OCTOBER 29, 2018


NEWS AND VIEWS


TO THOSE WHO ARE “CONSERVATIVE,” I.E. EXTREME “FREE SPEECH” ADVOCATES, I WANT TO SAY THAT I BELIEVE WE REALLY NEED TO REWRITE SOME SEGMENTS OF THE CONSTITUTION, BECAUSE CRUDE, HOSTILE, THREATENING, AND VIOLENT BEHAVIOR OF ANY KIND, BUT ESPECIALLY BASED ON GROUP IDENTITY OR SOME DEBILITATING WEAKNESS, SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED, ESPECIALLY IN THE CASE OF HARMFUL ACTIONS, FROM HARASSMENT AND THREATS TO VIOLENCE. THAT KIND OF THING IS NOT, OR SHOULD NOT BE, “FREE SPEECH.” SOME TEENAGERS HAVE COME UNDER ABUSE FROM THEIR PEERS ON THE INTERNET, AND THOUGH IN ONE CASE THE TEEN ABUSER WAS CHARGED WITH A CRIME, THEY SHOULD ALWAYS BE. THOSE CASES USUALLY MAKE THE NEWS BECAUSE THE HARASSED STUDENT WILL SOMETIMES TRY TO COMMIT SUICIDE.

JAIL TERMS DON’T SEEM APPROPRIATE TO ME NECESSARILY, BUT A MANDATORY AND STIFF FINE TO THE COURT HEARING THE COMPLAINT, AND A SEPARATE PERSONAL FEE TO BE RENDERED TO THE ABUSED SEEM APPROPRIATE, ESPECIALLY SINCE THEY WOULD DISCOURAGE THE OFTEN SILLY THOUGH NOT HARMLESS DISPLAYS OF “WILD” TEENAGERS AND STREET BULLIES, I THINK. I BELIEVE THAT SUCH SHOULD BE REQUIRED BY THE COURT AT THE TIME OF THE OFFENSE, AND NOT MERELY WHEN A LAWSUIT HAS BEEN FILED. I NOTICE A GOOD MANY BLACK PEOPLE LATELY ARE FILING SUIT, AND WINNING, BUT THAT SHOULDN’T HAVE TO BE THE WAY THEY GET JUSTICE. JUSTICE SHOULD BE AUTOMATIC AND RENDERED TO ALL PEOPLE.

ABUSE FROM ADULTS OR OLDER TEENS, THOUGH, SHOULD BE A CRIME, AND PUNISHED AS SUCH, THOUGH PROBABLY BY A FINE THE FIRST TIME THEY ACT OUT UNLESS IT’S SEVERE. IT WOULD BE INTERESTING IF A PERSONALLY WRITTEN APOLOGY TO THE VICTIMS, WHICH SHOULD ALSO BE READ OUT LOUD IN PUBLIC. I SAY THAT BECAUSE WE DON’T HAVE “THE STOCKS” ANYMORE. SOME FORM OF PUBLIC PUNISHMENT IS EMBARRASSING, AND THEREFORE MAY CAUSE THE DOER TO THINK NEXT TIME. A 13 YEAR-OLD IS A CHILD, BUT A 16-YEAR OLD ISN’T. THEY ARE ALMOST ALWAYS CAPABLE OF THINKING IN DEPTH, AT LEAST THOSE WHO ARE NOT MENTALLY DISTURBED OR OF A LOW INTELLIGENCE. PERHAPS GETTING MORE THAN A DRESSING DOWN WOULD SHOW THAT THERE IS AN ACTUAL PENALTY FOR WHAT THEY DID. THEY ARE “YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN.” WE SHOULD ALSO HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO “AFFLUENZA DEFENSES” FOR ANY CRIME WHATSOEVER.

LET’S FACE IT, TOTAL FREEDOM OF BEHAVIOR AND SPEECH SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED, ALTHOUGH VERY OFTEN IN THESE CASES PERHAPS AN EXTENDED GROUP OR INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOTHERAPY SHOULD BE MANDATORY. THE PEOPLE WHO DO THOSE THINGS ARE NOT TOTALLY SOUND MENTALLY, BUT I DON’T BELIEVE THAT THEY WILL NECESSARILY TRY TO COMMIT A PHYSICAL ATTACK ON ANYONE. IF AN ADULT IS THE ABUSER, I SUSPECT THAT THE DEPTH OF THE DEVIANCE IS ALSO GREATER, SO PRISON MIGHT BE AN OPTION EVEN IF A PHYSICAL ASSAULT ISN’T PART OF THE CRIME; AND IF ANYTHING APPROACHING WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS SYNAGOGUE OCCURS, THE LEAST PENALTY SHOULD BE LIFE IN PRISON WITH NO PAROLE. THAT’S MY VIEW. I JUST DON’T THINK THAT HARBORING HATRED AGAINST A GROUP OVER THEIR CULTURAL OR RACIAL DIFFERENCES IS A “HUMAN RIGHT,” EVEN FOR THOSE WORTHY “WHITE SUPREMACISTS.”

THE UNSPEAKABLE ONE STEP FARTHER THAT THIS SHOOTER ROBERT BOWERS TOOK IS OF COURSE, AN INSANE ONE, BUT NOT TO BE EXCUSED. THERE ARE MANY INSANE PEOPLE WHO NEVER HURT ANYONE. I BELIEVE THERE IS SOMETHING “DIFFERENT” IN THE MIND OF A CRUEL PERSON, WHETHER THEY ARE KILLERS OR NOT. ALSO, PSYCHIATRISTS DON’T ALWAYS CONSIDER SUCH PEOPLE “INSANE,” BECAUSE THEY ARE CAPABLE OF LOGICAL THOUGHT. THEY ARE MORE LIKELY SOCIOPATHS LIKE MOST OF THE SERIAL KILLERS AND RAPISTS.

SUCH PEOPLE USUALLY GET THE DEATH PENALTY OR LIFE IN PRISON, AND I THINK IT IS JUSTIFIED BY THE AMOUNT OF DAMAGE THEY DO. THERE WAS A VERY INTERESTING VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH THE KILLER CALLED “SON OF SAM” A FEW YEARS, AND HE DID REGRET HIS MURDERS. WHETHER HE WAS ON MENTAL HEALTH DRUGS OR NOT, I DON’T KNOW. HE PROBABLY WAS, BECAUSE HE MADE PERFECTLY GOOD SENSE WHEN HE SPOKE AND SHOWED NO HOSTILITY.

WE DON’T KNOW MUCH YET (THE PUBLIC, ANYWAY DOESN’T) ABOUT THIS MAN BOWERS. I HOPE TO SEE MORE ABOUT IT AS TIME GOES ON. FROM SEVERAL ARTICLES ON THIS MASSACRE SATURDAY, NOT ONLY THE PUBLIC, BUT THE LAW IS PAYING ATTENTION TO THE ANTISEMITIC AND OTHER INTENSELY HOSTILE ACTORS SINCE AUGUST 2016. I DO HOPE THAT MEANS THAT THEY WILL PAY SOME ATTENTION TO PRESIDENT TRUMP’S DECLARATIONS AND ACTIONS. HE RECENTLY SAID, BEFORE CAMERAS AT A RALLY OF HIS, “I’M A NATIONALIST.” THAT’S SIMILAR TO HITLER’S STANCE AS A “NATIONAL SOCIALIST.” FOLLOWING THIS WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE, I HAVE INSERTED ONE ON THE SUBJECT OF “NATIONALISM,” AS OPPOSED TO OTHER “ISMS.”

I BELIEVE WE WILL GET SOME BETTER LAWS ON THE BOOKS ABOUT THE LEGALITY OF “HATE SPEECH” AND OTHER EXTREMELY HOSTILE BEHAVIOR. PEOPLE WON’T HAVE TO GET TO THE POINT OF COMMITTING MURDER, HOPEFULLY. EGREGIOUSLY NEGATIVE ACTIONS MAY COME CLOSER AND CLOSER TO CRIMES IN THE FUTURE BEFORE THERE IS A MURDER.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/for-american-jews-pittsburgh-synagogue-rampage-is-culmination-of-worst-fears/2018/10/27/32226b18-da2c-11e8-a10f-b51546b10756_story.html
For American Jews, Pittsburgh synagogue massacre is culmination of worst fears
By Joe Heim and
Samantha Schmidt October 27 at 10:07 PM

This is what they had long been fearing. As the threats increased, as the online abuse grew increasingly vicious, as the defacing of synagogues and community centers with swastikas became more commonplace, the possibility of a violent attack loomed over America’s Jewish communities.

On Saturday, the worst of those fears was made real as a gunman stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue, killing at least 11 of its members and injuring many more, reportedly shouting “All Jews must die” during his rampage. It is the worst single attack on American Jews in the history of the country. And it is one that many who have been monitoring anti-Semitic activity in the United States have been dreading.

“Unfortunately, in the atmosphere we are in, as shocking as these incidents always are, they are not surprising,” said Oren Segal, director of the Anti Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. “Anti-Semitism is the lifeblood of extremism, and violence is never that far behind.”

[Gunman kills 11 in Pittsburgh synagogue massacre investigated as a hate crime]

In its annual Audit of Anti-Semitic incidents in the United States, the ADL chronicled a 57 percent rise of incidents in 2017 over the previous year. That included everything from bomb threats and assaults to vandalism, desecration of cemeteries and the flooding of college campuses with anti-Semitic posters and graffiti.

Saturday’s deadly attack took place against the backdrop of a particularly toxic era in American political and social life. Many Americans believe that the increase in anti-Semitism, xenophobia and racism over the past two years has been stoked by the rhetoric of some of the nation’s top leaders, particularly President Trump, whose ongoing rallies are marked by denunciations of immigrants and the deriding of “globalists,” which is viewed as a code word for Jews. Most recently, he has declared himself a “nationalist,” thrilling some of his followers who identify themselves as white nationalists.

It has been just 14 months since white supremacists protesting the removal of a Confederate statue marched through the University of Virginia campus chanting, “Our blood, our soil!” and “Jews will not replace us!” They were met not with an unconditional rebuke by Trump but a claim by him that there were “very fine people on both sides.” On the far right, the president’s words were taken as an endorsement of their behavior and their ideas and encouragement to pursue them.

“The response was not at all satisfactory,” Segal said. “It’s not hard to condemn Nazis or anti-Semites unequivocally. That’s the expectation the Jewish community has. That’s the expectation all communities have.”

[In the close-knit community of Squirrel Hill, shock and confusion]

Although anti-Semitism is surging, it is not new in the United States. The country’s Jewish groups and organizations have long been targets of zealots and bigots. But for much of American history, there have been relatively few large-scale violent attacks. And nothing on the order of Saturday’s mass murder. That it took place in such a politically poisoned atmosphere is also significant, observers say.

“We have seen acts of violence. What’s new is the context of the acts of violence,” said Eric Ward, executive director of the Western States Center, an Oregon-based progressive group focused on social and economic justice.

“I have never seen this coupling of political violence with political rhetoric before,” said Ward, who has been studying anti-Semitism for the past 30 years. “It has primarily come out of the margins, and what’s different about this moment and chilling about this moment is that the rhetoric is now coming out of the mainstream, and it’s giving permission to people on the margins to act out.”

