Category Archives: Gun-violence

End the Gun Epidemic in America – The New York Times

It is a moral outrage and a national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency. These are weapons of war, barely modified and deliberately marketed as tools of macho vigilantism and even insurrection. America’s elected leaders offer prayers for gun victims and then, callously and without fear of consequence, reject the most basic restrictions on weapons of mass killing, as they did on Thursday. They distract us with arguments about the word terrorism. Let’s be clear: These spree killings are all, in their own ways, acts of terrorism.

Source: End the Gun Epidemic in America – The New York Times

Horror in San Bernardino: The U.S. infatuation with guns is bordering on a society-wide suicidal impulse – LA Times

Fourteen dead and 17 wounded in San Bernardino, according to the early reports. And that follows just five days after the attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colo., in which three people died and nine were wounded. A month earlier, nine people were slain at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore. In August, eight people were shot dead in a house outside Houston. In June, nine people were gunned down at a prayer meeting in a Charleston, S.C., church. In May, nine people were killed in a shootout among police and bikers in Waco, Texas. And on it goes.

Source: Horror in San Bernardino: The U.S. infatuation with guns is bordering on a society-wide suicidal impulse – LA Times

Dear America: Here’s Your Gun Solution — Human Parts — Medium

Here’s some common sense for you. I want gun ownership to be as boring and annoying as car ownership. I want you to go to some Department of Weapons and sit for hours. I want folks who own guns to prove their skill, their mental and physical health, and to be licensed and reviewed over the years just as happens with our driver’s licenses. You earn the right to own and drive a vehicle; earn the right to own and use a gun.Quibble with me over semantics if you want to; what is a “right” vs. what is a “privilege.” I’ll be busy with my friends and colleagues trying to prevent more unnecessary deaths.Gun ownership isn’t some inalienable right granted by God. Remember, the Constitution was written by men coming out of a long and bloody war near the end of the 18th century. It was written for their time.It also included the “right” to own a human being.Things change.Folks evolve.

Source: Dear America: Here’s Your Gun Solution — Human Parts — Medium

GunTV shopping network for firearms to launch in US | News | DW.COM | 04.12.2015 Insanity and profit greed – make way to mass shooting as easy as channel surfing!

Television viewers in the US will soon be able to buy firearms and ammunition from the comfort of their sofas. A new shopping network called GunTV is set to launch on January 20 and will be available to 34 million satellite television subscribers.The channel, the first of its kind, promises “extraordinary access to purchasing the most diverse representation of firearms in the world.”GunTV’s promotional Web page says, “This 24-hour live shopping network brings to life a vast array of firearms and related consumer goods in a groundbreaking format that inextricably fuses the social responsibility message with the traditional shopping channel format.”

Source: GunTV shopping network for firearms to launch in US | News | DW.COM | 04.12.2015

Why the Planned Parenthood shooting was always about Black lives

I craved an intersectional framework that acknowledged a linkage between these incidents. When it was reported that Dear had been taken into police custody alive – a harsh juxtaposition to the way McDonald and so many other Black people like him have been killed by police authorities almost on sight – a connection was made: in an anti-Black nation, white privilege and power dictates who lives and who dies. This is a necessary connection that cannot be understated. But it is an observation that reroutes us back to a discourse of Black Lives Matter that does not consider how an attack on Planned Parenthood is always also an attack on Black lives.The history of the problematic divides between race activism and gender activism, particularly the fight for access to reproductive health, is just as rich as the history of said movements themselves. It is no secret that despite the contributions of women and queer folks to strengthen their reach and impact, prominent racial justice movements – including the Abolitionist, Civil Rights, and Black Power movements – maintained male-dominated leadership structures and recognition. And even more disturbing, cases of sexual violence and assault against Black women have also been documented within those movements. From Clarence Thomas to Bill Cosby to R. Kelly, Black leadership and iconicity are continuously sheathed in male privilege and dominance, often at the expense of Black women. Even in the midst of the Chicago protests against the murder of McDonald, several Black women activists were physically and verbally assaulted by Black male elders and activists.Along a similar vein, eugenics supporter Margaret Sanger has left a nasty stain on the legacy of Planned Parenthood. It’s a stain that Planned Parenthood has let settle and concretize by failing to address how this history has residually lingered. Cecile Richards, a liberal white woman, is the current president and public face of Planned Parenthood. But Richards’ individuality aside, the political face of Planned Parenthood has also always been that of white, liberal femaleness. Creating a narrative that protects the reproductive rights of liberal, white women has often resulted in the erasure of the experiences, labor, and activism of the poor people of color that need the affordable services of Planned Parenthood the most. As a former patient, clinic escort, and employee of Planned Parenthood, I know firsthand just how alienating, discouraging, and violent this history can be for Black women attempting to do intersectional reproductive justice work.Intersectionality mattered then and it matters now. When we talk about Black lives mattering we are talking about the right and access of all of us (women, queer, and trans Black folks included) to seek the health treatment and care that determines whether or not we survive. When we talk about reproductive rights, we are talking about providing access and resources to those most economically and politically marginalized. So an act of domestic terrorism against an organization that provides reproductive health care services to economically disadvantaged communities is absolutely an attack on Black lives. If you think there can be a movement for Black lives while not supporting reproductive rights, you’ve missed the mark. If you think you can advocate for reproductive rights without a framework that prioritizes Black women, you have missed the mark.Before we knew that one of the victims was a Black veteran; and before we learned that Dear was given a choice to live – a choice that is too often denied to Black folks – the shooting at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood was about race.  There’s levels to this shit and we have to engage them all.

