Header Image (book)

aowheader.3.2.gif

Friday, June 19, 2015

Massacre In Charleston, South Carolina

(This blog post based on the information I've been able to access at this time)



What happened on June 17, 2015, at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is horrific beyond words.

What a vile, racist scumbag mass murderer Dylann Storm Roof is! The eyes staring back from more than one photo taken of Dylann Storm Roof depict a young man with "soulless eyes."

The above said, President Obama's speech about the killings at Emanuel AME Church contained an error which must be noted. He said:
"...At some point we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries...."
Not exactly....


Note from the creator of the above graphic:
My "facts" we're constrained by space and strict adherence to the term advanced countries. The number of incidents is much higher.

...Mass shootings are not the sole province of the United States. Nearly all the countries listed have either gun bans or restrict ownership. Obama used this tragedy to pursue his agenda against the 2nd Amendment. He did so in full knowledge that what he said was a lie. THAT IS THE POINT.
For a more comprehensive list, see Actually, President Obama, Mass Killings Aren’t Uncommon In Other Countries.

Additional reading: Why South Carolina’s Confederate flag isn’t at half-staff after church shooting.

73 comments:

  1. C. Laura Forme said

    Wherever you have people you will have violence.

    The human race is one of God's most notable failures.

    We will soon go the way of the dinosaurs.

    The sooner it happens the better off the Universe will be.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I understood the presidents words to mean with the frequency we see here...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dave,
      Please see this article and the chart therein. Excerpt:

      Boom, here we go: The Rampage Shooting Index. Taken from a now-defunct website, it assembled data from around the world to construct a per capita mass shootings index that controls for population differences.

      [...]

      The U.S.’ index of 0.12 per 5,000,000 places it behind Norway (recall the Anders Breivik massacre), Finland, Slovakia, Israel, and Switzerland – at half the ratio.

      Another thing one might note: The top 5 countries for mass shootings per capita all have “restrictive” gun policies.


      The chart, which must be studied so as to understand the above excerpt.

      Delete
    2. There is also this at Market Watch:

      ...there are G-20 nations with more gun violence than the U.S., the worst being Brazil, with 18.5 gun homicides per 100,000 people, compared to the U.S. at 3.5....

      The frequency issue is complicated, and statistics with various factors involved must be taken into consideration.

      Delete
  3. And thank you for calling it racism, plain and simple. Any attempt to call this Christian sullied the memory of the deceased. This was no more Christian persecution than was the Birmingham church bombings.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Projecting much, Dave? Your "Foreclosure" may not be entirely warranted.

      Delete
    2. that should read Christian persecution sullied... Thersites, I don't know what you mean...

      Delete
    3. CAUGHT IN PASSING on ANOTHER FINE BLOG (EDITED HERE):

      "The left will shamelessly exploit any tragedy for their own gain. A 'racist a-hole' as you called him, or a mentally ill person chooses to kill with a gun, and the leftwing [operatives] immediately start screaming about gun control.

      If you really want to throw up, go read this piece of red propaganda at Yahoo 'News:'

      http://news.yahoo.com/asia-sho...

      Here was my reply:

      "[Nonsensical] article.{Noting but] Red propaganda.

      "The world ... resents us, wants what we enjoy and doesn't give [a brass farthing] about [the phony issue of] racism. And doesn't [give a damn] about [the phony, largely fabricated issue of] racism.

      "How many [Negro] presidents has Australia [or South and Central America] had? How many [European or Asian heads of state] have been black?

      The [left's ever raging] concern' for race relations in our country is [as phony as a thirteen-dollar bill]. ["Race" is just useful as] one more cudgel [they eagerly use to] to bludgeon us [into submission.]"

      WIlliam Jennings Bryan's illegitimate great, great grandson

      Delete
    4. Well Thersites... Looks like the evidence is coming in pretty fast that the shooters reason was race related... and not religious persecution at all. Despite claims by many on the right.

      Delete
    5. Nobody's arguing "primary" motivations. But why not attack at the "root" of the "so-called problem" (a drug zone or ghetto) UNLESS you thought it's "source" was in the AME church, and NOT the inner city?

      Delete
    6. If it were me, I'd strike at the heart of my enemy, not at his most exposed and vulnerable minions.

      But then again, I'm not a crazy racially-obsessed loon.

      Delete
    7. PS - Here's a "hint" for you to consider... the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, jr.

      For some reason, I don't think that the whack jobs' "beef" was with the Black Panthers.