Deborah Lipstadt, a professor of Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University, said that in previous decades, such as when she was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, anti-Semitism was more structural, in the form of discrimination in employment and education. “I knew I had to be twice as good as the non-Jewish kids” to get into college, for example, she said.

Attacks would happen on a personal level, for example. “Kids would be beaten up in the street if you lived in the mixed neighborhood,” she said. But Lipstadt said she was taken aback by the scale and horror of the Pittsburgh rampage.

“This is beyond anything we’ve experienced,” Lipstadt said.

She said it and the recent wave of anti-Semitic incidents over the past two years are the result of “anti-Semitic dog whistles” from leaders — for example, she said, rhetoric painting George Soros as a “21st century Rothschild” — that have emboldened neo-Nazis and other white supremacists intent on committing acts of violence.

The increase in anti-Semitic attacks and harassment online, particularly on popular social media platforms, has been an acute concern in recent years for those monitoring far-right hate groups and white supremacists.

“The rise of the far right in America and Europe is tied to both the spread of anti-Semitic conspiracies about Jewish global domination and increased calls for stronger borders and nationalist policies in majority white countries,” said Joan Donovan, media manipulation research lead at Data and Society Research Institute, an independent nonprofit in New York. “Attention to conspiracy theories about Jewish people, especially Soros, has reached new mainstream audiences through Internet memes and right-wing news outlets. This has led to increased harassment and calls for social media companies to ban topics such as Holocaust denial.”

Although there are increasing demands for platforms to aggressively monitor and remove such material, not every social site has been vigilant in addressing the problem.

“Such failures to act on the propagation of these conspiracies is dangerous,” Donovan said.

Rabbi Jack Moline, president of the Washington-based Interfaith Alliance, said the current public display of anti-Semitism “is like nothing that I have seen in my lifetime, and I go back to the early ’50s.”

For Moline, the marches in Charlottesville last year were the first public demonstrations of anti-Semitism he had seen since the late 1970s, when American neo-Nazis fought in court to march in Skokie, Ill. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he remembers synagogues and Jewish centers requiring identification from visitors and erecting barriers to prevent car bombers. Some of the precautions may have seemed excessive. Not anymore.

“I don’t know a Jewish institution who hasn’t considered the new security requirements of a dangerous world,” he said. “I think we have gone from theoretical to practical in a matter of minutes today.”

For the ADL’s Segal, who has spent 20 years tracking anti-Semitic violence and intimidation, Saturday’s deadly news was met with sorrow, but not despair.

“You can’t do this work without maintaining a healthy dose of hope that things will get better,” he said. “We have to hope that this moment in time will not be remembered solely for the haters and the violence, but for what people did in response. Already we’re seeing people coming out in the streets saying that this does not represent us, this does not represent this country. That’s a good first step. Now we need our elected officials and community leaders and business leaders to push back against this hate more than ever.”

Michelle Boorstein contributed to this report.


WHAT IS “THE WORLD TABLE?” ANOTHER INTERESTING SITE I CAME ACROSS. HAVE A LOOK.

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/letters/2018/10/29/letter-stop-attacking/
Letter: Stop attacking fellow Americans in the name of nationalism
By Dylan Brunjes | The Public Forum
Published: OCTOBER 29, 2108 4 hours ago; Updated: 4 hours ago

PHOTOGRAPH -- In this Oct. 27, 2018, photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Southern Illinois Airport in Murphysboro, Ill. Eager to focus voters on immigration in the lead-up to the midterm elections, Trump on Oct. 29 escalated his threats against a migrant caravan trudging slowly toward the U.S. border as the Pentagon prepared to deploy thousands of U.S. troops to support the border patrol. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

I was born in Boston and raised in Utah. I like apple pie and cold Pabst beer. I employ 20-25 people depending on the day. I am as American as they come. But according to what I am hearing from the president, I am now the enemy of America.

Just because I feel we shouldn’t permanently separate children from their parents and I’m not going into hysterics over migrants approaching the border doesn’t mean I want open borders. Just because I want to elect representatives who will acknowledge and work with our international neighbors to fight climate change and other global challenges doesn’t make me a “globalist” or whatever the president is calling me these days.

I am as American as can be, and I’m proud of that, but I am not a nationalist. As Albert Einstein said, “Nationalism is an infantile disease.”

If members of the GOP do not take a stand against the president attacking fellow Americans under the guise of nationalism, their legacy is going to be one of rank corruption and blind allegiance to a tiny man so frightened of truth that he had to rip America asunder to maintain power.

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/letters/2018/10/29/letter-stop-attacking/comments/#twt-comments


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Comments --

Well good luck on your quest. Trump however is more likely to increase the rhetoric, because he is being asked to decrease it. Trump was angry with his staff after Charlottesville because the clarification speech made him look weak in his opinion. It was the right thing to do but Trump came out and doubled down with the many fine people on both sides speech going right back to bad and wrong. One of those many fine nationalists killed someone with a car but doing the right thing was secondary to his own feelings. Trump has no empathy for anyone outside his family and immediate circle of helpers.
Getting Trump to do the right thing because it is right won't happen. He didn't even want to lower the flag to half staff for John McCain. Like I said, Good Luck.


Well he's proven that he won't pass up an opportunity to ballyhoo his latest favorite Republican buddy over pausing to show respect for victims of a shooting. I sometimes wonder if the man had empathy for his own children.


REPUBLICANS have cemented their legacy all right. All for a "tax cut".

I suspect Dear Leader Trump will quit accusing fellow Americans of being "globalists" the day he stops prioritizing political rallies over mass shootings. Not gonna happen any time soon.


GAB IS KICKED OFF ITS’ SERVER AND OTHER PLATFORMS – SEE ALSO THE COMPANION BLOG FOR TODAY CALLED SIMPLY “GAB.” IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THIS SITE HAS HAD A LINKAGE WITH THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN OR THE RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA SITE, “INTERNET RESEARCH AGENCY?" MAYBE SO AND MAYBE NOT, BUT THEY CERTAINLY DO SMELL THE SAME. I WONDER IF MUELLER IS ON THEIR TRAIL? I WONDER IF CONTACT FROM MUELLER’S FBI INVESTIGATION TEAM HAS CAUSED GAB TO BE DROPPED FROM ONE PLATFORM AFTER ANOTHER AFTER IT’S EMERGENCE IN AUGUST OF 2016. IT CERTAINLY HAS BEEN DOING SOMETHING WRONG.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46017529
Pittsburgh shooting: Gab drops offline after attack
OCTOBER 29, 2018 5 hours ago

IMAGE -- Gab was launched in August 2016 and used to use a frog logo

A Twitter-rival used by the man accused of a gun attack on a US synagogue has gone offline after several technology services withdrew support from it.

Gab describes itself as a defender of "free speech and expression" with nearly 800,000 users.

It has faced criticism in the past for providing an outlet for far-right figureheads and conspiracy theorists banned from other social networks.

The service has said it has "zero tolerance" for terrorism and violence.

It has, however, acknowledged that a verified account whose details matched those of the alleged Tree of Life Synagogue shooter had been active on its service.

The account, registered to Robert Bowers, had posted several anti-Semitic messages on the platform. And in a final update had written: "Screw your optics, I'm going in," shortly before the Pittsburgh attack.

Gab said it was "ready and willing to work with law enforcement" and noted that the suspect "also had accounts on other social networks".

It said "high volumes" of criminal activity were present on other social media platforms.

And it specifically criticised Twitter for having hosted posts from anti-Semites and "Isis cells", adding no-one was calling for its competitor's closure.

Even so, some of the technology companies who have severed their relationship with Gab said they were uncomfortable with its behaviour .

RELATED STORIES
Pittsburgh shooting: Survivors relive synagogue ordeal
Gab user's anti-Semitic posts removed
Gab: Free speech haven or alt-right safe space?

Among them is PayPal, which banned the company from using its money-transfer service on Saturday.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image caption
Eleven people were killed in Saturday's attack

"When a site is explicitly allowing the perpetuation of hate, violence or discriminatory intolerance, we take immediate and decisive action," PayPal said in a statement.

Internet domain registrar GoDaddy also explained why it had given Gab just 24 hours to find another provider.

"In response to complaints received over the weekend, GoDaddy investigated and discovered numerous instances of content on the site that both promotes and encourages violence against people," a spokesman told BBC News.

Gab has reported that a further three technology companies, which have not publicly commented, had also banned or suspended it:
Samsung-owned Joyent, which provides web-hosting services
Stripe, an online payments processor
Medium, the blogging platform, which Gab had used to publish a statement about the synagogue attack.

In addition, Gab has suggested that Twitter might soon block it.

Image copyrightGAB
Image caption
Gab's website currently shows this message --

"Show the world that your TOS [terms of service] means nothing and your rules are enforced subjectively at will," it posted.

This is not the first time Gab has clashed with others.

Apple and Google have both banned its app from their stores and Microsoft stopped hosting the platform on its Azure cloud computing platform in September.

But Gab has said that it still has "plenty of options, resources and support" after the latest setback and is "working around to clock" to get back online.

Five things to know about Gab –

Critics have described the site as a "haven" for the far-right, since many controversial figures have moved there after being banned from Twitter and Facebook. Among them are conspiracy theorist Alex Jones; the founder of the neo-Nazi site the Daily Stormer, Andrew Anglin; and the anti-Islam group Britain First. Gab says it welcomes all speech and members should mute accounts they do not want to see

Not everything is allowed on Gab. Its terms and conditions do not allow direct threats of violence. And founder Andrew Torba has previously blogged disavowing political violence. Posts that break US laws - such as copyright content and images of child abuse - are also not allowed. A small number of Gab users have complained that the platform does not allow cartoon depictions of children in sexual situations. The company has told those people to go "somewhere else"

Gab does not carry advertising. Instead, members can pay for a Pro membership that unlocks several features, including video live-streaming

Apple has never allowed Gab on its App Store, citing pornographic content and hate speech. Gab was available on the Google Play store until August 2017, when Google removed it citing hate speech. The company has produced versions of its app with content filters switched on by default but Apple and Google have not allowed this on their app stores. Gab has described this as Silicon Valley censorship

Gab has faced censorship accusations of its own. In 2017, its web domain registrar ordered it to delete a post mocking Heather Heyer, a woman killed in protest-related violence in Charlottesville. Faced with the threat of losing its web domain, Gab deleted the post and sought a new domain registrar. Its cloud service provider, Microsoft, also ordered it to delete two anti-Semitic posts. However, these were subsequently removed by the writer himself. Gab has said it wants to develop its own decentralised infrastructure so that it can avoid censorship


WHEN I LIVED IN WASHINGTON DC LONG YEARS AGO, MY FRIEND WAS INVOLVED IN A RENT CONTROL ACTION. IN THIS CASE THEY WANT TO CAP RENTS. THAT WOULD BE REALLY GOOD. SANDERS HAS TALKED ABOUT INCOME MAINLY, BUT COST OF LIVING IS CRUCIAL ALSO.

I DO LIKE THE STRESS ON FREE COLLEGE. WE WILL NOT HAVE A WELL-EDUCATED POPULATION AS LONG AS COLLEGE COSTS AS MUCH AS IT DOES. MOST PEOPLE DON’T GO VERY FAR OFF THEIR BASIC MAJOR COURSES, BUT SOME DO AND WILL END UP WITH INCREASED UNDERSTANDING OF PEOPLE AND THINGS; THAT CREATES BETTER CITIZENS, WHO WILL BE MUCH LESS LIKELY TO ELECT A FAR-RIGHT AUTOCRAT WHO ACTIVELY ENCOURAGES GROUP HOSTILITIES. IF ONLY WE HAD HAD FREE COLLEGE FOR THE LAST 50 YEARS!

