Kshama Sawant releases statement on shooting at the CHOP

A 19-year-old man was shot early Saturday morning at the CHOP. Another man is in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center. Seattle police officers arrived to the scene around 2:30 a.m. after reports of gun shots. They said a crowd prevented them from finding a shooting victim. They later learned that CHOP medics took the victims to Harborview where the 19-year-old later died.

Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant released a statement Saturday afternoon about the shooting. Read her full statement below.

Our deepest condolences go out to the loved ones of the black protester who was tragically killed this morning by gunfire at the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP). Socialist Alternative and I stand in solidarity with the family and friends of the victim, and with the injured protester now in the hospital, as well as with all community members and fellow activists.

Though we await confirmation of the details of the killing, there are indications that this may have been a right-wing attack. If so, this would not be the first such attack on the Capitol Hill Black Lives Matter protest. As many recall, an armed man drove into the protest action on June 8, and shot black activist Dan Gregory, who had heroically intervened to stop the driver.

We need immediate solidarity with the protest at the CHOP, and unity in our movement against reactionary violence. Our movement refuses to be intimidated.

It is no accident that right-wing hate and violence has grown dramatically with Donald Trump in the White House. If this killing turns out to be a right-wing attack, President Trump bears direct responsibility, since he has fomented reactionary hatred specifically against the peaceful Capitol Hill occupation, and even threatened to intervene with federal troops. Also responsible are the conservative and corporate media outlets, both locally and nationally, which have themselves whipped up right-wing hate by completely misrepresenting the nature of the peaceful protest occupation, and who are continuing to do so even now, claiming that this shooting proves the CHOP is descending into chaos. Seattle’s establishment Mayor Jenny Durkan and Police Chief Carmen Best also share responsibility for having portrayed our protest movement as violent.

It is crucial that the CHOP occupation has developed a self-defense committee, which has played an important role at the encampment, and that general assemblies to ensure ongoing political discussions have been taking place. Socialist Alternative and I believe we should further develop both these important initiatives and the democratic structures of the CHOP with regularly scheduled general assemblies to vote on decisions for the movement, and democratically agreed plans around self defense. Elected committees of self defense have historically played vital roles during general strikes, occupations, and in mass movements, in order for the working class and marginalized people to defend themselves and carry out necessary functions in place of the forces of the state. Our labor movement has a crucial role to play in the protest movement, and should provide people and resources to assist in the defense and organization of CHOP.

Our movement should also demand and insist that the Seattle Police fully investigate this attack and be held accountable to bring the killer(s) to justice. Because of the repressive role of the police under capitalism, and often with developed links to reactionary groups, police have historically frequently failed to prosecute violence by the right – even going as far as to shield the perpetrators. For decades in the South, law enforcement across the country did not lift a finger to stop the KKK’s lynch mobs, and often participated in them. It is being reported that police resources nationwide have been used to spy on, repress, and infiltrate the #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd protest movement, and to surveil protest occupations like the CHOP. But on the other side, how much time has been spent investigating the right wing, with their threats and acts of real violence? Just in recent days, neo-Nazis have been making public statements calling for the killing of protesters. Yesterday, on Juneteenth, the day of celebration of defeating the confederacy and ending the institution of slavery, many far-right and reactionary figures have made calls to start a new Civil War. We must demand accountability and justice, and if the police fail to thoroughly investigate and bring the killer(s) to justice, we may need to launch an independent community investigation.

more https://mynorthwest.com/1969263/kshama-sawant-statement-shooting-chop/

Here's the fake news AP spin on tonight's rally…

Trump comeback rally features empty seats, staff infections

President Donald Trump launched his comeback rally Saturday by defining the upcoming election as a stark choice between national heritage and left-wing radicalism. But his intended show of political force amid a pandemic featured thousands of empty seats and new coronavirus cases on his own campaign staff.

Trump ignored health warnings to hold his first rally in 110 days — one of the largest indoor gatherings in the world during a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 120,000 Americans and put 40 million out of work. The rally was meant to restart his reelection effort less than five months before the president faces voters again.

“The choice in 2020 is very simple,” Trump said. “Do you want to bow before the left-wing mob, or do you want to stand up tall and proud as Americans?”

Trump unleashed months of pent-up grievances about the coronavirus, which he dubbed the “Kung flu,” a racist term for COVID-19, which originated in China. He also tried to defend his handling of the pandemic, even as cases continue to surge in many states, including Oklahoma.

He complained that robust coronavirus testing was making his record look bad — and suggested the testing effort should slow down.

“Here’s the bad part. When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more cases,” he said. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down.’ They test and they test.”

“Speed up the testing,” Trump’s Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, tweeted later.

