Yesterday, NYC once again became the focus of the world when 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov used his rental truck to mow down a number of cyclists. He left in his wake eight dead and at least 11 injured. New York City’s finest, members of the NYPD, arrested him only after he crashed into a school bus and exited his vehicle. Was he trying to commit suicide-by-cop when he got out of the truck holding a fake gun in each hand? If so, he failed. After a short foot pursuit, he was shot and is currently under arrest at an NYC hospital. Once again, NYC is getting up to a new day, proving that it is not only resilient but defiant as raises its collective middle finger to every terrorist, every extremist and every person foolish enough to think it will roll over and give up. #NYCStrong.

Already, the left is spinning what happened and trying to turn the focus to islamophobia instead of looking at why Saipov decided to use his truck to kill as many as he could. As the article says, liberals often fail to comprehend the meaning of words, in this case, terrorism, “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.” That means we need to look at Saipov and what he wanted to accomplish.

When he exited his vehicle, Saipov allegedly yelled, “Allahu akbar”. While that, in and of itself, isn’t enough to condemn him as a terrorist, let’s see what else we might find to confirm or disprove the allegation. He exited the vehicle holding what appeared to be two guns, making no attempt to hide them as he moved down the street. Okay, that’s enough to show he was, at the very least, trying to commit suicide-by-cop which is, most definitely, better than using a suicide vest in the middle of NYC.

But there’s more. It has been reported that law enforcement found two notes “handwritten in Arabic, pledging loyalty to ISIS in and near the truck, Fox News has confirmed.” The NY Post reported that “some type of symbol or picture of the terrorist organization’s flag was discovered.” If true, both should go a long way to making a connection with terrorism that even the liberals in Hollywood can’t deny. In the meantime, circumstantial evidence clearly points to it being a case of terrorism.

Gov. Cuomo stated, “There’s no evidence to suggest a wider plot or a wider scheme. . . These are the actions of one individual meant to cause pain and harm and probably death.” He may actually believe it. The rest of us look at what happened and have to wonder. We are seeing too many of these sorts of attacks, not just here in the U. S. but overseas as well. We hear ISIS and organizations like them crying for the deaths of the U.S. and its allies. Whether Saipov officially belongs to such a group or was influenced by them remains to be seen. However, the evidence so far does appear to point to one conclusion: he’d been radicalized and acted on it.

But let’s not forget his victims in all this. Five of the dead had come to NYC from Argentina to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of their graduation from high school. At least one other of the dead came from Belgium. This tragedy has impacted more than just NYC and the United States. But it is on us that this happened if, as President Trump has tweeted, Saipov came in under the Diversity Visa Program. Is it not time to tighten up our entry requirements? How many more have to be injured or killed before the politicians quit worrying about being politically correct and start looking at what they need to do to protect those they represent?

In the meantime, #NYCStrong. Stand strong. Stand firm. Do not bow down. They haven’t and will not win.