With Donald Trump raging that he would nuke ISIS off the planet, it turns out that the latest massacre wasn’t ISIS.
It was a Columbine Massacre copycat. From the day it happened, I remember parents, psychologists, SWAT team members and others at the high school warning that too much coverage would result in copycat killings. Of course I cannot say why an 18-year-old decided to go homicidal other than that he was mentally ill. One thing I am sure of though, is that Trump won’t stop it. Here are three things, just for the sake of argument, that we might do in addition to expanding our mental health care system. Have more effective gun control, stop the sale of violent video games and urge Hollywood to stop making violent movies its major cash cow. Gun control is out of the question. Some will say there is no proof video games make kids violent. Perhaps not _ yet. The documentary “Merchants of Doubt” shows how scientists were paid to lie about the deadly effects of cigarettes. They killed both my parents. The Army hooked my father. “Smoke ‘em if you got them.” Humphrey Bogart, a great actor, and others, made them fashionable. I am sure I will be long dead before we find out how much harm violent video games cause. Imagine a scientific community that outlaws marijuana while opiods and alcohol are killing millions. Movies, at least, can do good. And as long as violent movies make fortunes they will be among the Star Wars. In the lastest killings, in Munich, we were led on a rollercoaster path that started with the assumption that it was ISIS. Then it was linked to rightwing fascists. Now we find out the killer had books on Columbine, including one on why they did it. Back in the 1960s Herbert Marcuse complained that even books that should help end up spreading the plague of violence and capitalism. Imagine the killer examining himself to see if he fit the bill of the Columbine killers? I guess he passed. And he was up-to-date, using Facebook to lure victims. Guardian Merchants of Doubt https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/23/munich-gunman-book-columbine-virginia-tech-killers
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Op-ed: While it is widely conceded that Russian-backed Ukrainian rebels likely shot down one missing Malaysian airliner, the fate of another remained a mystery.
Two years after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared in a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean it now is known that the pilot may have taken the plane on a suicide flight, according to a confidential police investigation document obtained by New York magazine. The magazine did not make clear where or when the document was discovered, showing that the pilot had practiced taking the Boeing 777 on a flight that would end somewhere in the water. It said Malaysian officials and officials of other countries involved in the search had met this week. The plane disappeared on March 8, 2014 with 239 people aboard en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. This week officials said their search would be suspended soon if no signs of the plane were found. The New York magazine article doesn’t prove that the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah actually flew the plane into the ocean, but the fact that officials kept his suicide practice a secret may mean it is now known what happened. One unanswered question is what the co-pilot was doing all the hours this flight took. New York said the suicide practice plans were found by the FBI not long after the plane disappeared when hard drives from the airline’s flight simulator were handed over to it. The article does not say when the magazine found the documents. Many media outlets have reported Zaharie was considered a suspect in the disappearance. But there was nothing in his personal files to suggest he would launch a suicide mission. The magazine said 42,000 square miles have been searched for the plane at a cost of $130 million. A Freedom of Information request filed by the state of California seeking all U.S. files on the flight was denied. Related reading: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/missing_flight_mh370 http://www.newtekjournalismukworld.com/eileen-kersey/missing-flight-malayasia-mh370-speculation http://www.tekjournalismuk.com/staff-blog/missing-plane-mh370-and-its-pilot-back-in-the-news http://www.tekjournalismuk.com/staff-blog/defective-us-robotic-sub-delays-mh370-search http://www.tekjournalismuk.com/staff-blog/captain-shahs-son-hits-back-at-suicide-theory The small farm-ranch town of Hugo near the Colorado-Kansas border is giving people bottled water because its supply is contaminated with THC, the element of marijuana that gets people stoned.
