Watch List? Watch This!

Let's set the Wayback Machine to May of 2010. Times Square, the crossroads of the world as it's known to many, was the scene of an aborted car bombing, which, had it been successful, would have caused untold carnage. Before the arrest, then Mayor Michelito Lo-Lo Bloomberg – without any evidence whatsoever – blathered with absolute certainty:

"If I had to guess 25 cents, this would be exactly that. Homegrown, or maybe a mentally deranged person, or somebody with a political agenda that doesn't like the health care bill or something. It could be anything."

Sure enough, it was a redneck, Bible thumping, gun-toting, square-dancing, cross burning, Obama-hating Republican — by the name of Faisal Shahzad, a full-fledged Islamikaze who had close links to the Pakistani Taliban. But of course, Doomberg goes on TV and infamously declared that "we shouldn't jump to any conclusions!" Heaven forfend.

Insult, meet injury. It turns out that Shahzad was actually on the terrorism watch list, but was removed just before the attempted bombing.

Hold that thought for a minute as we we jump back to just four days ago, New Year's Eve at the very same spot.

According to authorities, the 19-year-old from Wells, Maine, attacked three NYPD officers near Times Square on Saturday at roughly 10:11 p.m., attempting to strike one before hitting two other officers in the head with the weapon. The suspect has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of attempted assault, NBC New York reported. 

The suspect was reportedly placed on an FBI terror watchlist recently after his aunt claimed he had been radicalized online and expressed a desire to fight overseas for Islamic extremists. He allegedly made pro-jihadi statements from his hospital bed and had writings in his backpack that contained Islamic extremist propaganda. Law enforcement sources told NBC that the suspect had been interviewed by federal investigators before the machete attack. 

Officials also said the teenager had written instructions in a diary about where he wanted to be buried and who should get his belongings. The suspect also allegedly wrote that he was sorry for disappointing his mom and wants his brother to join him in his radical Islamic beliefs. 

Authorities are investigating whether the attack was inspired by radical Islamic extremism, CBS News reported. Police believe the teenage suspect traveled via Amtrak from Maine to New York earlier last week, and sources told CBS that the NYPD was not aware the suspect was placed on an FBI terror watchlist.

So, okay, he hacked up three cops with a machete while screaming Yabba Doo Halvah Joya! Let's not jump to any conclusions!

The salient point here though is, along with Faisal Shahzad, this cupcake was also on the terrorism watchlist. And yet, and yet. So, with that in mind, what the hell is the exact purpose of the watchlist if this kind of thing to school shootings and you name it ARE NEVER PREVENTED, and probably from a legal/Constitutional standpoint cannot be prevented (which presupposes living in a land where the Constitution is actually followed).

While psychos and jhadists are allowed to roam freely, parents objecting to transexuals and people insisting 2020 was stolen will be locked up, "to preserve our precious democracy" (*vomit).

Feh.

posted by J.J. Sefton at 02:31 PM

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