Category Archives: human rights

Norway Salafist: ‘Homosexual death penalty’ misunderstood – The Local

Fahad Qureshi, who founded the Salafist Islam Net organisation, says his previous statements that homosexuals should be punished by the death sentence had been misunderstood.

Source: Norway Salafist: ‘Homosexual death penalty’ misunderstood – The Local

Alleged killer of British MP was a longtime supporter of the neo-Nazi National Alliance | Southern Poverty Law Center

According to records obtained by the Southern Poverty Law Center Mair was a dedicated supporter of the National Alliance (NA), the once premier neo-Nazi organization in the United States, for decades. Mair purchased a manual from the NA in 1999 that included instructions on how to build a pistol. Mair, who resides in what is described as a semi-detached house on the Fieldhead Estate in Birstall, sent just over $620 to the NA, according to invoices for goods purchased from National Vanguard Books, the NA’s printing imprint. Mair purchased subscriptions for periodicals published by the imprint and he bought works that instruct readers on the “Chemistry of Powder & Explosives,” “Incendiaries,” and a work called “Improvised Munitions Handbook.” Under “Section III, No. 9” (page 125) of that handbook, there are detailed instructions for constructing a “Pipe Pistol For .38 Caliber Ammunition” from components that can be purchased from nearly any hardware store. The NA may be best-known for the work of its now-deceased founder, William Pierce, a former physics professor who also wrote racist novels. One, The Turner Diaries, tells the post-apocalyptic fictional story of a white man fighting in a race war that may have provided inspiration for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. The Daily Telegraph also reported that Mair was a subscriber to S. A. Patriot, a South African magazine published by White Rhino Club, a pro-apartheid group. The club describes that magazine’s editorial stance as opposed to “multi-cultural societies” and “expansionist Islam.” According to the Daily Telegraph, a January 2006 blog post attributed to the group described Mair as “one of the earliest subscribers and supporters of S. A. Patriot.”

Source: Alleged killer of British MP was a longtime supporter of the neo-Nazi National Alliance | Southern Poverty Law Center

Dozens of U.S. Diplomats, in Memo, Urge Strikes Against Syria’s Assad – The New York Times {New Neo-Con Spin to “force” US to start another failed Middle East War?}

{The Foreign Service is a corps of some 13,000 employees}

 

More than  have signed an internal memo sharply critical of the Obama administration’s policy in Syria, urging the United States to carry out military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad to stop its persistent violations of a cease-fire in the country’s five-year-old civil war. The memo, a draft of which was provided to The New York Times by a State Department official, says American policy has been “overwhelmed” by the unrelenting violence in Syria. It calls for “a judicious use of stand-off and air weapons, which would undergird and drive a more focused and hard-nosed U.S.-led diplomatic process.”

Source: Dozens of U.S. Diplomats, in Memo, Urge Strikes Against Syria’s Assad – The New York Times

Muslim and Queer: Mourning after Orlando | +972 Magazine

As a Queer person, the shooting on Sunday reminded me how ugly bigotry is. How this country has yet to undo decades, centuries of discrimination and violence toward LGBTQ communities. I am reminded that we have more work to do — for those who came before us in the fight for our rights and dignity, for those who have lost their lives for simply celebrating who they are. And, we still have more work to do for those who have yet to be acknowledged within our community, for queer communities of color, transgender communities, gender queer communities and those without financial resources who are often invisible, at best, in our struggle. We have won significant milestones but we have so much more work to do and we have to do that work together.As a Muslim woman the media frenzy surrounding the shooting on Sunday reminds me, again, of how ugly discrimination is. I know what it looks like when friends and family members are visited by FBI agents in the wake of tragedies for no reason other then our names sounding Muslim. To have middle names like Marwan and Mustafa and Hassan intentionally stripped in official documents, otherwise triggering strip searches at airports, in interrogation rooms and the like. To slowly feel like we have to push our Muslim identities back into the closet, a place familiar to me in more ways than one. To see the eyes wide of people around me as they try to figure out how to compute me, Muslim and Queer.

Source: Muslim and Queer: Mourning after Orlando | +972 Magazine

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

Video: Irate Idiot Yells At Woman For Breastfeeding Baby In Target: Gothamist

 

In New York, mothers have the right to breastfeed in public and private places; the NYCLU says, “This includes stores, day care centers, doctors’ offices, restaurants, parks, movie theaters and many other places. No one can tell you to leave any of these places because you are breastfeeding, and no one can tell you to breastfeed in a bathroom, a basement or a private room.”

Source: Video: Irate Idiot Yells At Woman For Breastfeeding Baby In Target: Gothamist

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

WitnessLA.com » Blog Archive » Bribery-Taking LA County Deputy Gets a Surprise Sentence, Causing Some to Ask What it Means for High Profile Sentences Still to Come

On Monday morning, after everyone else had finished speaking, and it was time for the Anderson to hand down a sentence, Anderson’s expression was grave. He spoke of“the seriousness of this offense,” the bribery itself, and “the fact that the offense involved repeated” behavior. And, then, although Michel wasn’t charged with anything more than the single count of bribery, Anderson brought up the physical abuse visited on inmates, that Michel had testified about twice in his courtroom, (Anderson presided over all four of the obstruction of justice trials.)The defendant was a law enforcement officer, said Anderson. “He broke his solemn vow to uphold the law…victimized those he was sworn to protect… abused the public trust….Not only did he bring shame on the sheriff’s department, but on law enforcement in general.”Then after a long pause Anderson got to the point. “The court finds that the defendant’s conduct does require a period of incarceration.”Physical abuse of inmates, Anderson said, was “rampant and unchecked” and “went all the way to the top of the department.”Department members “behaved no better than the inmates they were assigned to guard.”Thus, due to the “need for deterrence,” and for “a sentence that reflects the seriousness of the offenses….six months of incarceration is appropriate.”Anderson gave Michel a little over a month to get his affairs in order, telling him he must self-surrender by noon on July 26.

Source: WitnessLA.com » Blog Archive » Bribery-Taking LA County Deputy Gets a Surprise Sentence, Causing Some to Ask What it Means for High Profile Sentences Still to Come

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.

Source: Line In The Sand | Southern Poverty Law Center