In the hours before the rally, crowds were significantly lighter than expected, and campaign officials scrapped plans for Trump to address an overflow space outdoors. When Trump thundered that “the silent majority is stronger than ever before,” about a third of the seats at his indoor rally were empty.

Trump tried to explain away the crowd size by blaming the media for scaring people and by insisting there were protesters outside who were “doing bad things.” But the small crowds of pre-rally demonstrators were largely peaceful, and Tulsa police reported just one arrest Saturday afternoon.

Before the rally, Trump’s campaign revealed that six staff members who were helping set up for the event had tested positive for the coronavirus. Campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said neither the affected staffers nor anyone who was in immediate contact with them would attend the event.

The president raged to aides that the staffers’ positive cases had been made public, according to two White House and campaign officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.

Trump devoted more than 10 minutes of his 105-minute rally — with the crowd laughing along — trying to explain away a pair of odd images from his speech last weekend at West Point, blaming his slippery leather-soled shoes for video of him walking awkwardly down a ramp as he left the podium. And then he declared that he used two hands to drink a cup of water that day because he didn’t want to spill water on his tie — and proceeded to this time drink with just one hand.

But Trump also leaned in hard on cultural issues, including the push to tear down statue s and rename military bases honoring Confederate generals following nationwide protests about racial injustice.

“The unhinged left-wing mob is trying to vandalize our history, desecrate our monuments, our beautiful monuments,” Trump said. “They want to demolish our heritage so they can impose their new repressive regime in its place.”

more https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/20/trump-comeback-rally-features-empty-seats-staff-infections/

Muslim student sues professor for teaching truthfully about Islam

A professor who won a free-speech battle with his community college over his teaching about Islamic terrorism now is being sued by a Muslim student and the controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations, known as CAIR.

After a student complained about the content of Nicholas Damask's World Politics course, officials at Scottsdale Community College in Arizona promised he would apologize.

But he didn't, and the college later apologized to him when the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education pointed out his freedom to teach "subjects that may be controversial" was protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Now, however, the Investigative Project on Terror reports student Mohamed Sabra and the Arizona branch of CAIR filed a lawsuit against the professor on June 2 in federal court.

The complaint seeks an injunction against the Maricopa Community College District, which SCC is part of, and Damask to block use of course materials deemed to "have the primary effect of disapproving of Islam."

The report noted there were three questions on the Islamic terror module in the course to which Sabra objected:

"Who do terrorists strive to emulate?" (Muhammad)

"Where is terrorism encouraged in Islamic doctrine and law?" (The Medina verses, i.e., the portion of the Quran traditionally understood as having been revealed later in Muhammad's prophetic career)

"Terrorism is ____ in Islam." ("justified within the context of jihad.")

The lawsuit charges that the "only objectively reasonable construction of Damask's actions is that his primary message is the disapproval of Islam."

"Damask's module quiz forced Sabra to agree to his radical interpretation of Islam. When Sabra did not, he was penalized by getting the questions wrong and impacted his grade," the complaint states.

Sabra told Damask the quiz offended him and his religion.

Damask, responding in two emails, explained that the quiz questions came from the course reading material. Sabra then posted a screenshot of the quiz to social media, which resulted in death threats against Damask and the college, IPT reported.

"The college has protocols if a student has a complaint," District Governing Board member Kathleen Winn told the Arizona Independent News Network. "This student didn't file a formal complaint. Professor Damask's academic freedom is protected. I hope CAIR is not using this student to forward their agenda without regard for the student's interests, freedom of speech, and academic freedom."

The report said CAIR's Arizona chapter is using the controversy to raise funds, with claims that Damask's class "threatens Muslim lives."

The IPT report said: "CAIR has long fought to sanitize educational texts of considers derogatory against Islam. It entered into a formal partnership in 2010 with the 57-nation global Organization of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) Islamic Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) to 'redress the image of Islam and Muslims in textbooks.' Like CAIR, the OIC condemns connecting Islamic doctrine and terrorism in the minds of Westerners as 'unfair,' saying it has "created an unfair misinterpretation of the Islamic message in the Western and Non Muslim worlds.'"

The lawsuit also attacked Walid Phares, the author of "Future Jihad," complaint he writes that jihad is not a "spiritual phenomenon that would be and was abused by extremist ideologies" but rather a call for physical action.

CAIR contends Damask "failed to articulate that other more acceptable, and in fact 'mainstream' views of jihad have nothing to do with violence, but instead he improperly urged students to accept his personal opinions."

IPT noted CAIR was the creation of a Muslim Brotherhood-controlled Hamas-support network in the United States, according to internal documents seized by the FBI.

The complaint alleges Damask distorted the Quran in order to support his "gross misinterpretations" of jihad.

https://www.wnd.com/2020/06/muslim-student-sues-professor-teaching-truthfully-islam/