Mass Shooting In San Bernardino Claims 14 Lives

Shooters Target San Bernardino Holiday Party, Killing 14 People And Wounding Numerous Others. On December 2, two individuals wielding assault weapons opened fire on a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, causing mass casualties:

Dressed in black masks and tactical gear, armed with long guns and pistols, they entered a holiday party for county health workers in San Bernardino as it was in full swing. Before they fled, they had killed 14 people and wounded 17 others.

Four hours later, as fearful residents were ordered to stay home and scores of officers swarmed the streets, authorities chased a black SUV carrying two suspects from a home in the nearby city of Redlands. As TV news stations broadcast live overhead, the chase spilled back onto San Bernardino's streets, where authorities and the suspects traded gunfire.

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Burguan said Farook and Malik were dressed in “assault-style” clothing during as they fled from police, and were armed with assault rifles and handguns. [Los Angeles Times, 12/2/15]

Alleged Shooter Appears To Have Communicated With Individuals With“Jihadi-Oriented Views.” While no motive has yet been confirmed, San Bernardino shooting suspect Syed Farook appears to have been radicalized according to NBC News, having “been in touch with people in the Los Angeles area who have expressed jihadi-oriented views” and seeming “to have been in some form of communication with people overseas who are persons of interest to U.S. authorities”:

Authorities said they are still trying to determine why Farook and his wife attacked the Inland Regional Center.

“We do not know the motive. ... It would be irresponsible of me and be way too early to speculate on motive,” said David Bowdich, assistant director in charge of the FBI in Los Angeles.

“There was obviously a mission here,” Bowdich said. “We do not know why. We do not know if this was the intended target or something triggered him.”

But authorities told NBC News on Thursday(space)that Farook appeared to have been radicalized. They said he had been in touch with people in the Los Angeles area who have expressed jihadi-oriented views.

Intelligence sources told NBC News that Farook appeared to have been in some form of communication with people overseas who are persons of interest to U.S. authorities. [NBC News, 12/4/15]

FBI Investigating Shooting As An Act Of Terrorism. During a news conference on December 4, the FBI announced it was investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism. [Associated Press, 12/4/15]

Right-Wing Media Use Shooting To Call For Profiling Muslim-Americans

Fox's Eric Bolling: I “Don't Care If You're Profiling.” During the December 3 edition of Fox News' The Five, co-host Eric Bolling advocated for profiling, saying he did not care “if you're profiling, and [I] don't care if you're called Islamophobic”:

ERIC BOLLING: People who perpetrated this fear -- the fear of being called a profiler or Islamophobist. New face of terror, though, I mean this is big, people. A 26-year-old, 27-year-old woman, married, with a baby. Hands her 6-month-old off to her grandmother and then goes to commit jihad -- this is all new. Fifth graders in New Jersey plotting to blow up a high school in New Jersey. This is brand new. This is a new world we're embarking on. I called my son this afternoon and I said you're going to think I'm an idiot, I don't care. If you see anything that's out of the normal, pick up the phone and call a cop. Call me, I'll call a cop for you. We have to now. We have to be vigilant and diligent and see something, say something, absolutely. Don't care if you're profiling, and don't care if you're called Islamophobic or whatever they want to call you. [Fox News, The Five, 12/3/15]

Rush Limbaugh: When You See Deliveries At Midnight To Home Of “Middle Eastern Guys,” “Call The Cops.” During the December 3 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show, host Rush Limbaugh said “the lesson” from the shooting is “when you see a bunch of boxes being delivered to a garage after midnight, to a home populated by four Middle Eastern guys, call the cops.” He also mocked concerns over racial profiling, saying, “But no, no that is profiling, that's sick, you can't do that”:

RUSH LIMBAUGH: I'm sure you've heard this by now that the neighbors saw all of these Middle Eastern men, late at night accepting all of these massively large packages. And they were being delivered into the garage of this home, but they didn't tell the cops because they didn't want anybody to think that they were racist. They didn't want the cops or the neighbors to think that they were anti-Muslim. They didn't want anybody to think that they were bigots. So they shut up. The lesson here is when you see a bunch of boxes being delivered to a garage after midnight, to a home populated by four Middle Eastern guys, call the cops. But no, no that is profiling, that's sick, you can't do that. Well this is what they -- this is why I maintain that events like this -- if we're going to start pointing fingers of blame here, I'm going to point my fingers right back at them. Because they are the ones that are freezing people into inaction. They're the ones scaring people into shutting up and being silent when threats are spotted. When potential incidents like this are detected. And I think they know it. I think they are fully aware that their own perverted ideological, well I'm talking about the American left, their own perverted beliefs make all of this easier to happen in this country. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 12/3/15]

Sean Hannity: It's Now “See Something, Say Nothing” With People Who Are “Of Middle Eastern Descent” Or Muslim. During the December 3 edition of Premiere Radio Networks The Sean Hannity Show, host Sean Hannity claimed “political correctness” is becoming a “danger to society,” quoting a blog that said it's now “see something, say nothing, at least if it comes to somebody of Middle Eastern descent or happens to be Muslim”:

SEAN HANNITY: Now I want to go over how political correctness is now become a danger in society. Now you've heard the expression that political correctness is killing America. Well it looks like the San Bernardino shooter is a case in point.

