Category Archives: Gun-violence

Pentagon reports at least 352 civilians killed in anti-IS strikes since 2014 | Middle East | DW.COM | 30.04.2017 Wrong!

The military’s official tally is anyway far below those of activists and monitoring groups.

3,000 in Iraq and Syria have died in coalition strikes since 2014.

Source: Pentagon reports at least 352 civilians killed in anti-IS strikes since 2014 | Middle East | DW.COM | 30.04.2017

Deadly Game: Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un Risk Nuclear War – SPIEGEL ONLINE Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dummer – #TraitorTrump, #LoserTrump – will settle for a Trump Hotel in N. Korea?

Trump sees Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal as the greatest danger facing U.S. national security, but he isn’t just inexperienced when it comes to foreign policy — he often veers into downright clumsiness. A recent example came two weeks ago, when he announced that he had directed a U.S. aircraft carrier to head toward North Korea as a warning — even though the vessel was actually heading in the opposite direction to take part in a maneuver near Australia. Whether it was a bluff or whether Trump had misunderstood something remains unclear — even as the vessel, the USS Carl Vinson, is now steaming toward Korean waters — but it does show the degree to which things can go wrong under this commander-in-chief.Following the numerous failures and defeats he has suffered early on in his presidency, Trump badly needs successes to present to his supporters as he passes the symbolically important 100-day threshold. An aggressive stance toward North Korea at least gives him the appearance of resolve and Trump hopes to demonstrate that he is able to stand up to the Pyongyang dictator. When he launched 59 missiles at Syria earlier this month, he received praise even from commentators who don’t normally have a kind word to say about this president. Because of Trump’s apparent addiction to public acclaim, it isn’t difficult to imagine the conclusions he drew.

Source: Deadly Game: Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un Risk Nuclear War – SPIEGEL ONLINE

By nixing German FM meet, Netanyahu ups Israel’s tyranny a notch | +972 Magazine

While Netanyahu’s move appears to be extreme and quite dumb, it actually fits coherently with his government’s orchestrated campaign against Israeli human rights organizations over the last two years. In recent months Netanyahu has called on European governments to stop funding and cooperating with Breaking the Silence, and Israel’s education minister Naftali Bennett has already effectively banned Breaking the Silence from giving presentations in high schools.Netanyahu’s move is situated well within the context of an increasingly tyrannical government that has now upped its authoritarianism a notch. Israel has been censoring and restricting the freedoms of Palestinians since 1948, it has been applying similar tactics to Israeli leftists for years and is now taking that strategy to its biggest European ally. And Netanyahu knows he will not have to pay any consequences for it. Gabriel has already said cancellation of the meeting would be “regrettable” but would not hurt or affect Israel’s ties with Germany in any way.The ultimatum and refusal to meet with a German diplomat is reminiscent of the tactics used by the Israeli government against peace activists who began meeting with PLO representatives in the 1970s. In this sense, Israel is now treating Israeli organizations who document occupation as if they were Palestinians: Persona non grata.  Now, anyone who wants to merely meet with or listen to these persona non grata is also an enemy. And just like in 1975, when Israel decided to legislate a law banning Israelis from meeting with PLO members, don’t be surprised if the Israeli government’s next move is to outlaw B’Tselem and Breaking the Silence.

Source: By nixing German FM meet, Netanyahu ups Israel’s tyranny a notch | +972 Magazine

Israel punishes hunger strikers for demanding their rights | The Electronic Intifada

“When it comes to the hunger strike by terrorists in Israeli jails, I take the approach of Margaret Thatcher,” Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman wrote on Facebook, in reference to the former British prime minister who notoriously allowed Irish hunger strikers to die in prison in 1981.

Source: Israel punishes hunger strikers for demanding their rights | The Electronic Intifada

90-Year-Old Widow Whose Husband Was Shot In Front Of Her By South Bay Cops Is Suing: SFist

According to Harue Craig’s account, and a family friend who spoke to the Mercury-News shortly after the incident, the Craigs had no idea that these were sheriff’s deputies, and they were scared that intruders were attempting to invade their home. Mrs. Craig says they were in the middle of dinner and clearly were confused by what was happening, and she was in fact cowering behind her husband when the deputies came into the home and fatally shot him.That family friend, Greg Delaney, who spoke with Mrs. Craig as well as witnesses, said that his friend Gene was “freaking out” that someone was trying to break in, and that the deputies’ actions are unconscionable. “They opened the door, saw that he had a gun, and shot him. … They killed him in front of his wife,” he said. “These people were trigger happy.”

