it's happening, and no one is safe anymore. Plan accordingly.