[Jpost] The sentencing hearing comes a day after a jury unanimously voted for the death penalty after finding Bowers guilty on 63 counts.
A federal judge was due to formally sentence Robert Bowers to death on Thursday for killing 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history, the New York Times reported.
The sentencing hearing comes a day after a jury unanimously voted for the death penalty after finding Bowers guilty on 63 counts, including 11 counts of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death.
Relatives of Bowers' victims are expected to address Judge Robert Colville during the hearing at the US District Court in Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania. The judge is required to hand down the sentence voted for by the jury.
WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE TRIAL?
During the trial, defense lawyers did not dispute that Bowers planned and carried out the attack on the synagogue during Sabbath morning services, in which he combed through the building shooting everyone he found with a semiautomatic rifle and three pistols.
Bowers' lawyers unsuccessfully argued that he suffered from life-long mental illness and was delusional and so the jury should spare him from the death penalty and instead sentence him to life in prison without release.
The 12 jurors heard testimony from some of the survivors of the attack and were shown pictures of the carnage and evidence of Bowers' antisemitism, including multiple posts attacking Jews made on a far-right website in the months leading up to the attack.
It is not clear when, if ever, Bowers will be executed: the US Department of Justice has instated a moratorium on carrying out federal executions while it reviews the death penalty, which Biden pledged to abolish when he was running for the presidency.
Bowers will join the 41 other men on federal death row, held in cells near the US government's execution chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana.
[8am] Local sources in Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. have reported that the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... forcefully closed the office of the radio and television network "Hamesha Bahar" in the province.
According to anonymous local sources, who spoke to Hasht-e Subh, the incident occurred on Tuesday, August 1st, when Taliban members attacked the media outlet and expelled its staff before shutting down the office.
Meanwhile, ...back at the comedy club, Boogie ducked another tomato... Atal Khan Stanikzai, the director of the media outlet, stated that the Taliban attacked the office without any prior coordination. They first closed down the journalism department and then proceeded to shut down the entire office.
According to him, the closure of the network’s office was enforced through intimidation by the Taliban security forces against the personnel.
So far, local Taliban officials in Nangarhar have not provided any official statement regarding this incident.
Available information suggests that the Taliban had previously threatened to shut down the journalism department of the network before finally taking action.
Within the department, 16 individuals were engaged in professional journalism training, including six female participants.
This incident comes at a time when the Taliban, following their renewed control over Afghanistan, have directly and indirectly blocked several media outlets in the country under various pretexts. During this period, a significant number of journalists have been detained, beaten, and imprisoned by Taliban members.
Training for units of the Somali National Army’s (SNA) Danaab commandos concludes at Balli-doogle Military training base. The training was aimed at enhancing the capabilities of the #Danab units and preparing them for their duties in maintaining peace and security in Somalia. pic.twitter.com/GfsB2OcAT6
[Dawn] Pakistan on Wednesday confirmed the involvement of Afghan bandidosgunnies in the last month’s Zhob cantonment attack.
The Foreign Office spokesperson said three bandidosgunnies involved in the July 12 attack, had been identified as Afghan nationals. "Three bandidosgunnies who attacked the Zhob cantonment belonged to Afghanistan’s Kandahar province," the FO said.
In a statement, the spokesperson said the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad has been asked to receive the bodies of Afghan terrorists.
The FO said that continued involvement of Afghans in terrorist activities in Pakistain and the use of Afghan soil for terrorism in Pakistain was a matter of concern and condemnable.
On July 12, five security officials were martyred, and five bandidosgunnies killed in an encounter in the Zhob area of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... The fighting took place when bandidosgunnies attacked a check-post in Zhob cantonment. Five bandidosgunnies were sent to hell during the operation. However, a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... four soldiers who while fighting gallantly got critically injured earlier, succumbed to injuries and embraced shahadat taking the corpse count to 9.
Just like in America, suborning the top prosecutor to protect the protected class.
[IsraelTimes] Far-right politician Yitzhak Wasserlauf seeks court order instructing Baharav-Miara to explain her ’selective enforcement,’ and accuses her of ’shirking her duties’
National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf petitioned the High Court of Justice on Thursday, seeking for it to order the attorney general to explain why charges are not being filed against anti-government demonstrators who block roads.
Wasserlauf, a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, accused Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara of "selective enforcement" against protesters, telling the court that "she shirks her duties and abandons the public in the face of violence from systematic criminality."
The attorney general, the politician wrote, "clearly employs selective enforcement, and in her conduct abandons the public to violence and criminal acts."
Months of weekly mass protests against the judicial overhaul plan have seen demonstrators block major highways, including the Ayalon Highway through Tel Aviv, as well as access roads to Ben Gurion Airport. On several occasions, organizers have specified ahead of the event that the intention is to clog roads.