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Bernie-Sanders-backs-CA-rent-control-measure-13345525.php
Bernie Sanders backs CA rent-control measure, candidate Jovanka Beckles
Photo of Melody Gutierrez
Melody Gutierrez Oct. 29, 2018 Updated: Oct. 29, 2018 4:05 p.m.

3 photographs – Bernie Sanders greeting people

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders followed his stop in the Bay Area over the weekend with endorsements Monday of a state ballot measure that would lift restrictions on residential rent control and a progressive Assembly candidate running against a fellow Democrat for an open East Bay seat.

The independent senator and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate gave thumbs ups to Proposition 10, which polls show is facing longshot odds Nov. 6, and Jovanka Beckles, a Richmond City Council member and youth mental health counselor who is running for an open seat in Assembly District 15, which stretches from north of Richmond into Oakland.

Sanders said Prop. 10 is needed to address the affordable-housing crisis and protect renters from skyrocketing prices.

“Municipalities should have the freedom to implement legislation to deal with the outrageous decline in affordable housing and rising rents,” Sanders said in a statement. “In that regard passing Proposition 10 makes sense to me.”

Under the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act — which the ballot measure seeks to repeal — cities can’t cap rents on any housing built after the law passed in 1995. The restriction extends further back in cities such as San Francisco that had rent control when the law took effect. The law bars cities from capping prices when a unit becomes vacant, allowing landlords to raise rents as much as they like when a tenant leaves.

The Costa-Hawkins law also says cities cannot impose rent control on single-family homes. Under Prop. 10, local governments could decide what kind of rent control is appropriate for their cities.

The Assembly race in which Sanders issued an endorsement features Beckles running against Buffy Wicks, who directed Hillary Clinton’s California presidential campaign in 2016 and worked in Barack Obama’s White House on passing the Affordable Care Act.

Sanders’ endorsement of Beckles came two days after he appeared onstage with her at the Berkeley Community Theater during a rally in which he largely steered clear of state issues and races and focused on attacking President Trump.

“While in Berkeley, I had the chance to meet with Jovanka Beckles, and I was impressed by her commitment to progressive values,” Sanders said Monday. “In the state Assembly, she will fight for Medicare for all, a living wage for all California workers, environmental justice and criminal justice reform.”


ABOUT THE REPORTER –

Melody Gutierrez is the San Francisco Chronicle’s Sacramento bureau chief. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez

Photo of Melody Gutierrez
Melody Gutierrez
Follow Melody on:https://www.facebook.com/SFChronicle/MelodyGutierrez

Melody Gutierrez joined the San Francisco Chronicle in 2013 to cover politics from the Sacramento bureau. Previously, she was a senior writer who covered politics, education and sports for The Sacramento Bee.

With an emphasis on watchdog reporting, she has written investigative stories on pension spiking, high school steroid use, troubles in a school police force and how the state failed to notify a school district that a teacher was barred from foster care parenting due to multiple molestation allegations.

She has also examined the state’s use of segregation cells for prisoners, detailed legislative and legal efforts to curtail "revenge porn" and chronicled the effects of the drought in California.

Past Articles from this Author:
Jerry Brown assails Trump on clean-car standards
Migrant caravan no emergency for Gavin Newsom: He’d pull CA Guard from border
Jerry Brown named chair of Doomsday Clock group



FOX NEWS REALLY DOES A GREAT DEAL OF HARM, BUT THEY GET TO EXPRESS THEIR VIEWS, AS I DO ALSO. THE “CONSERVATIVES” ARE CONSCIOUSLY POISONING THE WATER HOLE WITH WORDS. ONE OF THESE DAYS THIS KIND OF THING WILL BITE THEM BACK BY PRODUCING SO MUCH ILL WILL TOWARD THEM THAT THEY WILL CAUSE MEMBERS OF THEIR OWN BASE TO LEAVE. PERHAPS WE COULD CALL THAT “THE NEW ENLIGHTENMENT.”

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/29/media/pittsburgh-suspect-invasion/index.html
Pittsburgh suspect echoed talking point that dominated Fox News airwaves
By Brian Stelter, CNN Business
Updated 10:01 PM ET, Mon October 29, 2018

(CNN)In the search for answers after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, there is newfound scrutiny on the suspect's social media posts and how his anti-Semitism merged with a hatred of immigrants.

The suspect, Robert Bowers, complained about immigrant "invaders" six days before the shooting.

While there is no such invasion happening, this rhetoric has blanketed right-wing media in relation to the Central American migrant caravan that's been in the news this month.

And Bowers apparently noticed. On October 21, he wrote on Gab, "I have noticed a change in people saying 'illegals' that now say 'invaders'. I like this."

It may never be known where he heard this hateful language. But a review of television and online content shows how "invasion" and "invaders" became a talking point in October -- not just in the darkest corners of the web, but on Fox's prime time shows. The network's rivals CNN and MSNBC used "invasion" in the context of explaining the right-wing narrative.

Within days of the new caravan's formation in Honduras, Fox News hosts and Republican congressmen were using dehumanizing language and casting the migrants as an imminent threat. In reality, the nearest caravan is about 1,000 miles from the nearest US port of entry, and many of the migrants say they want to seek asylum through legal avenues.

On Fox News, the word "invasion" was used in relation to the caravan more than 60 times in October, according to closed captioning transcripts. (This includes repeats of programs.) "Invading" was brought up more than a dozen times.

On Fox Business, the word "invasion" was invoked more than 75 times in October, mostly on Lou Dobbs' program.

Fox's Tucker Carlson referenced an "invasion" as early as October 16.

Eleven days later, on October 27, minutes before entering the Tree of Life synagogue, the suspect wrote another post about "invaders" and said "I'm going in," seemingly linking his anti-immigrant attitudes to his attack on the synagogue.

One of the congregations that rents space at the synagogue, Dor Hadash, reportedly has a partnership with HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which has a long history of helping refugees.

The suspect claimed in his final post on Gab that "HIAS likes to bring in invaders that kill our people."

It is unknown how the suspect heard about HIAS. The group received only a tiny bit of national news coverage in the weeks leading up to the shooting, according to Google News search results.

But the imagined threat posed by the migrant caravan was all over the news. And President Trump tried to keep it that way, by repeatedly tweeting about and talking about the caravan. On October 18, he cast the migrant issue as a midterm election opportunity for the GOP, saying "this will be an election of Kavanaugh, the caravan, law and order and common sense."

The right-wing rhetoric was sometimes accompanied by accusations that Democrats were funding or supporting the caravan.

Social media sites were clogged with conspiracy theories along these lines, and some of the theories even parroted anti-Semitic tropes.

Billionaire George Soros was brought up by GOP stalwarts like Rep. Matt Gaetz, who tweeted a video on October 17 and said it showed someone in Honduras "giving cash 2 women & children 2 join the caravan & storm the US border @ election time. Soros? US-backed NGOs? Time to investigate the source!"

Soros is Jewish and a favorite boogeyman of the far-right -- two things that are not always a coincidence.

In the comment sections on YouTube and other sites, anonymous users frequently went even further than Fox News' TV stars.

Here's just one example from YouTube: "This is an invading army and invasive species, this assault on America must be stopped by any means necessary!"

Conservative websites also employed the term "invasion" liberally.

"This is an invasion. There's no other way to describe it," Glenn Beck wrote on his own website on October 23.

But few conservative news sources can rival Fox News' reach. The millions of viewers who tuned to its prime time programs heard guests on Fox also use words like "invaders" and "mob."

On October 19, Fox contributor Newt Gingrich said "this is an invasion. This is an act of attacking the United States' sovereignty." He became one of the loudest voices repeating the term "invasion" on TV and online.

"We have to treat this as an invasion," Rep. Steve Scalise said on Laura Ingraham's show on October 23.

"It's not a caravan, it's an invasion," Tomi Lahren said the next day on Fox.

Afternoon anchor Shep Smith, a lone Fox voice who spoke out against the rhetoric used by his colleagues, told viewers on October 23, "The president has called it an ASSAULT on the US border. It is absolutely not."

On his phone, he read a tweet from a viewer who told him, "Sorry, Shep. We are not falling for your fake story. This is an invasion."

Smith tried to tell her that Trump was preying on her fears.

Later in the day, the fear-mongering continued on Fox. Ingraham's 10 p.m. monologue was titled "leftists aiding and abetting an invasion." She referred to the migrants as "this invading horde."

In the wake of the Pittsburgh massacre, some observers have pinned the hate crime on right wing rhetoric -- and the president directly.

Writing for The Atlantic, Adam Serwer asserted that "Trump's Caravan Hysteria Led to This."

The president apparently isn't second guessing himself. On Monday, he used the word "invasion" for the first time in a tweet to describe the caravan.

"This is an invasion of our Country," he wrote, "and our Military is waiting for you!"

GAB
COMPILATION AND COMMENTARY
BY LUCY WARNER
OCTOBER 29, 2018


“SOCIAL JUSTICE BULLYING” AS USED BELOW SOUNDS SO MUCH LIKE THE POPULAR TERM OF THE RIGHT AT THE MOMENT, “MOBBING.” THESE PEOPLE WANT TO PRESENT THEMSELVES, THE GREATEST BULLIES OF ALL TIME, AS BEING VICTIMS. WHY NOT? THEY CAN’T POSSIBLY GAIN PUBLIC LEGITIMACY UNLESS THEY ARE ALLOWED TO SPEW HATE OVER THE NATIONS AND COMMUNITIES, WHICH IS THEIR RIGHT, THEY FEEL. I “FEEL” THAT WE SHOULD HAVE LARGER AND BETTER DEFINED LIMITS ON WHAT IS PRESENTLY ALLOWED UNDER “FREEDOM OF SPEECH,” AND OF ASSOCIATION, ALSO. IT’S NOT MORE POLICE PRESENCE AND POWER THAT WE NEED, BUT MORE MORAL AUTHORITY FOR GOOD OVER OBVIOUS EVIL.

THE ACLU, I AM SORRY TO SAY, WAS MENTIONED IN AN ARTICLE ONCE DURING THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS (NO I DO NOT REMEMBER WHEN OR WHERE), AS DEFENDING THE FREE SPEECH OF FAR RIGHT UTTERANCES. I HAVE NOT GIVEN MONEY TO THEM SINCE THEN. WHEN EVIL IS GIVEN THE SAME RIGHTS AS GOOD, WE ARE IN TROUBLE AS A NATION.

I LIKE THE TERM “MORAL AUTHORITY,” AND WOULD USE IT TO MEAN MORE THAN SEXUAL MATTERS. WHEN I WAS GROWING UP “MORAL” MEANT ESSENTIALLY REFRAINING FROM SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE, AND WEARING MODEST CLOTHING. “BULLYING” THOSE WHO ARE GROSSLY UNFAIR TO PEOPLE WHO ARE UNABLE TO DEFEND THEMSELVES, IN MY VIEW, IS THE ONLY REAL “JUSTICE” THAT WE HAVE. IF NOT “SOCIAL JUSTICE,” THEN WHAT? READ THE LYRICS TO THE GREAT ROCK SONG “SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-38305402
BBC Trending
Gab: Free speech haven or alt-right safe space?
By BBC Trending
What's popular and why
14 December 2016

Image copyrightGAB.AI

It's become the go-to social network for an extreme group of activists who have been chucked off of Twitter. So is Gab.ai a free speech alternative or just an alt-right safe space?

