DEVELOPING: EgyptAir flight 804 crashed: likely due to terrorism

EgyptAir flight 804 bound for Cairo went down in the Mediterranean Sea early Thursday morning with 66 souls aboard. It left from Paris' Charles de Gaulle International airport and several hours later sharply zig-zagged before plunging into the sea, aviation officials said. The aircraft was an AirBus 320.

Terrorism seems to be the most likely cause of the downing, but nothing can be ruled out at this time.

Government officials from Egypt, France and Greece had separate press conferences and White House Press Secretary, Josh Earnest, held a presser just after 12:30 p.m.

Ships and smaller craft are searching the waters off the Greek Island of Karpathos, where a witness reported seeing a fireball in the sky, but the depth of the water is as much as 5,000 feet and the search is likely going to be difficult.

At this posting, there is a British missile cruiser HMS Defender and a Russian ship closing in on the area where there is a suspected debris field. An Egyptian plane spotted two orange items believed to be from the missing plane.

The head of Russia's top domestic security agency, Alexander Bortnikov, said that "in all likelihood it was a terrorist attack" and called for a joint effort to track down those responsible for that "monstrous attack."

More to follow as more is learned.


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BREAKING: Easter Sunday attack in Lahore kills 65 Christians

Lahore, Pakistan --  Tolerance is a word that doesn't exist in the Koran, unless maybe I missed it. But even if it does have a hiding place within those pages, it certainly hasn't impressed jihadists very much.

An explosion from a suicide/homicide bomber went off today, Easter Sunday, in a crowded park where Christians were celebrating Easter Sunday. Over 65 Christians were killed, not because they were Pakistanis, but because they were celebrating a Christian Holy Day, aka holiday. 

The explosion occurred at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park near the exit gate where the children's rides are located. Most of the dead were women and children, and many of the wounded were in critical condition.

It makes  a normal person want to weep and then get angry.

The chief minister of Punjab province, Shahbaz Sharif, announced three days of mourning and pledged to ensure that those involved in the attack are brought to trial, or that their body parts will be found and stepped on repeatedly. 

C'mon, seriously, what can you do to punish a suicide bomber?

I've read several Pakistani blogs and journalists who are upset when it's pointed out that the Islamic religion has something to do with the killings: "It was Pakistanis who were killed," they'd say.

But facts are stubborn things--the targeting by the jihadist was the celebrating Christians, and it didn't apparently matter what their nationality was; what mattered was that they were infidels.

Yes, more Muslims are killed by other Muslims, but the reasons are generally the same as when Christians or other infidels are killed: those Muslims are considered infidels too because they don't believe in precisely the same way the terrorists believe. [Hint: think of the Sunni vs. Shi'ite situation.]

The Muslim shop owner in Scotland who was murdered by two Muslims was killed because he put a sign in his window saying wonderful things about his Christian community. Due to the fact that Islam is supposed to be the dominant religion in the world, what he did was "un-Islamic." Christians are defined as inferior to Muslims and must be conquered or killed if they resist the former.

It doesn't take a genius to understand the notion that a person who is willing to blow him- or herself up to kill others in order to get a ticket to Paradise, is doing it for their religious beliefs. And to say that this is not "true Islam" is totally false. Read all about it in the Koran, Sira and Hadith. Then check out "Reliance of the Traveller."

The attacks were condemned in a statement from the National Security Council spokesperson Ned Price. "The United States condemns in the strongest terms today's appalling terrorist attack in Lahore, Pakistan. This cowardly act in what has long been a scenic and placid park has killed dozens of innocent civilians and left scores injured. We send our deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed, just as our thoughts and prayers are with the many injured in the explosion."

That sure must make them all feel better now that we've bolstered them with our words while avoiding to actually mention who the attackers were, and who they intended to kill.




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