#Gunman Robert Gregory Bowers

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The United States Senate on Thursday [June 13, 2019] night passed two resolutions against antisemitism, one unanimously condemning “all forms of antisemitism.” The Bipartisan Cruz-Kaine Resolution, which was put forward by Republican Senators [sic] Ted Cruz (Texas) and [Democratic Senator] Tim Kaine (Virginia), was described by the Texan senator as “what should hopefully be a simple, but crucially important matter for the Senate,” while addressing the Senate.

In his speech, he said that the aim was “to issue an unequivocal, direct, and clear condemnation of all forms of antisemitism. Unfortunately, we're living in an era where the need for a strong and clear condemnation of antisemitism has become acute.” "‘In the United States, Jews have suffered from systematic discrimination in the form of exclusion from home ownership in certain neighborhoods, prohibition from staying in certain hotels, restrictions upon membership in private clubs and other associations, limitations upon admission to certain educational institutions, and other barriers to equal justice under the law,'" Sen. Cruz said. "This is a shameful legacy and it makes it all the more incumbent that we as a Senate, speak in one voice and stand resolved that the United States condemns and commits to combating all forms of antisemitism," he added. Cruz went on to say that “we are in the midst of a wave of antisemitism seen both here in the United States and all over the world.” He explained that over the last few years, there have been repeated antisemitic comments made publicly, “including insinuations questioning the loyalty and the patriotism of American Jews,” as well as “physical violence against Jews, including shootings in Jewish places of worship such as the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and the Chabad in Poway.” In October of last year, 11 people were killed and 6 others injured when gunman Robert Gregory Bowers walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue and opened fire on worshipers. Exactly six months later, on April 27, gunman John T. Earnest walked into the foyer of the Chabad of Poway Synagogue and opened fire on congregants killing one person and injuring three others.

...Also addressing the Senate, Kaine highlighted that as he speaks “we are seeing an uptick in hate crimes against Jewish communities.”

“We have to acknowledge that antisemitism is real, it's dangerous, and it's growing,” he emphasized, adding that those in leadership positions “need to stand up against it, and I'm grateful that Senator Cruz reached out to work together on this bipartisan effort.”

“I'm proud the Senate came together to unanimously pass our resolution that shows we will do everything in our power to combat this rise in antisemitism," Kaine said

Meanwhile, a second Senate resolution, put forward by US Democratic Senators Kamala D. Harris and Dianne Feinstein calling for the recent antisemitic attack on worshipers at the Chabad of Poway Synagogue to be condemned as antisemitism, was also passed on Thursday.

The resolution was introduced to the Senate in May by Harris and Feinstein.

Speaking after it was passed, Harris said that she was glad her colleagues in the Senate had come together “to send a message that acts of hate will not be tolerated.”

“We as a nation must continue to honor those who were killed and injured in this horrific attack, speak out against white nationalism and white supremacy, and continue to work together to build a country that is inclusive of all,” she said.

Feinstein added that this resolution “makes clear that hate and antisemitism have no place in America. The combination of hate and easy access to firearms has cost too many lives, and it is well past time for action.”

The Jewish Californian senator stressed that “as we see a rise in hate crimes in this country, we must do more than just remember the victims of this tragedy.”

“We must do all we can to make sure it does not happen again,” she said.

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PITTSBURGH — The man charged in the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre was brought into court in a wheelchair Monday, as some members of the Jewish community and others objected to President Donald Trump’s planned visit, accusing him of contributing to a toxic political climate in the U.S. that might have led to the bloodshed.

With the first funerals set for Tuesday, the White House announced Trump and first lady Melania Trump will visit on the same day to “express the support of the American people and to grieve with the Pittsburgh community” over the 11 congregants killed Saturday in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.

Some Pittsburghers urged Trump to stay away.

“His language has encouraged hatred and fear of immigrants, which is part of the reason why these people were killed,” said Marianne Novy, 73, a retired college English professor who lives in the city’s Squirrel Hill section, the historic Jewish neighborhood where the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue took place.

Meanwhile, the alleged gunman, 46-year-old truck driver Robert Gregory Bowers, was released from the hospital where he was treated for wounds suffered in a gun battle with police. Hours later he was wheeled into a downtown federal courtroom in handcuffs to face charges.

Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers vowed to rebuild following a weekend massacre at his Pittsburgh synagogue where Robert Gregory Bowers is accused of killing 11 people in what is believed to be the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. (Oct. 29)

A judge ordered him held without bail for a preliminary hearing on Thursday, when prosecutors will outline their case. He did not enter a plea.

During the brief proceeding, Bowers talked with two court-appointed lawyers and said little more than “Yes” in a soft voice a few times in response to routine questions from the judge. Courtroom deputies freed one of his cuffed hands so he could sign paperwork.

He was expressionless.

“It was not the face of villainy that I thought we’d see,” said Jon Pushinsky, a congregant who was in court for the hearing.

Federal prosecutors are pressing for the death penalty against Bowers, who authorities say expressed hatred of Jews during the attack and later told police, “I just want to kill Jews” and “All these Jews need to die.”

After the hearing, U.S. Attorney Scott Brady called the shootings “horrific acts of violence” and added: “Rest assured we have a team of prosecutors working hard to ensure that justice is done.”

The weekend massacre — which took place 10 days before the midterm elections — heightened tensions around the country, coming just a day after the arrest of the Florida man accused of sending a wave of pipe bombs to Trump critics.

The mail bomb attacks and the bloodshed in Pittsburgh set off debate over whether the corrosive political atmosphere in Washington and beyond contributed to the violence and whether Trump himself bears any blame because of his combative language.

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, a Democrat, said the White House should contact the victims’ families and ask them if they want the president to come. He also warned Trump to stay away when the first funerals are held.

“If the president is looking to come to Pittsburgh, I would ask that he not do so while we are burying the dead,” Peduto said. “Our attention and our focus is going to be on them, and we don’t have public safety that we can take away from what is needed in order to do both.”

The White House did not immediately respond to the mayor’s request. Asked if Trump has done enough to condemn white nationalism, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said he has “denounced racism, hatred and bigotry in all forms on a number of occasions.”

Some looked forward to Trump’s visit.

David Dvir, 52, an Israeli-born Squirrel Hill locksmith whose shop is festooned with Israeli and American flags, said “we need to welcome” Trump, for whom he voted, because “it’s our president.”

Kristin Wessell, a homemaker who lives near Squirrel Hill, said Trump should steer clear of Pittsburgh to let the victims’ families “grieve how they see fit.”

“I feel a lot of his comments are very much dog whistles to nationalists and white supremacists and racists. So, yeah, I do place part of the blame on this on him,” said Wessell, a Democrat, who was passing out bouquets to passersby across the street from a kosher grocery store. “Anti-Semitism has always existed. But I feel like he is giving cover to people to be more blatant about it. And to be more violent about it, rather than trying to calm and heal.”

The youngest of the 11 dead was 54, the oldest 97. The toll included a husband and wife, professors, dentists and physicians.

