Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By simmons on October 28, 2018

For months, Robert D. Bowers had been spewing his anger in post after post on the web, calling immigrants invaders, distributing racist memes and asserting that Jews were the enemy of white people.

Then, on Saturday, moments before the police say he barged into a Pittsburgh synagogue with an assault rifle and three handguns, he tapped out a final message: I cant sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, Im going in.

The authorities said Mr. Bowers, 46, then killed at least 11 people in and around the synagogue, Tree of Life, a spacious building with stained glass windows, a golden memorial tree and a Torah rescued from the Holocaust.

It was the Sabbath, the synagogues busiest day. The attack was one of the deadliest on the Jewish community in United States history.

The actions of Robert Bowers represent the worst of humanity, said Scott W. Brady, the United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Please know that justice in this case will be swift and it will be severe.

[A man shouting anti-Semitic slurs opened fire inside a Pittsburgh synagogue where three congregations worshiped.]

The police arrested Mr. Bowers, who had 21 guns registered to his name, according to Representative Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania. Officials said he was not known to law enforcement before the shooting, and a search of the Pennsylvania judiciary database shows only a 2015 traffic violation in his name.

Mr. Bowers took to Gab, a social network that bills itself as a being dedicated to free speech and which is increasingly popular among alt-right activists and white nationalists. After opening an account on it in January, he had shared a stream of anti-Jewish slurs and conspiracy theories. It was on Gab where he found a like-minded community, reposting messages from Nazi supporters.

Jews are the children of Satan, read Mr. Bowerss biography.

Mr. Bowers lived about a 25-minute drive south of the synagogue in a brick apartment complex on a dead-end street, where he was frequently spotted smoking cigarettes outside. A neighbor said she could not remember seeing him speak to anyone, not in the two years shed lived there.

The shooting came a day after federal authorities arrested a man in Florida on charges of sending mail bombs to prominent Democrats. The man, Cesar Sayoc Jr., had also posted vitriolic and sometimes violent messages both online and on stickers attached to the windows of his van. Political rage fueled Mr. Sayoc, who railed against liberals and immigrants and echoed the saber-rattling rhetoric of Mr. Trumps rallies, according to people who knew him.

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Who Is Robert Bowers, the Suspect in the Pittsburgh Synagogue ...

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Posted By admin on October 28, 2018

Robert Bowers, 46, has been identified as the suspect in Saturday's "horrific" mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, according to a law enforcement official. Police have Bowers in custody after the rampage that has resulted in 11 fatalities and six injuries. USA TODAY

A Department of Motor Vehicles ID picture of Robert Bowers, the suspect in the Pittsburgh synagogue attack.(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

A suspected gunman who burst into a Pittsburgh synagogue shouting "All Jews must die!," killing 11 worshippers and wounding six other people, was charged late Saturday with 29 federal counts, including hate crimes.

Robert Bowers, 46, was taken into custody after being wounded in a shootout with police at the scene of the "horrific"mass shooting, according to law enforcement officials. Among the wounded were four police officers.

Bowers allegedly burst into theTree of Life Congregation Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh and screamed anti-Semitic epithets, as he opened fire on the congregants, law enforcement officials said.

Police said he was armed with an assault rifle and three handguns.

The official who is not authorized to comment publicly said the suspect left an alleged trail of anti-Semitic rants on social media accounts, prompting authorities to designate the FBI as the lead agency to investigate the attack as an alleged hate crime.

"Its a very horrific crime scene," Pittsburgh Public Safety DirectorWendell Hissrich said at a news conference."It'sone of the worst Ive seen."

Attorney General Jeff Sessions saidBowers could face the death penalty.

These alleged crimes are reprehensible and utterly repugnant to the values of this nation," Sessions said in a statement. "Accordingly, the Department of Justice will file hate crimes and other criminal charges against the defendant, including charges that could lead to the death penalty.

The call of a shooting at the synagogue came in at around 9:54 a.m., he said. Armed with an assault rifle and four handguns, Bowers allegedly shot and killed the 11 victims before being confronted by police.

