Posted on 04/15/2019 1:20:15 PM PDT by Red Badger
Fox anchor Shepard Smith on Monday melted down when a French guest attempted to explain the ongoing attacks, violence and vandalism against French churches. Talking about the fire engulfing Notre Dame, where the cause is unknown, guest Philippe Karsenty began, “For the past years, we've had churches desecrated each and every week all over France.”
Just seconds after his guest was introduced, Smith immediately jumped in and reprimanded, “Sir, sir, sir, we're not going to speculate of the cause of something that we don't know! If you have observations or you know something, we would love to hear it.” After Karsenty attempted to respond, Smith shut down the whole interview: “No, sir. We’re not doing that here. Not now. Not on my watch! Philippe Karsenty, it’s very good of you to be here.”
Twenty minutes later, Smith came back to concede the point about violence against French Christians, allowing, “There have been a number of attacks on Catholic churches in the Paris area. But those two things [the Notre Dame fire and past incidents], we are not connecting at this moment.”
Newsweek reported on March 21, 2019:
Vandals have smashed statues, knocked down tabernacles, scattered or destroyed the Eucharist and torn down crosses, sparking fears of a rise in anti-Catholic sentiment in the country.
Last Sunday, the historic Church of St. Sulpice in Paris was set on fire just after midday mass on Sunday, Le Parisien reported, although no one was injured. Police are still investigating the attack, which firefighters have confidently attributed to arson.
The website Churchpop.com noted,
Since early February, vandals desecrated more than a dozen Catholic Churches throughout France. They’ve looted, burned, destroyed statues, threw consecrated hosts all over the floors, and marked a cross on the wall with human feces.
The Washington Post on April 2 reported: "Among attacks on churches in February, a cross of human excrement was found in the southern city of Nimes, a statue of Mary was smashed in a Paris suburb and a statue of Jesus decapitated...”
Of course, that doesn’t mean, in any way, that’s what is happening in Paris. And people shouldn’t recklessly speculate. But neither should Smith decide a guest is unlistenable simply because he tries to inform an American audience about what's going on in France.
It’s not as though Smith himself hasn't speculated. In 2017, he became unhinged while discussing the Russia investigation. In 2015, he yelled at a fellow Fox host during a discussion of riots in Baltimore.
A transcript of the exchange and Smith’s follow-up can be found below. Click “expand” to read more.
Or a meteorite
Or a lightening bolt from Leucetius
Or Greek fire
Amazingly and UNLIKE Fox News, BBC and CNN were allowing open discussion of the possibility of terrorism.
later in his show, Cavuto asked a strange question to his guest......”is the french government taking any precautions at other older French landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower or Versaiiles?”
The tower is made of steel right?
I immediately shut off Cavuto when he shut down Bill Donohue. I had just tuned in to hear about the fire. It was clear that Cavuto did not want to hear any evidence linking Notre Dame fire to the string of fires and desecrations against Christian Churches in France. How strange that there were no statements from witnesses. What is Macron hiding? I know why he’s hiding it. I just want to know what.
“Amazingly and UNLIKE Fox News, BBC and CNN were allowing open discussion of the possibility of terrorism.”
Probably intent upon blaming on the Right.
An 800-year-old mostly wooden structure with paint and lacquer and varnish. It’s a miracle it didn’t burn down centuries ago.
I’ll wait for the official report, then critique that if necessary.
Shepard Smith would be one of the first ones to be thrown off the roof as a homosexual by those same people he takes up for on a daily basis.
#shepardsmith Take a vacation to the muslim part of London.
“With the size of the inferno in Notre Dame, there is not going to be any physical evidence of the cause left in the ruins.”
Chemical evidence of an excellerant could possibly.
As of this morning. I only stream philo TV for 19.99 and OAN for 4.99. Gone. Fox. CNN. MSNBC et al.
I feel sooo good.
Cavuto sucks!!!! And Shep, he’s just a joke!!
Also the anniversary of the Boston Marathon attack’s !
First provide some facts showing the fire was deliberately set.
Then proceed to identify the culprit.
https://www.counterextremism.com/roundup/eye-extremism-april-15-2019
Two cucks! They make me ill to the point I’ve stopped watching them
Why?
Would it be negligent to not consider those facts when investigating the fire?
Would it be negligent to turn a blind eye towards the recent pattern in some sign of social justice towards the Muslim community?
It's one thing to stay publicly quiet. It's another thing to refuse to consider it when investigating behind closed doors. It's negligent for a reporter to not ask the question.
Let the public official respond one way or another. Don't self-censor when it's one's job to be the watchdog.
It would have been okay for Smith to start with the statement he ended with, that there has been a recent rash of church arsons and desecrations in France [with the most recent being attributed by French police to Muslims] but so far there is no link to this fire. It was not okay for a supposed journalist to shut down the mere suggestion of it as it was breaking.
But I will conclude with this: It is simply wrong to begin the discussion of the destruction of the most important humanities icon of the western world, the Cathedral of Notre Dame, with minimizing, with diminution, with caution, with restraint.
The destruction of an 800 year old center of western heritage deserves the most aggressive questioning of why and how, until the most damning causes are eliminated. Then we can move onto the accidental, the careless, the happenstance.
Not the other way around. Let's not treat this like a 7-11 burned down.
-PJ
There's a clue right there.
Are any of the renovation crew named 'Mohammed'? I sure hope the security video was salvaged for ingress/egress activity.
My spidey sense tells me it was a tourist, one of the last ones in and possibly exited through alternate exit. You just watch.
Nice try.
Geez - are you now a fire investigator ?!?
Why don’t you wait and let the actual fire investigators get into the scene and investigate the fire...
Before you start huffing and puffing about your favorite cause.
...totally agree.
I thought so.
Geez - are you now a fire investigator ?!?
Nope. I'm just Joe Q. Public, expressing an opinion. Is there something wrong with that?
Why don’t you wait and let the actual fire investigators get into the scene and investigate the fire...
I will. Don't you want to know if there is a parallel criminal investigation going on, too, that's not waiting for any leads to go cold? Is it wrong to just ask the question?
Before you start huffing and puffing about your favorite cause.
If you know me, you know that my "favorite cause" is feckless Republican leadership, and the media that has beaten them into submission.
That said, if you review the title of this thread you will see that we're not discussing fire investigations, we're discussing the attempt by Shepard Smith to control the media narrative, which IS my favorite cause.
Say what you want about the possible causes and their relative probabilities, but why are you so reactive to a media so censorious that it won't even allow the possibility that the cause wasn't negligence to be mentioned?
-PJ
Indeed, we are discussing Smith’s shutting down irresponsible speculation as to the cause of the fire.
How about you wait til the actual fire investigators arrive on the scene ?!?
Right now, there is no investigation going on. They are still extinguishing the flames.
The next step is to send the arson investigators in.
Surely you are not so impatient as to demand instant answers before an investigation is conducted ?!?
I didn't say instant answers. I said instant questions.
It's the job of a curious media to ask questions. It's the job of a representative government to answer those questions.
Only a media afraid of the answers would refuse to ask the questions. Only a government afraid of the people would refuse to answer those questions.
-PJ
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