On Sunday a Mormon bishop was shot and killed in California:
(CNN) — A Mormon bishop was shot and killed in Visalia, California, on Sunday, police said.
The suspected gunman was killed later in the day in a gunfight with police, Visalia California Police Chief Colleen Mestas told CNN.
Bishop Clay Sannar, 42, was shot dead in an office at Visalia’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mestas said.
This got no attention in the left wing blogs. Is it less of a crime to kill someone in cold blood if you don’t hate them? Even if the killer hated Sannar, Sannar was out of luck with regard to hate crimes because he wasn’t among the protected.
Another non-incident got a lot of attention. This from Islamophobia Watch:
A drunk barged into a Queens mosque last night and shouted anti-Muslim slurs as he urinated on prayer rugs, cops and witnesses said.
Bill Jacobson notes that while this incidence was communicated this way:
– HuffPo: “In another brazen anti-Muslim incident, a man wandered into a mosque in Queens Wednesday night, shouting racial slurs and urinating on prayer rugs.” [strike through apparently added afterwards]
– Oliver Willis: “It’s like some political movement in the country is whipping up irrational hatred and bigotry towards a group of people who are different.”
– Loonwatch: “The backlash against Muslims continues. I am sure Islamophobes will give this guy a break and say he was drunk, but do you think they would have given Mel Gibson the same break for his drunken anti-Semitic tirade?”
– New York Magazine: “Last night a drunk man barged into a Queens mosque and urinated on prayer rugs while shouting anti-Muslim slurs. Another isolated incident? Or the continuation of a scary new trend?”
The truth finally found its way out:
Late Update: The New York Post originally reported Rivera using ‘anti-Muslim slurs’. But they’ve now revised their story. The NYPD would not confirm to TPM whether Rivera’s curses were tied to Islam. And subsequent reporting by the Washington Post suggests Rivera was so drunk he probably didn’t know he was in a Mosque. So probably just your standard random urination in place of worship issue.
Later Update: NYPD now confirming to TPM that they are not treating this as a bias case.
The spark the left was trying to fan into a flame has gone out.
Although the left and some here would have you believe that Muslims are the continuous victims of hate crimes, it just ain’t so.
WASHINGTON — Hate crimes directed against Muslims remain relatively rare, notwithstanding the notoriety gained by incidents such as recent vandalism at the Madera Islamic Center.
So who is more likely to be a victim?
Jews, lesbians, gay men and Caucasians, among others, are all more frequently the target of hate crimes, FBI records show. Reported anti-Muslim crimes have declined over recent years, though they still exceed what occurred prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The entire “hate crime” concept is absurd.
“Hate crime” is another left-wing, politically correct “feel good” testament to Ted Kennedy who believed that cold blooded murder being called cold blooded murder wasn’t enough. Ironically, though liberals like Kennedy sought to add the “hate crime” appellation to certain crimes they were also the first to prevent the use of capital punishment. Kennedy felt that the additional stigma of the term “hate crime” was going to help victims like Matthew Shepard and James Byrd.
The premise of hate crimes legislation is frightening.
By itself, hate is not a crime.
Congress, though, has specified that a criminal act becomes a hate crime when it is “motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.” Stiffer penalties can result.
These aren’t hate crimes so much as they are “thought crimes.” One is potentially levied with greater penalties for the thoughts in one’s head. It’s straight out of the novel 1984.
The law was officially called
The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
Reporters must figure out whether to cast a particular incident as an aberration or part of a larger narrative. The widely read Talking Points Memo website, for instance, is reporting on the Madera Islamic Center as part of broader coverage of national anti-Muslim attacks. The presentation gives the impression of a trend, a cause for concern.
And still these things go on:
All told, 7,783 reported hate crime incidents occurred in 2008, including 1,381 in California. These incidents can take many forms.
It’s not working. It was stupid to begin with.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.