Pittsburgh police officers confronted Bowers as he allegedly tried to exit the synagogue, saidPittsburgh bureau FBI Special Agent in ChargeBob Jones. A gunfight erupted and two officers were injured, he said.

Bowers retreated back into the synagogue as SWAT members descended onto the scene. After another exchange of gunfire, two SWAT members were wounded and Bowers was taken into custody, Jones said.

Bowers was in fair condition with multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said. Investigators believe he acted alone.

"This is the most horrificcrime scene I've seen in my 20 years with the FBI," Jonessaid.

The names of the victims were not expected to be released until Sunday.

Teams of armed police swarmed the neighborhood neardowntown Pittsburgh just before 10 a.m. Saturday. Residents were urged to shelter in place as armed law enforcement agents canvassed the neighborhood.

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Speaking to reporters at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, President Donald Trump praised law enforcement's response in the shootingand called the suspect in custody a "madman" and a "whacko."

He said he would like to see morearmed guards at synagogues and other places of worship and impose more death penalty sentences on convicted murderers.

"It's aterrible, terrible thing what's going on with hate in our country and, frankly, all over the world," Trump said. "Something has to be done."

Postsbelieved to be from Bowers social media accounts showpictures of several Glock pistols in their cases and derogatory remarks about refugees, Jewish people and Trump. In his last post on the social network Gab, issued Saturday morning, Bowers criticized a refugee advocacy group who "likes to bring invaders in that kill our people."

"I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered," he wrote. "Screw your optics, I'm going in."

More: Shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue: Politicians, local leaders react to tragedy

More: What we know about the shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf expressed condolences for the lives lost in the shooting at a synagogue today. Police confirm at least 10 people were killed. USA TODAY

Squirrel Hill is a Jewish enclavenear Carnegie Mellon University. A little more than 50 percent of Greater Pittsburghs Jewish community livesin or around the neighborhood, said Jeff Finkelstein, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

Tree of Life immediate past president Michael Eisenberg told KDKA-TV that there were three congregations meeting simultaneously, probably totaling around 100 people,at the time of the shooting. They were gathered in the main part of the building, as well in the basement and in the rabbi study room, he said.

The shooting occurred during a baby-naming service.Eisenberg said he spoke with a maintenance man who hid in one of the bathrooms during the shooting and witnessed a shot congregant before fleeing throughan exit.

Eisenberg said he was on his way to service there when he noticed police swarming the streets.

"There were police cars everywhere, guns drawn, rifles," he told KDKA-TV. "It was surreal."

In the interview, Eisenberg said synagogue officials recently adjusted the exit doors to make them easier to open, which probably saved lives on Saturday. During Saturday services, the front door is kept unlocked, allowing visitors to come and go freely, he told KDKA-TV.

Security has always been a concern at the synagogue but the shooting will force officials to rethink their threat-prevention measures, Eisenberg said.

"This will be a catalyst for increased security in the future," he told the station.

More: Trump says Pittsburgh shooting has 'little' to do with gun laws, armed guard could have prevented tragedy

The synagogue was founded 150 years ago and offers members a "traditional Conservative service with a modern sense of family" and shabbat service on 9:45 a.m. Saturdays, according to the Tree of Life's website.

Calling it an act of "horrendous anti-Semitic brutality," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that "I was heartbroken and appalled by the murderous attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue" and that all Israelis "grieve with the families of the dead."

Vice President Mike Pence commented on the incident while at an event with Nevada Republicans in Las Vegas, scene of last year'sdeadly shooting that left 58 people dead.

"As Las Vegas knows all too well, what happened in Pittsburgh today is not just criminal, it's evil," he said. "There's no place in Americafor violenceor anti-Semitism."

Contributing: Kevin Johnson

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Pittsburgh synagogue shooting: Suspect charged with 29 counts ...