Bowers was charged with offenses that included causing death while obstructing a person’s right to the free exercise of religion — a hate crime — and using a gun to commit murder. He was also charged under state law with criminal homicide, aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation.

The president of the hospital where a wounded Bowers was taken said that he was ranting against Jews even as Jewish staff members were treating him.

“He’s taken into my hospital and he’s shouting, ‘I want to kill all the Jews!’ and the first three people who are taking care of him are Jewish,” Jeffrey Cohen of Allegheny General Hospital told WTAE-TV. “Ain’t that a kick in the pants?”

Cohen, who is also Jewish and a member of Tree of Life synagogue, said he stopped by Bowers’ room.

“I just asked how he was doing, was he in pain, and he said no, he was fine,” he told WTAE. “He asked who I was, and I said, ‘I’m Dr. Cohen, the president of the hospital,’ and I turned around and left.”

He said the FBI agent outside Bowers’ room told him he didn’t think he could have done that. “And I said, ‘If you were in my shoes I’m sure you could have,’” Cohen said.

Just minutes before the synagogue attack, Bowers apparently took to social media to rage against HIAS, a Jewish organization that resettles refugees under contract with the U.S. government.

“HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people,” he is believed to have written on Gab.com, a social media site favored by right-wing extremists. “I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”

HIAS had recently weighed in on the migrant caravan heading toward the U.S. from Central America, urging the Trump administration to “provide all asylum seekers the opportunity to present their claims as required by law.” The president has vilified the caravan and pledged to stop the migrants.

One of the targets of the mail bomb attacks last week was liberal Jewish philanthropist George Soros, who has been accused by far-right conspiracy theorists of paying migrants to join the caravan.

Bowers was a long-haul trucker who worked for himself, authorities said. Little else was known about the suspect, who had no apparent criminal record.

___

This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of “Pushinsky” and “Jeffrey” and to show Jeffre Cohen’s comments were made to “Good Morning America,” not WTAE-TV.

By ALLEN G. BREED, MARK SCOLFORO and MARYCLAIRE DALE – 0ct 29. 2018 – 6:32 PM EDT ___

Associated Press reporter Claudia Lauer contributed to this report from Philadelphia.

___

For AP’s complete coverage of the Pittsburgh synagogue shootings:

https://apnews.com/Pittsburghsynagoguemassacre

Trump Visit Stirs Debate; Massacre Defendant In Court PITTSBURGH — The man charged in the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre was brought into court in a wheelchair Monday, as some members of the Jewish community and others objected to President Donald Trump’s planned visit, accusing him of contributing to a toxic political climate in the U.S.

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Harrowing Accounts Emerge From Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting The suspected gunman, Robert Gregory Bowers, is due in court Monday.

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“KROGER SHOOTING SUSPECT INDICTED AMID CALLS TO STRENGTHEN KENTUCKY’S HATE CRIME LAWS”

--  CBS News/Associated Press, October 31, 2018, 6:13 PM

-- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kroger-shooting-suspect-indicted-amid-calls-to-strengthen-kentuckys-hate-crime-laws/

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The man accused in the shooting deaths of two grocery store patrons in Kentucky has been indicted on two counts of murder. Prosecutors say Gregory Bush was indicted Wednesday by a Jefferson County grand jury in the shootings Oct. 24 at a Kroger store in suburban Louisville.  Bush also was indicted on one count of criminal attempted murder and two counts of first-degree wanton endangerment.

A federal prosecutor has said the rampage in Jeffersontown is being investigated as a possible federal hate crime.  Bush is white and the two victims were black.

Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney Thomas Wine said Wednesday that he believes Bush's actions were racially motivated, but Kentucky statute does not allow him to charge Bush separately with a hate crime at the local level -- that designation would be up to a judge at the sentencing phase. Wine, along with religious leaders, the Louisville mayor and some legislators, have called for the state's hate crime law, which doesn't cover homicides, to be strengthened in the wake of the Kroger killings and the shooting rampage that left 11 dead at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday.

"No matter what the legalities of it are, hate caused this damage in our community and we will not stand for it," the Rev. David Snardon, president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Coalition, said at a press conference Monday.

Bush was seen on surveillance video trying to enter a historically black church minutes before the shootings at the grocery store. He was not able to enter the church, police said.  About 70 people had been inside the First Baptist Church of Jeffersontown earlier that day for Bible Study, but it had ended by the time Bush arrived and the doors were locked.

The information came as news media outlets reported that Bush made a racial comment after the deadly shooting.  Ed Harrell was quoted by the Courier Journal of Louisville as saying he was waiting for his wife in the parking lot when he heard gunshots and grabbed his revolver.  As he crouched down, he said he saw the gunman walk "nonchalantly" by with a gun by his side.  Harrell said he called out to ask what was going on, and the gunman replied: "Don't shoot me. I won't shoot you. Whites don't shoot whites."

Jeffersontown Police Chief Sam Rogers last week said he couldn't speculate on motive, but speaking Sunday at the First Baptist Church he denounced the shooting as racially motivated.  He called it the "elephant in the room that some don't want to acknowledge in this case" and said it needed to be addressed as a part of a larger dialogue, reports the Courier Journal.

"I won't stand here and pretend that none of us know what could have happened if that evil man had gotten in the doors of this church," Rogers reportedly said.

Some activists criticized some local, state and federal officials for being slow to call the Kroger shooting a hate crime, reports the Courier Journal, and said the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting was immediately denounced as a hate crime by top officials including U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  The shooting suspect in that case, Robert Bowers, was on Wednesday charged in a 44-count federal hate crime indictment.

In the Kroger shooting, police said there didn't appear to be any connection between Bush and the victims, or any link between Bush and the Kroger store. Rogers said Bush apparently does have a history of mental illness.

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A Bloody Week In Doom March 17, 2019

Prayers for the victims in Christchurch attacks.

“The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters.”

 ― Antonio Gramsci  

The latest monster came to call in Christchurch, New Zealand in a story that dwarfed all others this week. I had some other ideas for what might fill this space this week, then the news from Christchurch, New Zealand, followed by the one-two punch of a Twitler emission rendered all moot. Brenton Tarrant strapped on a helmet camera, loaded a car with weapons, drove to a mosque in Christchurch and began shooting at anyone who came across his line of vision. His helmet-cam helped broadcast the act of mass terror live for the world to watch on social media. As of Sunday, the death toll had reached 50.

Tarrant thus joined the roll call of monsters alongside Stephen Paddock (Las Vegas), Anders Breivik (Norway), Robert Gregory Bowers (Tree of Life Synagogue, Pittsburgh), Omar Mateen (Pulse, Orlando), Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook), Nikolas Cruz (Marjorie Stoneman Douglas high school), Devin Patrick Kelley (Sutherland Springs church in Texas), James Holmes (Aurora), Dylann Roof (Charleston, SC), and, of course, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who kicked off the 21st century with the Columbine massacre.