The Denver Post said residents – there are about 730 – have been told not to even give tap water to their pets. Numerous tests have been conducted with varying results. No one has become ill, said Capt. Michael Yowell of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. “I wouldn’t be doing my job for my community if we just wrote this off,” Yowell said. The FBI has joined the probe. There are possibilities someone had polluted a well, and one well has been closed. Marijuana is legal in Colorado and many people grow it. Mayor Tom Lee told the Post: “We’ll figure it out. It just blew my mind.” THC is the cannabis ingredient that gets people high. CBD, also from weed, is widely used in medicines. Hugo, a former stage coach stop that was built near the western-moving railroadline, is not far from the junction of state roads 287 and 59 about 75 miles from Burlington, Kansas on Interstate 70. It is about 200 miles to the Rocky Mountains to the west, and they are visible on some days. It is 160 miles to Denver. The area can be hell during blizzards that sometimes close the interstate. The elevation is 5,039 feet with few trees. Tourists rarely visit the area. One winter I had to go off the Interstate because it was closed by snow. The only lights were in Hugo. I was wearing a sweatshirt that said “Alcatraz Swim Team.” The very gracious man running the gas pump said: “What’s it like there in Alactraz?" The entire arena waited breathlessly, and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas acted like he was fighting the Mexicans at the Alamo. And Trump had no wall. Cruz was booed off the stage when he did not endorse Donald Trump as the Republican candidate for president. The closest he came was: “Please: don’t stay home in November. If you love our country, and love your children as much as I know that you do, vote your conscience.” The TV pundits said Cruz would lose his evangelical base and give up any chance to ever be president if he endorsed Trump. Cruz lived up to his reputation of not giving a damn what other politicians and the media think of him. “Unpleasant,” was the description of Cruz by one commentator. Another commentator said Cruz was given time to endorse Trump and he had misused it. But Matthews then added, “they gave him the time.” Politico said: “Ted Cruz refused to endorse Donald Trump in daring and dramatic fashion on Wednesday, telling delegates to ‘vote your conscience” in a 20-minute snub that played out in slow-motion on national television. ‘We deserve leaders who stand for principle, who unite us all behind shared values, who cast aside anger for love,” Cruz said. “That is the standard we should expect from everybody.” It should have been expected at a convention that has been disrupted by other major news events, ranging from murders of police to a speech in which Trump’s wife, Melania, was caught plagiarizing the words of Michelle Obama. For 24 hours the Trump campaign refused to admit its error, but finally conceded an error was made. To some it appeared they had thrown the native Slovakian speaker under the bus. The media consensus was that the Trump campaign was not ready for prime time. The New York Times top story said: “The Republican convention erupted into tumult on Wednesday night as the bitter primary battle between Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Trump reignited unexpectedly, crushing hopes that the party could project unity.” New York Times http://www.aol.com/article/2016/07/21/trump-after-night-of-mayhem-at-convention-takes-center-stage/21436277/ Munich Germany was in lockdown Friday evening after a multiple shooting. No trains or buses were running and the usually busy city area was deserted. Saturday the shooter is named as Ali Sonboly an 18-year-old German-Iranian dual national who lived in Munich. According to the Mail Online he is believed to have been acting on his own and killed himself Friday making the death toll nine. He is described as a loner, the son of a taxi driver; a young man who had complained of being bullied. There are reports that he set up a fake Facebook page to lure children to the McDonald's with promises of free food. He then struck. His motive is "completely unclear", said police. It is still too early to confirm whether it is a 'terrorist' Jihadi type attack or not. But many mainstream media publications already linked the attack to Daesh Friday. The Mail Online claims the gunman shouted the now familiar Allah Akbar but that is not proved. He did however reportedly shout "I am German" which could mean he has been taunted for his ethnic origin; but at this time that is more speculation. But Friday was the five-year anniversary of Anders Brevik's deadly terror attack in Norway leading people to initially question whether the attack had an extreme right-wing agenda. Saturday BBC news reports "The 18-year-old gunman who killed nine people in Munich was obsessed with mass shootings but had no known links to the Islamic State group, German police say. Written material on such attacks was found in his room. Munich's police chief spoke of links to the massacre by Norway's Anders Behring Breivik." Friday the attack at the Olympia mall in Munich unfolded on 24/7 news channels. We now know "He had a 9mm Glock pistol and 300 bullets in his rucksack. Police do not yet know how the weapon was acquired, but said he had no permit for it and the serial number had been obliterated." The shooting reportedly began in the McDonald's at the mall around 4pm; the BBC news corporation said at least three people had been shot dead quoting Bavarian officials. That figure was revised up to six dead and later eight with another body found later, thought to be the gunman. Reports that claimed up to three gunmen were on the run now appear incorrect. Earlier “The situation is still completely confusing,” Thomas Baumann, a deputy spokesman of the Munich police, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, the German press agency. “It is not clear whether is one or many shooters.” Authorities had warned people to be alert after a migrant stabbed five people on a train in Bavaria on Monday. Daesh or so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for that attack. US President Barack Obama has pledged support for Germany following the shootings in Munich "We are going to pledge all the support they may need," he said. "We don't yet know exactly what's happening there, but obviously our hearts go out to those who may have been injured." Political representatives from the UK, Greece and other countries followed suit. Munich Police posted the following on Twitter later Friday evening - Important notice:for any information for relatives or inquiries about missing persons please dial:0800 7766350! #oez, #München, #schießerei The situation remained fluid although Saturday morning security restrictions have been lifted and transport is running normally. 27 people sustained injuries, ten with serious injuries, including children. Telegraph Saturday Telegraph German axe attacker For decades during the Cold War the Soviet Union, East Germany and some other communist countries were suspect of using illegal drugs and substances to harvest troves of medals far above what seemed likely.