      Delete
  4. PS, England, who have been disarmed for decades, is Number 2 for violent crimes in the world as reported by their own media about a year ago.
    The only thing that obama has said that wasn't a lie was that he intended to fundamentally transform America. I guess the libtards thought that meant ice cream every night and nice soothing bedtime stories.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I posted as well ..God bless them............

    ReplyDelete
  6. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
    Creeps in its petty pace
    To the last syllable of recorded time,
    And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
    The way to dusty death.

    Out, out, brief candle!
    Life's bu a walking shadow ––
    A poor player who struts and frets
    His hour upon the stage ––
    And then is heard no more.

    It is a tale told by an idiot ––
    Full of sound and fury
    Signifying nothing.

    - Wm. Shakespeare (Macbeth)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Maybe the saddest point is his statement to police that sitting there during their study he almost changed his mind.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Duck,
      I read that he almost changes his mind because the people were so nice to him.

      What happened to Dylann Roof's moral compass?

      Delete
  8. Illegal firearm in South Carolina?
    That's an interesting idea.

    ReplyDelete
  9. "Soulless eyes." That was my immediate impression, too. Not sure there isn't an anti-Christian element here as well.
    1) True, a church at prayer was more likely to be a gun-free zone, so easy pickings. Soft targets.
    2) Still, why a church? And a prayer meeting? That's where you find the most devout and decent.
    3) He said he wanted to start a civil war. Charlie Manson 2. Could it be that decent church-going folks would get more sympathy than the punks that populate housing projects? Or did he hate them even more?
    4) If he REALLY were angry about blacks killin' and rapin' there are much better place to find suspects. They're all over, but then they might shoot back.

    To sit through an hour of godly men and women engaged in worship and communion with God - then kill' em. That is so cold it makes me shudder. Pure evil! I believe there is a lost sort for whom that would trigger hate for God and his ambassadors. If you are reflecting Christ, people will respond to you as they would respond to Christ. It seems to me that in the church he found the ‘highest and best’ outlet for his hate. With the evidence to date I don’t question calling him a chickenshit racist coward. How can an anti-Christ bias not be a handy fellow traveller?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Baysider,
      Charlie Manson 2.

      My thought, too, when I heard the part about starting a race war.

      Delete
    2. He is said to have admitted they treated him so kindly that he almost changed his mind.

      Delete
    3. Z,
      Had Dylann Roof ever before been inside any church?

      Delete
  10. Medea Giazzone said


    The politicization of a terrible tragedy may be inevitable, but it is always ignoble.

    ReplyDelete
  11. "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them."

    ~ Revelation: 14 (KJV)

    Rejoice at each death. Mourn every birth. Life here on earth is nothing more than an exercise in futility –– or so it seems.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The family members of the victims have already said that they forgive him. God bless them; they are better Christians than I am.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm hoping the blessing and inspiration of their amazing forgiveness isn't lost on many Americans. One doesn't forgive for something this huge without divine help.

      Delete
    2. Z,
      The forgiveness is a model for us all.

      Delete
  13. "Ben Carson acknowledged the apparent racial motives behind the attack, he proceeded to shift the focus away from race specifically and more towards a general hatred of difference he sees “growing in our great nation.”

    “I fear our intolerance of one another is the new battle ground of evil. Today many feel it is ok to hate someone who thinks differently than you do,” he continued. “The left hates the right. The right hates the left. This attitude is poison. Poison that will sicken all of us.”

    As an example, Carson said, “Just because someone is for Obamacare and another is against doesn’t change the fact we are all brothers and sisters.” Yet it is important to remember that this is from a man who once called Obamacare “the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.”

    Obamacare worse than 9/11? Worse than WWI and WWII? Worse than Pearl Harbor? Carson contributes to the "poison that will sicken all of us" with his stupid statements on Obamacare.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Rick Perry is a major a**hole:

    Rick Perry Says Obama Administration Always Overreacts To ‘Accidents’ Like Charleston Shooting

    Accident? Roof planned this massacre and said he wanted to start a race war. That's an accident?

    Obama overreacts to 9 people being murdered in church? What did Perry expect the president to do? Say "Oops!"

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yesterday I read this
    “Perry calls Charleston massacre an “accident,” hits Obama for pushing gun control in wake of attack on black church”

    Rick Perry asserted that President Obama succumbed to a “knee jerk” liberal impulse to use the massacre at a black church in Charleston to push a gun-control agenda.
    Calling the attack that left nine worshipers dead an “accident,” Perry also suggested that misuse of therapeutic drugs to treat mental illness might have been a more significant factor than access to firearms.