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Posted By richards on October 28, 2018

It moved to its current site in Squirrel Hill in 1952, where it now takes up most of a corner block. About 26 percent of the Pittsburgh areas Jewish households are in Squirrel Hill, while another 31 percent of Jewish households are largely located in neighborhoods around there, Brandeis University researchers reported in a 2017 study.

About 48 percent of Jewish children in greater Pittsburgh live in Squirrel Hill, according to the study, which was carried out on behalf of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

[Squirrel Hill has long been one of the most deeply rooted Jewish neighborhoods in America.]

Squirrel Hill is really an amazing safe community, he said. It is the heart of Jewish Pittsburgh with kosher restaurants and bakeries and a Jewish Community Center. I lived for a while in Israel and I know what security can mean, but the truth is the two safest neighborhoods I know are Squirrel Hill and Jerusalem. Ive lived in both.

On the high holidays, when the sanctuary comes close to reaching its capacity of 1,450 congregants, there are security officers. But Saturday morning, he said, when there would be around 75 people, everything would have been wide open.

In recent years, the congregation size had dwindled and so now three congregations meet on Saturday morning, in three different parts of the synagogue. Its a very vibrant place on Saturday mornings, he said.

Rabbi Berkun had heard that the gunman had barricaded himself at one point in his old study. Still, threats were something he had never really thought about, not here.

As soon as he saw news of the shooting on social media, Zachary Weiss, 26, tried to get in touch with his father, Stephen Weiss, a longtime member of the Tree of Life Congregation.

By that time the elder Mr. Weiss was already in action, carrying out the all-too-real protocols of the active shooter response training that congregants at Tree of Life had put into place the year before. Recounting what his father told him, the younger Mr. Weiss said that services had just been getting started when he heard a loud noise.

There was a loud sound and a couple of people investigating it heard a couple more loud sounds, he said. Thats when my father and the rabbi discovered it was the sound of gunshots.

The rabbi instructed everyone to get to a safe place, and after the Tree of Life congregants had done so, his father considered the other congregations that meet in the building on Saturdays. The bris was taking place on a lower floor, and he checked first to make sure the people there were safe. They were.

His father never saw the shooter, Mr. Weiss said, but, before evacuating, he was at one point close enough to see the shell casings.

Its going to take a long while for us as a community to grasp this, he said.

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11 Killed in Pittsburgh Synagogue Massacre; Suspect Charged ...

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Posted By simmons on October 28, 2018

Eleven people were killed and at least six more were injured -- including four police officers -- when a gunman opened fire at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday morning, authorities said.

"It's a very horrific crime scene," Alleghany Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich told reporters during the press conference Saturday afternoon. "It's one of the worst that I've seen."

Police responded earlier Saturday to reports of active gunfire at the Tree of Life Or LSimcha congregation, where a service was taking place, Hissrich said. The suspect is in custody and has been taken to the hospital, Hissrich said.

Eight men and three women were killed in the shooting, according to a criminal complaint. One of the four officers is in critical condition.

The shooter has been identified as Robert Bowers, who is 46 years old and lives in Pittsburgh. Bowers use at least one assault rifle in the shooting and had three handguns on him.

Bowers was charged with 29 federal counts late Saturday, including several hate crimes. He is facing 11 counts of obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death, 11 counts of use of a firearm to commit murder, four counts of obstruction of exercise of religious belief resulting in bodily injury to a public safety officer and three counts of use and discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

The four counts of bodily injury to a public safety officer stem from the police officers injured in the shooting.

Bowers was not known to the FBI before Saturday, Bob Jones, the agency's special agent in charge, said during a press conference Saturday afternoon. He is believed to have acted alone, Jones added.

He suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was in fair condition at a local hospital, Hissrich said.

In addition to the federal charges, Bowers was also charged with 35 state offenses, including 11 counts of criminal homicide, six counts of criminal attempted homicide, six counts of aggravated assault and 13 counts of ethnic intimidation.