Olympic and athletic officials, already facing problems with some athletes withdrawing from the Rio de Janeiro games because of Zika, couldn’t have picked a worse time to make Moscow pay for all those years of doping. Russian President Vladimir Putin, described as a strong man by U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, apparently believes he can do the same kinds of things the much larger Soviet Union did and get away with it. With some help from insiders on the Russia team, the World Anti-Doping Agency based in Colorado Springs, Colo., decided it had too much evidence of the Moscow government participating in rigged drug tests to ignore. Some athletes from other countries said it seemed like they were competing against “robots.” The successor to the Russian KGB was charged with drilling holes in walls so falsified drug tests could be passed through testing rooms without being seen. The Russians appealed the decision but were turned down by the Court of Arbitration for sport. A handful of Russian athletes who have lived and trained outside the country may be allowed to compete under the flag of an unnamed country Sebastian Coe, head of the International Association of Athletics Federations, said he was “thankful” the ban had been upheld but it was nothing to celebrate. “I didn’t come into this sport to stop athletes from competing,” he said in a statement. There probably could be no finer athlete to drop the hammer on the 68 athletes involved. Wikipedia says: “As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including the 1500 metres gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984. He set eight outdoor and three indoor world records in middle-distance track events – including, in 1979, setting three world records in the space of 41 days – and the world record he set in the 800 metres in 1981 remained unbroken until 1997.” Russia initially disputed the charges, then said all countries did it and then settled on an entire country should not be blamed for the actions of a few. Russian Television said: “The Kremlin "deeply regrets" CAS upholding the ban on Russian athletes, said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “We can only express our deep regrets. The news is not too good, and we certainly will have to analyze the situation, taking in account the [CAS] decision, that's why I would avoid any further comments on that matter," the Kremlin spokesman said. “Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko also offered his thoughts following the announcement. "I will be brief, an official announcement will follow later. I regret CAS's decision. “Unfortunately, by introduction of collective responsibility, it is the creation of a precedent. But we didn't expect a different result.” Reuters BBC Barbara McPherson NEWTEKWORLDNEWS Op-ed: Now the nation knows why Donald Trump fires bursts of insults and says little of substance. He can’t. We saw it this week when Trump’s campaign had weeks to prepare speeches. Two of the instances of plagiarism in the middle of the Republican convention this week that crowned him as their candidate has shown that his family has little of its own to say. There have been instances of candidates stealing the words of others throughout American history. But this time Trump’s wife stole from a speech by Democrat First Lady Michelle Obama. For those who think it is just a detail remember that Vice President Joe Biden had to drop his candidacy for the presidency in 1988 and he had swiped words from a British official. And Wednesday it was disclosed that one of Trump’s children, Donald Jr., had also plagiarized material, this time from an article in the American Conservative. PoliticusUSA The Melania Trump plagiarism, which the campaign has refused to apologize for, has outshown the convention this week and dozens of articles have repeated the offending words. It shows how much the Trumps put themselves above the rest of us that Donald Trump Jr. did the same thing during the convention Tuesday night. “Our schools used to be an elevator to the middle class. Now they’re stalled on the ground floor. They’re like Soviet-era department stores that are run for the benefit of the clerks and not the customers, for the teachers and administrators and not the students,” Trump Jr. said. “In a May article in the American Conservative titled Trump vs the New Class F.H. Buckley wrote ‘What should be an elevator to the upper class is stalled on the ground floor. Part of the fault for this may be laid at the feet of the system’s entrenched interests: the teachers’ unions and the higher-education professoriate. Our schools and universities are like the old Soviet department stores whose mission was to serve the interests of the sales clerks and not the customers. Why the sales clerks should want to keep things that way is perfectly understandable.” This is the essence of white privilege — even clear fuckups get explained away and come with little consequence. Meanwhile, if you're black, telling the truth can cost you everything. And after all that, you can be subjected to eight years of disrespect and then have your very words stolen, while the same people who have cast aspersions upon you claim their actions are justified. Moreover, you get to watch people profit from your labor, while telling you that labor is unremarkable and meaningless. Cosmopolitan wrote an article about the incidents headlined “Melania Trump's Plagiarism Is an Example of White Privilege.” Cosmopolitan The article condemned Melania and others for taking credit for the work of black women. There is “nothing particularly unique or remarkable about Obama's own words. I guess this is what Melania Trump, and generations of white women, mean by ‘help.’ It seems to mean that they rely upon black women's labor to help them look good, sound good, and gain influence, while treating that labor as wholly expendable.” The article went on to say: “Words mean things. And plagiarism means using the ideas or words of another person without proper attribution. Rather than acknowledge this, Paul Manafort, the head of the Trump campaign, argued that this is all an elaborate ruse by the Clinton campaign. ‘This is once again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, how she seeks out to demean her and take her down,’’ Manafort claimed. Many TV pundits expressed their sympathy for the poor Slovenia girl, the same person we learned this week lied when she said she had a college degree. “This is the essence of white privilege — even clear fuckups get explained away and come with little consequence. Meanwhile, if you're black, telling the truth can cost you everything. And after all that, you can be subjected to eight years of disrespect and then have your very words stolen, while the same people who have cast aspersions upon you claim their actions are justified. Moreover, you get to watch people profit from your labor, while telling you that labor is unremarkable and meaningless,” Cosmopolitan said. |
Robert Weller
2016 US election news and other news from the USA
Bio
Worked in journalism, including on the Internet, for more than 40 years. Started as a news editor at the Colorado Daily at the University of Colorado, joined a small Montana newspaper, the Helena Independent-Record, and then United Press International. Archives
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