Its top hashtags list is a conservative dream. It's peppered with trends like #Trump, #MAGA ("Make America Great Again" - Trump's campaign slogan) along with far-right obsessions like Dump Star Wars and the Pizzagate conspiracy hoax.

But while its founder is indeed a self-identified conservative, Gab.ai does not want to be an exclusive hangout for Republicans, right-wingers or the fringe white nationalist alt-right.

Image copyrightANDREW TORBA
Image caption
Gab founder Andrew Torba

Andrew Torba worked in Silicon Valley before moving to Austin, Texas, where he runs Gab today. He says he was inspired by reports that Facebook had been deliberately excluding stories about right-wing politicians in its trending topics section - a story BBC Trending covered earlier this year.

Torba describes himself as a conservative Christian and says he's no fan of the alt-right, but he believes that the recent move by Twitter to kick off several prominent alt-right activists is part of a larger trend towards limiting freedom of expression.

"What we've seen happening over the past 18 months or so is extensive censorship and suppression of specifically conservative ideas, news sources and individuals around the world," he says. "Social networks are hiding behind the guise of very subjective terms and guidelines, so they call things hate speech and harassment.

"We believe in free and open expression for everyone on the internet and that's something we want to protect and we want to promote," he told BBC Trending radio.

Follow BBC Trending on Facebook
Join the conversation on this and other stories here.

Gab has more than 100,000 users and another 300,000 on a waiting list - significant numbers, but tiny when compared to Twitter's more than 300 million monthly active users, not to mention Facebook's nearly 1.8 billion.

The site doesn't allow illegal pornography, promotion of violence and terrorism or the publication of private information. Otherwise anything goes - though there is a line at the bottom of their rules page which says "Try to be nice and kind to one another. We're all human."

The site could be described as a cross between Reddit and Twitter. Posts are limited to 300 characters, and there's an upvoting/downvoting system and a series of categories such as news, politics, art and so on.

Gab's logo is a frog. Torba denies it's a reference to the alt-right icon Pepe, which ended up on a list of hate symbols. Instead, he says it's a biblical reference to a plague of frogs mentioned in the book of Exodus.

"The frog to us serves as a metaphor," Torba says. "It's releasing the frogs on Silicon Valley to expose their corruption, their censorship and the information monopoly that they have on the web."

Image copyrightGAB.AI
Image caption
Gab's frog logo

Torba says the site has a number of "diverse users" including Catholic stoics from Austria, Hindu philosophers from India and rap artists from Canada. But he also specifically champions conservatives.

"With respect to our conservative user base, when a group of people are being systematically dehumanised and labelled as an alphabet soup of phobias, they will look for a place that will allow them to speak freely without censorship that is devoid of social justice bullying," he says, using a phrase commonly used by those on the right who criticise political correctness.

That sort of statement, and the fact that Gab has offered asylum to the alt-right refugees from Twitter who have washed up on its shores, suggest that conversation on the social network might gravitate towards one specific cluster of topics. Other social networks organised around such things as privacy concerns or rejection of advertising have built audiences - but have come nowhere close to challenging the industry giants.

Listen to BBC Trending radio
Hear more on this story and others on the BBC World Service.

It's just for believers," says Anthony Smith, a journalist and observer of the right for the left-leaning and millennial-focused website Mic. He says the site will continue to attract more of the same types of users - conservatives and alt-right activists.

"There's no incentive for non-believers to join, it's just so difficult for people who don't already have an interest in it to be part of the conversation," he says. "It's really easy for any social media site to become flavour of the week. It's harder to become like flavour of the month or flavour of the year."

It may also be the case that Twitter's larger audience is too tempting for those who aren't permanently banned.

Richard Spencer, a white nationalist who has become one of the figureheads of the alt-right, was recently allowed back on the network. Despite being a proponent of Gab, Spencer has largely ignored the platform since his Twitter account resurfaced.

Reporting by Will Yates

Blog by Mike Wendling



OH, POOR, POOR GAB!! THE CLASSIC OLD PHRASE "HIT'EM IN THE POCKET BOOK" IS OBVIOUSLY STILL A GOOD MOTTO.

https://bitcoinist.com/coinbase-paypal-ban-gab/
AFTER COINBASE, PAYPAL BANS SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM GAB ‘JUST BECAUSE’
Wilma WooWILMA WOO | OCT 28, 2018 | 15:00

Gab.ai*, the social messaging platform born in 2016 as an answer to the “Big Social Monopoly” of extant social media giants, has lost access to its PayPal account.

[NOTE: “.AI” IS “Adobe Illustrator Artwork (AI) is a proprietary file format developed by Adobe Systems for representing single-page vector-based drawings in either the EPS or PDF formats. The .ai filename extension is used by Adobe Illustrator.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Illustrator_Artwork]

PAYPAL: GAB SHOULD ‘FIND ALTERNATIVE’
Gab, which in June saw itself unexpectedly banned from US cryptocurrency exchange and wallet provider Coinbase, did not receive an explanation from PayPal, the company’s decision being effective immediately.

“(Gab) is now banned from Paypal ‘just because,’” officials wrote on the platform’s Twitter account.

According to a reproduction of the email Gab received from PayPal, the company had opted to pursue its decision as part of its “right to terminate your account for any reason and at any time upon notice to you.”

More curiously, the notice does not even suggest Gab had flouted its User Agreement, and adds that its seller status or volume of sales did not factor in its decision.

“We encourage you to use this time to find an alternative online payment processor,” it adds.

View image on Twitter

Gab.com🍂
✔
@getongab
BREAKING: http://Gab.com is now banned from Paypal "just because."

4:35 PM - Oct 27, 2018
2,571
2,669 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy

THE PERILS OF TRUST

The episode comes just four months after Coinbase was similarly opaque about its reasoning for suspending Gab’s access, leading CEO Andrew Torba to label centralized exchanges as “cancer” and “contradictory to everything crypto stands for.”

Despite the inconvenience of the debacle, it is unlikely Gab will struggle to find a more willing payment processor or settlement portal.

PayPal has earnt itself a dubious reputation among cryptocurrency users for its policies, in March this year becoming the subject of intense scorn over a mass email warning its account holders not to trade cryptocurrency.

While the email subsequently appeared to be fake, the centralized nature of the business and its ability to freeze funds at will have put it head-to-head with cryptocurrency advocates.

Coinbase too, along with multiple mainstream exchanges, continually face criticism over its policy implementations, social media regularly seeing horror stories over blocked accounts, missing funds and other irregularities.

What do you think about PayPal blocking Gab? Let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Twitter

OCTOBER 28, 2018


NEWS AND VIEWS


KEYWORDS FOR TODAY, “WORDS MATTER.”

HALLOWEEN APPROACHES, AND THE GHOULS ARE OUT ALREADY. THE NEWS IS ABOUT MAYHEM AND MINDLESS HATRED. AS RACHEL MADDOW SAYS, IT’S ABOUT THE PRESIDENT AS WELL, AS HE CLAIMS THAT HIS WORDS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE DANGEROUS BRAND OF NUTTINESS THAT IS OUT AMONG US, AND DARES TO CHIDE THE NEWS MEDIA FOR STIRRING UP GROUP HATRED. WATCH HER COMMENTS ON YOUTUBE BELOW. WHAT PERCENTAGE OF AMERICAN REPUBLICANS ARE BEHIND TRUMP IN THIS, I WONDER.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NidkK2rVSFs
Trump Era Unique For Violent Extremists Inspired By US President | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC
210,730 views
Rachel Maddow looks at the violent, racist, extremist groups that seek out street violence in the name of supporting Donald Trump, and wonders what will happen when Trump-inspired extremists collide with Trump-pressured law enforcement.


“WORDS MATTER. WORDS MATTER. WORDS. MATTER.”

THIS PARTICULAR CASE OF BLOOD LUST IS TOLD ABOUT THE JEWISH NEIGHBORHOOD AROUND THE TREE OF LIFE SYNAGOGUE BY A WRITER WHO GREW UP THERE. IMAGINE THIS IS YOUR HOMETOWN, NOT HIS. HOW WOULD YOU FEEL? IS IT TIME TO STEP IN AND REESTABLISH CIVILIZATION AGAIN YET, OR ARE YOU POSSIBLY STILL CHEERING BEHIND OUR PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP? WHERE DO YOU THINK HE IS LEADING YOU? WHERE ARE YOU PREPARED TO GO WITH HIM, AND CAN YOU STOP YOURSELF FROM FOLLOWING? ASK YOURSELF, “AM I A LEMMING?”

IF YOU AREN’T, YOU CAN CONTACT YOUR GOVERNMENT LEADERS EASILY, AND IF WE ARE TO REMAIN AMERICA, THE TIME TO DO SO IS NOW, I’M AFRAID. DID YOU HEAR HIM SAY THAT HE IS “A NATIONALIST?” THIS INFO IS FRESH OFF THE NET, AND THE PHONES ARE OPEN TO ALL. EMAILS ARE OKAY, BUT NOTHING BEATS A CONCERNED OR EVEN IRATE TELEPHONE CALL FOR MOVING LEGISLATIVE MINDS. GO TO THE GOVERNMENT CONTACT SITE BY GOOGLING “CONGRESS AND SENATE CONTACT INFORMATION,” OR SOME OTHER VARIATION ON THOSE WORDS. GOOD OLD GOOGLE CHROME WILL UNSCRAMBLE ALMOST ANY COMBINATION OF LETTERS.

“Call congressional offices directly or through the switchboard. If you do not have the direct number, you can reach US representatives by calling 202-225-3121, and US senators by calling 202-224-3121. Ask the operator to connect you to the individual office.”

THESE VIDEOS ARE VERY GOOD. I WATCHED THEM ALL THIS MORNING. I WANTED TO GET AN IN-DEPTH VIEW OF A JEWISH COMMUNITY, AND FOUND THE KIND OF GRIEF THAT I AM FEELING OVER OUR TWO WEEKS OR SO OF HORRIFIC NEWS STORIES. THE WRITER OF THE FOLLOWING STORY, DAVID SLATER, WAS BORN AND GREW UP IN THE TOWN, AND KNEW THE PEOPLE. THAT MUST BE VERY HARD FOR HIM.

