PA - 11 killed, 6 injured in mass shooting at Pittsburgh Synagogue, 27 Oct 2018 *guilty, death sentence*

[bluesneakers]

Viral Twitter thread chronicles the long history of right-wing violence

There is a myth perpetuated by conservatives that the left is “out of control.”

Investigative journalist David Neiwert, who is the author of Alt-America: The Rise of The Radical Right in the Age of Trump, has chronicled violence caused by extremist conservatives, and recently shared it on Twitter. And the evidence is… Overwhelming.

Read more at: Viral Twitter thread chronicles the long history of right-wing violence

 

[bluesneakers]

Pittsburgh synagogue-shooting suspect wounded in gunfight leaves hospital, appears in court in wheelchair

The courtroom in downtown Pittsburgh fell silent as Bowers was pushed before the judge in a wheelchair. He jerked his head left and right as if taken off-guard when the Mitchell order "all rise," prompting everyone besides and behind Bowers to stand.

Wearing a blue sweatshirt and a blank expression, Bowers listened as Mitchell explained the litany of charges against him. Bowers answered "yes, sir" at various points when asked to confirm he understood what was being said.

"You have a right to be released on bail," Mitchell told Bowers, whose attorneys appointed to represent him specifically for the hearing waived his right to challege a request from U.S. attorneys to detain him without bail on grounds he is a flight risk.

Bowers requested a public defender be appointed to handle his case.

Mitchel scheduled a preliminary hearing for 10 a.m. on Thursday

 

[CCJD]

ALERT: Message From Public Safety on Tragedy

PITTSBURGH, PA (Oct. 29, 2018) – The unthinkable events that occurred in Squirrel Hill this weekend shook an unshakable city.

Everyone in Public Safety, from Director Wendell Hissrich to team members who themselves worship inside the Tree of Life Synagogue, would like to extend our deepest condolences to the victims’ families, the entire Jewish community, the residents of Squirrel Hill and everyone and anyone affected by this despicable act of hatred.

We would also like to say thank you.

Thank you to the first responders who rushed toward gunfire. Your bravery and heroism prevented this tragedy from being even worse. Thank you to neighboring and regional agencies who volunteered their time to fill in for Pittsburgh crews so other parts of the city remained covered.

Thank you to the public. The outpouring of support you have shown for the victims and for first responders has been overwhelming. Yesterday, Director Hissrich and Police Chief Scott Schubert briefly visited Zone 4, just a couple blocks from where the tragedy unfolded, and found walls covered in handwritten notes from residents. They stayed for 20 minutes, and in that time no fewer than four people showed up to deliver food and hugs for the officers and others who have been working around the clock to keep our city safe.

In addition, thank you to the media. When we needed to deliver crucial information, you were there to serve the public. Everyone needed to work together as a city and community, and you served an essential role in that process.

Over the next several days, funerals for the victims will begin. On behalf of the victims’ families, we ask the media to continue being respectful and allow them privacy and space. This extends to people who were inside the synagogue, the victims who remain hospitalized, and their families.

In addition, the injured officers also request privacy. We have not released the names of the injured officers because they have requested and deserve privacy while they heal from their wounds. Some media outlets have reported names of injured officers. These names did not come from the city, and many of these reports included inaccurate information. We will release the names at the appropriate time.

To city residents, please rest assured that Director Hissrich and Chiefs Schubert, Darryl Jones and Ron Romano are taking every measure to assure public safety for all.

We are, and will remain, Pittsburgh Proud and Pittsburgh Strong.



“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” — Fred Rogers

ALERT: Message From Public Safety on Tragedy

 

[Wagtales10]

Pittsburgh synagogue-shooting suspect wounded in gunfight leaves hospital, appears in court in wheelchair

The courtroom in downtown Pittsburgh fell silent as Bowers was pushed before the judge in a wheelchair. He jerked his head left and right as if taken off-guard when the Mitchell order "all rise," prompting everyone besides and behind Bowers to stand.

Wearing a blue sweatshirt and a blank expression, Bowers listened as Mitchell explained the litany of charges against him. Bowers answered "yes, sir" at various points when asked to confirm he understood what was being said.

"You have a right to be released on bail," Mitchell told Bowers, whose attorneys appointed to represent him specifically for the hearing waived his right to challege a request from U.S. attorneys to detain him without bail on grounds he is a flight risk.

Bowers requested a public defender be appointed to handle his case.

Mitchel scheduled a preliminary hearing for 10 a.m. on Thursday

There are fewer cases I'd hope for a death penalty in.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

Doctor comes face-to-face with synagogue shooting suspect: 'He's a very lost man'

Cohen, president of the Pittsburgh hospital and a longtime member of the Tree of Life Congregation, wanted to ask Bowers how he was feeling.

