In this episode of “CNN… The Most Trusted Name in News™”…
Riddle me this, as the Joker was fond of saying to Batman: If a man who had converted to Islam, was called “radicalized” by his own brother and had posted several Facebook videos “pledging allegiance to ISIS” just hours before he drove a truck sporting an ISIS flag into a New Year’s Eve crowd in New Orleans, killing 15 people and injuring dozens of others before opening fire and dying in a shootout with police, would it be reasonable to label the attack as as act of terrorism?
Of course it would — unless you’re CNN.
On Thursday’s episode of “CNN Newsroom,” host Pamela Brown and national security analyst Juliette Kayyem ridiculously attempted to shame New Orleans’ Democrat Mayor LaToya Cantrell for calling the attack on her city an act of terrorism.
READ MORE:
Officials Hold Press Conference on Bourbon Street Attack, Don’t Believe Suspect Acted Alone
Rather than focus on the attack itself, Brown first asked Juliette Kayyem about Cantrell’s comments (emphasis, mine).
I mean, I’ve sadly covered too many tragedies like this and it struck me because normally you don’t come right out of the gate and label it a terrorist attack or not, Juliette, you know, you say “we’re looking into all possibilities” because it’s so early, you don’t really know. And there were these explosive devices. This suspect shot at police and hit two police officers. Ten [now 15] people are killed. More than 30 in the hospital. I mean, this is horrific, Juliette, how do you see this?
Let’s stop right here for a second. How does Juliette Kayyem see the attack, or how does she see calling the attack “terrorism”? Guess. Here’s Kayyem’s response:
Yeah, I just think the mayor made a mistake. Let’s just, you know, in some ways, move on. It has to be clarified. I do not think she should have come out. You actually saw the people behind her, sort of, flinch. She was speaking as a politician and as someone who governs the city that this was terrorizing. It was terrible. It was terror for those there. But we are now in the investigation and prosecution stage.
Just for fun, imagine if the attack had been carried out by a white man driving a truck flying a MAGA flag, and Mayor Cantrell had labeled the attacker a Trump supporter. In your wildest dreams, could you see CNN (MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, et al.) chastising the mayor for “jumping to conclusions” for doing so? Me, neither.
Meanwhile, Abdur Jabbar, the aforementioned brother of alleged attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar, told The New York Times that they were both raised Christian, and that Shamsud-Din had converted to Islam and had been “a Muslim for most of his life,” adding:
What he did does not represent Islam. This is more some type of radicalization, not religion.
As reported by Fox News on Thursday, the FBI said Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas, drove a rented Ford pick-up truck laden with an ISIS flag, weapons, and a potential improvised explosive device (IED) into the crowd of New Year’s revelers at approximately 3:15 a.m. local time Wednesday.
A next-door neighbor, who asked not to be identified, told Fox that he had seen Jabbar loading the white truck on Dec. 31 outside his Houston home, the morning before the attack in New Orleans. Jabbar told him he had gotten a job and was moving to Louisiana.
As for CNN, “The Most Trusted Name in News” will no doubt continuing doing exactly what it does.
Yeah, it was very apparent this was not a white boy. If it had been, they would have been reporting the attack on December 30. I pray for my former city. I do not think we will ever get to the bottom of this because of all of the DEI hires in the FBI in the city of New Orleans. And, same for Las Vegas. The FBI sucks as much as CNN.