In the petition, Wasserlauf said his previous appeals to the attorney general about the matter were not met with a reasonable response and there was no longer any option other than judicial intervention regarding law enforcement against anti-overhaul protests.
Wasserlauf asked that Baharav-Miara be ordered to explain why she has not instructed that protest leaders, as well as those arrested while blocking roads, be indicted. Right-wing politicians have repeatedly accused law enforcement officials of utilizing a double standard against the current mass protest movement, compared to past demonstrations by Haredim, Æthiopian-Israelis or settlers.
At a stormy cabinet meeting last month, Baharav-Miara was repeatedly castigated by ministers, including several who said she should be ousted from her job over allegations of selective enforcement. The attorney general said at the time that "I hope that the government is not expecting the law enforcement system to fill quotas for arrests or indictments against protesters."
Baharav-Miara and other bigwigs in the Justice Ministry were summoned to the meeting to discuss how law enforcement agencies have dealt with the massive wave of protests against the government’s efforts to overhaul the judiciary, including blocking highways and other forms of civil disobedience. At the time, a Justice Ministry official said six protesters had so far been indicted, a figure derided by coalition members.
In a statement to the media on Thursday, Wasserlauf vowed to "not rest nor remain silent in the face of the selective enforcement" and warned that the prosecution’s behavior "could lead to the collapse of the rule of law and crushing public trust in the enforcement systems."
He compared the situation today to right-wing protests against Israel’s 2005 unilateral disengagement from the Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip, a point of reference that is often cited by government supporters demanding firmer action against the current protests.
"The prosecutor’s office, which during the Disengagement period acted like a fearsome tiger and filed hundreds of indictments for road blockers with lightning proceedings... has become a sleepy cat when it comes to a protest against the [judicial] reform, and does not make an effort to produce even the semblance of any enforcement against the handful of lawbreakers who are creating chaos on the streets of Israel," Wasserlauf said.
While coalition members have lamented weak enforcement against demonstrations, protesters have complained of excessive police violence during festivities. On Wednesday, the Justice Ministry’s Police Internal Investigations Department questioned five officers accused of beating protesters as they cleared the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv last month.
Not like Ha’aretz, EMS Artifact, which is elite Socialist. More standard educated journalist center-left, with the elite disdain for that turncoat Bibi Netanyahu, who betrayed his class. Bibi, after all, is a child of academic, and worked with and is a dear friend of Mitt Romney, yet he turned to President Trump for political partnership abroad, and to Orthodox Jewish political parties at home.
This iteration of the Intifada has had so little effect because so many would-be jihadis are already behind bars. Most would consider the shortage of murder and mayhem a good thing...
Israel is holding over 1,200 detainees — nearly all of them Paleostinians — without charge or trial, the highest number in over three decades, an Israeli human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... group said.
The detainees, 99% of whom are Paleostinians, are held under Israel's policy of "administrative detention," without trial and under allegations that Israeli authorities keep secret.
The detentions can range from a few months to years — and authorities often extend them for unknown reasons, according to Jessica Montell, the executive director of Hamoked, the rights group that published the figures.
Hamoked said this makes it nearly impossible for detainees or their lawyers to mount a proper defense.
"The overall figure is outrageous," Montell said. "This is a patently illegal practice. These people should be given a fair trial or released."
Israeli authorities can renew administrative detentions indefinitely. While detention orders are usually set for periods of three or six months, Montell said administrative detainees in Israel spend a year in detention on average.
Israel says the controversial tactic is necessary to contain dangerous Lions of Islam and avoid divulging incriminating material for security reasons. But Paleostinians and rights groups say the system denies due process and is widely abused.
The number of administrative detainees has more than doubled since early last year, when Israel began staging near-nightly arrest raids into Paleostinian cities and towns following a series of Paleostinian attacks. A quarter of all Paleostinians under Israeli custody are now administrative detainees, according to Hamoked.
Administrative detention is very rarely used against Jews or Israelis, but that figure has been rising, too — 14 Israelis were held in administrative detention as of March, Montell said. Most of them are Paleostinian citizens of Israel. But several are Jews suspected of violence against Paleostinians during rampages in the West Bank.
Neither Israel's Shin Bet security service nor the army immediately commented on the latest administrative detention figures.
Israel says its activities in the occupied territories are meant to stamp out militancy and thwart future attacks. The past year and a half has seen some of the worst bloodshed in the area in nearly two decades. More than 160 Paleostinians have been killed in the fighting this year, according to a tally by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
Israel says most of the dead are murderous Moslems. But many were stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions or people uninvolved in violence. At least five of them were age 14 or younger.