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/video/pittsburgh-community-shattered-mass-shooting-synagogue-58803484?cid=ap_video_rec.
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/video/pittsburgh-mayor-reacts-deadly-synagogue-shooting-58803483
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/video/tree-life-synagogue-rabbi-speaks-58803414
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/video/latest-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-suspect-investigation-58803279
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/video/pittsburgh-residents-react-shooting-synagogue-58803244
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/video/11-dead-injured-shooter-opens-fire-inside-pittsburgh-58803243

BOWERS USED THE INTERNET WEBSITE CALLED GAB FOR WHITE NATIONALISTS TO EXPRESS HIS RAGE AGAINST JEWS.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/person-mass-murder-mr-rogers-neighborhood-58808487
First Person: A mass murder in Mr. Rogers' neighborhood
By DAVID MICHAEL SLATER FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oct 28, 2018, 1:13 PM ET

PHOTOGRAPH -- Gideon Murphy places a flower at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018. Robert Bowers, the suspect in Saturday's mass shooting at the synagogue, expressed hatred of Jews during the rampage and told officers afterward that Jews were committing genocide and he wanted them all to die, according to charging documents made public Sunday. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Harry Houdini, the Jewish escape artist who thwarted every attempt to cage him, died not long after being punched in the gut by a college student. Houdini's abdominal muscles were legendary, but the student didn't give him enough time to tense them before delivering a blow that ruptured his appendix.

Something like this happened to me on Saturday morning.

I grew up in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill — in fact, directly across the street and catty corner to the Tree of Life synagogue. Squirrel Hill is one of America's leafiest and loveliest Jewish communities. Synagogues and Jewish shops abound in the hilly little Eden. Heavenly corned-beef sandwiches are easy pickings where orthodox, conservative, reformed, and unaffiliated Jews live harmoniously with their non-Jewish neighbors. The Jewish Community Center is a beehive of multi-faith activity.

People are nice to each other in Squirrel Hill. For crying out loud, it was literally Mr. Rogers' neighborhood. We had a mass murder in Mr. Rogers' neighborhood.

Until today, it seemed inconceivable to me that any American could, at this point, be shocked by a mass murder, even one in their backyard. Those expressing such shock have struck me as willfully self-delusional. Jewish Americans, in particular, are taught pretty much from day one that the veneer of "civilization" is perilously thin and that "It" could happen again. Here. In our lifetimes. And so we must be ever vigilant and wary — perpetually tensed.

I was weaned on such worries. And despite how paranoid they seemed on the corner of Shady and Wilkins, I thought I had internalized them.

But I wasn't ready for the blow.

I wasn't ready to hear the words 'Squirrel Hill' uttered by the president of the United States or the prime minister of Israel. I wasn't prepared to see a law enforcement officer armed to the teeth standing in front of the house where I grew up memorizing Steelers' Super Bowl stats. Or to see a childhood friend interviewed on the news. I was not prepared to wonder how close a connection I would have when the names of the dead were finally released.

Now I know what far too many Americans know — not that it can happen anywhere, but the visceral truth that it happened in a place I consider home. This isn't knowledge. It's a wound.

You don't want to hear me rant and rave about what I think must change to make this the last mass shooting in America. So instead, I'll tell you something else about Harry Houdini: He managed many of his impossible escapes by hiding keys in the back of his throat.

Our key is in our throats as well: our words.

Words matter. Words matter. Words. Matter.

We live in a cesspool of hateful words, and we are drowning in it. Yet we act surprised when hate rears up in our communities.

Mr. Rogers, whose son attended my elementary school, always counseled us to look for the helpers in times of crisis. I took his advice Saturday and was brought to tears by the bravery of Pittsburgh's first responders. And I swelled with pride when several local rabbis declined a news anchor's invitation to offer thoughts and prayers. Instead, they explained that, for Jews, prayer is primarily a personal affair, and that Judaism is first and foremost a religion of action.

Unless we see courageous action, the Squirrel Hill massacre will be just another on the list, albeit one with an asterisk for me. You probably have your own.

We're a ruptured and bleeding nation in a cage of our own making. I only wish I had the magic key to unlock our hardening hearts.

Won't you be my neighbor?

———

David Michael Slater is the author of more than 20 books. His work for children includes the picture books "Cheese Louise!", "The Boy & the Book" and "Hanukkah Harvie vs. Santa Claus"; the early chapter-book series "Mysterious Monsters"; and the teen series "Forbidden Books." Slater's work for adults includes the comic-drama "Fun & Games." Slater teaches in Reno, Nevada, where he lives with his wife and son. You can learn more about Slater and his work at http://www.davidmichaelslater.com.

David Michael Slater grew up in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood, directly across from the Tree of Life synagogue. In this column for The Associated Press, he writes about his community and processing the tragedy.


BOWERS WAS OPPOSED TO HIAS – HEBREW IMMIGRANT AID SOCIETY – AND WAS A “GUN ENTHUSIAST.” HE “HATED DONALD TRUMP.” APPARENTLY, HE’S JUST A PRIMARY ANTI-JEWISH PERSON. I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND THAT KIND OF THING.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/27/us/synagogue-attack-suspect-robert-bowers-profile/index.html
Here's what we know so far about Robert Bowers, the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect
By Saeed Ahmed and Paul P. Murphy, CNN
Updated 7:14 AM ET, Sun October 28, 2018

(CNN)As officials try to put together a picture of the alleged Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, one focus of the investigation is his social media postings, the FBI said. Here's what we know so far about suspect Robert Bowers, 46:

He allegedly made anti-Semitic statements after his arrest
While in custody and receiving medical treatment, Bowers told a SWAT officer he wanted all Jews to die and also that "they (Jews) were committing genocide to his people," according to the police criminal complaint. The bloodshed took place on the same day as Saturday Shabbat services. At the time of the shooting, three different congregations were holding services at the Tree of Life.

He was in the synagogue for about 20 minutes
At a Saturday afternoon news conference, officials said the suspect was in the Squirrel Hill synagogue for about 20 minutes. After the attack and as he was leaving the building, Bowers encountered a law enforcement officer and the two exchanged gunfire, officials said. The suspect went back inside to hide from SWAT officers. Bowers was in fair condition with multiple gunshot wounds, officials said. It's believed he was shot by police.

Trump says synagogue should have had armed guards
He was not known to law enforcement
"At this point we have no knowledge that Bowers was known to law enforcement before today," said Bob Jones, FBI Pittsburgh special agent in charge. Jones said that while Bowers' alleged motive is unknown, officials believed he acted alone.

He has an active license to carry firearms
Bowers has an active license and has made at least six known firearm purchases since 1996, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said. On September 29, Bowers posted photos of his handgun collection on his Gab.com account, which included multiple clips and sights. A rifle and three handguns were found on the scene of the attack, the FBI said.

He blamed Jews for helping migrant caravans
On his Gab.com account, Bowers claimed Jews were helping transport members of the migrant caravans. He shared a video that another Gab.com user posted, purportedly of a Jewish refugee advocacy group HIAS on the US-Mexico border. Another post that Bowers commented on described HIAS' overall efforts as "sugar-coated evil."

Seventeen days before the attack, Bowers posted a web page from HIAS that listed a number of Shabbats that were being held on behalf of refugees, an official said. On that list was a Shabbat address that is less than a mile away from the Tree of Life Synagogue. (The chief executive officer of HIAS, Mark Hetfield, said Bowers is not known to the group.)

He called those in migrant caravans 'invaders'
According to his posts, Bowers believed that those in the migrant caravans were violent because they were attempting to leave countries that had high levels of violence. And Bowers repeatedly called them "invaders" on his Gab posts. "I have noticed a change in people saying 'illegals' that now say 'invaders'," read one post, six days before the shooting. "I like this."

A law enforcement source confirmed to CNN that investigators believe the social media postings belong to Bowers and that the language on his account matches the suspected motivation behind the shootings.

His most recent post was five minutes before police were alerted to the shooting
In that Gab post, Bowers said he "can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in."

Bowers' photo on Gab.com
His Gab account has frequent anti-Semitic postings
He has reposted a number of posts on his social media accounts that tell Jews to get out or leave. Gab is a social media platform that advocates for free speech and puts nearly no restrictions on content.

(In a statement posted online, Gab says it "unequivocally disavows and condemns all acts of terrorism and violence...Gab's mission is very simple: to defend free expression and individual liberty online for all people." Gab said it was alerted to the suspect's profile on their platform, backed up the data, suspended the account, and contacted the FBI.)

His posts included criticism of President Trump
Among the many anti-Semitic social media posts were comments suggesting that President Trump was surrounded by too many Jewish people. "Trump is surrounded by k****", "things will stay the course," read one post on the Gab social media platform, which used a derogatory term to describe Jews. Another post, apparently intended as an insult, read: "Trump is a globalist, not a nationalist," Bowers said two days before the shooting. "There is no #MAGA as long as there is a k*** infestation.
He said he didn't vote for Trump
Roughly four hours before the shooting, Bowers commented in a post that he did not vote for Trump.

He was involved in trucking
A law enforcement official familiar with the ongoing investigation tells CNN that Bowers has a commercial driver's license and a history associated with the trucking industry.

He received a traffic citation in 2015
A CNN review of criminal records found a 2015 traffic citation against Bowers for allegedly driving without tags.

He's been charged with hate crimes
Bowers faces 29 charges in all, including 11 counts of using a firearm to commit murder and multiple counts of two hate crimes: obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death and obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in bodily injury to a public safety officer.

CNN's Keith Allen, Steve Almasy, Josh Campbell, Matthew Hilk, Tammy Kupperman, Nadia Lancy, Shimon Prokupecz, Miguel Marquez, Evan Perez, AnneClaire Stapleton and Joe Sutton contributed to this report.


HIS BALD STATEMENT ABOUT BEING “A NATIONALIST” MADE MY STOMACH TURN. HE KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT HE IS SAYING, AND YET SAYS IT ANYWAY. I HOPE SOME TWIST OF FATE ENTERS OUR SITUATION AND DISLODGES HIM FROM HIS HOLD ON THE REINS. A GOOD PLACE TO START WOULD BE A BEAUTIFUL BLUE TIDE, BUT WHO CAN SAY FOR SURE. I HAVE VOTED FOR ALL THE DEMOCRATS AND WOMEN ON THE BALLOT, SO I’M JUST WAITING FOR THE ELECTIONS TO BE OVER AND OUR FATE TO IMPROVE. WE MUST BREAK THE REPUBLICAN GRIP ON CONGRESS AND THE SENATE OR WE ARE IN REAL PERIL, I BELIEVE.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/413558-jewish-leaders-say-trumps-not-welcome-in-pittsburgh-until-he
Jewish leaders tell Trump he's not welcome in Pittsburgh until he denounces white nationalism
BY MORGAN GSTALTER - 10/28/18 07:01 PM EDT

A group of Jewish leaders told President Trump that he is no longer welcome in Pittsburgh until he denounces white nationalism following the shooting at a synagogue there over the weekend.

Eleven members of the Pittsburgh affiliate of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice penned a letter to Trump following the Saturday shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue.

“Our Jewish community is not the only group you have targeted,” the group wrote. “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.”

Trump was fiercely criticized after he failed to condemn white supremacy and asserted that there is “blame on both sides” after last year’s white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.

The group also said Trump is not welcome in the city until he also stops targeting minorities, immigrants and refugees.

The president has “spread lies and sowed fear about migrant families in Central America,” the group wrote.

“The Torah teaches that every human being is made b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God. This means all of us,” the leaders wrote. “In our neighbors, Americans, and people worldwide who have reached out to give our community strength, there we find the image of God.”

They noted how Squirrel Hill, the Pittsburgh neighborhood where the attack took place, was once the neighborhood where children’s television host Fred Rogers lived.

“Here in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood, we express gratitude for the first responders and for the outpouring of support from our neighbors near and far,” they wrote.