“He’s a very lost guy,” Cohen told the Tribune-Review. “It’s just my impression. It’s not based on fact. I mean, he’s coming off the ambulance yelling ‘kill all the Jews’ and those are the people treating him. That is the height of stupidity.”

Two of the lead people who immediately treated Bowers at Allegheny General were Jewish, Cohen said. They include the attending emergency room doctor and a registered nurse whose own father is a rabbi, he said.

<snip>

Not long after treating Bowers, the young nurse broke down in tears. Cohen met with him for about 20 minutes and thanked him for doing his job.

“He was pretty broken,” Cohen said. “I told him how proud I was. He went home and hugged his parents.”

 

[Wagtales10]

Doctor comes face-to-face with synagogue shooting suspect: 'He's a very lost man'

Cohen, president of the Pittsburgh hospital and a longtime member of the Tree of Life Congregation, wanted to ask Bowers how he was feeling.

“He’s a very lost guy,” Cohen told the Tribune-Review. “It’s just my impression. It’s not based on fact. I mean, he’s coming off the ambulance yelling ‘kill all the Jews’ and those are the people treating him. That is the height of stupidity.”

Two of the lead people who immediately treated Bowers at Allegheny General were Jewish, Cohen said. They include the attending emergency room doctor and a registered nurse whose own father is a rabbi, he said.

<snip>

Not long after treating Bowers, the young nurse broke down in tears. Cohen met with him for about 20 minutes and thanked him for doing his job.

“He was pretty broken,” Cohen said. “I told him how proud I was. He went home and hugged his parents.”

I wonder where he got the "jews are the enemy and bad people" from? Thats a very White Nationalist ideology. We are suddenly having our leaders admit to being, having and promoting Nationalist.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

I wonder where he got the "jews are the enemy and bad people" from? Thats a very White Nationalist ideology. We are suddenly having our leaders admit to being, having and promoting Nationalist.

I don't know but my heart breaks for the young nurse that had to provide medical care for the shooter. I don't think I could have done it with someone yelling that they hated me and wanted to kill me.

 

[Wagtales10]

Kinda weird they used kiddie gloves on him and neatly arrested him.

 

[DefenestrationDoll]

FBI considers white nationalism as much of a thread to U.S. as ISIS, FBI's open investigations show
The number of attacks carried out by white supremacists were “almost triple” those of those carried out by people who identified with groups such as ISIS, said Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri.

And government data obtained by The Hill suggests the number of white supremacist attacks compared to those from radical Islamist groups was as many as two to one.

“We have had zero hearings on the threat of domestic terrorists and the threat they pose and our response to it,” McCaskill said, explaining there had been a number of hearings about ISIS, but none about white supremacists.
But he said white nationalism is no more or less of a priority for the FBI that threats from terrorist organizations.

“We take both of them very, very seriously,” The Hill reported Wray as saying. “Our focus is on violence and threats of violence against the people of this country. That’s our concern; it’s not ideology.”
FBI considers white nationalism as much of a threat as ISIS

 

[Cryptic]

Good idea.
I despise the people who try to justify hate speech as "not being pc"
There is so much "the world is too pc because I cant say hateful, insulting, racist or sexist things anymore"

The posting of offensive things by anybody about anybody does not bother me at all. What bothers me speech that takes the form of direct incitements to violence, direct threats of violence and demonizing entire groups to the extent that the natural conclusion is that violence is justified for “defense”.

Likewise, I think the best mechanism to suppress incitements to violence are private companies making decision on who they associate with. Attempts by the government to suppress free speech in a democratic society will have far more negative impact than “offensive speech”.

In short, no censorship by the government. But… if you want to “stormfront”, Jihad rant, or say, call for class warfare (not really a big problem anymore), call for violence against the police etc you are going to be speaking to a far smaller audience or no audience at all as various privately owned services will not be provided to you

 

[DefenestrationDoll]

Will you please share sources for the information you've cited about "vendor culture"? I'm confused as to how this is on-topic re: the synagogue shooter. Just not seeing it. Thank you in advance for the help!

Here's some research and a couple maps I've found on the topic. Admittedly it doesn't specifically explain how xenophobic nationalism has been allowed to flourish (imo) in the United States.



A revealing map of the world’s most and least ethnically diverse countries

European countries are ethnically homogenous. This is, to me, one of the most interesting trends in the data. A number of now-global ideas about the nation-state, about national identity as tied to ethnicity and about nationalism itself originally came from Europe.