    Perry appeared on a Radio Talk show,blaming the attack on “evil and cowardice,” he called it premature to identify ways the attack might have been averted. 21-year-old Dylann Roof has confessed!!
    Rick Perry is a MORON and has NO business being President of anything. Sure, part of what he said is accurate, Obama is using this to HIS advantage in an effort to ban guns and yes indeed, it was an act of ignorance and was committed by a coward, but it was no ACCIDENT!
    Although he referred to the attack as an “accident,” he later offered another description, saying, “This was a crime of hate, we know that.” Obviously Perry had to have simply misspoke, the same way that Hillary does all the time! As they say. “The difference between genius and stupidity, is that genius has limits.” Something that Hillary will never have to worry about!

    Well Rick, I’m not a dumber than dirt Democrat, you said it, you own it. This isn’t some ding-dong White chick playing Black, this is a man that wants to be President of this nation and he went FULL RETARD!
    Rick Perry is done! Game over for him, even before he started it starts.. what a dumb ass. This dumb ass has no chance, or no right of being the President of anything!
    But when you sit down and think about it, Perry does have a point. Maybe misguided but still a point. It seems that there are too many medicated culprits in these mass shootings but obama wants to put the focus on guns and not the shooters because he wants more gov control.
    You know the military has weapons and all kinds of guns and explosives all around them all the time and the only mass shooting I'm aware of was by a Muslim terrorist. And obama couldn't even call that terrorism or a hate crime. How about the fat that Blacks kill whites at over 10 times per capita.. But I guess that doesn't fit Obama’s agenda,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FLAMER ALERT! This post has nothing to do with the governor of Texas.

      Clara de Concierge

      Delete
    2. Clara,
      Governor Perry commented on the massacre in Charleston. Therefore, discussing Perry's statement pertains to this thread.

      Delete
  16. SNIPER ALERT! Snotty quips from juvenile troublemakers should be deleted.

    Clara de Concierge

    ReplyDelete
  17. Mr. Obama always brings racism to the front burner whenever there is a mass shooting, and I’m not denying that, however, I have done the research and fount that we've had 14 mass shooting since Obama became President.
    Why is it that mr. Obama is ever SO silent whenever there is a Black on White scooting, or even a Black on Black shooting? Hummm.

    In that time, France has had... one. The united Kingdom has had... one. Germany has had... one. Italy - none. So in summing this up, don’t you think that these communities in general need to take some responsibility for passively supporting the kind of hatred and anger that foments this kind of tragedy. You can’t blame the lack of Gun Control on all of these tragic killings. As they say, “Guns don’t Kill, People do.”

    ReplyDelete
  18. I find it interesting that a young adult without any discernible work history or contribution to society believes he has an opinion worthy of reflection. A young misfit takes his "opinion" and chambers a gun with it. Hatred always seeks a target. In this case, it was a black community.

    Call the man by his sin. He is a murderer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Last English Prince,
      Roof is indeed a young adult without any discernible work history or contribution to society.

      There are other strange facts about him.

      I think that he is a sociopath. Having personally known a sociopath -- yes, officially diagnosed -- I see many parallels with the individual whom I know and Roof.

      Delete
    2. But if we say that of the Tsarnaev brothers the right will be linking to Geller/Spencer in no time.

      Was he deranged? He's clearly disturbed and maybe flying the Confederate flag aggravates his compulsions.

      Delete
    3. Duck,
      The situation with the Tsarnaev brothers is an inaccurate comparison. They were functional (as compared to Dylann Roof).

      maybe flying the Confederate flag aggravates his compulsions

      Nonsense! Besides, in a free society, anything can set off someone who is mentally disturbed. The problem lies with the mentally disturbed -- not with inanimate objects.

      Delete
    4. No Z, that's part of the tragedy here.

      The media, especially Faux, tried to package this as a "war on Christians".

      Delete
    5. SF,
      It is well known that a lot of mentally ill people do not harm others.

      It is also well known that some mentally ill people are triggered by something. Often, the trigger cannot be discerned until after the bad thing happens. Other times, a pattern emerges. Obviously, both Islam and racism can serve as triggers. Should not, then, those triggers be eliminated -- or at least curbed?

      Delete
    6. Brilliant minds...

      I wonder what Ducky has to say

      Delete
    7. Also, when some people become alienated for whatever reason, they run to the darkest most despicable corner, where finally they are welcomed.

      It looks like that's what he did. Another similarity with islam.

      Delete
    8. SF,
      I say, "Hear, hear!" to your comment of June 21, 2015 at 3:48:00 PM EDT.

      Earlier in this thread, Baysider referred to Dylann Roof as "Charlie Manson 2." Manson was alienated for a long time and went over to the dark side. Remember that one?

