Hodgkinson's Hit List

Over the weekend, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was upgraded from critical condition to serious. That is good news. He has undergone several surgeries already, and doctors said Friday that Rep. Scalise "will require additional operations to manage abdominal injuries and other broken bones."

As you may have heard, a "hit list" was found on James Hodgkinson's body containing the names of conservative Republicans, including personal friends of mine such as Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona.

I monitored the evening news broadcasts as this story broke over the weekend and, as best as I could tell, not one major network reported that the shooter had a target list of Republican congressmen. The media's bias is disappointing, but hardly surprising.

Talking about the list would underscore the reality that this was a premeditated attack by a left-wing extremist who had one purpose -- to kill as many Republican officials as he could. And not just any Republicans, but those members most serious about religious liberty, securing our borders and protecting the sanctity of life.

The fact that this list was a non-news story exposes yet again how much the news is filtered through a prism that benefits the left. For example, one network referred to the assassination attempt as "the baseball field shooting."

What was that about? A dispute over a foul ball? Rowdy fans getting out-of-hand?

Here's an easy test: Change the names of the victims of the crimes. For example, assume that the shooter was a Donald Trump or Ted Cruz activist. Assume that his social media pages were filled with hateful rhetoric against liberals. Assume that he went to a ballfield and opened fire on leading Democrats and that it was discovered he was carrying a hit list of other progressive politicians.

Does anyone think THAT story would be slipping from the front pages, as the Scalise shooting is?

I am still waiting for big media to start asking liberal leaders the same questions they have peppered conservatives leaders with after similar incidents in the past. "Senator Warren, Rep. Pelosi, Do you feel any responsibility for the rhetoric you use? Are you going to tone down the invective?"

Incredibly, several commentators have actually attacked Rep. Scalise. MSNBC's Joy-Ann Reid said, "It's a delicate thing, because obviously everybody is wishing the congressman well and hoping he recovers -- but Steve Scalise has a history that we've all been forced to sort of ignore on race." She also made an issue out of his support for defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Reid was referring to a speech Scalise gave in 2002 about fiscal issues, allegedly before a white supremacist group. It was fake news, as you can read here. And Rep. Cedric Richmond, a black Democrat from New Orleans, defended Scalise, saying he doesn't have "a racist bone in his body."

Again, just imagine if a Fox commentator had said, "Well, while we all want Congresswoman Gabby Giffords to recover, we can't overlook her liberal background, which millions of Americans find offensive given her support for taking away your guns and redefining marriage." That commentator would have been fired within an hour.

A Busy Day In Europe
 

• A non-Muslim man has driven a van into a group of Muslim worshippers, injuring ten people. Unlike attacks involving Islamists, the media were quick with details. There were no warnings against "jumping to conclusions." The term "allegedly" disappeared from the media's vocabulary. It was announced immediately that the driver was white, and the attack was quickly denounced as "terrorism."
   
• A man shouting "Allahu Akbar" attacked a police officer at Paddington Station in London.
   
• In Paris, a man in a van rammed a police car. The van driver had been previously "flagged for extremism," according to French authorities.

  If the pattern holds, we will be assured that the attackers yelling "Allahu Akbar" had nothing to do with Islam. And the same people will tell us that the non-Muslim van driver in London is the product of right-wing resistance to the further Islamization of the West.

  By the way, there was a "Muslim peace march" in Colonge, Germany, Saturday. You probably didn't see anything about that because it was a flop.

  The low turnout could have been predicted because the largest Muslim organization in Germany denounced the march, saying it would "send the wrong signal by suggesting that international terrorism is mainly a Muslim problem."

  A Difficult Weekend

  Seven American soldiers were wounded in another "insider" shooting in Afghanistan on Saturday. It was the second such "insider attack" in a week.

  In addition, a U.S. destroyer, the USS Fitzgerald, collided with a massive cargo ship off Japan's Izu peninsula. Seven sailors died in the crash and the ship's captain was injured.

  During a press conference yesterday, Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin said that the Fitzgerald suffered a "large puncture below the ship's waterline, opening the hull to the sea." Vice Admiral Aucoin praised the crew saying, "Heroic efforts prevented the flooding from catastrophically spreading, which could have caused the ship to founder or sink."

  The Fitzgerald is an Aegis guided missile destroyer, assigned to the Seventh Fleet. Several reports indicate that this destroyer is key to the anti-missile defense of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.

  There are a number of people in Washington who have raised eyebrows about this incident. Reports indicate that the cargo ship, the ACX Crystal, "made a sharp turn shortly before the collision."

  Even so, how does a U.S. destroyer, outfitted with the most advanced radar and detection systems, get rammed by a massive cargo ship roughly three times its size? It brings to mind the rammings of trucks, vans and other vehicles all over the world by our enemies. Are there facts here that are being kept from us?

  If any readers with naval experience can help clarify, I'd love to hear from you.