Althouse: "41 killed... 230 injured... 11th busiest... 6.44 percent... 8 percent... 0..."

June 29, 2016

"41 killed... 230 injured... 11th busiest... 6.44 percent... 8 percent... 0..."

"Significant Digits For The Istanbul Attacks."

41 comments:

damikesc said...: The airport security cam even caught the guy detonating himself. I assume the cop who caught him didn't get far enough away.; 6/29/16, 9:49 AM
Original Mike said...: Bastards.; 6/29/16, 9:53 AM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: This obviously makes a case for bomb control.

#EndRepublicanHate; 6/29/16, 9:56 AM
madAsHell said...: My daughter is traveling around the Adriatic. She wanted to go to Turkey. She was reading the State department bulletins, and decided she should not go near Turkey.; 6/29/16, 9:59 AM
CWJ said...: Regarding the "0" at the link. Even so, it resulted in 41 killed and 230! Injured.; 6/29/16, 10:06 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: No significant digits reported for how many people lost fingers.; 6/29/16, 10:18 AM
Anonymous said...: Another day, another "man-caused disaster".; 6/29/16, 10:26 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: As Ace would say the Religion of Peace strikes again.; 6/29/16, 10:31 AM
Greg Hlatky said...: Turkey, like the US, can absorb another terrorist attack.

Now if you'll excuse me, I will retreat behind my well-armed bodyguards. Fore!; 6/29/16, 10:47 AM
Anonymous said...: Muslim on Muslim attack.; 6/29/16, 11:01 AM
mikee said...: I recall a time when the Turkish military, as charged by their constitution, was empowered to stop such religious intolerance in the name of secular government and civil society continuing to exist there. Oh, well, "bad luck" I guess.; 6/29/16, 11:07 AM
JAORE said...: Damn that NRA!; 6/29/16, 11:09 AM
JAORE said...: Oh yeah, Damn those Republicans.; 6/29/16, 11:09 AM
Michael K said...: When I saw that video of the terrorist shot and falling, I was thinking "Blow his head off before he can hit that detonator."

I think it might be the Marine Corps that teaches you shoot at a bad guy until your magazine is empty. Or he is dead.

It took a few seconds for the terrorist to get hold of the detonator. I hope the cop got far enough away.; 6/29/16, 11:33 AM
Rick said...: damikesc said...
The airport security cam even caught the guy detonating himself. I assume the cop who caught him didn't get far enough away.

He's in the hospital described as "recovering".

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3665666/Hero-police-officer-shot-suicide-bomber-Turkish-airport-saving-dozens-lives-SURVIVED-bomb-blast-recovering-hospital.html; 6/29/16, 11:52 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Muslim on Muslim attack."

Yes. Most victims of Muslim extremist violence are other Muslims.; 6/29/16, 12:00 PM
Thuglawlibrarian said...: Fuckin NRA; 6/29/16, 12:00 PM
DanTheMan said...: >Most victims of Muslim extremist violence are other Muslims.

Except for New York, D.C., Shanksville, Bali, Madrid, Paris, Brussels, London, Fort Hood, San Bernandino, etc. etc. etc.; 6/29/16, 12:16 PM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: Yes. Most victims of Muslim extremist violence are other Muslims.

Except, of course, when they strike in non-Muslim countries. Which they are doing with greater frequency.; 6/29/16, 12:18 PM
Etienne said...: My advice has always been, get Turkey out of NATO. They have destroyed their country to kiss the Saudi's feet.; 6/29/16, 12:21 PM
MikeR said...: I didn't follow the "0". Was his point that security lines work, or that they don't? Or that lines of people at TSA are absolutely just as vulnerable as a plane-full of people?; 6/29/16, 12:25 PM
Michael K said...: Sadly, Turkey is no longer Ataturk's country. Erdogan has taken it on an Islamist ride.

I was there ten years ago and could see the angry young men watching tourists going into mosques like <a href="> The Blue Mosque </a> and they looked like they would love to kill us if we didn't take our shoes off or if the women did not cover their head.

We went to Scutari Barracks to see Florence Nightingale's quarters which have been preserved but there the army was very friendly.

I winder what has happened to that army officer who was so friendly to us.?; 6/29/16, 12:44 PM
Virgil Hilts said...: The "0" is important (if you see the cell phone videos from inside the terminal. . .)
It makes me wonder how well armed security is at and past the security checkpoint at our airports. In most places here, terrorists could take as many weapons as they could insert into their carry-ons up to the security checkpoint. If they can shoot their way past the fearsome TSA gropers, they would then face 1,000 or so people trapped in the gate area of the terminal, with most of the gate doors presumably locked, and no other exits, and not one of these people holding even a butter knife.
But I am sure TSA has done threat scenarios on all of this stuff out.; 6/29/16, 12:44 PM
Michael K said...: The Blue Mosque; 6/29/16, 12:45 PM
Unknown said...: I'm sure there were non-Muslims killed but it is also likely most were Muslims. Either way, it is another instance of Muslim-on-Muslim mass killings. These suicide bombings take place almost every week throughout the Middle-East. ISIS (who are Sunni Muslims) are against Shia Muslims and everyone else including Christians, Hindus, Budhists, Jews and so on.

