Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. 

By Britt Nelson

A wave of terrorist bombings in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend plus a mass stabbing in Minnesota have once again placed the political spotlight on U.S. national security with the first presidential debate only a week away.

The Saturday stabbing of nine people at a large shopping mall in St. Cloud has been attributed by local police to radical Islamic terror. As of Sunday, three remained hospitalized with non-threatening injuries. The knife-wielding attacker, who claimed allegiance to the Muslim God Allah, was shot dead by an off-duty police officer from a neighboring jurisdiction, according to Reuters News. Police said the suspect was employed as a security guard and was wearing his uniform during the stabbings.

The bombing incidents in New York City and New Jersey injured dozens, but without fatalities and appear to be related to Islamic extremism, according to news reports from CNN and Fox News.

Suspects were sought by police in a raid on an apartment in New Jersey where pipe bombs were discovered.

Late this morning the main suspect in the bombings was caught in NJ following a shootout with police, according to NJ State Police.

These incidents, and possibly more to come by Sept. 26, are sure to place national security high on the list of topics that NBC Nightly News anchor and debate moderator Lester Holt will cover with Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump during their first debate.

Both Clinton and Trump have made statements to reporters and media about the most recent bombings. Their words are as different as night and day. Clinton on Sunday first spoke softly with reservations about calling the incidents Islamic terror until more information was known, but Monday took a more stern approach in her comments.

“We will take the fight to ISIS,” Clinton said Monday during a brief news conference in White Plains, NY, broadcast live on Fox News and CNN. “We’re going after the bad guys and we‘re going to get them.” However, she still did not say the words ‘radical Islamic terror.’

While Trump predictably blasted current immigration laws and said all law enforcement needed to be tough and stay tough.

“We can’t be politically correct,” Trump said Monday. “This is only going to get worse.”

What Americans see on the national news is that New York City and New Jersey streets are starting to look more like Israel and Syria than America. Terror incidents are almost a daily occurrence and no doubt some of this violence is due to the political situation in the USA. Right now you could set off a firecracker in New York City and it would make national news.

Clinton’s weak response to Islamic radical terror won’t fly during the debate with Trump in New York this coming Monday night. Her slide in the polls has put the national presidential election at a tie, with Trump seeming to gaining ground daily.

On Monday, Clinton led Trump only by a slim 0.7 percentage point in Real Clear Politics nationwide poll averaging that included Clinton, Trump, Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein. That’s less than one percentage point difference between Clinton and Trump with the first debate seven days away.

This week will see both Clinton and Trump preparing for this ‘make or break’ debate. Johnson and Stein failed to meet the 15-percent polling requirement set by the Commission on Presidential Debates, and will not participate in the first debate.

The political play of the week goes to Trump for receiving the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police last Friday; this is the nation’s largest and most influential police union representing more than 330,000 law enforcement members from coast to coast. Also, on Friday, Trump received the endorsement of dozens of Congressional Medal of Honor winners, the nation’s highest military recognition.

Trump appears to get stronger the more mainstream media attacks him. Unless you are a die-hard Clinton supporter, the voting public is quite sick of seeing such blatant media bias toward Clinton. The media’s protection of the Clinton campaign is clearly backfiring like an old pickup truck going down a dusty-dry dirt road.

 

About the Author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.