In ancient Rome, an interregnum was a period between stable governments when anything might happen, and the "the blood-dimmed tide" might be loosed:  civil unrest, competition between warlords, power vacuums, wars of succession. In 1929, in such an interregnum found Italian Marxist philosopher and politician Antonio Gramsci languishing in a fascist prison, writing about the forces tearing Europe  apart. He anticipated civil unrest, war between nations and changing political fault lines.

Interestingly, it was Gramsci who gave us the term "hegemony" now in use. Hegemony is a three dollar word representing a simple idea: the coercion of smaller fish by bigger fish. When the powerful use their influence to convince the less powerful their best interest lies in doing what is actually in the best interest of the powerful, that's hegemony. When we consider the above list of overwhelmingly white terrorists with a nationalist/supremacist bent, we can see terror is one way the powerful preserve their hegemony when they feel their power begin to wane when frightened by demographic changes posed by immigration.

Trump has the sensibility of a spoiled child tearing the wings off of flies. When asked whether white nationalism has anything to do with the tragedy in Christchurch, he replied in the negative. Echoes of “good people on both sides,” a la Charlottesville. The prime minister of New Zealand indicated late Friday coming changes to New Zealand's gun laws. A striking contrast that makes one wonder how many will have to die, again and again and again, until our own politicians, beholden to the NRA and their sea of laundered rubles, are moved to similarly act.

You'll recall that when it was his time to serve in Vietnam, the self proclaimed White House tough guy came up missing like Dick Cheney and his five deferments. Chickenhawks like Cheney always find "other priorities" to service, but are eager to send the disposable sons and daughters of the poor into harm's way, because what else are they for but cannon-fodder? Real military men who have seen battle are loath to commit their fellow citizens to needless battle; but chickenhawks, untroubled by loss or nightmares, send their non-relatives readily into the Valley of Death. 

The mob-boss stylings of Citrus Caligula make a tough sound, especially when talking to the far right media like Breitbart.

Trump said: "I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad. But the left plays it cuter and tougher. Like with all the nonsense that they do in Congress … with all this investigations]—that’s all they want to do is –you know, they do things that are nasty. Republicans never played this.”

When you can't bully a majority of the people and the House of Representatives into accepting your will as fiat, that is apparently vicious tactics. Especially on the part of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who Trump refers to as "Nancy."

"So here’s the thing—it’s so terrible what’s happening,” Trump said before discussing his supporters. “You know, the left plays a tougher game, it’s very funny. I actually think that the people on the right are tougher, but they don’t play it tougher. Okay?"

Uh, not OK. This is Trump engaging in stochastic terrorism, or

the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted.

Trump is actively encouraging people taking the law into their own hands, in the same way Putin has his Night Riders (see below), as Mussolini had his black shirts, and Hitler his brown shirts. The purpose is unmistakable: to be bullyboys who operate outside of the law and through violent intimidation. For the last two years we've had a president who fundamentally does not believe in democracy, and whose recent utterances show no loyalty to either the Constitution or the traditions of American governance. This IS a time of monsters. And now this: 

Trump’s Breitbart Biker Threat Came From the Putin Playbook—Then Tweet Deleted After Mosque Massacre

Trump told Breitbart there could be biker violence against leftists. It sounded even worse after Brenton Tarrant's mosque massacre manifesto called Trump "a symbol of renewed white identity." It does not get much clearer than that.

The Daily Beast Explains the Putinesque origins of Twitler's latest veiled threat: 

"They call themselves The Night Wolves, “a new kind of motorcycle club,” or, sometimes, “Putin’s Angels.” And just as much as the Orthodox Church or the military, the Wolves have become a symbol of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. But the idea that they might be used as his extra-legal enforcers in times of trouble is usually implicit—embedded in their flag-waving Putinized patriotism—never really spelled out....Trump is not so subtle, however, especially when he takes his cues from the Kremlin. Leave it to him to put the potential for violent defense of his interests by a motorcycle gang front and center in the public view."

On Friday morning, as news broke of the massacre, the murderer's manifesto called Trump “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose,” the Breitbart tough-guy tweet came down. Note a wider pattern of American racists and white supremacists looking to Russia for both moral and tactical support.

The New Zealand Massacre Was Made to Go Viral

Outside a mosque in Christchurch on Friday. Mark Baker/Associated Press

Charlie Warzel noted that the attack marks a grim new age of social media-fueled terrorism.

A 17-minute video of a portion of the attack, which leapt across the internet faster than social media censors could remove it, is one of the most disturbing, high-definition records of a mass casualty attack of the digital age — a grotesque first-person-shooter-like documentation of man’s capacity for inhumanity.

Videos of attacks are designed to amplify the terror, of course. But what makes this atrocity “an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence,” as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described it, is both the methodical nature in which the massacre was conducted and how it was apparently engineered for maximum virality.

Even though Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube scrambled to take down the recording, they were no match for the speed of their users or for their algorithms which make connections for people consuming such content. In minutes, the video was downloaded and mirrored onto additional platforms, and ricocheted around the globe.

Warzel notes,

Internet users dredged up the alleged shooter’s digital history, preserving and sharing images of weapons and body armor. The gunman’s apparent digital footprint — from the rantings of a White Nationalist manifesto to his 8chan message board postings before the murders — was unearthed and, for a time, distributed into far-flung corners of the web.

The killer wanted the world’s attention, and by committing an act of mass terror, he was able to get it.

It was not the first act of violence to be broadcast in real-time. Yet this one was different because ofd the perpetrator's apparent familiarity with the darkest corners of the internet. The recording contains numerous references to online and meme culture, including name-checking a prominent YouTube personality. Tarrant knew his audience.

Tarrent's digital trail depicts a white supremacist motivation for the attack. His 87-page manifesto, for instance, is filled with layers of  commentary apparently written to specifically enrage the communities that appear to have helped radicalize the gunman in the first place. It seems he understands both the platform dynamics that allow misinformation and divisive content to spread but also the way to sow discord.

I recently came across an article by Ezra Klein who identifies an ecosphere of YouTube prophets and avatars who populate the "intellectual dark web:" The rise of YouTube’s reactionary right: How demographic change and YouTube’s algorithms are building a new right. Many right wing publishers benefit from YouTube’s algorithms to build the new right. 

YouTube’s recommendation engine follows the digital footsteps we all make. And it sees connections, not context. It knows when audiences repeatedly come together, but does not grasp why. And it predicts what they’re likely to view next. Thus are the "mainstreams" of conservative thought brought into proximity to the far right fringe.

As Klein has it,

"Many of these YouTubers are less defined by any single ideology than they are by a “reactionary” position: a general opposition to feminism, social justice, or left-wing politics."

On YouTube, tomorrow’s politics are emerging today. Tarrant noted this and made the online community work in the gunman’s favor. Our brown shirts are now digital: not only has their conspiratorial hate spread from the internet to real life, it’s also weaponized to go viral. 

Proof That White Supremacy Is an International Terrorist Threat

It stretches from Christchurch to Pittsburgh and extends out in every direction.

