Gingrich Uses Nice Tragedy To Fan Muslim Hatred

The body of a young victim in Nice

A trip to my local after work last evening to cool off with a drink and unwind morphed into a sobering experience when I received a news alert on my iPhone via the New York Times about the horrific act of terror that took place in Nice, France.

I asked the bartender to switch one of the flat screen TVs mounted on the wall over the bar from the golf highlights no one was really paying attention to over to CNN so we could all watch the first reports of  yet more innocent people being killed.

The lighthearted conversation was quickly replaced by a sour mood as the gathered patrons began to express frustration and anger over the actions of those who would use terror to take the lives of innocent strangers using barbaric acts meant to shock and seize the attention of global media.

Once again this latest mass killing was carefully and diabolically timed to dominate headlines heading into a summer holiday weekend; and we're left to ponder the aftermath.

At least 84 people (including 10 children) reported killed, including a father and son from Texas, and more than two hundred injured; including at least three students from UCLA.

What makes this heinous act even worse are the deplorable attempts by prominent Republicans and conservative media figures to use this tragedy to once again vilify all Muslim refugees.

Gingrich calls for Muslim "tests"

As you've likely heard, former House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gringrich is making headlines for comments he made during a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity in which he suggested that America needs to begin implementing some kind of religious litmus test for all people of Muslim faith to determine if they profess a belief in Sharia Law.

A test? How would that even work?


According to estimates by the Pew Research Center, there were approximately 3.3 million Muslim-Americans in this country as of 2015; the very idea that the U.S. is somehow going to "test" the beliefs of of more than 3 millions American citizens is ludicrous.

And as President Obama said in a statement, Gingrich's "test" idea is "repugnant" to the very ideals of the Constitutional protections afforded to all citizens; including the freedom of religion and the freedom of expression.

Did Gingrich call for "testing" Christians after 20-year-old Adam Lanza gunned down 20 people in Sandy Hook Elementary back in 2012?

I certainly can't recall conservatives calling for a Christian "test" after 21-year-old Dylan Roof shot and killed nine people at a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17 last year.

Orlando shooter Omar Mateen - Born in New York

As Justin Salhani observed this morning in an article on ThinkProgress.org, none of the perpetrators of the recent string of high profile terrorist acts in France and Belgium were Muslim refugees; they were legal citizens of those respective countries.

Just consider the horrific mas killings we've seen across the United States recently, including in Charleston, Orlando, San Bernadino and most recently in Dallas.

They were all committed by unbalanced American psychopaths who had easy access to guns - they were all Americans born right here in America.

None of them were Muslim refugees, in fact there's no evidence any Muslim refugee has been arrested for plotting to kill Americans at all - in fact as Vox.com reported, 80% of terrorist attacks in the United States since 9/11 have been committed by Americans.

Governments around the world, not just in American and Europe, have enough to deal with to try and figure out a practical and effective long-term strategy to deal with the global threat posed by people who've been radicalized by groups like ISIS, Al Qaeda and Boko Haram that pervert the Koran to justify barbaric acts of violence and cruelty.

Newt Gingrich calling for the establishment of some kind of thought police in America is not the solution, and creating some kind of "American Taliban" is anathema to the principles on which this country was founded.

102 Reasons For Stronger Gun Control Laws

Orlando nightclub shooter Omar Mateen

The horrifying manifestation of hate unleashed in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando early this morning is difficult to comprehend.

I'm sitting here listening to NPR's ongoing coverage of this tragic event, and as they're reporting, this is the 133rd mass shooting in the United States this year.

It was the worst mass shooting in American history.

With so much still unknown, this incident will be dominating the media for the next few days, but it is my hope that larger mainstream news organizations finally begin to look more closely at the how the vilification of the LGBT community by (some) Republican lawmakers played a part in creating the kind of climate that allowed, or even fueled the kind of hatred that was at the root of this attack.


In recent weeks Republican lawmakers in North Carolina, Mississippi and other states have actively pushed to pass legislation that denies transgender individuals from using the restroom of their choice under the false narrative that transgender folks might stalk bathrooms to commit sexual assault.

