Libertarian Commentary #16-05A 01 February 2016 By Nathan Barton

It appears that Boko Haram is “modernizing.” Many so-called “christian” groups have supplemented or replaced their Sunday worship with worship on Saturdays, apparently to reach the “unchurched.” According to the Charlotte Observer Nigerian officials say 86 dead in a Boko Haram attack on Saturday, instead of the traditional Sunday slaughters. “A survivor hidden in a tree says he watched Boko Haram extremists firebomb huts and heard the screams of children burning to death, among 86 people officials say died in the latest attack by Nigeria’s homegrown Islamic extremists. Scores of charred corpses and bodies with bullet wounds littered the streets from Saturday night’s attack on Dalori village and two nearby camps housing 25,000 refugees, according to survivors and soldiers at the scene just 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram and the biggest city in Nigeria’s northeast.” It seems pretty clear that the victims and those with them were unable to defend themselves, either because they did not have the motivation, the training, or the tools (weapons), and based on the one-sided killing, it appears that the troops and police presumably just three miles away failed to respond to carry out their “duties” to protect the innocent from violent attack. No word on exactly what religious or other group was attacked this time. But I think it safe to say that these people (or their parents) seem to put their faith wrongly in the state. Indeed, another story, from Anadolu Agency, reports that Nigeria’s leader has released a Muslim general accused of murdering hundreds of detainees in 2014, instead of fightin Boko Haram. He was supposedly in charge of fighting against Boko Haram, and apparently part of his effort was to deny civilian targets to Boko Haram by having the army kill them instead. Nice to have a government and army that can be trusted like that, eh?

To the north, Arab Muslims continue to reap the “rewards” of their continued faith in the god of their Prophet (peanut butter und honig), no matter whether or not they are peaceful and loving. Yahoo News reports that in Syria, dozens were killed by bombs, clouding a UN peace session that is supposed to end the wars in Syria. Originally reported as killing 50, the death toll now stands at 71, in a predominantly Shi’a suburb south of the Syrian capital of Damascus on Sunday even as a U.N. mediator held his first meeting with members of the main opposition group that seeks progress on humanitarian issues before it will join formal talks on ending the five-year civil war. The Caliphate (“Islamic State”/ISIS/ISIL), Sunni in orientation, claimed responsibility for the double-bomb attack near a Shi’a shrine. Syria’s delegate to the U.N.-sponsored peace talks said the violence confirmed the connection between ‘terrorism’ and ‘some political groups’ — a reference to those who oppose President Bashar Assad.” The attack used a well-proven tactic that the media mistakenly calls “sophisticated;” after setting off a car-bomb, the murdering terrorists waited for a crowd and first-responders to gather and then two suicide-bombers lit themselves off, killing many more and wounding at least a hundred. The effectiveness of resolving theological arguments in this way is undoubted: it is in effect an instant appeal to the ultimate court, the Almighty.

Of course, killing isn’t limited to either Nigeria or Syria, nor to Muslims or foreign governments.  We have our own version of them and this nasty place called Chicago, as reported by its own mainstream-media, the Tribune. Fifty-one homocides (guns and other weapons) in the city in January, most since 2000 (16 years!), plus another hundred or so wounded. The MSM and the elite of Chicago, all safe behind their armed guards, want us to believe that if Chicago did NOT have such draconian gun control laws, that the death toll would be 10 or 20 times that, of course. And that if the city were not under armed occupation (by the various gangs, including the blue gang), it would be double or triple even THAT! (Indeed, they claim that fears of cops getting into more trouble after gunning down a teenager a while back has reduced police activity and therefore caused crime, including homicides, to rise.) Of course, history, and recent experience across the nation and the world show that likely just the opposite is true. Without the stupid laws disarming peaceful people who just want to be able to defend themselves, their families, and their property, Chicago would be far MORE peaceful. Dare I point out that many of Chicago’s deaths are made possible by religious fanatics, people who believe that government IS a god and can do anything if we just worship and “give” it enough of a sacrifice; especially our lives, liberty, and property.

Well, we have the NEXT medical/epidemic scare, and it appears to be a doozy. I heard about it all last week on the hourly news, and Raw Story [http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/zika-virus-spreads-to-jamaica] tells us that the Zika virus has spread to Jamaica. Maybe via Texas! “Amid concerns over the rapid spread of the Zika virus, Jamaica confirmed Saturday the virus had spread to its shores, and Colombia reported more than 2,000 pregnant women have been infected. The Jamaican Ministry of Health said in a statement a child with the confirmed case of the virus started showing symptoms earlier this month when she returned home from a trip to Texas. Jamaican officials are investigating the source of the virus. No other members of the family of the child have tested positive, and the Ministry of Health is looking into whether there are other cases of the disease near where the child lives. The mosquito-borne Zika virus has been linked to an increase in the number of cases of microcephaly, a rare brain defect in babies that causes them to have abnormally small heads, leading to improper brain function.”

Mama’s Note: Just remember all of the hysteria over Ebola, and the endless proclamations of doomsday all over the world. Sasly, many people died, but it never came even close to the apocalypse everyone was screaming about. But I’ll bet anything there are a lot of new cushy jobs created from that, and probably thousands and thousands of new regulation and equipment ordered to satisfy/justify those in all those new jobs. I wonder if the politicians and bureaucrats can pull it off again.

The Mirror chimes in, fanning conspiracy theories (as usual) that the Zika outbreak was caused by releasing genetically-modified (genie) mosquitos in Brazil in 2012 to combat dengue fever. So it is all the fault of evil Euro-American Big Pharma and Big Ag: an attack on the brown peoples of the world to restore the dominance of not-quite-dead white men. And of course, give more power in the States to the FedGov, especially the CDC and DHS. Like ebola and bird flu and all the other long list, we must accept doing whatever government tells us, lest we all end up as pinheads. Right. And of course, fears of Zika are yet another reason to abort children.

As I asked in the headline, is there a solution? There will always be people killing people, from Cain on. But we see that doing some things greatly reduces the death toll. Giving up trust in government to protect us, learning to protect ourselves, and allowing people to protect themselves by arming them with knowledge and actual weapons all are critical to that solution. Individual sovereignty and responsibility.