Israel's hard-line National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a West Bank settler himself, has pushed for tough measures against Paleostinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
On Monday, the Paleostinian Prisoners Club and other advocacy groups reported that Ben-Gvir had done away with a policy allowing the early release for Paleostinian prisoners held on national security charges.
For years, all detainees sentenced to less than four years had been eligible for early release to relieve severe overcrowding in the country's prisons. Israel's prison service confirmed that it was abiding by Ben-Gvir's waiver of early releases as of Tuesday.
The West Bank has been under Israeli military rule since Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast war. The Paleostinians want it to form the main part of their future state.
The territory's nearly 3 million Paleostinian residents are subject to Israel's military justice system, while the nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers living alongside them have Israeli citizenship and are subject to civilian courts.
Such disparities have fueled allegations by human rights groups that Israeli policies toward the Paleostinians amount to apartheid.
[AnNahar] One of history's biggest non-nuclear explosions rocked Beirut on August 4, 2020, destroying swathes of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring at least 6,500.
Three years on, the probe into the traumatic disaster caused by a huge pile of poorly-stored fertiliser remains bogged down in legal and political wrangling, to the dismay of victims' families.
- THE MEGA-BLAST -
The massive explosion, heard as far away as Cyprus, destroys much of Beirut port and entire districts of the city in scenes that shock the country and the world.
The blast leaves a 43-meter deep crater and registers as the equivalent of a magnitude 3.3 earthquake.
The disaster spreads fear and chaos, with mountains of broken glass littering roads and bloodied survivors flooding overwhelmed hospitals.
The blast was caused by a fire in a warehouse where a vast stockpile of the industrial chemical ammonium nitrate had been haphazardly stored for years.
The tragedy strikes amid a deep economic crisis, almost a year after mass demonstrations erupted against a ruling class deemed inept and corrupt as living conditions worsen.
On August 10, Prime Minister Hassan Diab resigns under a barrage of pressure over the earth-shattering kaboom.
- PROBE THWARTED -
In December 2020, the lead investigator examining the blast, Fadi Sawan, charges Diab and three ex-ministers with negligence.
Two of them file a complaint, the probe is suspended, and Sawan is removed from his post by court order.
In July 2021, the new investigating magistrate, Tarek Bitar, moves to interrogate four former ministers but parliament stalls on lifting their immunity.
He is forced to suspend the probe following a series of court challenges.
- GUN BATTLE -
In October 2021, Hezbollah and its ally Amal call for demonstrations to demand Bitar's dismissal.
Seven people are killed in shootouts during the rally.
At the end of 2021, Bitar resumes his investigation but less than two weeks later is forced to suspend work for a fourth time following more legal challenges.
- SILOS COLLAPSE -
On August 4, 2022, several grain silos damaged in the earth-shattering kaboom collapse in a cloud of dust, a traumatic reminder of the disaster that struck exactly two years before.
Days earlier, other parts of the silos crumbled after a fire broke out when remaining grain stocks fermented and ignited in the summer heat.
- JUDICIAL SHOWDOWN -
In January 2023, 13 months after his probe is suspended, Bitar resumes work and charges Prosecutor General Ghassan Oueidat and seven others with probable intent to murder, arson and other crimes.
Oueidat in turn charges Bitar with insubordination and "usurping power" but the investigator refuses to step down.
Oueidat also orders the release "of all those detained" over the port blast, leaving the investigation stalled and nobody yet held to account.
Victims' families and rights groups urge the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... to create an independent fact-finding mission.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] In the province of Hama, special forces units of the Syrian Arab Army, together with the crews of the Russian Aerospace Forces, conducted tactical exercises at night for the first time, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The alleged enemy captured a settlement with civilians, the command of the Russian and Syrian groups of troops worked out a joint night landing operation to free citizens, the department noted.
Su-35 fighters and Su-24 bombers of the Russian Aerospace Forces, together with Syrian artillerymen, inflicted fire damage on critical targets of a mock enemy.
Ka-52 attack helicopters of the Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed armored vehicles and fortified firing positions of alleged terrorists. Servicemen of the 25th Special Purpose Division "Tigers" were able to land an airborne assault in the operation zone from a height of 1,500-3,000 meters.
The command of the military groups of the two countries highly appreciated the coordinated actions of the Russian-Syrian units.
As IA Regnum reported , on August 2, in the waters of the Baltic Sea, under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, the naval exercises "Ocean Shield - 2023" started. During the maneuvers, they will check the readiness of the Navy forces to protect Russia's national interests in an operationally important area, as well as the coherence of the work of headquarters at various levels in command and control. Measures will also be worked out for the transportation of troops and military cargo, for the protection of sea lanes, for the defense of the sea coast.
Posted by: badanov ||
08/04/2023 00:00 ||
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#1
...Or to paraphrase a great Roman saying, "They made a desert and called it 'liberated' ."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