The always-dependable Charlie Pierce noted that Anders Breivik, the murderous white-supremacist who killed 72 people in Norway in 2011, has become one of the most significant figures in international terrorism by providing a template for the modern white-supremacist mass murderer.

From Ted Kaczynski, he borrowed the idea of publishing a manifesto. From the Columbine killers, he borrowed the idea of using both bombs and guns. And from the international white-supremacist networks, he borrowed the murderous rage and bloodthirsty rhetoric necessary to carry out acts of mass murder, and to justify his crimes through an elaborate bullshit ideological exoskeleton that he wore like body armor. He put all of this together and created the modern mode of mass political murder, one that was carried out again Thursday in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Pierce notes that Tarrant's latest manifesto

reads like a vicious form of grandiose trolling. But there seems to be little doubt that the crimes themselves speak loudly of the basic truth that this was a right-wing act of war against a target population. And, because of that, we should take the following passage very seriously. The alleged shooter called the President* of the United States "a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose." 

When asked if the rise of white natonalism or white supremacy posed a rising threat around the world, Trump replied, 

“I don’t, really. I think it’s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems, I guess.  If you look at what happened in New Zealand, perhaps that’s the case. I don’t know enough about it yet. But it’s certainly a terrible thing.”

On Sunday, Mick Mulvaney and other staffers made the rounds and insisted that Trump was "Not a White Supremacist." Which speaks volumes.

White supremacy now poses an international terrorist threat stretching from Norway to Pittsburgh, from Christchurch to Las Vegas, sharing objectives with the Night Riders or the Bikers for Trump, but better armed and more purposeful. Brownshirts used to intimidate; the new generation attacks to sow terror in targeted groups. This poses an existential threat to the very notion of liberal democracy. Today the target is Muslims; Tomorrow's target will be...?

For our purposes this week, Charlie Pierce gets the last word:

From [white supremacist terrorism] runs on a parallel track with the rise of a xenophobic rightwing nationalist politics that is conspicuously successful in a number of putatively democratic nations. Liberal democracy is under attack and, like any revolution, this one has both a respectable political front and a violent auxiliary that operates on its own imperatives. That one of those auxiliaries cites both a Norwegian mass murderer and the President* of the United States as inspiration for killing 49 people is not only evidence of the width of the threat, but also the depth of its commitment to the cause. This is the everyday al Qaeda of the angry white soul, and it's growing.

Now is the time of monsters.

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11 victims in synagogue shooting are identified

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Newest on a lethal capturing at a Pittsburgh synagogue (all instances native):

9:30 a.m.

Authorities have launched the names of the 11 folks killed by a gunman throughout worship providers in a Pittsburgh synagogue.

Officers mentioned at a information convention Sunday that the victims ranged in age from 54 to 97 and included brothers and a husband and spouse.

Authorities say gunman Robert Bowers made statements about genocide and killing Jewish folks. Officers beforehand mentioned three ladies and eight males have been killed.

Bowers has been arrested and is being handled for gunshot wounds at a hospital.

The U.S. lawyer’s workplace has charged Bowers with 29 federal counts. Bowers is scheduled to make his first court docket look Monday. State authorities have additionally leveled expenses.

___

eight a.m.

German leaders are mourning the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue capturing and stressing the necessity to push again towards anti-Semitism.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman quoted Merkel on Twitter as providing her condolences and saying that “all of us should confront anti-Semitism with willpower — all over the place.”

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier voiced his dismay on the assault, which left 11 lifeless, in a condolence message to U.S. President Donald Trump.

Steinmeier wrote that “this abhorrent crime reminds us all to do what’s in our energy to advocate towards hatred and violence, towards anti-Semitism and exclusion, and to counter with willpower those that incite them.”

___

7:30 a.m.

Pope Francis is grieving with Pittsburgh’s Jewish group following the bloodbath at a synagogue, denouncing the “inhuman act of violence” and praying for an finish to the “flames of hatred” that fueled it.

Francis led prayers for Pittsburgh on Sunday in St. Peter’s Sq., a day after a gunman who had expressed hatred of Jews opened hearth within the synagogue throughout Sabbath providers, killing 11 folks.

Francis prayed for the lifeless, injured and their households and mentioned: “In actuality, all of us are wounded by this inhuman act of violence.” He prayed for God “to assist us to extinguish the flames of hatred that develop in our societies, reinforcing the sense of humanity, respect for all times and civil and ethical values.”

Francis has continuously spoken out towards religiously impressed violence and has denounced the straightforward availability of weapons because of weapons producers, whom he has known as “retailers of demise.”

___

7 a.m.

Police say the suspect within the lethal mass capturing at a Pittsburgh synagogue instructed officers that Jews have been committing genocide and that he needed all of them to die.

Pittsburgh police mentioned in an arrest affidavit made public early Sunday that Robert Gregory Bowers killed eight males and three ladies within the Tree of Life Synagogue earlier than a tactical police staff tracked him down and shot him.

A Pittsburgh police officer says within the warrant that Bowers was being handled for his accidents when he mentioned Jews have been “committing genocide to his folks.”

Bowers is charged with 11 counts of legal murder, six counts of aggravated assault and 13 counts of ethnic intimidation.

The police affidavit says calls started coming in to 911 simply earlier than 10 a.m. Saturday, reporting “they have been being attacked.”

___

12:30 a.m.

A gunman who expressed hatred of Jews exploited a vulnerability frequent in so many homes of worship throughout the nation — doorways which can be unlocked for worship — to focus on a Pittsburgh synagogue.

Officers say Robert Bowers was armed with a rifle and three handguns when he walked contained in the Tree of Life synagogue throughout Sabbath providers Saturday morning and opened hearth, killing 11 folks and wounding six in what’s believed to be the deadliest assault on Jews in U.S. historical past.

Police swarmed the constructing and traded gunfire with the gunman, who was shot a number of instances however survived.

4 law enforcement officials are among the many wounded.

Bowers faces 29 federal counts, together with weapons offenses and hate crimes.

Regulation enforcement officers plan to debate the bloodbath at a information convention Sunday morning.

from SpicyNBAChili.com https://www.spicynbachili.com/11-victims-in-synagogue-shooting-are-identified/

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PITTSBURGH | Harrowing tales emerge from synagogue; suspect due in court

PITTSBURGH | Harrowing tales emerge from synagogue; suspect due in court

PITTSBURGH — As Barry Werber walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue, he passed a cart carrying glassware and whiskey meant for the baby-naming ceremony scheduled at Dor Hadash, one of three small congregations that worship there.

He went downstairs, where his New Light Congregation meets, and found only a few people gathered. Melvin Wax, 88, was chatting up front with David Rosenthal, who had…

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Synagogue victims’ funerals begin as Trump heads to Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh’s Jewish community began burying its dead Tuesday, holding the first in a weeklong series of funerals for the 11 people gunned down in a synagogue in the bloodiest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history.