      Delete
  19. It's amazing how many attacks have taken place only in the last very few years. Today, another cop has been shot dead by a prisoner he was transporting...I believe it's in Louisiana. I'm also not sure every single cop killing or cop death was always mentioned in national news. That change puzzles me.

    We've had so much coverage of all the recent problems...I so wish the media would also turn its attention to the many Blacks dying at the hands of Blacks in Chicago, Detroit, etc etc...every single weekend.
    If it's worth mentioning the recent riots, killings, etc., it's worth mentioning those, too. I think those people count, too, and I'd have thought a Black president would be a perfect person to address it frequently, offering solutions, criticizing them for their actions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you think people aren't aware of the number of deaths in the inner cities? Do you think there aren't books, essays and magazine articles written about it?

      Do you think Roger Ailes and the NRA are going to point to the level of firearm possession or economic disparity as the driving causes?

      These stories get reported locally. The other day the Boston Police Dept. took down most of the Columbia Point Dawgs. This is big news locally. A major gang dismantled and it happens in other cities. Is it national news?

      Terrorism like what happened in Charleston is what makes national news.

      I notice you didn't mention the unarmed man trying to flag down the L.A. police who was shot in the head. That story was covered as was the prisoner escape in New Orleans.

      Delete
    2. Check that.

      The Columbia Point gang story was carried by CBS and the British press.

      Delete
    3. You missed it again...I noticed you do it at SilverFiddle's, too.... I said that the President has missed chances, time and time again, to address black on black crime in Detroit, Chicago, etc. Please don't link a couple of times you finally find, I think we all know this subject is ignored.
      And wait, you believe I have never suggested that cops haven't ever done a terrible thing? REALLY?

      Delete
    4. You missed it again...I noticed you do it at SilverFiddle's, too.... I said that the President has missed chances, time and time again, to address black on black crime in Detroit, Chicago, etc. Please don't link a couple of times you finally find, I think we all know this subject is ignored.
      And wait, you believe I have never suggested that cops haven't ever done a terrible thing? REALLY?

      Delete
    5. What did I miss?

      Every time there is a murder in the inner city Obama is supposed to address the nation? What the hell would that accomplish?

      What he hasn't done is push for expanded gun control (nothing has been done during this administration) or sane changes in the drug laws. He has made some mild pronouncements on wealth discrepancy but then turns around and flies his colors by pimping TPP.
      See the fact is he'd have to actually advocate for a progressive agenda. You want someone who will push for that, try Bernie Sanders.

      I am also suggesting that you minimize police abuse in black neighborhoods.

      Delete
    6. Ducky,

      What would 'expanded gun control' look like?

      How would it be implemented?

      Most importantly, how would we get the criminals to comply who are buying and selling stolen guns out of car trunks?

      Delete
    7. Ducky, I second SF's request that you define what sort of 'expanded gun control' you would advocate for, and how it would have prevented this incident.

      Delete
    8. Okay, one of the first actions would be to require a check at gun shows.

      I would also want to prevent bulk buys in crap holes like Georgia.

      I would put in place records to record the source of weapons and identify sources that are frequently dealing weapons involved in crime.

      Your kid gets hold of an unsecured handgun, blows his head off, you're up for negligent manslaughter.

      We aren't going to be able to get rid of guns the way they did in Australia. There are too many who have been indoctrinated by the military and the media in general to believe they are symbols of manhood and freedom.

      As I have stated. the more guns, the more gun deaths.
      Could this particular tragedy have been averted? I don't know but I do know that the gun loons saying that it could have if the parishioners were armed are being disingenuous.

      I don't want to take away your guns. You are responsible and probably aren't going to go psycho.
      But the whole freaking gun loon culture and the jingoistic bromides just bore me. And the syndrome is dangerous.

      Delete
    9. Duck,
      Could this particular tragedy have been averted?

      How and where did Dylann Roof get that gun? Did he or did he not purchase it legally?

      Delete
    10. ....one of the first actions would be to require a check at gun shows.

      Why would you create an additional burden on a Constitutional right...based sole on the venue?

      Delete
    11. Yeah, more pies, more pie deaths...

      Delete
  20. Please read....

    Today's WaPo offers some excellent background information on Dylann Roof:

    ,,,Roof came from a family dedicated to service. Relatives serve in the Army and on community boards. An uncle is a sociology professor.

    But Dylann had gone through a dark passage. He stayed in his room much of the time, said his uncle, Carson Cowles. In recent months, he had lived on and off in a mobile home that he shared with five people, including a distant high school friend, and three dogs.