The congregants were attending a baby-naming ceremony in the synagogue, Pennsylvania's state attorney general told the Associated Press. There were no children among the dead, Hissrich said.

Jennifer Paddy said her daughter, who was staying at a friend's house near the synagogue, "heard rapid gunfire."

"Her and her friend ... they ran downstairs and barricaded themselves in the basement," she told ABC affiliate WTAE in Pittsburgh.

Since the incident happened at a synagogue, it is being treated as a federal hate crime and will be handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with the assistance of local, county and state police, he added.

The Anti-Defamation League said it was "unconscionable for Jews to be targeted during worship on a Sabbath morning."

"This is the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States," it said in a statement.

First responders prevented the shooting from becoming a worse tragedy, and the injured have been taken to three area hospitals with level one trauma centers, Hissrich said.

"Without their courage, this tragedy would have been far worse," said Hissrich said.

Rabbi Alvin Berkun, who was not at the synagogue at the time, told ABC News he was "stunned" and "sorry" to hear of the shooting. He said he had stayed home from services Saturday morning because his wife was sick and that he has not heard from friends who were in the building.

Berkun, who lives nearby the synagogue, said police officers came to his door and told him to stay inside his home. He described the neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, where the synagogue is located, as "a very Jewish neighborhood" which is "known as a Jewish community."

"There's absolutely no crime, it's an amazing neighborhood," Berkun said. "It's hard to believe it's a city neighborhood. It's dominated by the Jewish community center four blocks away ... by kosher bakeries -- all kinds of Jewish gift shops, bookshops, a number of synagogues."

"There is one major synagogue but there are at least five other synagogues within two miles of where we are," he said.

When the gunman opened fire at the synagogue, law enforcement officers, including agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) swiftly responded to the scene.

The suspect was apprehended a short time later.

The synagogue is a conservative Jewish congregation, according to its website, and there was a morning Shabbat service scheduled from 9:45 a.m. to noon.

Berkun said there are "three different religious groups that are meeting in our building on Saturday morning with three distinct services," estimating that there could have been approximately 75 people in the building at the time. Hissrich declined during the press conference to say how many people were inside at the time.

By late Saturday afternoon, with the death toll at 11, President Donald Trump signaled that he will change the tone of his typical rally speeches, telling reporters that "tone is very important."

He said he was enthusiastic about being on the campaign trail, but that Saturday's mass shooting had changed things.

"Tonight, I will absolutely change my tone," he said.

Earlier, speaking to reporters before boarding a flight to the event in Indiana, Trump called the attack "a shame," calling the suspect "a wacko" and a "maniac." He also said the suspect should "pay the ultimate price" and be subjected to the death penalty.

When asked about whether the nation's gun laws should be changed, Trump said the synagogue should have had armed security there.

"You want protection, and they didnt have any protection, they had a maniac walk in," Trump said. "The results could have been much better."

He said that before getting into office, he would think "what a shame, what a shame" when incidents like this one unfolded.

"Its even tougher when youre the president of the United States and you have to watch this thing happen," Trump said.

After he arrived Saturday afternoon, the president said the shooter appeared to be an "anti-Semitic crime."

"That is something you wouldn't believe could still be going on," he added.

After hinting earlier in the day that he might cancel Saturday night's rally out of respect for the dead and wounded in Pittsburgh, he told the crowd that he was inspired to attend the rally by the late New York Yankees' owner and friend George Steinbrenner -- and his resolve for the Yankees to play after the September 11th attacks in 2001.

Trump also claimed that the US Stock Exchange remained open, though it was closed for six days after the attacks.

Vice President Mike Pence offered his condolences on Twitter.

"Praying for the fallen, the injured, all the families impacted, and our courageous first responders, he tweeted Saturday morning. "God bless them all."

First lady Melania Trump said her "heart breaks" over the shooting, and that "the violence needs to stop."

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf tweeted that he was headed to Pittsburgh.

"We are providing local first responders with whatever help they need," he wrote.