Cecil and David Rosenthal, intellectually disabled brothers in their 50s, were “beautiful souls” who had “not an ounce of hate in them — something we’re terribly missing today,” Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, a survivor of Saturday’s massacre, said at the brothers’ funeral.

Myers, his voice quivering, said it was difficult for him to find the words to comfort mourners. But he told the Rosenthals’ parents and other family members: “The entire world is sharing its grief with you, so you don’t walk alone.”

The Rosenthals’ sister, Diane Hirt, said she never imagined burying one sibling, much less two, and under such tragic circumstances. Though her brothers were in middle age, they were widely known as “the boys.”

“They were innocent like boys, not hardened like men,” she said.

She said Cecil — a gregarious man with a booming voice who was lightheartedly known as the honorary mayor of Squirrel Hall and the “town crier” for the gossip he managed to gather — would have especially enjoyed the media attention this week, a thought that brought laughter from the congregation.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, planned to visit later in the day to offer his condolences, despite objections from some community members. Pennsylvania’s governor and the mayor of Pittsburgh said they would not join him.

With the Tree of Life synagogue still cordoned off as a crime scene, the funerals were being held at nearby synagogues and other Jewish sites.

The casket of Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, a family physician known for his caring and kindness, was brought to the Jewish Community Center in the city’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood for the day’s first funeral. Two police vehicles were posted at a side door and two at the main entrance.

A line stretched around the block as mourners — some in white medical coats, some wearing yarmulkes, black hats or head scarves — passed beneath the blue Romanesque arches into the brick building, an American flag nearby fluttering at half-staff.

“A lot of people are feeling really angry about this. A lot of rage built up inside about this, because of it being a hate crime. Don’t get me wrong; I do. But I’m so overwhelmed with sadness right now that I can’t even be angry right now,” said Robin Faulkner, whose family had seen Rabinowitz for 30 years and counted him as a dear friend. “It’s just such a loss. Just tragic.”

Less than two miles away, hundreds of mourners dressed mostly in black converged on the city’s oldest and largest synagogue, Rodef Shalom, for the brothers’ funeral.

Among the mourners was Kate Lederman. She grew up in the Tree of Life synagogue and celebrated all of her milestones there. She recently gave birth.

“I was named there, bat mitzvahed there, married there. And my whole life was in that synagogue. Same with my father. And we knew Cecil and David. We knew all of them. This should be a week of pure joy having a baby, but it’s a week of terror,” she said. “We were supposed to have our baby naming there, but we’re going to do it at home.”

Also paying his respects was Dr. Abe Friedman, who typically sat in the back row of Tree of Life with the Rosenthal brothers but was late to the service on Saturday and was not there when the gunman opened fire. As he stood in line at the funeral with his wife, he wondered why he had been spared.

“Why did things fall into place for me?” he asked. “I usually sit in the back row. In the last row, everyone got killed.”

A funeral was also set Tuesday for Daniel Stein, a man seen as part of the core of his congregation.

The other victims’ funerals have been scheduled through Friday in a week of mourning, anguish and questions about the rampage that authorities say was carried out by a gunman who raged against Jews.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump planned to visit the city in the afternoon, despite complaints in some quarters that his presence would take the focus off the dead and would be unseemly. Some have accused Trump of fomenting racial and ethnic hostility and have said he deserves some of the blame for the bloodshed.

While Myers told CNN on Monday that the president is “certainly welcome,” Democratic Mayor Bill Peduto asked Trump not to come while the city was burying its dead. Peduto and Gov. Tom Wolf, a fellow Democrat, planned to skip the president’s visit.

“Community leaders expressed to the governor that they did not feel it was appropriate for Trump to come, so the governor made a decision not to join him on his visit out of respect for the families and the community,” said Beth Melena, Wolf’s campaign spokeswoman.

The man arrested in the massacre, Robert Gregory Bowers, is being held without bail for a preliminary hearing on Thursday. The 46-year-old truck driver faces hate-crime charges that could bring the death penalty.

The attack killed some of the synagogue’s most dedicated members. The oldest victim was 97-year-old Rose Mallinger. At 54, David Rosenthal was the youngest.

Rabinowitz, 66, had a family medicine practice and was affiliated with UPMC Shadyside hospital. He was a go-to doctor for HIV patients in the epidemic’s early and desperate days, a physician who “always hugged us as we left his office,” said Michael Kerr, who credits Rabinowitz with helping him survive.

“Thank you,” Kerr wrote on Facebook, “for having always been there during the most terrifying and frightening time of my life. … You are one of my heroes.”

Stein, 71, was a visible member of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, where he was the men’s club president at Tree of Life. Stein’s nephew Steven Halle told the Tribune-Review that his uncle had a dry sense of humor and a willingness to help anybody.

“He was somebody that everybody liked,” Halle said.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2018/10/30/synagogue-victims-funerals-begin-as-trump-heads-to-pittsburgh/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2018/10/30/synagogue-victims-funerals-begin-as-trump-heads-to-pittsburgh/

[marilynngmesalo]

Synagogue shooting suspect released from hospital, appears in court

Synagogue shooting suspect released from hospital, appears in court Synagogue shooting suspect released from hospital, appears in court https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

PITTSBURGH — The man accused in the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre was released from a hospital and turned over to federal authorities for a court appearance Monday on charges he killed 11 people in what is believed to be the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.

Robert Gregory Bowers, 46, who was shot and wounded in a gun battle with police, arrived at the federal courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh less than two hours after his release from Allegheny General Hospital, according to U.S. marshals. A government car with a wheelchair visible inside could be seen arriving earlier.

Federal prosecutors set in motion plans to seek the death penalty against Bowers, who authorities say expressed hatred of Jews during the rampage and later told police that “I just want to kill Jews” and that “all these Jews need to die.”

The first funeral — for Cecil Rosenthal and his younger brother, David — was set for Tuesday.

Survivors, meanwhile, began offering harrowing accounts of the mass shooting Saturday inside Tree of Life Synagogue.

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Barry Werber said he found himself hiding in a dark storage closet as the gunman tore through the building and opened fire.

“I don’t know why he thinks the Jews are responsible for all the ills in the world, but he’s not the first and he won’t be the last,” Werber, 76, said Sunday. “Unfortunately, that’s our burden to bear. It breaks my heart.”

The weekend massacre — which took place 10 days before the midterm elections — heightened tensions around the country, coming just a day after the arrest of the Florida man accused of sending a wave of pipe bombs to critics of President Donald Trump.

The mail bomb attacks and the bloodshed in Pittsburgh set off debate over whether the corrosive political rhetoric in Washington and beyond contributed to the violence and whether Trump himself bears any blame.

The attack spurred a number of fundraising efforts. A crowdfunding campaign called Muslims Unite for Pittsburgh Synagogue raised more than $90,000 for survivors and families, while a fundraiser led by a graduate student in Washington had taken in nearly $545,000 as of Monday morning, with funds to go to the congregation.

Bowers killed eight men and three women before a tactical police team tracked him down and shot him, authorities said. Six other people were wounded, including four officers.