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There was this local CBS station in Los Angeles reported that a man who had been working in the area said he noticed a half dozen Middle Eastern men in the area in recent weeks, but decided not to report anything, since he too didn't wish to be racially -- accused of racially profiling these people. “We sat around lunch thinking, 'what are they doing around that neighborhood' he said. We'd see them leave and where they're raiding the apartment.” We're now searching the point where political correctness is such that silencing people may now have lethal consequences. Someone wrote on one of the blogs, an old adage “see something, say something.”It's now been replaced by “see something, say nothing, at least if it comes to somebody of Middle Eastern descent or happens to be Muslim.” In this case, saying nothing may have led to a massacre. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 12/3/15]

Laura Ingraham: We Need Profiling “To Save America.” During the December 4 edition of Courtside Entertainment Group's The Laura Ingraham Show, host Laura Ingraham advocated for profiling and mocked concerns about Islamophobia, saying, “We're profiling to save America,” and “It's a self-protection mechanism that we all have”:

LAURA INGRAHAM: We have 17 Americans dead. Various backgrounds, various ages. We have a gay guy who was killed, we have a very devout Jew who was killed. People in their 20s, people in their late 50s, we have people from all backgrounds killed, innocent people killed and this guy as the mosque is worried about someone showing up at the mosque? You wonder why people are fed up with this mass migration of Muslims into the United States.

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You want to know why Trump is up 20 points in the polls today, you want to know why? People are sick of this. They're sick of the dual loyalties. Mohammed or America, which one is it? They're tired of it. People are sick to death of the justifications, of the radicalization, of the bringing in the wife in, the fiancée visas, they are tired of it. They're tired of their communities being turned into places they don't recognize. They're tired of government officials pussying footing around the obvious.

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The poor Muslims and the Islamophobia, whoa, they're under a lot of pressure. How many of you care if the Muslims are under pressure right now because we have 17 Americans dead, we've got to find out what's going on in this country. How many of you are upset about that?

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Reports still today that neighbors were afraid to report what was going on at that residence because they were worried about being called Islamophobic. They were worried about being pegged by the liberals as Islamophobic. So the people are afraid to speak out. This is my message to all of you today: do not be afraid. Do not be afraid to say something, and I hate that saying, “say something, see something,” you have to say something. You have to.  Your instinct, it's there for a reason. It's a self-protection mechanism that we all have. It's an instinct, it's a sense. It doesn't mean you're always right. It's an instinct that you have and that instinct exists for a reason. The neighbor thought something was strange going on. Oh, you're profiling. Yes, we are profiling. Yeah, you're right, yes, we are profiling. We're profiling to save America. We're profiling the type of immigrant, the type of people we want to come into this country, yes. Someone who loves this country more than they love the idea of destroying this country. Yes, we are profiling for that. That's what we want. That's what we want in America. We want patriotic, loving people who are going to be great additions to our American family. Yes, we are profiling for that. Do not be afraid. [Courtside Entertainment Group, The Laura Ingraham Show, 12/4/15]

Fox's Mark Fuhrman: Not Profiling Would Show “Incompetence.” Speaking to host Laura Ingraham on the December 4 edition of The Laura Ingraham Show, Fox News contributor Mark Fuhrman argued it was “incompetence” to not have profiling, comparing the need to profile Muslims to the need for profiling serial killers and pedophiles:

LAURA INGRAHAM: Remember in the 70s and even the 80s, the left in the United States, Mark, opposed really any serious efforts to fight crime. We got the understanding and the belief that -- they would literally rather have innocent people die than to take steps that would violate their quote “principles.” And then that morphed into you can't do racial profiling. All the journalists are, they don't want to say the race or the background, the ethnicity of the perpetrators.

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MARK FUHRMAN: It's not only madness, it's incompetence. If you ran any private corporation like they're trying to run the most serious part of security in this country, you'd be bankrupt in short order. Look, when you're talking about profiling, if you don't profile suspects, you cannot target where they might hit, who they might are, how you observe them, how you set up to surveil them, how you notice them, how you educate officers and the public to notify you when they see something. You profile serial killers. Oh, that's right, they're usually white so that's okay. You profile pedophiles. Oh, that's okay, they're usually white. It's just, it's odd that as soon as we have the choice of a suspect, and the suspects always makes the choice, you're reacting to somebody committing a crime. You're not making them commit a crime because they're a certain race. You actually are watching. And when you watch and certain people do certain things, you have to identify that to actually identify the person or to actually stop them from committing the crime in the future. They call it an MO, modus operandi. By identifying a modus operandi, you are actually profiling. [Courtside Entertainment Group, The Laura Ingraham Show, 12/4/15]

