Bernie Sanders was pitch perfect at an impromptu press conference late this afternoon. The Orlando mass shootings were the topic.
Sanders: Don’t blame Islam for Orlando shooting
By Jonathan Easley
Speaking at an impromptu press conference outside his campaign headquarters, Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, said the gunman’s motives are complicated and remain largely unknown.
“Was he motivated by the ideology of some fanatic Islamic organization which believes it is somehow heroic to mow down innocent and defenseless men and women?” Sanders asked.
“Was he motivated by homophobia and hatred of the gay community? Was he motivated by some kind of hatred of Latinos? Was he suicidal and wanted to end his life by taking others with him? We may never know the answer to those questions.”
These are the very questions I was raising in a post from earlier today, and raised in a subsequent post on the front page by Kerry Eleveld that went up shortly after mine.
Bernie goes on to say:
“The Muslim people did not commit this act. A man named Omar Mateen did. To blame an entire religion for the acts of a single individual is nothing less than bigotry, and that is not what this country is supposed to be about.”
Sanders slammed Trump’s response.
“Our goal must not be to allow politicians, Donald Trump or anyone else to divide us up based on where our family came from, the color of our skin or our religion,” he said.
We have to make a careful examination of all the available evidence regarding Omar’s possible motivations before drawing any conclusions, much less jumping to them based on very preliminary evidence reported right after the tragedy in the media as Donald Trump did in such a triumphal fashion.
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Bernie’s rebuke to Trump’s inflammatory and premature conclusions show us exactly why the presumed Republican nominee is temperamentally unsuited to serve in the office of President, as
Hillary has pointed out so eloquently as well.
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More light is being shed on the possible motivations for Omar Mateen’s attack last Saturday. From the NY Post using a Brazilian TV station as a source.
Ex-wife’s bombshell claim: Club shooter was gay
The ex-wife of Orlando mass killer Omar Mateen claimed Monday that she believed he was homosexual — as it was revealed that he frequented the gay nightclub where he staged the nation’s worst massacre in modern times.
Sitora Yusufiy, who was married to Mateen in 2009 for three months, made the shocking claim on Brazilian television station SBT Brazil.
Her fiancé, Marco Dias, speaking in Portuguese on her behalf, said Yusufiy believed that Mateen had “gay tendencies” and that his father had called him gay in front of her. Dias also claimed “the FBI asked her not to tell this to the American media.”
That’s alarming to think the FBI might want to shape a specific narrative about the attack in the press.
What has the Orlando gunman's father said?
In the video posted early Monday, Seddique Mateen says his son was well-educated and respectful to his parents, and that he was "not aware what motivated him to go into a gay club and kill 50 people."
The elder Mateen says he was saddened by his son's actions during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
He then adds: "God will punish those involved in homosexuality," saying it's, "not an issue that humans should deal with."
Clinging to Trump’s narrative that this was strictly meant to be an attack on behalf of Daesh, (or their opponents on the battlefield, El Nusra) is beginning to look doubtful. Mateen in his contradictory 911 phone conversation stated his allegiance to both groups.
Trump’s utter disregard for letting an investigation find the facts before blurting out what he assumed the facts would be would be inconceivable for our current President.
Remarks by the President After Briefing on the Attack in Orlando, Florida
The fact that it took place at a club frequented by the LGBT community I think is also relevant. We’re still looking at all the motivations of the killer. But it’s a reminder that regardless of race, religion, faith or sexual orientation, we’re all Americans, and we need to be looking after each other and protecting each other at all times in the face of this kind of terrible act.
With respect to the killer, there’s been a lot of reporting that’s been done. It’s important to emphasize that we’re still at the preliminary stages of the investigation, and there’s a lot more that we have to learn. The one thing that we can say is that this is being treated as a terrorist investigation. It appears that the shooter was inspired by various extremist information that was disseminated over the Internet. All those materials are currently being searched, exploited so we will have a better sense of the pathway that the killer took in making the decision to launch this attack.
As Director Comey I think will indicate, at this stage we see no clear evidence that he was directed externally. It does appear that, at the last minute, he announced allegiance to ISIL, but there is no evidence so far that he was in fact directed by ISIL. And there also at this stage is no direct evidence that he was part of a larger plot.
That Mr.Trump couldn’t wait to turn the dead, mostly young, mostly Hispanic, mostly members of the LGBT community into his political wedge to push his islamophobic ideas shows what kind of president he would be: thoughtless. reckless, and self centered. Don’t wait for Donald to apologize, I doubt he will ever acknowledge his errors, now or ever.