By Saturday evening, residents of the Pittsburgh apartment building where Bowers lived who had been evacuated were allowed back into their apartments. One neighbor described the suspect to ABC News as a quiet loner who lived alone and didn't stick out as any sort of danger.

The New York City Police Department and the Los Angeles Police Department said that they are deploying extra teams to synagogues and Jewish locations throughout those cities as well.

"The NYPD is deploying heavy weapons teams, including the officers from the Critical Response Command and the Strategic Response Team, to houses of worship across the City," the department said in a statement. "Additionally, sector cars in every command across New York City will be making additional visits to ensure the safety of all of our residents. Currently, there is no nexus to New York. But these steps are being taken until further information is learned about the events in Pittsburgh by the NYPD."

Police in Washington, D.C., are also on alert.

"We have reached out to Jewish community leaders and have directed officers to pay special attention to synagogues until further notice," a spokesperson for the D.C. police department said.

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Pittsburgh synagogue mass shooting claims 11 lives; 4 ...

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Posted By admin on October 28, 2018

Eleven people were killed and six wounded in a shooting at a synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood of Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Donald Trump called the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue a wicked act of mass murder and decried antisemitism in all forms. He staged a campaign rally in Illinois as scheduled.

The suspected gunman was identified as Robert Bowers, a Pittsburgh resident who is reportedly 46 years old. He was taken to hospital in the city and reported to be in fair condition.

Federal prosecutors have charged Bowers with 29 charges, including obstructing the exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death, 11 counts of using a firearm to commit murder, weapons offences and seriously injuring police officers. The FBI was investigating the shooting as a federal hate crime.

Please know that justice in this case will be swift and it will be severe, Scott Brady, the chief federal prosecutor in western Pennsylvania, said at a news conference, characterizing the slaughter as a terrible and unspeakable act of hate.

The identities of the dead were not immediately released but Wendell Hissrich, Pittsburghs public safety director, told an afternoon news conference no children were killed. The toll of wounded did not include the suspect, he said.

The suspect appeared to have far-right views. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the local CBS affiliate KDJA reported that a white male [with] a beard walked in yelling All Jews must die. Social media accounts in the name of Robert Bowers contained antisemitic rants.

Today the nightmare has hit home here in the city of Pittsburgh, Hissrich said.

An emergency call reported the shooting at 9.54am ET and officers were dispatched a minute later. Two officers were shot and wounded when they arrived at the synagogue, Hissrich said.

Bob Jones, FBI special agent in charge, said the suspect was leaving the synagogue when he was engaged by the officers, having carried out the shootings inside. He retreated into the building, where two officers were injured before the suspects surrender.

Jones said the suspect had an assault rifle and three handguns. He could not confirm all were used. Bowers was not previously known to law enforcement, Jones said, adding that though people had been brutally murdered by a gunman targeting them simply because of their faith, the gunmans full motive was not yet known.

Dr Dan Yealy of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center did not divulge the identities of those wounded but did detail the injuries they suffered. The two non-officers injured were a 61-year-old woman and a 70-year-old man, he said. The man was in critical condition after suffering gunshot wounds to the torso. The four officers all remained in hospital.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Jeff Finkelstein, chief executive of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, told reporters a little more than half of the Jewish community in the greater Pittsburgh area lived in and around Squirrel Hill. Michael Eisenberg, a past president of the Tree of Life synagogue, said there were three services in the main building on Saturday morning, with 30 to 40 people in two larger services and about 15 in a smaller one. The Pennsylvania attorney general, Josh Shapiro, later said the shooting occurred during a baby naming ceremony.

Weve never had any threats, Eisenberg said, adding that the synagogue had nonetheless consulted the Department of Homeland Security and other synagogues about precautions. Finkelstein told reporters there had been lots of training on things like active shooters, and weve looked at hardening facilities as much as possible.

This should not be happening, period, he said. This should not be happening in a synagogue.

