A British man has been detained and charged with attempting to seize a police officer’s gun at a Las Vegas rally in order to commit an act of violence against Donald Trump, authorities said on Monday. Michael Steven Sandford was arrested at the Saturday rally after grabbing at the holster and handle of a gun at the hip of a Las Vegas police officer who was providing security at the event for the presumptive Republican nominee. A federal magistrate on Monday found that Sandford was “a danger to the community and a risk of non-appearance” and ordered that he be held without bail, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Justice, who also confirmed that Sandford is a British citizen.
Category Archives: Gun-violence
Facebook takedown: Social media censorship in Philippines? – IFEX – Two faced Facebook fails users…
News broke on June 1 that Facebook had deleted veteran journalist Ed Lingao’s May 24 post that criticized Duterte’s statement that he would allow the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Lingao said the post was deleted for allegedly violating Facebook’s “community standards.” A follow-up post documenting the comments he received from social media users was also deleted. Lingao posted an edited version of his original post but it was also taken down. Facebook restored it later, apologizing for the “mistake.” Lingao, however, was not the only affected Facebook user. Journalists Nonoy Espina and Inday Espina-Varona were barred from posting and commenting in their own Facebook accounts. Espina-Varona said “some other friends in the media, some artists and social activists” had also been suspended from using their account. The Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines’ (EJAP) official Facebook account, Ejap Pilipinas, was also taken down on June 4 for allegedly violating Facebook’s “authenticity policy.” On June 3, prior to the takedown, EJAP released a statement criticizing Duterte’s remarks about the killing of journalists. Following its removal, the statement circulated in other social media accounts and pages, including that of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).
Source: Facebook takedown: Social media censorship in Philippines? – IFEX
Rebel US diplomats won’t be heard on Syria, ex-ambassador says – France 24 – “51 Neo-Cons in US State Department attempting – along with Neo-Con elements in the press – to con public that US should go to war with Syria!”
It is a message telling Secretary of State John Kerry that the current policy is failing and that it cannot succeed, that it will continue to fail. It is a memo that says that more must be done to put pressure on the Assad government. It is suggesting that we need limited American strikes against Assad government targets so that Assad understands the ceasefire must be respected, and that there must be compromises and more acceptance of the moderate Syrian opposition in the negotiations.
Source: Rebel US diplomats won’t be heard on Syria, ex-ambassador says – France 24
Jo Cox attack: shots, screams and sadness outside a West Yorkshire library | UK news | The Guardian
“All of a sudden, I heard people screaming and shouting,” said Hicham Ben Abdallah, who runs the Azzurro restaurant. “I went outside and I saw this guy kicking something in between two cars. There was another man trying to restrain him and he was screaming and stabbed him.” .”AdvertisementCox was lying in the street between parked cars in a pool of blood as two women from a nearby cafe ran out clutching towels to the sound of sirens from the emergency services.“Police started to arrive,” said Watson. “And then more and more police came and more and more people were surrounding where it happened.”Mair was seen by many walking slowly away past the library. “No one approached him,” said Watson. “Everyone just let him go and ran towards people over there.”Two unarmed uniformed officers pursued Mair as he left the area, wrestling him to the ground.“There was loads of screaming and shouting and the police officers showed up,” said Howard. “He was shouting ‘Britain first’ when he was doing it and being arrested.”Over nearly an hour, paramedics and a doctor tended to the MP, who at one point was seen to be conscious and propping herself up on an elbow. But at 1.48pm she was pronounced dead.
Source: Jo Cox attack: shots, screams and sadness outside a West Yorkshire library | UK news | The Guardian
New York’s Own Anti-Gay Massacre, Now Barely Remembered – The New York Times
“He aimed his Uzi at a group of men standing in line outside the Ramrod bar and squeezed the trigger,” Edward M. Alwood wrote in “Straight News: Gays, Lesbians and the News Media.”“Blood spattered against the wall and door as bullets ripped into one man’s shoulder and another man’s arm,” Mr. Alwood wrote. “In barely the time it takes to light a cigarette, 40 rounds tore into the crowd.“As bullets sprayed the front window of the bar, panic swept the crowd inside. Customers dropped to the floor. Several crawled to a stairway at the back of the building in a desperate attempt to survive.”Vernon Koenig, 21, an organist at nearby St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, was killed instantly. Jorg Wenz, a 24-year-old Dutch immigrant working as a doorman at the Ramrod, died at St. Vincent’s Hospital after an hourslong struggle by doctors to save his life.Olaf Gravesen, 37, and John Litaker, 36, were wounded out on the sidewalk. John Gamrecki, 27, was hit inside the Ramrod. Thomas Ron, 54, was hit inside Sneakers. (Different accounts give varying name spellings and ages for the victims.)PhotoRonald K. Crumpley, the gunman, the morning after the shooting. “I’ll kill them all — the gays — they ruin everything,” he was reported to have said. Credit Jeffrey D. SmithMr. Crumpley made it plain to the police that he would have been satisfied with a higher toll.“I’ll kill them all — the gays — they ruin everything,” he was reported to have said.Though nowhere near as deadly as the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., or the arson fire at the UpStairs Lounge in New Orleans that killed 32 in 1973, the West Street rampage chills those who remember it.“It was especially stunning because it was hitting at the heart of what was the epicenter of gay life,” Mr. Alwood said this week.