Robert Gregory Bowers, 46, has been arrested and charged with the deaths of 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life Synagogue.

The attack on the synagogue is the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history.

Trump condemned the attack as "an assault on humanity."

"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.

He condemned the gunman as a “wacko” who should get the death penalty and suggested that an “armed guard” at the synagogue could have prevented the attack.

The president, however, was criticized on social media Saturday night for tweeting about the World Series game shortly after the shooting took place.
- Updated 7:42 p.m.


THE QUESTION IN THIS ARTICLE IS WHETHER BERNIE STILL HAS IT, OR HAS THE COUNTRY CHANGED TOO MUCH. HIS STATEMENT BELOW THAT THE SENIORS’ MEDS ARE COSTING EVEN MORE THIS YEAR, AND THEY STILL CAN’T AFFORD TO PAY IT, IS HIS ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION. AS WITH ALL GOOD FITS, THERE IS A NEED FOR A HELPFUL GOVERNMENT AS MUCH AS THERE HAS BEEN BEFORE, AND HE WILL CONTINUE TO FOLLOW THAT PATH. ONE THING I CAN TRUST SANDERS FOR. HE WILL NOT STOP WHAT HE IS DOING BECAUSE HE IS AFRAID OF LOSING FUNDING OR VOTES.

AS FOR EXACTLY WHAT WILL BE TRUE IN ANOTHER YEAR, WE WON’T KNOW UNTIL THE TIME COMES. WHILE I WATCH THE RACE CLOSELY, I DON’T USUALLY ENGAGE IN TOO MANY PREDICTIONS. I’D RATHER HEAR SOMETHING IN DEPTH, LIKE THE SENIORS’ COSTS, THAT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE ABOUT HOW THINGS WILL GO NOW AND LATER. FOR NOW I’LL JUST LIVE THROUGH IT ALL A BIT AT A TIME.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/28/politics/bernie-sanders-2020-will-he-wont-he/index.html
It's Bernie Sanders' world. But what's his place in it?
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 5:41 PM ET, Sun October 28, 2018

Correctionville, Iowa (CNN)Bernie Sanders has a decision to make.

In a political season when some of the Democrats considering presidential runs have been unusually direct about their ambitions, the independent senator from Vermont's next steps remain a genuine mystery - including, it sometimes seems, to himself.

Sanders tries his best to avoid talking about it now, so close to a midterm election the party is so desperate to conquer. Listening to the question, in its manifold formulations, can at times appear to physically pain him. But his work and itinerary this fall, as he travels to boost Democrats around the country while continuing to grow and sustain the grassroots movement he elevated with his 2016 campaign, has guaranteed its asking.

The last time around, this process played out in lower velocity settings. No one was bellowing "Ruuuuun" when, as a frequent guest on liberal Bill Moyers' public television program, Sanders mused a bit more freely about the prospect. During an appearance in October of 2014, after some friendly nudges from Moyers, he set the bar for a 2016 bid.

"The main issue that I'm trying to figure out, and I'm going around the country talking to people -- is there support for a candidacy which is really prepared to take on the billionaire class?" Sanders said. "Can you do it? How do you do it? How do you get the resources to do it? How do you build the grassroots organization?"

Four years on, the answers are clear, and if the standard now were roughly the same, a second consecutive swing would be a no-brainer.

Bernie Sanders wants to see Trump lose in 2020

Sanders' grassroots following on the political left is unparalleled in Democratic politics. Anger and a desire to act against the influence of the wealthy few is embedded in both American political life and increasingly, the popular culture.

Small dollar donors across the country are swelling liberal candidates' campaign accounts, much as they ended up doing for Sanders in 2016. Some of his signature policies and, perhaps as importantly, his political language, have been adopted by a wide range of Democrats. The party this midterm season has been mostly focused and largely coherent in its pledges to expand health care and root out corporate influence from Capitol Hill to state legislatures and city councils.

But as former campaign manager Jeff Weaver readily acknowledged in an interview outside a Sioux City, Iowa, rally with J.D. Scholten, the Democrat challenging GOP Rep. Steve King in the state's 4th Congressional District, things have changed.

Simply put, President Donald Trump happened.

"You can't deny that the country is in a fundamentally different place," Weaver said. "We have to beat Trump in 2020" and Sanders, he insisted, "feels a great responsibility to the country to make sure that, if he's getting in, that he's getting in because he is the person best positioned to do it."

Weaver has been clear on his own views. He punctuated his book on the 2016 primary and its implications with a plea for the next time around: "Run, Bernie, run." The infrastructure Sanders lacked in 2015 is in place and, should the call go out, Weaver insisted, stands ready to be activated. Minutes earlier, Pete D'Alessandro, Sanders' Iowa campaign director in 2016 - who made waves this summer when he signed on to help steer Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan around the state in 2018 - made his first cameo of the trip. He made the rounds again the next day in Fort Dodge and Ames.

"When we go into every state, there are people on the ground there who are part of what I would call 'Bernieworld,'" Weaver said. "There's already a network of people: delegates, former staffers, former supporters, new people who want to be supportive. That first meeting we went to in Indiana at the union hall, there were a number of local electeds, Democratic party officials, who might not have been there in 2015."

Also absent from the picture this time around: a prohibitive favorite like Hillary Clinton.

"The presidential stage is a lot different than running for senator or anything else. There are people who get on that stage as dark horse candidates who suddenly blossom," Weaver said, sounding genuinely curious how the 2020 crop would sort itself out, "and there are some candidates who are favorites, who get up there and suddenly wither."

Sanders' recently concluded midterms sprint began in Indiana and ended this weekend in California. In between, he headlined rallies, convened meetings with workers and seniors, and posed for untold numbers of selfies in Michigan, South Carolina, Iowa, and Wisconsin, before lighting out to Arizona and Nevada. He campaigned with Democrat Mike Levin on Friday in the Golden State's hotly contested 49th Congressional District before heading north for a rally, on Saturday, in Berkeley with Rep. Barbara Lee, a longtime ally.

Lee's seat, which she's held for two decades, is safe. But California's presidential primary, which comes early on in the 2020 primary schedule, is up for grabs.

In an interview at a homecoming parade in Ames, Iowa, Sanders coolly sniffed out and defused a question about his own future plans. (He's considering it, as he's said; this wasn't about that.) Anyway, he doesn't especially need the major media headlines, given the reach of his online operation, and probably doesn't want the kind he's most likely to generate.

"I made news today. I made big news today," Sanders said, engaging a meta analysis of his media strategy, which is anchored by a team of staffers who zip around with video equipment, entering and exiting scenes in quiet, quirky sync like characters in a Wes Anderson film. "Because I talked with four senior citizens and one senior said that the cost of her medicine soared. Extraordinary news. Because that's news that millions of people will shake their heads at."

"What you mean by news," he said, "is I gotta say something that I didn't say yesterday, but I think what's more important, and we're going to put it out on our social media, is that the cost of medicine for seniors and for everybody else is soaring, and people can't afford it."

Sanders surveyed the parking lot staging area. It was bright and cold and the band, in their cardinal and gold, were about to set off for Main Street.

"The news here," Sanders said, "is that throughout this state, people are earning starvation wages. To me that is a big story. More than anything I can tell you right now."

Sanders speaks during a rally for Nevada Democratic candidates

For decades, he has been telling it. But it was only very recently, in the course of a long and varied career, that such a wide swath of people began to really listen. On the trail in 2015 and 2016, they turned up by the tens of thousands. His critics said he never accomplished anything much during all that time in Congress, but for many, that was - in some odd sense - the point. Sanders, who arrived in Washington as Vermont's at-large representative in 1991, never bought the ticket, never took the New Democrats' ride. Now, in his late 70s, he has become a favorite of the loud, if congenitally unreliable youth vote, his visage animating armies of internet memes, his voice helping to revive a dormant passion for social democracy in American life.

Whether that means Sanders is best-positioned to win the party's nomination in 2020 is less clear.

Would he carry the same insurgent appeal this time around, particularly as so many of his potential opponents are adopting, to varying degrees, pieces of his own agenda? And even as the progressive left makes gains in minority communities, Democratic voters in 2018 have shown a unique enthusiasm for women and candidates of color. The left's biggest electoral successes, from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York to Chokwe Antar Lumumba in Mississippi, have matched that profile — a fact that only complicates these crude calculations.

At a rally with the campaign spinoff group Our Revolution in South Carolina, Sanders - as he had a night earlier to a packed auditorium of Michigan Democrats in Ann Arbor - spelled out the movement's advances and reminded supporters, as if they needed it, of the dismissive groans that greeted him in 2015.

"When I was in South Carolina and other states campaigning (before the last primary), we talked about a series of ideas, we talked about a progressive agenda and my opponent and editorial writers all over the country and the political establishment and the economic establishment, they said, 'Bernie Sanders is nuts, he is far out, his ideas are extreme. Nobody in American supports those wild ideas,'' he said, pausing a half-beat to tee up the punchline: "Well, guess what happened, folks!"

Sanders didn't wait to deliver the spoiler: "Three years have come and gone and those ideas that were seen to be radical and extreme three years ago are today mainstream, supported by the vast majority of the American people."

That the Columbia event had been panned ahead of time by some local Democratic officials, who called it unhelpful ahead of the midterms, clearly stuck in Sanders and his onstage allies' craw. South Carolina state Rep. Justin Bamberg addressed the skeptics.

"I think it's pretty clear why the Senator is here," he said. "Because the people wanted him."


THESE RECENT ARTICLES PAINT THE LEFT AS “AN UNHINGED MOB” – THE NEW TRUMPIAN MEME. THIS IS THE FIRST INSTANCE OF THAT WORD USAGE THAT I WAS ABLE TO FIND, BUT ON OCTOBER 11 A FINE NEW MIXED MEDIA AD FROM THE REPUBLICAN PARTY CAME OUT. WITHIN HOURS THREE OTHER SOURCES WERE MIMICKING IT, AND THE BALL BEGAN TO ROLL DOWNHILL. ON THE 14TH, TRUMP HIMSELF PICKED IT UP. CLEARLY, THEY’RE VERY PROUD OF THEMSELVES.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/410624-mcconnell-torches-far-left-mob-over-kavanaugh-fight
McConnell torches 'far-left mob' over Kavanaugh fight
BY JORDAIN CARNEY - 10/09/18 04:00 PM EDT

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday knocked the "far-left mob" for the fight over Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination, arguing critics were still trying to target the justice.

"The madness hasn't stopped. They are already signaling that even more drastic steps may be necessary now that Justice Kavanaugh is on the court," McConnell said from the Senate floor.

McConnell noted that some "left-wing" publications and groups are floating that Democrats should move to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court when they regain the Senate or try to impeach Kavanaugh.

PHOTOGRAPH -- MCCONNELL SPEAKING © Getty

"One far-left pressure group is already trying to circulate petitions that Justice Kavanaugh should be impeached. ... The mob would like to make itself perfectly clear," McConnell said. "The far-left mob is not letting up."

Republicans have increasingly denounced the confrontation between protestors and Republican senators as "mob tactics," "bullying" and "intimidation tactics."

Hundreds of protesters were arrested as the Senate considered Kavanaugh's nomination earlier this month, while several senators received Capitol Police escorts amid heightened tensions.

