During the past year Sonya Jones was killed picking blueberries; Carla Grow was killed on a family picnic; Megan Nickell died playing volley ball on a beach; and Gage McFadden met the same fate playing disc golf. William Clevenger was struck down rounding up cattle, as was Frankie Roberts walking some dogs.
The killer in all of these cases – – lightning!
In fact, since September 11, 2001 there have been more than 400 people killed by lightning in America, according to the national weather service.
And while we are at it, here are some more facts. During the 14 years between the horrific but flukish events of 9/11 and last week’s massacre in San Bernardino, there had been just six civilians killed on American soil by jihadist oriented terrorists. Two were killed at the El Al counter at LAX airport in 2002 and four at the Boston Marathon attacks in 2013.
There were also four deaths from the unsolved anthrax attacks of 2002 and also the murderous 2009 rampage at Ft Hood and the killings at the Chattanooga military centers last summer. But most Americans have never set foot on a military base nor do they have any risk of exposure to the special propensity for violence that may be kindled at such facilities.
Yes, we clearly had a lone wolf(s) event last week or what some oafish CNN war storm-chaser described as ‘do it yourself terrorism’.
This post was published at David Stockmans Contra Corner by David Stockman ‘ December 7, 2015.
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