Source: 90-Year-Old Widow Whose Husband Was Shot In Front Of Her By South Bay Cops Is Suing: SFist

When shooting a teen in the back is a ‘professional error’ | +972 Magazine

An IDF brigade commander shot a Palestinian teen who threw a rock at his jeep, while the boy was running away, and then left him bleeding on the road. Initially, the colonel claimed his life was in danger. With each subsequent interrogation, the story changed. The military police determined the incident was a ‘professional error’ –  bad aim – and closed the case despite evidence that tells a very different story.

Source: When shooting a teen in the back is a ‘professional error’ | +972 Magazine

7 Arrested During NYC Protest Against Syrian Airstrikes: Gothamist

Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), said, “While we all condemn the atrocities in Syria, the United States was not attacked.”The protesters were intent on bringing a message of peace. From WABC 7:”All of these humanitarian wars that it has waged for hundreds of years have never brought about peace and democracy,” said Nina Macapimlac, a protester. “So bombing other countries to bring peace is a contradiction.””While Assad is a murderer and doesn’t represent the will of the Syrian people, the United States definitely does not represent the will of the Syrian people,” said Dan, a protester. “And Syria is a question to be answered by the Syrians, not by American imperialists who have devastated the region for decades.”

Source: 7 Arrested During NYC Protest Against Syrian Airstrikes: Gothamist

Germany′s right-wing AfD is ′guarantor of Jewish life,′ Petry says | News | DW.COM | 06.04.2017

‘Racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic’The ex-president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Charlotte Knobloch, reacted strongly, saying that the AfD stands for “openly and inconspicuously expressed racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic statements, falsification of history, relativization or even denial of the Holocaust, as well as open closeness to the neo-Nazi scene.”The party distances itself, “if at all, half-heartedly and without lasting consequences from these phenomena and people standing in their ranks and top positions,” Knobloch said.

Source: Germany′s right-wing AfD is ′guarantor of Jewish life,′ Petry says | News | DW.COM | 06.04.2017

“True this!” Trump’s change of heart on Syria isn’t reassuring, it’s profoundly disturbing | David Shariatmadari | Opinion | The Guardian – #LoserTrump-#TraitorTrump is just about the tweet, the sale and looking good for the minute of the next thing

All this may just be routine strategic ambiguity. But, as ever with the Trump administration, we are in uncharted territory. No one quite knows whether Haley et al are speaking from a Trump-approved hymn-sheet, or concerned with protecting their own reputations in an administration not exactly known for its message discipline. No one quite knows whether Haley’s statement, only last week, that “Our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out,” will stand or be overturned. Since the latter would represent a 180-degree turn, however, it’s worth considering in more detail.AdvertisementThose celebrating the possibility of a shift should ask how it may have come about. If there’s one thing we do know, it’s that Trump wants us to see that he cares. This is a president who is obsessed with how he is perceived, griping about unflattering photos and the size of the crowd at his inauguration.It’s not even clear that he has any ideological aims, other than to win, and to be liked. He has, after all, donated to both Republicans and Democrats. He supported the Iraq war, then didn’t, then claimed that he never had.

Source: Trump’s change of heart on Syria isn’t reassuring, it’s profoundly disturbing | David Shariatmadari | Opinion | The Guardian

Trump: ‘If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will’: Shanghaiist

“Well if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you.”Asked if that meant dealing with Pyongyang one on one, Trump said, “I don’t have to say any more. Totally.”Dennis Wilder, a former CIA China analyst, tried to shed some light on what exactly Trump meant with these cryptic statement. Wilder told Financial Times that the president is trying to warn China that the US is about to begin instituting “secondary sanctions” on North Korea, including sanctions on “Chinese companies and individuals who deal with North Korea.”Still, others aren’t so sure that Trump will back up his tough talk.

Source: Trump: ‘If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will’: Shanghaiist