Tag: violence

Two new studies warn that a hotter world will be a more violent one

Washington Post logoAs the planet warms, experts have increasingly sounded the alarm over the potential for increased climate-driven geopolitical conflict. Two new studies underscore how rising temperatures are likely to increase aggression and violent behavior at the individual level as well. They arrive at a similar conclusion using two very different data sets: crime in Los Angeles and terrorist attacks around the world.

The first study, released last month by the National Bureau of Economic Research, examines the relationship between daily high temperatures and incidents of violent crime in Los Angeles between 2010 and 2017. Criminologists have known for decades that murder and other violent crimes tend to be more frequent in the hot summer months. Here, for example, is a comparison between monthly homicides and average high temperatures in the city of Chicago. Continue reading “Two new studies warn that a hotter world will be a more violent one”

What history reveals about surges in anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant sentiments

The shooting at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh is believed to be the deadliest attack on Jews in American history. Eleven people were killed when the gunman burst in on the congregation’s morning worship service carrying an assault rifle and three handguns.

The suspect, Robert Bowers, is reported to be a frequent user of Gab, a social networking site that has becoming increasingly popular among white nationalists and other alt-right groups. He is alleged to have regularly reposted anti-Semitic slurs, expressed virulent anti-immigrant sentiments, called immigrants “invaders,” and claimed that Jews are “the enemy of white people.”

The magnitude of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre may be unprecedented, but it is only the latest in the series of hate crimes against Jews. In February 2017, more than 100 gravestones were vandalized at a cemetery outside of St. Louis, Missouri, and at another Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia. Indeed, hate crimes have been on an increase against minority religions, people of color and immigrants. In the 10 days following the 2016 presidential election, nearly 900 hate-motivated incidents were reported, many on college campuses. Many of these incidents targeted Muslims, people of color and immigrants, along with Jews.

View the complete October 28 article by Ingrid Anderson, Associate Director of Jewish Studies, Lecturer, Arts & Sciences Writing Program, Boston University, on TheConversation.com website here.

Racist, Violent, Unpunished: A White Hate Group’s Campaign of Menace

The following article by A.C. Thompson and Darwin Bond-Graham was posted on the ProPublica website October 19, 2017:

They train to fight. They post their beatings online. And so far, they have little reason to fear the authorities.

RAM member Ben Daley (center) attacks an unidentified woman at the “Unite the Right” rally on Aug. 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Jason Andrew for Splinter)

It was about 10 a.m. on Aug. 12 when the melee erupted just north of Emancipation Park in Charlottesville, Virginia.

About two dozen white supremacists — many equipped with helmets and wooden shields — were battling with a handful of counter-protesters, most of them African American. One white man dove into the violence with particular zeal. Using his fists and feet, the man attacked one person after another.

The street fighter was in Virginia on that August morning for the “Unite the Right” rally, the largest public gathering of white supremacists in a generation, a chaotic and bloody event that would culminate, a few hours later, in the killing of 32-year-old Heather Heyer, who was there to protest the racist rally. Continue reading “Racist, Violent, Unpunished: A White Hate Group’s Campaign of Menace”

Trump puts a fine point on it: He sides with the alt-right in Charlottesville

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website August 15, 2017:

President Trump first asked reporters to define the “alt-right,” before saying members of the “alt-left” were also to blame for violence in Charlottesville, while taking questions from reporters on Aug. 15 at Trump Tower in New York. (The Washington Post)

It was inevitable that President Trump’s brief news conference on Tuesday concerning national infrastructure would, instead, be redirected to a discussion of the violent protest in Charlottesville this past weekend and his delayed criticism of the racist and pro-Nazi groups that were central to it.

It did not seem inevitable, though, that Trump’s responses to questions about those protests would cement as correct the general interpretation of his first comments on the matter: He’s sympathetic to the goals of the men who marched Saturday night carrying Confederate and Nazi flags — and even to the “peaceful” torchlight protest on Friday in which marchers chanted anti-Semitic and Nazi slogans. Continue reading “Trump puts a fine point on it: He sides with the alt-right in Charlottesville”

x Trump says he can’t be sued for violence at his rallies because he won the election

The following article by Avi Seik was posted on the Washington Post website April 15, 2017:

Last year, protesters from a campaign rally sued Donald Trump — claiming the future president urged his supporters to assault them.

Now Trump is the president, of course. And while the lawsuit grinds on, with more accusations added last week, he claims he won immunity along with the election. Continue reading “x Trump says he can’t be sued for violence at his rallies because he won the election”