jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Actually you are BOTH wrong. Jeff, I think you meant to write "there's been nothing to PROVE he was inspired by Islam."

Had you written that, I would agree with you. First, as I have said from the start of this thread, the investigation is just beginning, so it's too early to conclusively say what his exact motive or motives were.

Frankly, mixed motives appear to in loved from what I can speculate about at this point; he seems to have grown up as an all-American boy; as American (or more so) than Casey Kasem or Omar Sharif.

But recently he was on the verge of bankruptcy, taking sleeping pills out of desperation over his overnight job schedule, and had a long history of abusing illegal drugs. Plus he had a history of depression and suicidal thoughts.

Speculating again, I'd say those factors could easily account for 90% of his chosen suicide method (Google "suicide by cop").

The remaining 10% though: you cannot ignore a few facts and questions: he initially targeted a military site. Then he targeted a second military site - that both were military sites is not a coincidence!

So the question is: what was his grudge against our military? Had he been turned down for service? Was he bullied by a future service member? What?

Further, he made only 2 blog posts. But they were long. And not only were they ambiguous, they are clouded by cultural interpretations: devout Moslems find them quite ordinary; other experts might see them quite differently . I am no expert and am not sure what to make of them (again, the investigation is just beginning).

And hen there is the trip to Yemmen. And the devout American at his gym who kept ranting about jihads.

The targets, the trip, the gym guy, his uncle arrested overseas - Jeff, these areas for investigation DO suggest a possible motive or partial motive. So there is a "suggestion" (or several).

Prudence dictates we wait for the results of the investigation here.

Other than you, I've seen no source for his trip to Yemen. Do you have a source for supporting that allegation?

You are confusing "being a Muslim" and "knowing people who rant about Jihad" with "being inspired by". The items you note allow for the possibility that he was inspired by Islam, but don't actually suggest that he was. The uncle arrested in Jordan has more to do with the dictatorial nature of the Jordanian government than any guilt or innocence on the uncle's behalf. When the Jordanians learned there was a connection, they simply grabbed him up and, likely, started "putting him to the test'. By now he has likely pled guilty to the Kennedy assassination and promised to reveal where he buried Jimmy Hoffa. As you note, the overwhelming evidence we've seen so far is that a depressed young man decided to end his life by taking actions he believed would lead to his death (and not be considered suicide).

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me, if you walk into a church/recruiting center/movie theatre/school/mall/anywhere and shoot up a bunch of people, you are terrorist scum.

I don't care if you are inspired by the KKK, extremist religious views (Muslim, Christian, voices in your head, whatever)--if you have the ability to take human lives like that, you are a terrorist.

I'm not anymore threatened by ISIS than I am by a nameless/faceless American plotting against someone from their apartment.

Everything in our country is so politicized but I choose to use a binary scale of judgement when judging good and evil. The Chattanoga and Charleston shooters are exactly the same to me.

If you are concerned about politicization of such killings, why choose such a politicized word as "terrorist". The word once was used to describe attacks against the public aimed at changing government policy. Now it has become a description for anything we don't like (even non-violence). If you want to de-politicize Chattanoga and Charleston, call the perpetrators what they are: murderers.

Anonymous wrote:
Actually you are BOTH wrong. Jeff, I think you meant to write "there's been nothing to PROVE he was inspired by Islam."

Had you written that, I would agree with you. First, as I have said from the start of this thread, the investigation is just beginning, so it's too early to conclusively say what his exact motive or motives were.

Frankly, mixed motives appear to in loved from what I can speculate about at this point; he seems to have grown up as an all-American boy; as American (or more so) than Casey Kasem or Omar Sharif.

But recently he was on the verge of bankruptcy, taking sleeping pills out of desperation over his overnight job schedule, and had a long history of abusing illegal drugs. Plus he had a history of depression and suicidal thoughts.

Speculating again, I'd say those factors could easily account for 90% of his chosen suicide method (Google "suicide by cop").

The remaining 10% though: you cannot ignore a few facts and questions: he initially targeted a military site. Then he targeted a second military site - that both were military sites is not a coincidence!

So the question is: what was his grudge against our military? Had he been turned down for service? Was he bullied by a future service member? What?

Further, he made only 2 blog posts. But they were long. And not only were they ambiguous, they are clouded by cultural interpretations: devout Moslems find them quite ordinary; other experts might see them quite differently . I am no expert and am not sure what to make of them (again, the investigation is just beginning).

And hen there is the trip to Yemmen. And the devout American at his gym who kept ranting about jihads.

The targets, the trip, the gym guy, his uncle arrested overseas - Jeff, these areas for investigation DO suggest a possible motive or partial motive. So there is a "suggestion" (or several).

Prudence dictates we wait for the results of the investigation here.

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe he was depressed. Maybe he was feeling pressure at home. Maybe he had low self-worth. Who knows.
There are millions of depressed people and people feeling pressure and worthless.
They don’t go to a recruitment center and take out 5 people.
The guy is a terrorist. His recent writings and statements verify that.
He was looking to be a martyr. But, he is really a coward.

They may not go to recruitment centers, but they do go to schools and movie theaters. But, being white, they aren't called terrorists.

And, yet, Dylan Roof has been called a domestic terrorist.
The more we find out about Abdulazeez, the more we find that he was identifying with and inspired by Muslim terrorists.
Why white-wash it?

Actually, you are 180 degrees wrong. There has been nothing to suggest that he was inspired by Muslim terrorists. To the contrary, the more we find out about him the more he appears to have been suffering from mental illness.

Anonymous wrote:To me, if you walk into a church/recruiting center/movie theatre/school/mall/anywhere and shoot up a bunch of people, you are terrorist scum.

I don't care if you are inspired by the KKK, extremist religious views (Muslim, Christian, voices in your head, whatever)--if you have the ability to take human lives like that, you are a terrorist.

I'm not anymore threatened by ISIS than I am by a nameless/faceless American plotting against someone from their apartment.

Everything in our country is so politicized but I choose to use a binary scale of judgement when judging good and evil. The Chattanoga and Charleston shooters are exactly the same to me.