Trump left Washington for a speaking engagement and a political rally. At Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, he expressed sympathy for the victims of the event then unfolding in Pennsylvania. Asked if gun laws needed to be changed to prevent such incidents, the president said: If they had protection inside the results would have been far better. If they had some kind of a protection inside the temple, maybe it would have been a much different situation.

Trump also said people who carried out mass shootings were wackos and said he thought the death penalty should be brought into vogue.

Its a terrible, terrible thing whats going on with hate in our country, frankly, the president said, and all over the world. And something has to be done.

Trump spoke a day after an avowed supporter of his policies was arrested in Florida and charged over pipe bombs sent to prominent Democrats and critics of the presidents policies.

At a Future Farmers of America event in Indianapolis, Trump strongly condemned the shooting as antisemitic, an act of pure evil. Later, speaking to a big crowd at an airport hangar in southern Illinois, he said he was staging the rally because to cancel it would have made sick, demented people important. Trump told reporters before the event the suspect was no supporter of mine, and said he would visit Pittsburgh. He did not say when.

In Squirrel Hill, residents came together for a candlelit vigil in remembrance of the dead and support of the wounded.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, expressed his sympathy while his minister of the diaspora, Naftali Bennett, tweeted that he was flying to Pittsburgh to be with our sisters and brothers on their darkest hour.

Trumps remarks stoked instant debate over whether the shooting could have been prevented. The Pennsylvania governor, Tom Wolf, called the shooting an absolute tragedy and added: We have been saying [this one is too many] for far too long. Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harms way. And in the aftermath of this tragedy, we must come together and take action to prevent these tragedies in the future. We cannot accept this violence as normal.

At the scene on Saturday morning, a light rain fell as officers cordoned off the area. Chuck Diamond stood at the corner of Murray Street and Northumberland Avenue, wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates cap, doing his best to comfort shocked and grieving people. Until a year ago, he was the rabbi at Tree of Life.

We were lucky, he said. It was the beginning of services and Jews always come late to services.

Locally, the epithet Squirrel Hill Jew has long been used to describe people from this tight-knit liberal enclave, blocks away from Carnegie Mellon University.

Im sure everybody in the community feels like its an attack on them, Diamond said, adding that he had feared such an attack for years.

There are issues we need to address like gun control and people need to keep this in mind when they go to the polls in November, he said.

Congressman Mike Doyle, who lives in nearby Forest Hills, said: Its horrific. I know people that go to church there. One of my employees got married there and her parents go there. It just makes you numb, thats all.

In 2016, the Democrat helped lead a sit-in on the House floor, calling for gun control legislation. You know, he said, you have disturbed minds and hate in hearts and guns in their hands and this is what happens and Congress does nothing.

A Squirrel Hill resident, a graduate student from Germany who did not wish to be named, said it was the second time Ive been near the scene of a mass shooting. The student said she had previously lived near the scene of the 2014 Isla Vista shooting in California, in which six people died.

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Pittsburgh synagogue shooting: suspect Robert Bowers charged ...

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Posted By admin on October 28, 2018

3:35 PM PT -- The Anti-Defamation League says the shooting is believed to be the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history.

2:40 PM PT -- U.S. Attorney General,Jeff Sessions, issued a statement, saying in part: "Hatred and violence on the basis of religion can have no place in our society. These alleged crimes are reprehensible and utterly repugnant to the values of this nation. Accordingly, the Department of Justice will file hate crimes and other criminal charges against the defendant, including charges that could lead to the death penalty."

2:20 PM PT -- Officials say 3 handguns and an assault rifle were found at the scene, and the suspect, Robert Bowers, is in fair condition with multiple gunshot wounds.

1:10 PM PT -- Press conference with the AlleghenyDirector of Public Safety ...11 fatalities and 6 injuries, 4 of the injuries were officers shot. There weren't any children injured or killed.

12:30 PM PT -- At least 10 dead, according to officials.

12:05 PM PT -- Pittsburgh public safety director Wendell Hissrich says there are 6 injuries, and 4 of them are officers. He described the crime scene as "horrific" and said the synagogue shooting is being considered a hate crime and will fall under federal investigation.