McConnell added Tuesday that the vote to confirm Kavanaugh over the weekend was a "victory" for the "the integrity of this institution."

"Reason and deliberation triumphed over what was literally, literally, an attempt to sway the Senate using mob tactics," McConnell said.

McConnell also knocked Hillary Clinton, who told CNN that "you cannot be civil with" the Republican Party because it "wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about."

"No peace until they get their way? More of these unhinged tactics? Apparently this is the left's rallying cry," McConnell said.



THIS HILL ARTICLE SEEMS TO BE WHERE THE “MOB” TERMINOLOGY BEGAN, AND WAS QUICKLY FOLLOWED UP BY THE OTHER HARD RIGHT NEWS SOURCES SUCH AS BREITBART, TOWN HALL, NATIONAL REVIEW ON THE SAME DAY AS THE GOP’S AD, THE 11TH AND INFOWARS AND BREITBART AFTER THAT.

WATCH THIS AD JUST TO GIVE THE DEVIL HIS DUE. I SEE THAT THE TERM “OUTSIDE AGITATORS” HASN’T GONE TOTALLY OUT OF STYLE, EITHER. IN THE MEAN OLD SEGREGATION DAYS THAT WAS ONE OF THEIR FAVORITE TERMS. WHAT’S DIFFERENT NOW? NOTHING. THEY’RE STILL THE SAME OLD LIARS, CHEATS AND THIEVES THAT THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN.

THIS IS THEIR PRIZE WORK OF ART:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlMIyae9-ZU
Oct 11, 2018 - Uploaded by GOP
1 http://www.GOP.com.

OCTOBER 27, 2018


NEWS AND VIEWS


FOR MORE ON THIS SUBJECT, SEE MY SECONDARY BLOG FOR THE DAY, “DOCUMENTING HATE IN THE USA AND IN OUR MILITARY 2018”

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/4-members-of-violent-white-supremacist-group-face-riot-charges-federal-authorities-say/
4 Members of Violent White Supremacist Group Face Riot Charges, Federal Authorities Say
OCTOBER 24, 2018 / by A.C. THOMPSON ProPublica

PHOTOGRAPH -- A still from "Documenting Hate: Charlottesville" that pictures Robert Rundo on the right.

Federal authorities announced riot charges against four members of the Rise Above Movement, a violent white supremacist group based in California. The charges relate to assaults carried out at protest rallies in California and Charlottesville, Virginia.

The charges against four men — Robert Rundo, Robert Boman, Tyler Laube and Aaron Eason — come weeks after four other Rise Above Movement members or associates were indicted on riot charges in Virginia, accused of engaging in violent assaults during the infamous “Unite the Right” rally in the summer of 2017. Only Rundo, Boman and Laube had been arrested as of Wednesday afternoon.

The four men indicted in Virginia have not entered pleas in the case.

FRONTLINE and ProPublica have been reporting on the Rise Above Movement since late 2017, and the U.S. attorney in Virginia noted that work.

The government’s accusations, made public on Wednesday against the four men, are laid out in a criminal complaint signed by an FBI agent who specializes in domestic terrorist groups.

“Through my training and experience,” the agent wrote, “I am familiar with terrorist organizations’ methods of operations, including their use of social media to communicate regarding coordination of strategic ideological goals, recruit and radicalize individuals, and coordinate violent extremist activities.”

The complaint then asserts that the four men, as part of the Rise Above Movement, planned and carried out attacks in three California cities as well as Charlottesville in 2017.

“The defendants used the Internet to coordinate combat training in preparation for the events,” the complaint states, “to arrange travel to the events, to coordinate attendance at the events, and to celebrate their acts of violence in order to recruit members for future events.”

Rundo, one of the men arrested this week, had been identified by FRONTLINE and ProPublica as the founder of the group. He is a native of New York City who had deepened his white supremacist leanings during a stint in state prison in New York.

The complaint asserts that investigators used the men’s social media and private communications, as well as videos and other material created by the group itself, to document specific acts of violence in Huntington Beach, San Bernardino and Berkeley, all in California, as well as Charlottesville.

In Huntington Beach, for instance, Laube is accused of assaulting a journalist at the rally; Rundo and Boman are also identified as having punched, kicked or otherwise set upon people at the rally on March 25, 2017.

It was not clear on Wednesday if the four men charged most recently had retained lawyers, and they could not quickly be reached for comment.

Documenting Hate logo

This story is part of an ongoing collaboration between ProPublica and FRONTLINE that includes documentaries beginning with Documenting Hate: Charlottesville, which aired on PBS in August 2018, and the upcoming film Documenting Hate: New American Nazis, which will air Tuesday, Nov. 20.

If you’ve witnessed or experienced hate crimes, harassment or incidents of bias, you can use this form to send information to FRONTLINE, ProPublica and other partners in the Documenting Hate project.


RELATED STORIES –

Four Men Arrested Over Unrest During 2017 “Unite the Right” Rally
OCTOBER 2, 2018
Marines Move to Tackle Racial Extremists in the Corps
AUGUST 30, 2018
How We Identified White Supremacists After Charlottesville
AUGUST 7, 2018
Tonight on FRONTLINE: "Documenting Hate: Charlottesville"
AUGUST 7, 2018
Documenting Hate: Charlottesville
FILM:
Documenting Hate: Charlottesville


WHATEVER IS FETID AND CORROSIVE OF THE GOOD, WE WILL SPREAD IT ON YOUR TREE OF LIFE, SEEMS TO BE THE MESSAGE HERE. THE KILLER WAS CAUGHT, SO WE SHOULD SEE HIM IN FRONT OF A COURT SOON.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46002549
Gunman opens fire at US synagogue
OCTOBER 27, 2018 8 minutes ago

The Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in Pittsburgh GOOGLE

A gunman has entered a synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and opened fire, police report.

Emergency services arrived at the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue at about 10:00 local time (14:00 GMT), according to reports.

There are multiple casualties, a spokesman for the Pittsburgh police department said.

According to police radio, the gunman has now surrendered and is in police custody.

Police had warned people to stay in their homes during the incident at the synagogue in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighbourhood.



Lori Houy
✔
@WPXI_Lori
#BreakingNews Reports of an active shooter in a synagogue in Squirrel Hill. Huge police presence

10:33 AM - Oct 27, 2018 · Pittsburgh, PA
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US President Donald Trump tweeted to say that he was watching events.


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Watching the events unfolding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Law enforcement on the scene. People in Squirrel Hill area should remain sheltered. Looks like multiple fatalities. Beware of active shooter. God Bless All!

11:08 AM - Oct 27, 2018
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A service was taking place at the time of the shooting, according to the synagogue's official website.

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I DIDN’T KNOW THE NAME OF THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN MAN WHO WAS HIDEOUSLY DRAGGED TO DEATH BY THREE WHITE SUPREMACISTS IN THE INEVITABLE PICKUP TRUCK. I’M SURE THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE CELEBRATING THEIR LIFE. THAT BLACK MAN WAS JAMES BYRD, JR. THOUGH IT HAPPENED IN 1998 I HAVE NEVER FORGOTTEN IT. SEE THE ARTICLE BELOW THIS ONE FOR THE FATE OF AT LEAST ONE OF BYRD’S KILLERS.

THE STORY OF MATTHEW SHEPHERD LIKEWISE AFFECTED ME. I WOULD LIKE TO LOVE PEOPLE NO MATTER WHAT THEIR CHARACTERISTICS ARE, BUT I JUST CAN’T ALWAYS. CRUELTY HURTS ME, EVEN WHEN IT IS AIMED AT SOMEONE ELSE. THAT’S WHY I CAN’T STAND ASIDE AND SAY NOTHING. OFTEN WHEN I WRITE IN THIS BLOG, WHAT I AM ACTUALLY DOING IS GRIEVING FOR THE DECENCY THAT ALSO RESIDES IN HUMANS.

FOR SOME REASON, I HAVE ALWAYS UNDERSTOOD INSTINCTIVELY FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS. I BELIEVE IF AMERICANS WERE MADE TO MEMORIZE MORE POETRY, WE MIGHT BE A BETTER SOCIETY.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45996040
Matthew Shepard: Hate crime victim interred in Washington DC
26 October 2018

PHOTOGRAPH -- Reverend Gene Robinson carries the ashes of Matthew Shepard, whose 1998 kidnap and murder cast widespread attention on hate crimes against gay people

Matthew Shepard has been laid to rest at the Washington National Cathedral, 20 years after he was brutally beaten and killed because of his sexuality.

The first openly gay Episcopal bishop, Gene Robinson, presided.

The men responsible for his 1998 murder admitted targeting Shepard because he was gay. His death is remembered as one of the worst US anti-gay hate crimes.

In 2009, Congress passed the Matthew Shepard Act, expanding hate crime laws to include sexual orientation.

After the public service, attended by hundreds, Shepard's ashes were formally interred in a smaller, private ceremony.

He is one of about 220 Americans interred in the capital's cathedral, including former US President Woodrow Wilson and Helen Keller.

Read the full story:
The murder that changed America
Where is gay sex still against the law?

Image copyrightREUTERS
Image caption
Judy and Dennis Shepard walk behind Reverend Gene Robinson, who carries the ashes of their late son Matthew Shepard

The Bishop of Washington, Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, also presided over the ceremony alongside the now-retired Rev Robinson of New Hampshire.

The service included music by the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington DC, LGBT youth chorus group GenOUT and Conspirare, a Grammy-award winning group that created music inspired by Shepard.

Rev Robinson, who was consecrated five years after Shepard's death, became a friend of the Shepard family, and it was through him that the National Cathedral internment process began.

"Let me just say I've been crying for a week now, so I'm pretty apt to cry during this sermon," Rev Robinson said in his opening remarks.

"Matt was luckier than most young gay men in 1998," he continued.

"He had parents and a brother who loved him. He loved his church, the Episcopal church, and they loved him back. And I have no doubt that Matt is in heaven."

The end of a long, torturous journey
Jude Sheerin, BBC News, Washington

It was a cathedral service both modern and traditional.

The chancel echoed to traditional hymns - and a recital of John Lennon's secular anthem Imagine.

There was the mournful toll of muffled bells - and a performance from a Broadway musical, sung by a gay men's chorus. There were Bible readings - and a homily from the first openly gay Episcopal bishop.

He openly wept, like many of the congregation. They came in their thousands to celebrate a life brutally cut short, a gay martyr whose ashes his parents have kept at home all these years for fear a memorial site would be desecrated.

On Friday, Judy and Dennis Shepard, dressed in black, held hands as they walked down the nave to take their seats.

It was just a few short steps, but it was the end of a long and torturous journey to finally lay their son to rest.

Read more about Matthew Shepard and the murder that changed America.

Image copyrightMATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION
Image caption
Matthew Shepard was an openly gay 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming

On Tuesday 6 October, 1998, in Laramie, Wyoming, two men attacked Shepard, a 21-year-old openly gay university student.

They pistol-whipped him repeatedly before tying him to a fence and leaving him for dead.

Shepard soon became an internationally known symbol of the violence LGBT people face.

His death, along with the horrific murder of James Byrd Jr, a black man killed by white supremacists that same year, eventually led to the US government addressing gaps in federal hate crime law.

President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law on 28 October, 2009, expanding federal law to count crimes motivated by a victim's sexual orientation, gender or disability as hate crimes.