For centuries, Europe's borders shifted widely and frequently, only relatively recently settling into what we see today, in which most large ethnic groups have a country of their own. That developed, painfully, over a very long time. And while there are still some exceptions – Belgium has ethnic Walloons and Dutch, for example – in most of Europe, ethnicity and nationality are pretty close to the same thing...

...In general, it does not matter for our purposes whether ethnic differences reflect physical attributes of groups (skin color, facial features) or long-lasting social conventions (language, marriage within the group, cultural norms) or simple social definition (self-identification, identification by outsiders).

When people persistently identify with a particular group, they form potential interest groups that can be manipulated by political leaders, who often choose to mobilize some coalition of ethnic groups (“us”) to the exclusion of others (“them”).

Politicians also sometimes can mobilize support by singling out some groups for persecution, where hatred of the minority group is complementary to some policy the politician wishes to pursue.

(bbm)


Followup story and map (I hope I'm doing this right!)



5 insights on the racial tolerance and ethnicity maps, from an ethnic conflict professor

Saideman offers this: "In societies that have very little diversity, there is no opportunity for [ethnic] violence. For societies where there is a great deal, there is no threat of dominance. But in places where there are a few groups that rival each other, then the threats they pose to each other or at least one to the others can be severe. Ethnic violence may not be about fractionalization/diversity but about polarization."

That could well have something to do with it. Chinese in south east asia also have a strong vending tradition.

In regards to Jews, they were more likely to become vendors in Europe because land ownership was either directly forbidden or "frowned upon" for them. Being a land owner at that time usually meant managing sharecroppers or "holding" / owning serfs. Locals always viewed Jews as somewhat foreign and did not want them in authority over gentiles.

Other factors could include:

- Education. Jews and south east asian Chinese both culturally emphasize education. In a pure practical sense, education allowed Jews access to more wealth. Access to more wealth usually meant better police protection. It also allowed Jews to live in better areas where better educated locals were less likely to be violently anti semitic.

But.... a cultural emphasis on education leads to a new stereotype. Now, they are all 'rich' and sense many are involved in vending, many are stereotypically "rich businessmen" cheating locals.

- "Foreigness". In past generation, nearly all countries in Europe were homogenous (all Germans, French, Russians, Poles etc.) Jews could live in a nation for centuries or a thousand years and still be seen by a certain number of locals as being vaguely foreign, from "somewhere else" and not truly part of a homogenous nation. Same with ethnic Chinese in south east Asia.

- Group identification Jews and ethnic Chinese still exist as identifiable ethnic / cultural groups. This allows them to preserve there culture for future generations. But, it also means they are seen as a group. When individuals are jerks, they are stereotyped as jewish jerks and not an individual jerk who happen to be say, catholic.

As a side note, I once knew a Jewish man. One day I saw him visibly upset after a brief business contact with another person who turned out be be Jewish as well. I asked him what was wrong and he eventually told me that the man was "living the stereotype" regarding extreme penny pinching in business and this still hurt Jews as a group. Had the man been any other ethnic group, he would of just been seen as an individual jerk. But when individual jews are jerks, it still tends to get applied to the entire group.

 

[Wagtales10]

Kinda weird they used kiddie gloves on him and neatly arrested him.

I mean people get shot and killed when they are 15 feet away from police during traffic stops, but a man shoots up a synagogue and neatly gets handcuffed and taken away? I honestly wonder whats the difference here? Why so itchy to shoot one person who didnt murder anyone and is unarmed and basically escort like pals the other who actvly killed so many people?

 

[Cryptic]

I don't know but my heart breaks for the young nurse that had to provide medical care for the shooter. I don't think I could have done it with someone yelling that they hated me and wanted to kill me.

Neither could I.

The fact that she provided the treatment is testimony to her character. As a side note, I believe she could have recused herself if another nurse was available. Recusals seem to be allowed if the doctor or nurse has a personal connection (either positive or negative) and other staff are available.

 

[DefenestrationDoll]

72 hours in America: Three hate-filled crimes. Three hate-filled suspects.
Consider the past week in America.

Wednesday, a white man with a history of violence shot and killed two African-Americans, seemingly at random, at a Kentucky Kroger store following a failed attempt to barge into a black church.
After mail bombs were being sent to people who'd been criticized by the President, a suspect was arrested Friday -- a man who had railed against Democrats and minorities with hate-filled messages online.
And Saturday morning, a man shouting anti-Semitic slurs opened fire at a Pittsburgh synagogue, killing 11 people attending Jewish services.
Those three incidents in 72 hours shared one thing: hate.
"It's a terrible, terrible thing what's going on with hate in our country and frankly all over the world," President Donald Trump told reporters Saturday before boarding Air Force One for a flight to a political rally in Indiana.
Three suspects. Three crimes. A hate-filled week in America - CNN

 

[Cryptic]

Will you please share sources for the information you've cited about "vendor culture"? I'm confused as to how this is on-topic re: the synagogue shooter. Just not seeing it. Thank you in advance for the help!

