Christmas in France

The iconic image of the terrorist attack in 2016 in Nice, France is the one above of the little girl's dead body, her doll next to her, covered.

And yes, it is a terrorist attack.

Perhaps those in charge realize that naming these things "truck attacks", or pretending there's not a cultural commonality to a disporportionate number of them, as the tenor of the reporting has changed with the latest incident:

Police searched through eastern France on Wednesday for a man suspected of killing at least two people in a gun attack on a Christmas market in Strasbourg and who was known to have been religiously radicalised while in jail.

Witnesses told investigators the assailant cried out "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greater) as he launched his attack on the market, the Paris prosecutor said.

The prosecutor, Remy Heitz, also suggested the suspect may have chosen his target for its religious symbolism.

"Considering the target, his way of operating, his profile and the testimonies of those who heard him yell 'Allahu Akbar', the anti-terrorist police has been called into action," Heitz told a news conference.

No shit? He might have chosen it for his religious symbolism?

Snark aside, it's sad when such a weak and apologetic article is nevertheless a vast improvement over the usual "but islam has noting to do with it, it's a religion of peace."

That said, there's another pattern I'm noticing to these attacks, namely that these people were known to the authorities and the authorities were supposedly keeping an eye on them.

That stunning and now consistent display of incompetence is supposed to make me feel better?