Source: New York’s Own Anti-Gay Massacre, Now Barely Remembered – The New York Times
Line In The Sand | Southern Poverty Law Center
Sheriff Palmer, who is running for his fifth four-year term this November, is a dramatic example of a new kind of radical that is springing up around the country — the so-called “constitutional sheriff.” In fact, in 2012 Palmer became the very first to be named “Sheriff of the Year” by the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA), a far-right group that calls itself “the last line of defense standing between the overreaching government and your Constitutionally guaranteed rights.” The CSPOA has long claimed the support of more than 400 sheriffs.The group says it is part of “a growing movement of public officials who are drawing a line in the sand” by “interposing themselves between the sometimes overreaching Federal Government and your constitutionally guaranteed rights.” It claims that local county sheriffs can stop outside law enforcement officials from enforcing laws they deem unconstitutional. “The sheriff,’ it says, “is the highest elected official in the county and has the authority to stop this insanity.”Ammon BundyAmmon Bundy (AP Images/Rick Bowmer)At a time when anger at the federal government over issues like land use and environmental regulation in the rural West is running higher than it has in years, the CSPOA and a closely related group, the Oath Keepers, are working tirelessly to make inroads into the ranks of American law enforcement. Sheriffs around the country report that they regularly hear from the groups, by phone, fax and other means, as they attempt to enlarge support for their positions. The country has rarely, if ever, seen such a concerted and long-term effort to bring sheriffs and other law enforcement officials to an ideology that proposes to openly defy federal law.
Video: Off-Duty Cop Pulls Gun On Bike Messengers In Road Rage Standoff: Gothamist {Breaking WTF News! :(}
An off-duty cop pulled a gun on bike messengers in Greenwich Village yesterday afternoon. According to the messengers, the incident on West 10th Street near Greenwich Avenue began when the officer pulled his car into a bike lane. “My friend kind of screamed at him as he’s riding off,” Aaron Lawrence, who shot video of the confrontation and uploaded it to Facebook, told the Daily News. “He stops his car, and he’s getting out of the car. As soon as he gets out of the car, I see a gun in his hand.” Without identifying himself, the gun-wielding motorist commanded, “Get on the floor, get on the floor!” Lawrence said. Video of the encounter shows a man in shorts and a T-shirt pointing a silver revolver as the four bike messengers object. “Put that away. Put that away. You on camera! I have you on camera, bro!” Lawrence yells. “You almost fucking hit me!” “I didn’t hit you,” the driver says. Lowering his gun he waves the cyclists off, and momentarily turns away. “You pulled into a fucking bike lane!” Lawrence yells. With the gun pointing in his friends’ direction again, he yells, “I have no weapon! I have no weapon!” The cyclists demand to see the man’s badge—it’s unclear from the video if he states he is a police officer at this point, and he retreats into the restaurant Rosemary’s. A man, apparently Dejaune Jones, grows more heated, yelling, “Show me your fucking badge!” and follows the officer, taking off his backpack. Just before the video ends, the man who uploaded the video to Facebook, Aaron Lawrence, seems to try to convince Jones to let it go, saying, “Yo, De, we off this.”
Source: Video: Off-Duty Cop Pulls Gun On Bike Messengers In Road Rage Standoff: Gothamist
Video: Tearful Lady Gaga Calls Orlando Shooting ‘An Attack On Humanity Itself’: LAist
Lady Gaga told the crowd gathered: “I can’t help but feel that this level of hatred, like all prejudicial crimes, this is an attack on humanity itself. This is an attack on everyone. “Tonight I gather humbly with you as a human being in peace and sincerity, in commitment and solidarity, to take a real moment and mourn the tragic loss of these innocent, beautiful people. Let’s all today pledge an allegiance of love to them and to their families who are suffering so deeply.” “But tonight I will not allow my anger and outrage over this attack to overshadow our need to honor those who are grieving truly for their lost ones. Lost members of the LGBT community. I hope you know that myself and so many are your allies. Not only me, but everyone here. We represent the compassion and the loyalty of millions of people that believe in you. You are not alone. You are not alone. “Tomorrow I hope that we all race thoughtfully and loudly toward solutions. But tonight and right now, Orlando we are united with you. And we are here to remember.”
Source: Video: Tearful Lady Gaga Calls Orlando Shooting ‘An Attack On Humanity Itself’: LAist
Mother Of 11 Killed In Orlando Shooting
“Brenda saw [gunman Omar Mateen] point the gun. She said, ‘Get down,’ to Isaiah and she got in front of him. She was shot dead. That’s how much she loved her kids. If it weren’t for her, he’d [have] been shot,” Pressley told the NY Daily News. Henderson was separated from his mother during the ensuing terror and was later rescued by police. McCool’s eldest daughter, Khalisha Pressley, told NBC News that Henderson feels at fault for his mother’s death. “He had to watch his mother die. He saw everybody getting killed,” she said. “He feels it was his fault.”
Source: Mother Of 11 Killed In Orlando Shooting Once Lived In California: LAist
A Brief History of Attacks at Gay and Lesbian Bars – The New York Times
{Wade through the spin and make-believe – the murderer who wanted to kill gay people and die in a blaze of delusional glory could have committed the same murders in a straight bar on the same night. He chose a gay bar.}
The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is no stranger to violence.
From the 1969 police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York City that set off riots and helped touch off the modern gay-rights movement to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard to near-epidemic levels of violence against transgender women, the community has been marked by flashes of trauma. After the massacre at a gay club in Orlando, Fla., that left 49 dead and 53 others injured, Richard Kim, the executive editor of The Nation, wrote on Sunday that gay bars and clubs have often been sanctuaries. And sometimes those sanctuaries have come under siege. Here are a few significant examples.
- New Orleans, 1973 Thirty-two people died when a fire swept through the UpStairs Lounge, a gay bar in the French Quarter, on June 24, 1973. After the blaze, some churches refused to bury the victims. The arsonist was never caught.
Source: A Brief History of Attacks at Gay and Lesbian Bars – The New York Times









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