Thoughts on the Orlando Shooting

First and foremost: What happened in Orlando is a tragedy. Any attempt to politicize it is a crime. Sad to say, that is what will happen in due time.

What I know is: A lone gunman armed with a high powered assault rifle and pistols entered a nightclub that catered to the LGBTQ community and, long after he entered, began a shooting rampage that has killed 50 people and wounded 53.

A lone policeman tried to engage the shooter and failed to stop him because the shooter retreated back into the nightclub and took hostages.

After a shoot out, the gunman was killed.

He has been identified as an ISIS loyalist, which by default makes him a Muslim and an extremist.  The FBI was watching him,  but evidently he did nothing to cause them any concern.  Like buying two guns in a week.

Everyone under the sun has condemned the attack, though I have heard nothing from the NRA or other gun rights advocacy groups. Yet. However I do know that they will say that if someone (or several people) in the nightclub had a gun with them that they could have stopped the shooting. Might as well tell you that now. I can see it now – socially conservative organizations saying “Gays need guns.” And I can also see the NRA defending an LGBTQ individual under Florida's “Stand Your Ground” law sometime in their future. (Hint: They won't.)

Muslim Imams have spoke out against the attack and against the way the extremists talk about the LGBTQ community, I have heard some statements of sorrow from the Christian and Jewish communities. Other religious groups will certainly issue statements of sorrow, sympathy, and support.

How will this be used? This is tragic.

It has been called an act of terrorism by the FBI, the Florida State Governor, and President Obama.

What does this mean?

First: More surveillance of Muslim/Islamic groups in the USA. This will happen or has happened already. Muslims are already demonized for 9/11, the Fort Hood shooting, the failed Times Square bombing, and numerous other pledged attacks. (Of interest – most of those pledged attacks were made by groups led by an FBI agent provocateur. Makes you wonder sometimes, doesn't it?)

Second: Expect an increase in the amount of money, manpower, and machines in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya, and other places where the US whack-a-mole military policy is at work. There will be no action at all taken against the government of Saudi Arabia who, by the way, is the leading funding source of extremist groups in the Middle East. From AL-Qaeda to ISIS to whatever else is out there, chances are you will be able to trace the money back to them.  And we give them how much military aid every year? 

Third: More surveillance of groups that are opposed to US foreign policy in the Middle East and the world. Our phones, e-mails, Twitter, Facebook, and whatever else we use to get our message out will be watched even more. Joys. Welcome to 1984 writ large.

What will not happen: Social conservative groups that are opposed to LGBTQ rights will (increased monitoring). (Unless they are Islamic in nature. See above.) Even though many of them speak out in violent ways against the LGBTQ community on a daily or weekly basis. They will be left alone.

Never mind that they have committed acts of violence against those that they are opposed to. They are opposed to abortion and look at the murder of Tiller, the bombings and arson attacks on abortion clinics, and the violence and hatred that is spewed out by those protesting abortion.

Look at the attacks against Mosques, Buddhist and Sikh Temples, etc over the years.

Are they linked to the attack that happened so tragically this morning? No directly. But ideologically they are. And from what I read of the Bible and the New/Christian Testament, they shouldn't be. And I have no idea on how people of faith link violence to their faith. It is beyond me.

What they fail to understand is that their freedom of religion is dependent upon others' freedom of religion. It's a multi-way street. Everyone has it or no one has it.

So, those are my thoughts on this right now.

I will hopefully be able to make a vigil or an action, depending upon my work schedule. This is the crazy time of year for me. Barring that, I will do something solo and in solidarity with the LGBTQ community.

A friend of mine said that he was gong to wear a rainbow armband all week. It's a start. It's something.

We need to do more to guarantee that people have a right to life and to live their lives by their own choices.

People that are opposed to this and want to forcibly impose their ideas on others need to be called out on what they are not: loving and compassionate.