Look — no one thinks setting oneself on fire is a good idea.
And to be certain, no one has a right to tell him how he should express his emotions about the situation in Gaza. That is for him to decide. I do not condone it — but his goal was not to injure others. In fact, as deluded as it may sound, he likely hoped his death, while regrettable, would hasten the day when the killing stops in Gaza.
You may quibble about whether that was a realistic thought.
But it is an unassailable fact that the death toll, from ex-military men — who have mass murdered their fellow citizens… vastly exceeds anything Paul laments here — and over 600 to one, on the self harm dimension (setting themselves on fire), in this way.
But after 100 are dead in Gaza — for trying to simply get food and water — with IDF firing on clearly unarmed Palestinians (though the reports vary over how many had bullet wounds, as compared to being trampled in the crush — some say 80 of the 100 were shot by IDF, some say Hamas fired on them as well)… it is clear: Paul is rather desperate to deflect attention from his bad judgment calls here (as are the Powerliners).
So he paints this suicide as as a national security breach.
That is as dishonest as it is… hypocritical. He never blamed any administration for Tim McVeigh’s bombing in Oklahoma City. That was over 160 all by itself, right?
He didn’t say much about the CBS report that found that about 26% of mass shooters (over six decades) have had military service or training. That is four times the incidence of military service in the general U.S. adult population, where 7%, or fewer than 1 in 10, has a military background, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Where is your piece on protecting your fellow Americans from that far more immediate risk, Paul? Where is your advocacy for mental health funding — coupled to a real gun control piece, Mr. Mirengoff?
Where?
Updated: Scott Johnson goes well beyond mere hypocrisy in his tonight. I cannot ignore it.
He falsely claims that the US forces airlifting humanitarian aid into Gaza, by what will doubtlessly be military style air-drops, is “AID to Hamas“. That is borderline treason — as a false claim, son.
If IDF wasn’t actively killing people, for seeking food and water, and wasn’t pinning Palestinian civilians generally into kill boxes, the US wouldn’t have a need to do air-drops of food and water and medicines — simply to avoid… yep — Israeli war crimes.
Johnson should consider that his own fiery rhetoric is in some part responsible for the corner Bibbi painted himself into — precipitating this moment by a moral Mr. Biden.
Damn. What a putz Scott is.