Fox's Todd Starnes: “The Problem” With The Obama Administration Is They Say “You Can't Profile Anybody.” During the December 3 edition of Fox Business' Varney & Co., Fox News Radio host Todd Starnes blamed the Obama Administration for the shooting, claiming “this White House, they warned all of us, you can't profile anybody,” even though “you may have one demographic that's doing all the blowing up and the shooting up and the whacking off of the heads”:

TODD STARNES: Well, and again, it's just like the lady who lived next door. We had some reporting on our sister network and she said she saw a lot of suspicious stuff, but she didn't want to say anything because she was afraid she might be accused of profiling. And again that's the problem, this administration, this White House, they warned all of us, you can't profile anybody. Yes, you may have one demographic that's doing all the blowing up and the shooting up and the whacking off of the heads, but by golly, don't call them out or else you're a racist. And look what happened as a result of that. We had this shooting. [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 12/3/15]

Fox's Rod Wheeler: We're “During A Time War” And “We Can't Worry So Much About Profiling.” During the December 3 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto, Fox contributor Rod Wheeler dismissed concerns about profiling, claiming “we are living during a time of war,” and “we can't worry so much about profiling”:

ROD WHEELER: You know Neil, it's unfortunate but one of the things that the community has to do is to support the police and the way you support the police is by if you see something, you say something, but I have to admit, I mean I talked to a lot of people, Neil, and they'll tell me, you know, Rod, I'm afraid to say anything because I'll feel like I'm profiling. Look, we are living during a time of war, Neil, and we can't worry so much about profiling. Maybe, just maybe, if this neighbor would have profiled a little bit and just called the cops, then maybe this thing would have been avoided yesterday. But obviously that did not happen.

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Here's the thing. The government has come it out with a number of programs, such as the first observer plus program, where they're trying to get really really get people to call them, call the number, let somebody know. The thing is, this woman - and this is so important, Neil -- she saw several men coming and going from this what we now are calling an IED factory, right? And she really was worried about something, but she didn't say anything else. But here's the question. Who else saw that, that did not call? Apparently no one saw that and called. So again we can't emphasize enough, we meaning law enforcement -- we can't emphasize enough how much it would really help us if citizens would just give us a call, remain anonymous because we do have ways of checking individuals out. [Fox News, Your World with Neil Cavuto, 12/3/15]

Fox's Tantaros: It's “See Something, Say Something, Unless You Think It's A Muslim.” During the December 4 edition of Fox News' Outnumbered, co-host Andrea Tantaros invoked American soldiers fighting overseas to advocate for profiling, saying, “when you think about the men and women that put their lives on the line, the men and women in law enforcement that took out these terrorists, the ones that are fighting overseas, that are giving their lives for us, the least that we can do is not buckle to the PC police.” Tantaros also criticized President Obama, saying that to him, “It's like if you see something, say something, unless you think it's a Muslim”:

ANDREA TANTAROS: I think it's even worse than that. It's not even “never mind.” It's “I'm not going to report something that is dangerous because I'm scared of being labeled a bigot, a xenophobe, a racist.” And that's what the left, and we've seen them do this for years, try and cripple action with the threat of these names that they call people and it's working. They're doing it with the refugee debate in this country. It is so troubling. And when you think about the men and women that put their lives on the line, the men and women in law enforcement that took out these terrorists, the ones that are fighting overseas, that are giving their lives for us, the least that we can do is not buckle to the PC police. And if we do see something, we say something to help them out. And maybe if that woman would have and not been so scared of the radical left, maybe 14 people would still be alive today.

MELISSA FRANCIS: Katie, you have to have the confidence to be able to go to the police and say, “you know what? I don't know if it's anything, I'm going to let you decide. Here's what I saw, you decide.”

KATIE PAVLICH: Right. You pass it off to the police and they do their job and it turns out to be nothing. We hope that's what it is. But the president actually has a lot of responsibility here. Homeland Security has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the see something, say something program. They have an entire web page on their website dedicated to how to do see something, say something. And yet President Obama before Thanksgiving came out for the Thanksgiving parade here in New York, and said if you see something, say something, except for of course if it's a kid with a clock that looks likes a bomb, and if you say something, your life will be ruined. If you're a teacher at a school, and you report something that's suspicious in your school, you're going to be called out nationally by the President of the United States. So when you see the president doing that, of course people on local neighborhoods who are seeing suspicious activity aren't going to say anything. And there are very serious dangerous consequences to this. We also saw this at the Fort Hood shooting when Nidal Hasan. The army knew that he was in touch with al Qaeda. They knew that he was going to his neighbors and preaching jihad. And yet no one did anything because you don't want to be accused by CAIR of being Islamophobic.

ANDREA TANTAROS: It's like if you see something, say something, unless you think it's a Muslim, then don't say a word. [Fox News, Outnumbered, 12/4/15]