I wish people would realize that ISIS are a threat to all people of all faiths.; 6/29/16, 1:08 PM
damikesc said...: Unknown, nobody doubts ISIS is a danger to all.

But given that they are Muslim, makes the whole "it isn't Muslim violence" hard to swallow.

If no Muslims were there, nothing would have happened. Seems to be a trend.; 6/29/16, 1:17 PM
Thuglawlibrarian said...: The Blue Mosque? Oh, you mean the Hagia Sophia.

In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmed II, who ordered this main church of Orthodox Christianity (Hagia Sophia) converted into a mosque. By that point, the church had fallen into a state of disrepair. Nevertheless, the Christian cathedral made a strong impression on the new Ottoman rulers and they decided to convert it into a mosque. Oh never mind....; 6/29/16, 1:23 PM
Paco Wové said...: The Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia are two separate (though neighboring) buildings.; 6/29/16, 1:54 PM
wendybar said...: But I thought Isis was on the run...that they are a JV team??? What??? Why does our president keep lying about them so much, and protecting their feelings??? Makes you wonder!!; 6/29/16, 2:00 PM
Paco Wové said...: Apropos of nothing in particular, Hagia Sophia Mosque Conversion? Turkey Pope Backlash Could Open Historic Church To Muslim Worship.

"Turkey Pope". I like it.; 6/29/16, 2:15 PM
Virgil Hilts said...: But for the brave (and apparently fatal) actions of a security guard taking down the last terrorist as he broke into the terminal, dozens more people would likely have died.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/29/istanbul-ataturk-airport-attack-shows-sophisticated-planning-by-terrorists.html I hope they put his name and face on the front page of all the tabloids.; 6/29/16, 2:27 PM
RMc said...: "Turkey Pope". I like it.

Is that like turkey bacon? I had some the other day.; 6/29/16, 2:36 PM
Rick said...: Unknown said...
I wish people would realize that ISIS are a threat to all people of all faiths.

I wish people's hate didn't cause them to believe crazy things like this.; 6/29/16, 3:16 PM
narciso said...: an interesting angle:

http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2016/06/law-enforcement-sources-gun-used-paris-terrorist-attacks-came-phoenix/; 6/29/16, 3:26 PM
traditionalguy said...: One hundred years ago these enlightened Turks systematically drove 3,000,000 women and children into the desolate wilderness to starve and freeze to death because they were Orthodox Christians. They have a lot more coming to them.; 6/29/16, 3:48 PM
Michael K said...: The Blue Mosque is still an active mosque, complete with angry young men when I was there ten years ago. Hagia Sophia is a museum.

An interesting sidelight on Hagia Sophia is that, when they were taking down the huge panels of calligraphy that replaced the Christian mosaics of the Constantinople period, they found the workmen back in 1453 or so had carefully protected the mosaics. Presumably, they thought the Byzantines might return and preserved the mosaics.

I haven't been there since and wonder if the people I met have survived Erdogan's Islamic revival.; 6/29/16, 4:07 PM
Comanche Voter said...: Who cares about the digits if they are dead?; 6/29/16, 4:09 PM
mockturtle said...: "Turkey Pope". I like it.

This pope IS a turkey, for sure!; 6/29/16, 5:09 PM
Sprezzatura said...: "The Blue Mosque is still an active mosque, complete with angry young men when I was there ten years ago. Hagia Sophia is a museum."

I think the last time I was there was four or so years ago. I had no such paranoia. Maybe I've been lucky when in the tourist spots that M.K. references. Or, maybe M.K. was unlucky. I dunno.

The touristy highlights of Istanbul can be fun, but there's a lot to enjoy roaming the country too: history, great beaches, interesting terrain (e.g. hotels carved into rock).

But, I'll take the Cote d'Azur any day. Gorgeous and, believe it or not, even more lovely than Lake Mendota.; 6/29/16, 7:05 PM
Dr Weevil said...: One more random but semi-pertinent fact: the fatty tail bit on a chicken or turkey is known in some (Protestant) areas as a "pope's nose".; 6/29/16, 8:32 PM
Unknown said...: Latest news is that the suicide bombers were Russian Muslims who came into Turkey from IS territory in Syria.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36670576; 6/30/16, 7:57 AM