Which is utter nonsense that's totally unprovable by actual facts- instead it's an excuse to use state laws to discriminate.

Obviously the saddest aspect of 29-year-old Omar Mir Seddique Mateen killing 49 people and wounding 53 others are the lives he ended or altered forever, and the unimaginable pain his actions will cause to family, friends and members of the Orlando community.

But it's also sad to see divisive figures like Donald Trump wasting no time trying to use this tragedy to malign Muslims and fan the flames of fear and bigotry to rally support for his absurd calls to ban people of Islamic faith from entering the country.

Maybe the fact that Omar Mateen was an American citizen, as are most people who commit mass shootings in the United States, who lived in Central Florida and was born in New York eluded Trump?

Omar Mateen's ex-wife Sitora Yusufiy

NBC News reports that Mateen's father claims his son was angered when two men kissed each other in front of the killer's three year-old son in Miami.

He also had a propensity for violence, his ex-wife from New Jersey born in Uzbekistan, Sitora Yusufiy, told reporters that Mateen beat her regularly during their two-year marriage until her parents came down to Florida and got her out of the house.

She claims Omar Mateen wasn't particularly religious either.

Regardless of all that, Trump continues to beat the drums of anti-Muslim immigration and has already released statements via Twitter which equate to "I told you so." 

As if his repugnant comments about members of the Muslim community somehow predicted the actions of a lone individual who was motivated by toxic hatred of LGTB people and an alleged allegiance to ISIS.

Trump made scant mention of the ease with which Mateen was able to purchase the guns he used.

Mateen had been interviewed three times by the F.B.I previously for making statements expressing support for terrorism.

He also had ties to a Florida man named Moner Mohammad Abu Salha who became radicalized and eventually blew himself up in Syria in a suicide bombing.

Florida Gov & NRA Flunky Rick Scott

Despite all that, Mateen was able to walk right into a store and purchase a military-style AR-15 assault rifle, and a Glock handgun two days ago; the A.T.F won't say where he bought the weapons.

Earlier today I watched the televised briefing by Orlando's Mayor and Police Chief, the local sheriff, the Florida Attorney General, the local F.B.I agent in charge and Republican Governor Rick Scott spoke as well.

It was interesting to hear Rick Scott take the podium and lament the tragedy.

It's not my intent to politicize this tragedy, but it's important to put this event in the context of gun laws - even more so with a presidential election coming up this fall.


During Rick Scott's first term as Florida Governor which started in 2011, he passed 12 different pro-gun laws with the help of a Republican-dominated state legislature - including the "Docs v. Glocks" law that put limits on how doctors can talk about guns with their own patients.

He also backed the absurd "Stand Your Ground" law that enabled violent racist psychopath George Zimmerman to stalk, confront and shoot and kill innocent African-American teenager Trayvon Martin - and be absolved of any legal responsibility for it in a court of law.

Scott literally gets an "A" grade from the NRA (Hillary Clinton gets a "F") so it offers some perspective on where he stands on issues like mandatory background checks to purchase guns and the ability to purchase military-style assault rifles like the AR-15 Omar Mateen used to kill some of the 49 people he slaughtered (and the 53 he wounded) in Orlando earlier this morning as many of us slept.

Governor Scott didn't pull the trigger, but he and his Republican cohorts are part of the reasons Mateen was able to own firearms and have a permit to do so.

Under current Florida law, it's also legal for an employer to fire someone just for identifying as LGBT, because conservative legislators have managed to exclude LGBT individuals from the protections that employment laws extend to other Floridans.

Think about that.

With a detailed investigation into this mass shooting barely underway, someone like Donald Trump would have you believe that this incident was the result of immigration laws that allow people of Islamic faith to enter the country, or because of rampant "political correctness".

But this incident didn't occur in some kind of vacuum.

It happened in a state that has enacted laws that relegate members of the LGBT community to 2nd class status when it comes to protections in the workplace, a state that places the agenda of the National Rifle Association over the safety of it's own citizens.

If this incident demonstrates anything (beyond the depraved mind of a man consumed by hate), it's that there are 103 new reasons for American citizens to start demanding more stringent gun control laws.