    In interviews Friday, two of the roommates and a neighbor described a quiet guy who listened to opera, survived on ramen noodles and Rice-A-Roni, occasionally used cocaine, often passed out on whiskey and vodka, and kept a gun in the trunk of his car. Roof would come and go, disappearing for days at a time.

    Roof and Meek, a high school friend, had fallen out of touch, but several months ago, Roof reached out, saying he needed a place to stay, said Joey’s younger brother, Justin Meek. The Meeks’ mobile home became a refuge for Roof.

    “He didn’t get along with either of his parents,” said Justin, who is 18. “But sometimes they’d both call him.”

    Justin and Jacob Meek, as well as Christon Scriven, 22, a neighbor who is African American, said Roof never struck them as racist but sometimes talked about violence. “I don’t think he hated blacks,” Scriven said. “I think he hated humans.”

    When they were drinking one night recently, Scriven said, Roof talked about shooting up a school. Another time, he spoke of going on a shooting spree at the College of Charleston.

    “My reaction at the time was, ‘You’re just talking crazy,’ ” Scriven said. “I don’t think he’s always there.”

    Scriven said Roof often slept past noon. He had worked at a landscaping company but recently either quit or was laid off.

    On Facebook, upwards of half of Roof’s 88 friends are black. His education was brief and checkered; he repeated ninth grade and then dropped out. People who went to school with him recalled him as a kid with long blond hair who listened to a lot of emo, a hard-core strain of rock that grew out of the 1980s punk movement.

    [...]

    Some of Roof’s friends said he had been making more racist comments of late. Police say he was collecting racist writings and skinhead videos — materials that are readily available in the area. Ten miles from Roof’s home, the League of the South supremacist group has a retail outlet, the Southern Patriot Shop, featuring Confederate paraphernalia, racist books and pro-slavery histories. The head of the Aryan Nations group moved its headquarters to Roof’s home town a decade ago....


    More at the above link.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That people are admitting he told them he was thinking of shooting up a school or anything else, and was a drunk and did drugs and had guns makes it clear a lot of people in his life share a level of culpability here...
      Or maybe it's the fact that the historical Conf. flag still flies in S. Carolina....some people are now suggesting that's the reason.
      Amazing.

      Delete
  21. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  22. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  23. All the mass murders of the last 5-6 years have been on psychotic drugs prescribed by phycs.

    Instead of hammering on responsible gun owners, why not focus on psychiatrists and their methods of dealing and prescribing for whack jobs ?

    Of course knuckle dragging libtards can't think past '1' so they focus on 'guns'.
    And what if the impossible could happen and ll the guns went away? Well, not it's time to demonize knives, baseball bats, rocks, and all those other things people murdered with the last 200,000 years.
    Man I hate libtards... because they are so stupid. obama is their pinnacle imbecile.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. See the thing is kid, yes having someone armed in that church may well have saved lives. I don't deny it any more than I suspect those people would not want to have been armed.

      But it you take a macro vision the more guns, the more gun deaths.
      It's been studied to death and even last week a study was produced that highlighted this fact.

      You want to live in an armed camp. Go ahead.
      But be aware that you are condemning people to death by random gun violence in doing it.

      Wow, you can build a gun in your basement. I bet you've done it several times.


      Delete
    2. Kid,

      Indeed. Mental illness is a common thread, and psychotropic drugs play a part as well.

      But its more fun for the yapping ankle-biters on the left to shriek and scream about guns, those big, black scary GUNS!

      Delete
    3. "And what if the impossible could happen and ll the guns went away?"

      No problem Propane can be far more devastating!

      Delete
    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    5. I'm just entertained that the criminal use of a handgun inspires renewed calls for an "assault weapons" ban. They couldn't deviate from the script if their life depended on it.

      Delete
  24. "Gun Free Zones" are but magnets for kooks such as this; pure and simple!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Boy that's the truth! The 'Batman' shooter in the Colorado theater bypassed several theaters closer to him and favored one with a 'no guns' policy.

      Delete
  25. Replies
    1. Note that the blue star on the Arkansas state flag commemorate the Confederate States of America. See the screenshot of the document at the above link.

      Delete
  26. "AnonymousJune 20, 2015 at 7:50:00 AM EDT
    SNIPER ALERT! Snotty quips from juvenile troublemakers should be deleted."

    As should those from anonymous posters.

    ReplyDelete

We welcome civil dialogue at Always on Watch. Comments that include any of the following are subject to deletion:
1. Any use of profanity or abusive language
2. Off topic comments and spam
3. Use of personal invective

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

!--BLOCKING--