We are missing a clear motive in the "San Bernardino Massacre"

After watching the extended coverage of the horrific shooting in San Bernardino, California, It has become apparent that we are missing a very clear motive.

We are so quick to attribute any violence in this country to either being gang related or a result of some terroristic plot. The only exception to this pattern is when the perpetrator is a caucasian and we simply dismiss their heinous actions as being the result of a lone mentally deranged individual.

Few facts are known in this incident but what we do know is that all the victims were attending a "Christmas Celebration." A celebration that many companies or governmental organization have on a yearly basis because as you know, "We are a Christian Nation."

If you listened to the rhetoric that was aired before we even knew who the shooters were, it was questioning whether this was an act of terrorism or simply a workplace tragedy. Now that we know that the shooters were Muslin, the attack on the entire religion has escalated. We have presidential candidates whose only claim to fame is that they would require Muslins to register as immigrants and even monitor their mosques.

I am not claiming to have any more information than that which has already been made public. The initial report was that Syed Rizwon Farook had an altercation with a coworker during a Christmas celebration. He left the party, returned with his wife and killed 14 people while injuring 21 others.

Our focus should be on the altercation as the triggering mechanism rather than running all over the world looking for some I.S.I.S connection. We know many people who sympathize with the Confederate flag who never attended a KKK rally. We also know people who would never consider themselves as being racist, but they would support candidates with racist policies. They would spit in your face and tell you it's raining just as easily as they would tell you that we are a Christian nation.

The truth is we are not a Christian nation nor were we founded on Christian principals. We keep perpetuating this myth despite the fact that immigrants are a large segment of our society today. They live in our neighborhoods. Their kids go to our schools. They work where we work and yes the buy guns where we buy guns.

Continually ignoring and demonizing the Muslin community is a dangerous recipe for peace in this country. Just as a single caucasian can enter a church and kill 9 people and as of today we know nothing about his life, his parents, his brothers nor his sisters, a single Muslin can pull off a similar act. The difference is, we are determined to attribute a motive to their actions. But, as a casual observer of all the madness going on in this country today, the hypocrisy is sickening.

Prayer alone will not stop the next mass shooting

Less than twenty-four hours after the worst mass shooting on American soil since the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, President Obama sat down with members of his national security team today and addressed the nation. 

The president was flanked by Vice-President Joe Biden, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey and National Security Advisor Susan Rice.

Obama opened his remarks my stating, “Our first order of business is to send our thoughts and prayers to the victims’ families.” He went on to say that he hope the injured would have a speedy recovery and be reunited with their loved ones.

The president stressed that the motives and plans of the couple are unknown at this time but that authorities will get to the bottom of it. He stated that the investigation is now in the hands of the FBI.

The San Bernardino Police Department released the names of the couple that were killed in the black SUV on last evening as Syed Rizwan Farook 28 years-of-age and his wife Tashfeen Malik 27 years-of-age.

Obama was hesitant to label this incident as being motivated by terror by adding that it could simply be a workplace incident. Either way he asserts that it is too easy for individuals to get access to guns and that the number of incidents in this country is unparalleled anywhere else in the world.

The opened-ended question that Obama left us with is actually what did he mean when he said, “We’re going to have to search ourselves as individuals.” Of course, we can pray for the victims as we always do, or was he alluding to the possibility of a public outcry to change gun laws in this country?

Only time will tell if this incident will be the spark that generates a public outcry. The world’s news outlets are reporting this as just another day in American life. Searching ourselves would have to imply that we must decide if we want to live in a society where everyone is armed to protect themselves or will legislators enact laws that will promote “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” for its citizens.

If only the Pope could really forgive sins

President Barack Obama made a visit to the Vatican on Thursday and his visit with Pope Francis lasted longer than was expected. After all the pomp and fanfare of a visiting dignitary, the scheduled five minute face to face meeting between the two world leaders lasted eight minutes shy of being one hour. Obama has been criticized for bowing while greeting leaders of various countries but the press has given him a pass for bowing as his shook hands with the pope. Even though most of the attention has been devoted to Russia’s annexation of Crimea during this European trip, getting an audience with the pope offered a welcomed change of pace for those who follow and listen to every word and watch every action of President Obama.

Unfortunately, with cameras flashing and no one being allowed to get within hearing distance as the pope and the president conversed for 52 minutes, we can only speculate about the content of the conversation that captured the world's attention for nearly one hour. Reading the commentaries of several news organizations you would get the impression that the meeting was merely a publicity stunt to boost Obama’s popularity among Catholic voters.

Despite the professionalism in which this notion was propagated, it must be dismissed due to the fact that Obama has no plans to run for public office and doesn't need to court the votes of any constituency. What would have been a better analogy would have been the thought that he was confessing the sins of a nation and hoping that the pope could actually grant forgiveness for them.
One such instance of this need for forgiveness was the speech Obama gave in Amsterdam on Wednesday. In that speech the president poked fun at the Russian President Vladimir Putin and referred to that nation as a regional power. Obama then went into a dialog in which a rational thinking person would think that it came out of a fictional novel.

Here’s what President Obama said:

“We did not claim or annex Iraq’s territory, nor did we grab its resources for our own gain,” he said. “Instead, we ended our war and left Iraq to its people and a fully sovereign Iraqi state could make decisions about its own future.”

I fully realize that only days after Obama took the oath of office in his first term he announced that his administration was going to look forward and not look backwards. In essence he was saying that the sins committed by the Bush administration were going to go unpunished.  That was then and this is now.
But to go on a European tour amidst the conflicts going on in the world today and deny the reason for invading Iraq is absurd. It would take an enormous amount of time to rehash the facts that are common knowledge precluding our invasion of Iraq, but liberating the Iraqi people was not one of them.

Obama could have better served his people in America by pointing out one simple fact. That being the fact that after Bush and Cheney set up an oversight commission in Iraq to divide up the oil fields and establish a new constitution, that constitution included government health coverage for all Iraqi citizens.

Many have speculated that Obama and Pope Francis were discussing ways to help the poor and the income disparities persistent in the world today. This may be true but again, who knows?  One thing we do know is that upon meeting and greeting the pope, Obama said: "It is a great honor. I'm a great admirer. Thank you so much for receiving me. I bring greetings from my family. The last time I came here to meet your predecessor I was able to bring my wife and children."
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