But some still contest whether Shepard's murder was a hate crime, and Wyoming is one of five US states that still have no criminal hate crime laws.

"The bigger picture here is what we human beings tend to do, which is to label someone different from ourselves as 'other', which is code for 'not really human'," Rev Robinson said during the service.

"People of colour know that. The LGBTQ community knows that. Every marginalised person and group in this country knows that. And we are seeing way too much of that at the moment."

Caitlyn Jenner ends support for Trump
Outcry over 'proposed change' to US trans law

Shepard's interment comes as the Trump administration is considering redefining gender as the genitalia one is born with. Doing so would affect around 1.4m transgender people in the US.


PRESIDENT TRUMP’S WORDS TO THE EFFECT THAT “VERY FINE PEOPLE WERE IN BOTH GROUPS AT CHARLOTTESVILLE,” WILL HOPEFULLY BE JUDGED IN THE LIGHT OF THE FACT THAT THESE THREE KILLERS WERE “WHITE SUPREMACISTS.” I BELIEVE EVEN TRUMP WOULD SAY THAT THESE ARE NOT SO FINE IF HE READS THIS STORY. AFTER THAT EVENT, EVEN THE CONSERVATIVE STATE OF TEXAS WROTE A HATE CRIMES LAW AND PASSED IT.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Byrd_Jr.
Murder of James Byrd Jr.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James Byrd Jr. (May 2, 1949 – June 7, 1998) was a black man who was murdered by three white supremacists in Jasper, Texas, on June 7, 1998. Shawn Allen Berry, Lawrence Russell Brewer, and John William King dragged Byrd for three miles behind a pick-up truck along an asphalt road. Byrd, who remained conscious throughout most of his ordeal, was killed about halfway through the dragging when his body hit the edge of a culvert, severing his right arm and head. The murderers drove on for another mile and a half (2.4 km) before dumping his torso in front of a black cemetery in Jasper.[1][2] Byrd's lynching-by-dragging gave impetus to passage of a Texas hate crimes law. It later led to the federal Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, commonly known as the Matthew Shepard Act, which passed on October 22, 2009, and which President Barack Obama signed into law on October 28, 2009.[3]

No clear motive for the crime has been named. King, who prior to the murder of Byrd, had recently been released from a Texas prison, has claimed that he had been repeatedly gang-raped in prison by black inmates.[4] Berry and Brewer had also spent prior time in prison.[5]

Brewer was executed via lethal injection for this crime by the state of Texas on September 21, 2011.[6] King remains on death row while appeals are pending.[7][8][9] Berry was sentenced to life imprisonment and will be eligible for parole in 2038.[10]


HERE IS ANOTHER STORY ABOUT HUMAN STUPIDITY. I AM REFERRING TO INDIVIDUALS WHO BUY AN ANIMAL WHICH WILL CERTAINLY GROW UP TO BE TOO DANGEROUS TO LOVE. WHAT DO THEY DO? THEY TAKE IT OFF INTO A WILDLIFE AREA AND TURN IT LOOSE. UNFORTUNATELY, WHEN THAT HAPPENED IN THE EVERGLADES OF FLORIDA, THAT MAGNIFICENT NATURAL HABITAT, THESE PYTHONS THRIVED AND HAVE MULTIPLIED AND MULTIPLIED. THEY HAVE BEGUN COMING INTO PEOPLE’S YARDS. THIS VIDEO THAT GOES WITH THE ARTICLE IS BOTH WRYLY FUNNY AND INTELLIGENT. THERE’S NO SEASON ON KILLING PYTHONS, AND THIS LADY HAS BAGGED MANY. GUESS WHAT SHE DOES WITH THEM? SHE EATS THEM! I BELIEVE SHE ALSO GETS PAID A BOUNTY FOR THEM.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/burmese-python-invasive-species-in-florida-hurricane-andrew-legacy-cbsn-originals/
By MATT MORRISON CBS NEWS October 26, 2018, 8:08 AM
Burmese python invasion in Florida a hidden legacy of Hurricane Andrew

Watch the CBSN Originals documentary, "Burmese Python Invasion: Fighting Invasive Species," in the video player above. The full hour special premieres on CBSN Sunday, Oct. 28, at 8 p.m., 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. ET.

It's been 26 years since Hurricane Andrew became the costliest storm in Florida's history, but today residents of the Sunshine State are still paying the price in a way few would have imagined. Captive Burmese pythons let loose by Andrew's destruction have flourished in the southern Florida ecosystem, decimating local species in the process. And now there are signs this stubbornly invasive species may be poised to make its way beyond the state's borders.

Florida's current python problem had its genesis about a decade before Andrew hit. Pet owners and exotic animals exhibitors in the U.S. had started importing the Southeast Asian Burmese python — among the top 5 largest snake species — for their size and novelty in this part of the world. However, caring for what can grow to be a 15- to 20-foot-long, 200-pound predator can become overwhelming and dangerous. Floridians who found themselves incapable of caring for their pythons relieved themselves of that burden by releasing the snakes into Florida's Everglades, the largest wilderness area in the eastern U.S.

At 734 square miles, Everglades National Park is almost two-thirds the size of Rhode Island and filled with an abundance of wildlife. According to the National Park Service, it's the most significant breeding ground for wading birds in North America. The Burmese python was first sighted in the Everglades in the 1980's, but that turned out to be the calm before the storm.

On August 23, 1992 Andrew made landfall south of Miami as a Category 5 hurricane, one of the most powerful ever to hit the United States. Sustained winds whipped at upwards of 150 miles per hour, more than enough to rip roofs off homes and demolish buildings. One of the buildings affected was a breeding facility for Burmese pythons, and many of them escaped.

Hunting Excursions Latest In Effort To Curb Evasive Snake Population
A Burmese python captured in Davie, Florida, in 2013. JOE RAEDLE / GETTY IMAGES

Today the Everglades are overrun with the giant snakes and it's had devastating consequences. A 2012 study by the U.S. Geological Survey found that after Andrew exacerbated the Burmese python invasion of the Florida Everglades, populations of raccoons and opossums dropped roughly 99 percent and some species of rabbits and foxes effectively disappeared. Species that had long flourished here were being decimated by the aggressive newcomers.

Invasive species are often able to thrive because they lack natural predators in their new environments, and these snakes are no exception. According to Donna Kalil, a state-sanctioned python hunter in the Everglades area, by the time they reach just 2 years old, the only species that can threaten pythons in the Everglades are alligators.

"At this size, it can definitely take your cat and dog," Kalil said of one specimen she caught. Full grown, a Burmese python could swallow a deer or even a human being, whole.

"There's not many things that a snake is going to think about. They're going to say, 'Predator or prey?' Or, 'Can I eat you or are you going to eat me?'," Kalil said.

Florida's government has stepped in to try to control the burgeoning python population. In addition to contracting hunters like Kalil, they've allowed open season on the snakes all year long. Residents are authorized to catch and kill Burmese pythons by almost any means necessary, with no permit required, especially on private lands.

It's had some impact. As of May 2018, 1,000 Burmese pythons had been captured in Florida since the problem began.

However, the python population has grown far faster than hunters can catch them. The snakes inhabit a vast area and reproduce rapidly. One female can lay up to 100 eggs a year and has a lifespan upwards of 15 years. Estimates of how many Burmese pythons now inhabit the Everglades range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

With their numbers growing and their food supply dwindling, the pythons are expanding their territory. In November 2012, a Burmese python was spotted as far north as southern Georgia. The species' spread is limited by temperature and other environmental conditions it needs to survive, but experts fear that climate change will eventually enable the snakes to migrate even farther north.

Experts say once an invasive species gains a foothold in an ecosystem, it's there to stay, often with devastating consequences. As Florida's Burmese pythons multiply and expand their territory, they seem destined to become Hurricane Andrew's most lasting — and unwelcome — legacy.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


EVEN IF YOU’RE TIRED OF ARTICLES ON FACEBOOK, READ THIS ONE, BECAUSE IT EXPLAINS THE OTHERS. THE PUBLIC POLICY MANAGER TIM SPARAPANI QUIT IN DISGUST. I WONDER IF HE LOST HIS PENSION AS WELL? I HOPE NOT, BECAUSE I REALLY HATE TO SEE THE GOOD PUNISHED FOR THEIR HONORABLE ACTIONS.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/watch-how-facebook-built-a-surveillance-machine/
THE FACEBOOK DILEMMA: A TWO-NIGHT SPECIAL EVENT
WATCH: How Facebook Built a “Surveillance Machine”
OCTOBER 25, 2018 / by PATRICE TADDONIO Assistant Director of Audience Development

It was late in 2011, and Facebook was on the verge of something big.

The company was preparing to take its rapidly growing business to the next level by going public.

To the press, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg had downplayed the extent of the personal data Facebook was collecting, and emphasized a commitment to users’ privacy: “Our business model is by far the most privacy-friendly to consumers,” Sandberg said in November of 2011.

But internally, as part of Zuckerberg’s quest to show investors and advertisers the profit that could be made from Facebook’s most valuable asset — users’ personal data — Sandberg would soon lead Facebook in a very different direction.

In the above scene from The Facebook Dilemma, a FRONTLINE documentary that comes to PBS Mon., Oct. 29 and Tues., Oct. 30, go inside Facebook’s choice to seek new ways to collect personal data on users, wherever they went.

In the face of flattening revenue, in March of 2012, “she basically said, like, we have to do something. You people have to do something,” Antonio García Martínez, a former Facebook product manager, tells FRONTLINE. “And so there was a big effort to basically pull out all the stops and start experimenting way more aggressively.”

In the months leading up to Facebook’s initial public offering in May of 2012, the company didn’t just seek to gather more data on its users, but to partner with outside data brokers to be able to offer more targeted ads on the platform.

This is “data that the consumer doesn’t even know that’s being collected about them because it’s being collected from the rest of their lives by companies they don’t know, and it’s now being shared with Facebook, so that Facebook can target ads back to the user,” says Facebook’s former director of global public policy Tim Sparapani, who was so uncomfortable with the direction Facebook was going that he left before the company’s work with data brokers took effect.

For potential advertisers, Facebook’s moves would add up to a winning formula: “They made a product that was a better tool for advertisers than anything that had ever come before it,” venture capitalist and early Facebook investor Roger McNamee tells FRONTLINE.

But for users, it would mean something else.

“What Facebook does is profile you,” Zeynep Tufekci of UNC Chapel Hill says in the above excerpt from the documentary. “If you’re on Facebook, it’s collecting everything you do. If you are off Facebook, it’s using tracking pixels to collect what you are browsing. And for its micro-targeting to work, for its business model to work, it has to remain a surveillance machine.”

For more on Facebook’s growth and its consequences, watch FRONTLINE’s The Facebook Dilemma. This two-part documentary premieres Monday, Oct. 29 and Tuesday, Oct. 30 on PBS (check local listings) and online at pbs.org/frontline.

RELATED STORIES:

Facebook’s Ex-Security Chief Sounds Off on 2018 Midterms
OCTOBER 16, 2018

"I Was Just Flabbergasted." Discovering Cambridge Analytica.
MARCH 21, 2018

Facebook Insider Says Warnings About Data Safety Went Unheeded By Executives
MARCH 20, 2018

FILM:
The Facebook Dilemma: A Two-Night Special Event