Yes, Jews are often stereotyped as being involved in business / trading / selling as a group. In modern times, they are no more and no less likely to own businesses than anyone else. But, the historic reputation still stands.

In earlier times, however, the stereotype was based on fact. In many countries Jews were either directly forbidden from owning land (source of income), serving in the military, or serving in governmental positions. Some nations had this policy as a matter of law. Others just discriminated to the extent that Jews were de facto forbidden from these positons.

Jewish people, however, needed to support themselves somehow, so they tended to become vendors, own businesses, be traders etc. Here are some sources:

Anti-Semitism - Anti-Semitism in medieval Europe
Economic antisemitism - Wikipedia

 

[DefenestrationDoll]

Here's a quickie roundup of recent headlines and story links....

PBS Newshour: What history reveals about surges in anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant sentiments

The Boston Globe: Warning the country about rising anti-Semitism - The Boston Globe

The Star: Growing anti-Semitism stuns American Jews, that ‘There is still so much evil’ | The Star

The News & Observer: Anti-Semitism must not be allowed to flourish

The Jerusalem Post: A history of antisemitism

Politico Magazine: Inside the Online Cesspool of Anti-Semitism That Housed Robert Bowers

The Guardian: Donald Trump's rhetoric has stoked antisemitism and hatred, experts warn

 

[DefenestrationDoll]

Yes, Jews are often stereotyped as being involved in business / trading / selling as a group. In modern times, they are no more and no less likely to own businesses than anyone else. But, the historic reputation still stands.

In earlier times, however, the stereotype was based on fact. In many countries Jews were either directly forbidden from owning land (source of income), serving in the military, or serving in governmental positions. Some nations had this policy as a matter of law. Others just discriminated to the extent that Jews were de facto forbidden from these positons.

Jewish people, however, needed to support themselves somehow, so they tended to become vendors, own businesses, be traders etc. Here are some sources:

Anti-Semitism - Anti-Semitism in medieval Europe
Economic antisemitism - Wikipedia

Respectfully, I don't see the evidence that your assertion was a "fact" of the past — that all Jews were involved in successful business. I see the persecution you talk about, but I see that it's also based on xenophobia, not on "truth." IMO

Quoting from your link: "As European commerce grew in the late Middle Ages, some Jews became prominent in trade, banking, and moneylending, and Jews’ economic and cultural successes tended to arouse the envy of the populace."

(bbm)

Edited to add:
Stereotypes of Jews are generalized representations of Jews, often caricatured and of a prejudiced and antisemitic nature.
The Jewish diaspora have been stereotyped for over 2,000 years as scapegoats for a multitude of societal problems.
Stereotypes of Jews - Wikipedia

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

Neither could I.

The fact that she provided the treatment is testimony to her character. As a side note, I believe she could have recused herself if another nurse was available. Recusals seem to be allowed if the doctor or nurse has a personal connection (either positive or negative) and other staff are available.

I believe this nurse was a male.

 

[Cryptic]

Respectfully, I don't see the evidence that your assertion was a "fact" of the past — that all Jews were involved in successful business. I see the persecution you talk about, but I see that it's also based on xenophobia, not on "truth." IMO

I never said "all". I said "tended"

And yes, as Jews were forbidden from land ownership, military service, governmental service, and other professions, they tended to become vendors or traders.

Will you please share sources for the information you've cited about "vendor culture"? I'm confused

What? I never said vendor culture. I said vendor tradition. I did say, however, that Jews have a "education culture".

As Jews were forbidden from earning income in other ways, they developed a business /vendor tradition. Likewise, Jewish culture really has emphasized education.

This is the second time you have misquoted me. Why are you doing it?

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

I never said "all". I said "tended"

And yes, as Jews were forbidden from land ownership, military service, governmental service, and other professions, they tended to become vendors or traders.

What? I never said vendor culture. I said vendor tradition. I did say, however, that Jews have a "education culture".

As Jews were forbidden from earning income in other ways, they developed a business /vendor tradition. Likewise, Jewish culture really has emphasized education.

This is the second time you have misquoted me. Why are you doing it?

I know you didn’t ask me, but the source you cited said “some,” not that they “tended to be.” You appear to have misquoted your source, perhaps?

I’m speculating that maybe that was the point. Your assertions seem a little simplistic and overbroad, in my opinion, to be honest.

Jews were/are discriminated against for many reasons, none of them right, moo. It’s sad so little has changed in the intervening years.