Gunmen Storm Paris Satirical Newspaper, Killing 12 or More

Breathtaking and flawless. By: @davpope. pic.twitter.com/JOzEQdsHCS

— Brooklyn Middleton (@BklynMiddleton) January 7, 2015

“Security forces launched a massive manhunt Wednesday after masked gunmen opened fire inside the offices of a French satirical newspaper known for provocative content on Islam, killing the editor and at least 11 others before fleeing in waiting cars,” the Washington Post reports:

The raid was “a terrorist attack without a doubt,” said French President Francois Hollande. “Journalists and police officers have been cowardly assassinated,” Hollande said after visiting the scene. “France is in a state of shock after this terrorist attack.” Authorities had no immediate comment on possible suspects or motives. But French media quoted witnesses as saying the assailants yelled, “We have avenged the prophet” in apparent reference to cartoons in the newspaper depicting the prophet Muhammad.

As Moe Lane writes, “he’s not my religion’s prophet,” and as has been the case since the immediate wake of 9/11, it’s curious how a media skeptical of all other religions invariably uses that formulation. And in the ongoing wake of the Mohammed cartoon wars of 2006, reflexively does things such as this:

Vile disgusting censorship RT @RosieGray: The @NYDailyNews is censoring the Charlie Hebdo cartoon of Muhammad pic.twitter.com/oI8dmuIFBz — Mollie (@MZHemingway) January 7, 2015

Huh. I can remember back in 2004 when the Daily News dubbed Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ “the most virulently anti-Semitic movie made since the German propaganda films of World War II.” Their rather opposite cowardice today in reporting a religious “controversy” is completely “unexpected,” as Bloomberg News would say. AP is similarly skittish:

#CharlieHebdo covers too hot for the Associated Press http://t.co/8UrFc2R660 pic.twitter.com/QRwx6Rh4ur — Justin Miller (@justinjm1) January 7, 2015

Moe links to “Mohammed Image Archive” created by PJM’s own Zombie a few years ago. Zombie notes:

In 1999, Islamic art expert Wijdan Ali wrote a scholarly overview of the Muslim tradition of depicting Mohammed, which can be downloaded here in pdf format. In that essay, Ali demonstrates that the prohibition against depicting Mohammed did not arise until as late as the 16th or 17th century, despite the media’s recent false claims that it has always been forbidden for Muslims to draw Mohammed. Until comparatively recently in Islamic history, it was perfectly common to show Mohammed, either in full (as revealed on this page), or with his face hidden (as shown on the next page). Even after the 17th century, up to modern times, Islamic depictions of Mohammed (especially in Shi’ite areas) continued to be produced.

As for the far left, as one Twitter user writes, “Kudos to @voxdotcom for publishing some Mohammed cartoons.” In contrast, Media Matters knows who the real villains are, of course.

And with Wolf Blitzer of appeasement-oriented CNN already muttering about Charlie Hebdo occasionally going “over the line,” as Pundit Press notes today, and Ed Morrissey paraphrasing at Hot Air that the Financial Times thinks that “Charlie Hebdo kinda asked for it, y’know?”, tomorrow’s news stories write themselves, don’t they?

Paris Muslims fear Backlash #TomorrowsHeadlinesToday — David Burge (@iowahawkblog) January 7, 2015

Speaking of which, in last night’s quote of the day, I linked to Theodore Dalrymple’s eerily spot-on 2002 prediction for the causes of the 2005 French banlieue riots, and the many French “youth” of indeterminate religious background burning cars each night back then, which is well worth your time today.

Related: “How President Obama Sold Out Charlie Hebdo,” from Mollie Hemingway at the Federalist. The paradoxically named Josh Earnest began the administration’s dissembling on workplace violence and man-caused disasters early today. Contrast Earnest’s quotes at Hot Air with the language of French President Francois Hollande quoted in the above excerpt from the Washington Post. It’s a sad day when French politicians are shooting their rhetoric straighter than Americans.

Update:

Right on cue https://t.co/C0EpdCiBpo

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) January 7, 2015

Or to put it another way, “These are some of the same people who say that if I don’t believe in God I can’t know what morality is. They’ve just dissolved morality completely into relativism by saying actually, occasionally, carving up grandfathers and granddaughters with an axe on New Year’s Eve can be okay if it’s done to protect the reputation of a seventh century Arabian man who heard voices.”

That’s the late Christopher Hitchens in his 2010 interview with longtime PJM friend Michael J. Totten, which Michael is reprinting today for obvious reasons.

And don’t miss Steve Green of Vodkapundit on “Post-Modern Warfare Revisited.”