He apparently posted an anti-Semitic message on a social media account linked to him just a few minutes before the rampage. The Anti-Defamation League called it the deadliest U.S. attack on Jews.

It wasn’t clear whether Bowers has an attorney to speak on his behalf. A message left with the federal public defender’s office in Pittsburgh wasn’t returned.

Three congregations were conducting Sabbath services in the synagogue when the attack began just before 10 a.m. in the tree-lined residential neighbourhood of Squirrel Hill, about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh and the hub of the city’s Jewish community .

Speaking at a vigil in Pittsburgh on Sunday night, Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers said about a dozen people had gathered in the main sanctuary when Bowers walked in and began shooting. Seven of his congregants were killed, he said.

“My holy place has been defiled,” he said.

In the basement, four members of New Light congregation were just starting to pray — with two others in the kitchen — when they heard crashing coming from upstairs, looked out the door and saw a body on the staircase, Werber recalled in an interview.

Rabbi Jonathan Perlman closed the door and pushed them into a large supply closet, he said. As gunshots echoed upstairs, Werber called 911 but was afraid to say anything, for fear of making any noise.

When the shots subsided, he said, another congregant, Melvin Wax, opened the door, only to be shot.

“There were three shots, and he falls back into the room where we were,” Werber said. “The gunman walks in.”

Apparently unable to see Werber and the other congregants in the darkness, Bowers walked back out.

Werber called the gunman “a maniac” and “a person who has no control of his baser instincts.”

The youngest of the 11 dead was 54, the oldest 97. The toll included a husband and wife, professors, dentists and physicians.

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Bowers shot his victims with an AR-15, used in many of the nation’s mass shootings, and three handguns, all of which he owned legally and had a license to carry, according to a law enforcement official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Bowers was a long-haul trucker who worked for himself, U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said. Little else was known about the suspect, who had no apparent criminal record.

Bowers was charged with 11 state counts of criminal homicide, six counts of aggravated assault and 13 counts of ethnic intimidation. He was also charged in a 29-count federal criminal complaint that included counts of obstructing the exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death — a federal hate crime — and using a firearm to commit murder.

Of the six survivors, four remained in the hospital Sunday night, and two — including a 40-year-old officer — were in critical condition.

Click for update news Bangla news https://ift.tt/2PAGZGt world news

[citizentruth-blog]

Jewish Group to Trump: You're Not Welcome Until You Denounce White Nationalism - U.S. NEWS

New Post has been published on https://citizentruth.org/jewish-group-to-trump-youre-not-welcome-until-you-denounce-white-nationalism/

Jewish Group to Trump: You're Not Welcome Until You Denounce White Nationalism

A Jewish progressive organization is calling for Trump to denounce white nationalism after the Tree of Life shooting.

After a mass shooting in Pittsburgh which killed eleven Jewish synagogue members, one self-proclaimed progressive Jewish organization wrote a letter to President Donald Trump telling him he wasn’t welcome in Pittsburgh until he denounced white nationalism.

The incident occurred during the Jewish Shabbat morning services at the Tree of Life Synagogue last Saturday. The temple is located on Squirrel Hill where children’s TV host Fred Rogers formerly lived. The shooter has been arrested and identified as Robert Gregory Bowers, 46.

Bowers was charged late Saturday with 29 federal counts, including hate crimes and had posted anti-Semitic rants on social media. He allegedly shouted anti-Semitic statements during the rampage at the synagogue.

In response to the event, Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, released a letter addressed to President Trump accusing him of emboldening a growing white nationalist movement and calling the shooting a culmination of Trump’s influence.

The letter read:

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism.

Our Jewish community is not the only group you have targeted.  You have also deliberately undermined the safety of people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. Yesterday’s massacre is not the first act of terror you incited against a minority group in our country.

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you stop targeting and endangering all minorities.

The murderer’s last public statement invoked the compassionate work of the Jewish refugee service HIAS at the end of a week in which you spread lies and sowed fear about migrant families in Central America. He killed Jews in order to undermine the efforts of all those who find shared humanity with immigrants and refugees.

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you cease your assault on immigrants and refugees.

The Torah teaches that every human being is made b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God.

This means all of us.

In our neighbors, Americans, and people worldwide who have reached out to give our community strength, there we find the image of God.  While we cannot speak for all Pittsburghers, or even all Jewish Pittsburghers, we know we speak for a diverse and unified group when we say:

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you commit yourself to compassionate, democratic policies that recognize the dignity of all of us.

Trump’s Response to Tree of Life Shooting

President Trump quickly condemned the shooting as “an assault on humanity” but was lambasted online for tweeting about the World Series game soon after the killing occurred. He also suggested that the arrested gunman should be given the death penalty and added that an armed guard stationed inside the synagogue could have done better to prevent the attack.

“If they had protection inside, the results would have been far better,” the president said. “Maybe it could have been a very much different situation.”

“It will require all of us working together to extract the hateful poison of anti-Semitism from our world. This was an anti-Semitic attack at its worst,” Trump said during a rally Saturday night.

[cutsliceddiced]

New top story from Time: Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting Suspect Arrives in Court After Being Released From Hospital

(PITTSBURGH) — The man accused in the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre was released from a hospital and turned over to federal authorities for a court appearance Monday on charges he killed 11 people in what is believed to be the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.

Robert Gregory Bowers, 46, who was shot and wounded in a gun battle with police, arrived at the federal courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh less than two hours after his release from Allegheny General Hospital, according to U.S. marshals. A government car with a wheelchair visible inside could be seen arriving earlier.

Federal prosecutors set in motion plans to seek the death penalty against Bowers, who authorities say expressed hatred of Jews during the rampage and later told police that “I just want to kill Jews” and that “all these Jews need to die.”

The first funeral — for Cecil Rosenthal and his younger brother, David — was set for Tuesday.

Survivors, meanwhile, began offering harrowing accounts of the mass shooting Saturday inside Tree of Life Synagogue.

Barry Werber said he found himself hiding in a dark storage closet as the gunman tore through the building and opened fire.

“I don’t know why he thinks the Jews are responsible for all the ills in the world, but he’s not the first and he won’t be the last,” Werber, 76, said Sunday. “Unfortunately, that’s our burden to bear. It breaks my heart.”

The weekend massacre — which took place 10 days before the midterm elections — heightened tensions around the country, coming just a day after the arrest of the Florida man accused of sending a wave of pipe bombs to critics of President Donald Trump.

The mail bomb attacks and the bloodshed in Pittsburgh set off debate over whether the corrosive political rhetoric in Washington and beyond contributed to the violence and whether Trump himself bears any blame.

The attack spurred a number of fundraising efforts. A crowdfunding campaign called Muslims Unite for Pittsburgh Synagogue raised more than $90,000 for survivors and families, while a fundraiser led by a graduate student in Washington had taken in nearly $545,000 as of Monday morning, with funds to go to the congregation.

Bowers killed eight men and three women before a tactical police team tracked him down and shot him, authorities said. Six other people were wounded, including four officers.

