Category Archives: Gun-violence

Sorry Donald Trump, but ‘France IS still France’ – The Local

During a news conference in Florida on Wednesday, the Republican presidential nominee brought up the recent attack on a church in Normandy, and said a friend who recently visited the country told him: “I wouldn’t go to France. France is no longer France.””They won’t like me for saying that,” Trump continued, “but you see what happened in Nice. You see what happened yesterday with the priest, who is supposed to be a spectacular man. France is no longer France.”Sorry to say, Mr Trump, but it is.And it’s largely because the majority French people defiantly won’t allow themselves to fall victim to the kind of reaction Trump would call for in the aftermath of a series of devastating terror attacks.No, France hasn’t closed its borders to Muslims.There have been some unsavoury incidents which saw some veil-wearing Muslim women verbally abused but the country’s five million Muslims are still free to wander the same streets as everyone else.There has been no walls put up around the banlieues – the poor suburbs home to mainly poor North African immigrant communities.There may be anger but communities have not turned on each other.

Source: Sorry Donald Trump, but ‘France IS still France’ – The Local

After rampages, Merkel says again: Wir schaffen das – The Local

“The period after Fukushima also wasn’t easy. But now it’s about a more fundamental question: Will the terrorists succeed in in destroying our values or are we strong enough to find the right answer? That is a big challenge for the whole society.”The security forces are doing everything they can to discover the full facts about the attacks, she stressed.The Chancellor also spoke of the concrete measures her government plans to take in response to the attacks, including a desire to create a central agency for information security which would have the ability to decode encrypted communications.“We will have to redouble efforts to deport people,” she said.She also pledged that weapons laws across Europe would be sharpened, further research into radicalization would be conducted, and stronger controls on what people do on the internet would be implemented.“We are talking about a huge litmus test, not just for Germany but for the whole of Europe.”

Source: After rampages, Merkel says again: Wir schaffen das – The Local

Trump the Traitor by Bernard-Henri Lévy – Project Syndicate

The implications of Trump’s election would be truly terrifying. The problem would not only be his vulgarity, sexism, racism, and defiant ignorance. It would be his possible infidelity to America itself. The party of Eisenhower and Reagan has been commandeered by a corrupt demagogue who betrays not only his country’s ideals, but also its fundamental national interest.

Source: Trump the Traitor by Bernard-Henri Lévy – Project Syndicate

Israeli Forces demolish home with Palestinian man inside it – PNN

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Wednesday dawn have demolished a home in Surif town north of Hebron with a Palestinian man in it amid intense clashes that lasted for hours.The Israeli army said that the man who was killed is a Palestinian resistance fighter named Mohammed Al-Faqih, whose body was pulled out of the ruins of his home.Eyewitnesses said that Israeli Forces were  calling on Al-Faqih to surrender before they fired 11 anti-tank missiles on the house and demolitshing it.Israeli authorities claim that Mohammed is responsible for the shooting near Otniel illegal settlement which left one rabbi dead and three others injured earlier this month.

Source: Israeli Forces demolish home with Palestinian man inside it – PNN

BMJ study: US police hospitalized 54,000 people in 2012 | Americas | DW.COM | 26.07.2016

One of the more challenging aspects of the research, Miller said, is how little official documentation of police violence can be found in law enforcement databases and how often police involvement in injuries is left out of medical records.”The surprise that had dropped on all of us around the time of starting this was that the data sets that I’ve worked with since I came into the field of injury, from the vital statistics on the number of people killed in the United States and the intent of those deaths, that the coroners and medical examiners were failing to code police involvement in almost half of the police-involved deaths,” Miller said. “And there are two separate reporting systems that the police are supposed to report police-involved deaths to – and both of those had even worse underreporting.””When you correct those firearm accounts, what you find is that one in every 13 people who died because someone else fired a firearm the police pulled the trigger,” he added. “A police officer pulled the trigger. And that’s scary.”

Source: BMJ study: US police hospitalized 54,000 people in 2012 | Americas | DW.COM | 26.07.2016

License to Kill: Forgery, evidence tampering and two dead teens | +972 Magazine

Usaid and Muhammed Qadus are shot to death in their own village by a major in the Israeli army who claims he only fired rubber bullets. But the bullets were real, and he admitted to lying and committing forgery to cover up his crime. Instead of being charged with a crime, he is promoted. By John Brown and Noam Rotem (Translated from Hebrew by Ofer Neiman) In the “License to Kill” series thus far, we have surveyed eight Military Police investigation files regarding the killing of Palestinians by IDF fire. Despite the fact that none of those killed posed a danger…

Source: License to Kill: Forgery, evidence tampering and two dead teens | +972 Magazine

Trump captures GOP nomination as convention speakers focus their fire on Clinton – The Washington Post – “Focus fire? A shooter’s term – wtf. And the e-mail version headline was: “In Trump’s moment of triumph, Clinton is in the crosshairs” Who is suggesting that Hillary Clinton should be assassinated or that Trump wants her shot?” 

The Republican National Convention’s first two nights have been striking for the unusual amount of time spent demonizing Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee.

Source: Trump captures GOP nomination as convention speakers focus their fire on Clinton – The Washington Post

Kashmir on Fire | Inter Press Service

Kashmir is bleeding once again. Many innocent civilians have been brutally killed and many more injured by the Indian security forces. Surprisingly, there is a deafening silence in the local media. No views, no comments whatsoever have appeared. Strangely, the media, which is otherwise very active and springs into action on the slightest violation of human rights, kept mum as if Kashmiris are not human, their blood carries no importance and is cheaper than water. Many nowadays are voicing serious concerns about the rights of drug addicts killed by the police but not a single word for Kashmiris.Views and opinions apart, there was a complete blackout in the local print media about the recent incidents of human rights violations in the Indian-occupied Kashmir by the Indian military and paramilitary forces against those protesting the killing of Kashmiri leader Burhan Wani, who was extremely popular among the masses. As a result, dozens of innocent Kashmiris were killed, over 2,100 have been injured, 400 of whom critically. People have been denied access to basic emergency services and right to health. There have been incidents of violence, harassment and shelling of teargas in hospitals to prevent access to hospitals and restrict the movement of ambulances. The brutality can be gauged from the fact that Indian Security Forces used pellet guns above waist-height, resulting in many injured, including those who lost their eyesight.The use of excessive force against innocent civilians, protesting over extrajudicial killings, is deplorable and a blatant violation of the right to life, right to freedom of expression and opinion, right to peaceful protest and assembly, and other fundamental human rights. In fact, Indian forces have since long employed various draconian laws like the Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act, and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act and Public Safety Act in killing the Kashmiri people, and for the arbitrary arrest of any individual for an indefinite period.

Source: Kashmir on Fire | Inter Press Service

Here are the faces of L.A. County’s homicide victims – The Homicide Report – Los Angeles Times

Here are the faces of L.A. County’s homicide victimsEach image was captured in a moment — at the DMV for a new license, at graduation, at a wedding, on a sports field, holding a baby. Each life ended violently.Since it started eight years ago, The Homicide Report has had the goal of a story for every victim. Now we are expanding that goal to include a photograph for every victim. So far we’ve gathered pictures of 1,259 victims, about 9% of those killed. Help us do better. If you have a photo of a homicide victim to share, email it to homicidereport@latimes.com.

Source: Here are the faces of L.A. County’s homicide victims – The Homicide Report – Los Angeles Times