Source: Why the Planned Parenthood shooting was always about Black lives

MSNBC, CNN & CBS Major Fail | Invade Home of Dead San Bernardino Shooters | 3CHICSPOLITICO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r1jw1XiducMSNBC, CNN & CBS Major Fail | Invade Home of Dead San Bernardino ShootersPosted on December 4, 2015 by AmetiaWho the fuck let these SNAKES into that house? Who gave their stamp of approval for this shameful display of theatrics?! The landlord- GTFOH! Said the media forced their way in.Can we say CRIME SCENE? And Kerry Sanders showing pictures of an innocent child. What an utter disgrace. These folks in the media are Nothing but DRAMA WHORES.The owners gave them permission to come in and touch? This is some crazy shit right here.

Source: MSNBC, CNN & CBS Major Fail | Invade Home of Dead San Bernardino Shooters | 3CHICSPOLITICO

Israel arrests members of ′Jewish terror group′ over killing of Palestinian family | News | DW.COM | 03.12.2015

Israeli police did not say how many far-right extremists were arrested, their names, or any details of the case, due to a restriction by the court.The July 31 attack in Duma, a village outside Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, ignited smoldering Palestinian anger over a frozen peace process and illegal Jewish settlement building in land Palestinians claim for a future state.Tensions have also arisen over the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third most holy site in the Islamic world and most holy site for Jews, who call it the Temple Mount.The international community, Israeli and Palestinian leaders condemned the attack as Israeli authorities vowed to crack down on Jewish extremism.Daily attacksViolence has spiraled out of control, claiming the lives of 19 Israelis and one Jewish US citizen in near daily stabbing, shooting and car ramming incidents.Israel blames the Palestinian media and leadership of inciting the violence.At least 97 Palestinians, 58 claimed by Israel to be assailants, have been killed since October. The others have been killed mainly in protests and clashes with Israeli security forces.Earlier this week the Israeli rights group B’Tselem accused Israel of carrying out a “shoot-to-kill policy,” – charges denied by Israeli authorities.

Source: Israel arrests members of ′Jewish terror group′ over killing of Palestinian family | News | DW.COM | 03.12.2015

It’s funny now, after nearly three years of… – One Costume A Day

http://onecostumeaday.tumblr.com/post/134471232099/its-funny-now-after-nearly-three-years-of

It’s funny now, after nearly three years of working on this project, I find that whenever I’m upset, I become strongly, almost viscerally compelled to paint my face. After learning of the San Bernardino and Savannah shootings yesterday, this is what came out. Go be a force of beauty in the world today. And then call your senator, your representative, and support your local organizations working for stricter gun control laws.

Robert Reich: Fueling the Fire – Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics

Perpetrators of hate crimes often take their cues from what they hear in the media.

But this doesn’t absolve politicians who have been fueling such hatefulness.Perpetrators of hate crimes often take their cues from what they hear in the media. And the recent inclination of some politicians to use inflammatory rhetoric is contributing to a climate of hate and fear.Carly Fiorina continues to allege, for example, that Planned Parenthood is selling body parts of fetuses.Although the claim has been proven baseless, it’s been repeated not only by Fiorina but also by other candidates. Mike Huckabee calls it “sickening” that “we give these butchers money to harvest human organs.”Even in the wake of Friday’s Colorado shootings, Donald Trump referred to videos “with some of these people from Planned Parenthood talking about it like you’re selling parts to a car.”Some candidates are also fomenting animus toward Muslims.Huckabee says he’d “like for Barack Obama to resign if he’s not going to protect America and instead protect the image of Islam.”And Trump not only fails to condemn violence he provokes but finds excuses for it.Ben Carson says allowing Syrian refugees into the United States is analogous to exposing a neighborhood to a “rabid dog.” Last September Carson said he “would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation.”Since the attacks that killed 130 people in Paris earlier this month, Trump has advocated registering all Muslims in the United States and putting American mosques under surveillance.

Source: Robert Reich: Fueling the Fire – Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics

Somali journalist killed in Mogadishu by bomb planted in her car – Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the targeted killing of national radio and TV journalist Hindiya Mohamed in Mogadishu today.Mohamed, who worked for Radio Mogadishu and Somali National TV, was badly wounded by a bomb planted in her car and died from her injuries in Madina Hospital a few hours later.No organization has claimed the bombing but it had all the hallmarks of an operation by the Islamist rebel militia Al Shabaab. This group had already targeted journalists from the national media of the Somali State against which it is fighting.“We are appalled to learn of yet another journalist’s death in Somalia,” said Cléa Kahn-Sriber, the head of RSF’s Africa desk. “The government must do everything possible to arrest those responsible for such attacks and bring them to justice. The impunity reigning in Somalia just encourages murders of this kind. Our thoughts are with Hindiya Mohamed’s family,especially her children, which has already suffered so much.”Mohamed’s husband, Liban Ali Nur, a journalist who also worked for national television, was killed in a suicide bombing in September 2012 at The Village, a Mogadishu restaurant frequented by media personnel. The bombing was claimed by Al Shabaab at the time, which said it had intended to kill journalists.Mohamed is the 38th journalist to be killed in connection with their work in Somalia since 2010. Ranked 172nd out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, Somalia is Africa’s deadliest country for media personnel.

Source: Somali journalist killed in Mogadishu by bomb planted in her car – Reporters Without Borders