He apparently posted an anti-Semitic message on a social media account linked to him just a few minutes before the rampage. The Anti-Defamation League called it the deadliest U.S. attack on Jews.

It wasn’t clear whether Bowers has an attorney to speak on his behalf. A message left with the federal public defender’s office in Pittsburgh wasn’t returned.

Three congregations were conducting Sabbath services in the synagogue when the attack began just before 10 a.m. in the tree-lined residential neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh and the hub of the city’s Jewish community .

Speaking at a vigil in Pittsburgh on Sunday night, Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers said about a dozen people had gathered in the main sanctuary when Bowers walked in and began shooting. Seven of his congregants were killed, he said.

“My holy place has been defiled,” he said.

In the basement, four members of New Light congregation were just starting to pray — with two others in the kitchen — when they heard crashing coming from upstairs, looked out the door and saw a body on the staircase, Werber recalled in an interview.

Rabbi Jonathan Perlman closed the door and pushed them into a large supply closet, he said. As gunshots echoed upstairs, Werber called 911 but was afraid to say anything, for fear of making any noise.

When the shots subsided, he said, another congregant, Melvin Wax, opened the door, only to be shot.

“There were three shots, and he falls back into the room where we were,” Werber said. “The gunman walks in.”

Apparently unable to see Werber and the other congregants in the darkness, Bowers walked back out.

Werber called the gunman “a maniac” and “a person who has no control of his baser instincts.”

The youngest of the 11 dead was 54, the oldest 97. The toll included a husband and wife, professors, dentists and physicians.

Bowers shot his victims with an AR-15, used in many of the nation’s mass shootings, and three handguns, all of which he owned legally and had a license to carry, according to a law enforcement official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Bowers was a long-haul trucker who worked for himself, U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said. Little else was known about the suspect, who had no apparent criminal record.

Bowers was charged with 11 state counts of criminal homicide, six counts of aggravated assault and 13 counts of ethnic intimidation. He was also charged in a 29-count federal criminal complaint that included counts of obstructing the exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death — a federal hate crime — and using a firearm to commit murder.

Of the six survivors, four remained in the hospital Sunday night, and two — including a 40-year-old officer — were in critical condition.

___

Lauer reported from Philadelphia. Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Mark Scolforo in Pittsburgh, Michael Balsamo in Washington, Jennifer Peltz in New York and Michael Rubinkam in northeastern Pennsylvania.

via https://cutslicedanddiced.wordpress.com/2018/01/24/how-to-prevent-food-from-going-to-waste

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PITTSBURGH — The man accused in the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre appeared briefly in federal court in a wheelchair and handcuffs Monday to face charges he killed 11 people in what is believed to be the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.

Robert Gregory Bowers, who was wounded in a gun battle with police during the shooting rampage, was released from a hospital and wheeled into the courtroom, where he was ordered held without bail for a preliminary hearing on Thursday, when prosecutors will outline their case against him.

During the proceeding, Bowers talked with two court-appointed lawyers, went over documents and confirmed his identity to a judge, saying little more than “Yes” in a soft voice a few times. Courtroom deputies freed one of his hands from cuffs so he could sign paperwork. He did not enter a plea.

He was expressionless.

“It was not the face of villainy that I thought we’d see,” said Jon Pushinsky, a congregant who was in court for the hearing.

Federal prosecutors set in motion plans to seek the death penalty against the 46-year-old truck driver, who authorities say expressed hatred of Jews during the rampage at the Tree of Life synagogue and later told police, “I just want to kill Jews” and “All these Jews need to die.”

Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers vowed to rebuild following a weekend massacre at his Pittsburgh synagogue where Robert Gregory Bowers is accused of killing 11 people in what is believed to be the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. (Oct. 29)

After the hearing, U.S. Attorney Scott Brady called the shootings “horrific acts of violence” and added: “Rest assured we have a team of prosecutors working hard to ensure that justice is done.”

Meanwhile, the first funeral — for Cecil Rosenthal and his younger brother, David — was set for Tuesday, and the White House announced President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will visit the same day to “express the support of the American people and to grieve with the Pittsburgh community.”

The response to Trump’s plans was mixed.

Leaders of a liberal Jewish group in Pittsburgh, Bend the Arc, wrote an open letter to the president, accusing him of contributing to the violence with his words and deeds and saying he was not welcome until he denounced white nationalism.

But Rabbi Jeffrey Myers with the Tree of Life synagogue made clear Trump would be welcome, telling NBC, “It would be my honor to always meet a president of the United States.”

The weekend massacre — which took place 10 days before the midterm elections — heightened tensions around the country, coming just a day after the arrest of the Florida man accused of sending a wave of pipe bombs to Trump critics.

The mail bomb attacks and the bloodshed in Pittsburgh set off debate over whether the corrosive political climate in Washington and beyond contributed to the violence and whether Trump himself bears any blame because of his combative language.

Barry Werber, 76, said he found himself hiding in a dark storage closet as the gunman rampaged through the building, in the tree-lined neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, the historic hub of the city’s Jewish community.

Werber said he hopes Trump doesn’t visit Pittsburgh, noting that the president has embraced the politically fraught label of “nationalist.” He said the Nazis were nationalists.

“It’s part of his program to instigate his base,” Werber said, and “bigots are coming out of the woodwork.”

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, a Democrat, said the White House should contact the victims’ families and ask them if they want the president to come to Pittsburgh. He also warned Trump to stay away when the first funerals are held.

“If the president is looking to come to Pittsburgh, I would ask that he not do so while we are burying the dead,” Peduto said. “Our attention and our focus is going to be on them, and we don’t have public safety that we can take away from what is needed in order to do both.”

Bowers killed eight men and three women before a police tactical team shot him, authorities said. Six other people were wounded, including four officers. Four of the wounded remained hospitalized Sunday night, two in critical condition.

The president of the hospital where a wounded Bowers was taken said that he was ranting against Jews even as Jewish staff members were treating him.

“He’s taken into my hospital and he’s shouting, ‘I want to kill all the Jews!’ and the first three people who are taking care of him are Jewish,” Jeffery Cohen of Allegheny General Hospital told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” ″Ain’t that a kick in the pants?”

Cohen, who is also Jewish and a member of Tree of Life synagogue, said he stopped by Bowers’ room.

“I just asked how he was doing, was he in pain, and he said no, he was fine,” Cohen said. “He asked who I was, and I said, ‘I’m Dr. Cohen, the president of the hospital,’ and I turned around and left.”

He said the FBI agent outside Bowers’ room told him he didn’t think he could have done that. “And I said, ‘If you were in my shoes I’m sure you could have,’” Cohen said.

Bowers was charged in a 29-count federal criminal complaint that included counts of obstructing the exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death — a hate crime — and using a gun to commit murder.

Bowers was also charged under state law with criminal homicide, aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation.

Just minutes before the synagogue attack, Bowers apparently took to social media to rage against HIAS, a Jewish organization that resettles refugees under contract with the U.S. government.

“HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people,” he is believed to have written on Gab.com, a social media site favored by right-wing extremists. “I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”

HIAS had recently weighed in on the migrant caravan heading toward the U.S. from Central America, urging the Trump administration to “provide all asylum seekers the opportunity to present their claims as required by law.” The president has vilified the caravan and pledged to stop the migrants.

One of the targets of the mail bomb attacks last week was liberal Jewish philanthropist George Soros, who has been accused by far-right conspiracy theorists of paying migrants to join the caravan.

The youngest of the 11 dead was 54, the oldest 97. The toll included a husband and wife, professors, dentists and physicians.

Bowers shot his victims with an AR-15, used in many of the nation’s mass shootings, and three handguns, all of which he owned legally and had a license to carry, according to a law enforcement official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Bowers was a long-haul trucker who worked for himself, authorities said. Little else was known about Bowers, who had no apparent criminal record.

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, CLAUDIA LAUER and ALLEN G. BREED – Oct 29. 2018 – 5:16 PM EDT

___

This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of “Pushinsky” and to show Jeffery Cohen’s comments were made to “Good Morning America,” not WTAE-TV.

___

Lauer reported from Philadelphia. Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Mark Scolforo in Pittsburgh, Michael Balsamo in Washington, Jennifer Peltz in New York and Michael Rubinkam in northeastern Pennsylvania.

___

For AP’s complete coverage of the Pittsburgh synagogue shootings:

https://apnews.com/Pittsburghsynagoguemassacre

Synagogue Massacre Defendant Appears In Court In Wheelchair PITTSBURGH — The man accused in the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre appeared briefly in federal court in a wheelchair and handcuffs Monday to face charges he killed 11 people in what is believed to be the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S.

[usatodaytrendingnewsworld-blog]

Harrowing Accounts Emerge From Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting

Harrowing Accounts Emerge From Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting

Author: AP

The suspected gunman, Robert Gregory Bowers, is due in court Monday.

[annafricatv]

Police: Synagogue Gunman Said He Wanted All Jews To Die

The suspect in the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue expressed hatred of Jews during the rampage and told officers afterward that Jews were committing genocide and that he wanted them all to die, according to charging documents made public on Sunday. #AfricanNewsNetwork

The suspect in the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue expressed hatred of Jews during the rampage and told officers afterward that Jews were committing genocide and that he wanted them all to die, according to charging documents made public on Sunday.

Robert Gregory Bowers killed eight men and three women inside the Tree of Life Synagogue on Saturday during worship services before a…

[joannrochaus]

“The darkest hour in our city’s history”

Please read these names slowly: Bernice and Sylvan Simon, brothers Cecil and David Rosenthal, Rose Mallinger, Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Jerry Rabinowitz, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax, and Irving Younger.

Their lives were taken from them Saturday morning as they gathered to worship at a Pittsburgh synagogue. Some 2,500 people gathered yesterday at a memorial service for them, responding to what the mayor called “the darkest hour in our city’s history.” Robert Bowers, the man accused of killing them in a shooting rampage, is due in court today.

Three hate crimes in one week

This was the third hate crime in America last week.

Last Wednesday, Gregory Bush allegedly tried to enter a predominantly black church in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, just outside of Louisville. The doors were locked, so he went to a nearby Kroger store, where he allegedly killed two people, both African-American.

The first victim was Maurice Stallard, age sixty-nine, who was with his twelve-year-old grandson buying a poster board for a school project. The second was Vickie Jones, age sixty-seven, who was killed in the parking lot as Bush left. Bush has a history of mental illness and made racist threats in the past.

On Friday, a fifty-six-year-old Florida man named Cesar Sayoc was arrested after federal authorities said he mailed a total of fourteen packages containing pipe bombs. He was known for condemning Democratic Party leaders on social media.

The next day, eleven people were killed and six others injured (including four police officers) when a man shouting anti-Semitic slurs opened fire inside the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. According to a federal law enforcement official, the alleged gunman had frequently posted his hatred for Jews on social media.

What motivates such seemingly senseless violence? How should we respond biblically?

“The most terrifying thing”

A neighbor said of Robert Bowers, “The most terrifying thing is just how normal he seemed.” The normalization of hatred is indeed terrifying.

Hate crimes follow the same pattern: objectification, followed by vilification, followed by violence.

Theologian Martin Buber suggested that all relationships fit into two categories: “I-Thou” and “I-It.” An “I-Thou” relationship recognizes the inherent value of the other person. It views others as fellow human beings on a par with myself and loves them as I love myself (Matthew 22:39). An “I-It” relationship views the other person as an object to my subject, a means to my end, a possession more than a person.

Whether last week’s victims were African-Americans, Democrats, or Jews, the perpetrators saw them as less than themselves, people they could treat however they wished.

Next, objectification leads to vilification as the attacker blames the victim for supposed crimes against himself.

After his capture, Bowers told a SWAT officer, “They’re committing genocide to my people. I just want to kill Jews.” Hitler blamed the Jews for supposedly subjugating the German people. White supremacists typically claim that other races are stealing their jobs and threatening their way of life.

Next, vilification often leads to violence, from slander to discrimination to physical attacks.

“All of us are wounded”

Yesterday, Pope Francis led prayers for Pittsburgh in St. Peter’s Square and said, “In reality, all of us are wounded by this inhuman act of violence.” He was right.

Saturday’s shooting targeted Jews. Wednesday’s shooting targeted African-Americans. The Orlando shooting targeted gay people. The Las Vegas shooting targeted concertgoers. The Sutherland Springs shooting targeted white churchgoers.

Worshipers attended more than four hundred thousand churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious gatherings over the weekend. It is impossible to secure them all. In fact, a Homeland Security “protective security adviser” visited the Tree of Life synagogue as recently as March.

Anytime we hear of a hate crime victim, we should remember that we could be next.

“The purpose of life is not to be happy”

What is the biblical response to hate crimes?

First, love every person as though they were a member of your family, because they are. We were all created by the same Father and descended from the same parents (Genesis 1:26-27). There are many ethnicities but only one race–the human race.

Second, stand against anyone who stands against a member of your family. Take such hatred as personally as if it were directed against your spouse, child, or parents. Just as “God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34), so we must reject all discrimination and “live in harmony with one another” (Romans 12:16).

Third, stand with all who grieve. Our Father “comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction” (2 Corinthians 1:4). Have you prayed for those grieving in Pittsburgh yet today?

Imagine a culture in which everyone followed these three simple precepts.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

Will your life make such a difference today?

The post “The darkest hour in our city’s history” appeared first on Denison Forum.

source https://www.denisonforum.org/columns/daily-article/darkest-hour-citys-history/ source https://denisonforum.tumblr.com/post/179551439957

[financesectorinfo]

Gunman suspect due in court as harrowing synagogue tales emerge

Werber's recollection was among the harrowing accounts that emerged from survivors as authorities worked to piece together the movements of the suspected gunman, Robert Gregory Bowers, who is due in court Monday. Source: CNBC

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