10:45 AM PT -- The suspected gunman has been identified by law enforcement officials as 46-year-old Robert Bowers.

9:15 AM PT-- We've seen what looks like the shooter's social media page, and it says "Jews are the children of Satan." His last post reads, "I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in."

The shooter is reportedly a member of Gab, an alternative social media site frequented by white supremacists.

10:00 AM PT -- Donald Trump just said the shooting could have been prevented if someone inside the temple had a gun. He then weirdly talks about the death penalty, as if that might have prevented the shooting.

A gunman opened fire at a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh during a prayer service, 4 people are confirmed dead, and this was clearly an anti-Semitic attack.

The shooter entered the Tree of Life Congregation and began spraying bullets. According to cops, the shooter came with an AR-15 and said, "All Jews need to die."

When cops arrived, the shooter began firing at them.According to CNN, at least 3 cops have been shot.

Authorities believe as many as 8 people from the synagogue might be dead, and at least 12 have been shot.

Carnegie Mellon University, which is near the temple, is on lockdown.

Authorities have the shooter in custody.

Story developing.

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Shooter Opens Fire at Pittsburgh Jewish Synagogue, 11 ...

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Posted By simmons on October 28, 2018

President Donald Trump responded Saturday to a fatal shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue that left at least eight dead. He said the outcome might have been different if the synagogue, which is located in a neighborhood known for its Jewish population, had "protection."

"If there was an armed guard inside the temple, they would have been able to stop him, maybe there would have been nobody killed, except for him, frankly," Mr. Trump said.

"If they have some kind of protection inside the temple maybe it could have been a very much different situation. They didn't," he said.

He also said "we should stiffen up our laws in terms of the death penalty."

"When people do this they should get the death penalty," he said. "And they shouldn't have to wait years and years. ... And, I think they should very much bring the death penalty into vogue."

Mr. Trump, speaking to reporters at Andrews Air Force Base, said the violence "has to stop."

It's a "terrible thing what's going on with hate in our country," he said.

City officials said the shooting was being investigated as a federal hate crime. It comes amid a rash of high-profile attacks in an increasingly divided country, including the series of package bombs mailed over the past week to prominent Democrats and former officials.

In addition to those who were killed Saturday, six were wounded, including the four police officers, said Wendell Hissrich, the Pittsburgh public safety director.

"This is likely the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States," Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement.

The attack took place during a baby naming ceremony, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. It was unknown whether the baby was harmed.

World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder called the shooting "an attack not just on the Jewish community, but on America as a whole."

The synagogue where the shooting took place is located in a tree-lined residential neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, the hub of Pittsburgh's Jewish community. In 2010, Tree of Life Congregation -- founded more than 150 years ago -- merged with Or L'Simcha to form Tree of Life (asterisk) Or L'Simcha.

The synagogue is a fortress-like concrete building, its facade punctuated by rows of swirling, modernistic stained-glass windows illustrating the story of creation, the acceptance of God's law, the "life cycle" and "how human-beings should care for the earth and one another," according to its website. Among its treasures is a "Holocaust Torah," rescued from Czechoslovakia. Its sanctuary can hold up to 1,250 guests.

Michael Eisenberg, the immediate past president of the Tree of Life Synagogue, lives about a block from the building.

He was getting ready for services when he received a phone call from a member who works with Pittsburgh's Emergency Services, saying he had been notified through scanner and other communications that there was an active shooter at their synagogue.

"I ran out of the house without changing and I saw the street blocked with police cars. It was a surreal scene. And someone yelled, 'Get out of here.' I realized it was a police officer along the side of the house. ... I am sure I know all of the people, all of the fatalities. I am just waiting to see," Eisenberg said.

He said officials at the synagogue had not gotten any threats that he knew of prior to the shooting. The synagogue maintenance employees had recently checked all of the emergency exits and doors to make sure they were cleared and working.

"I spoke to a maintenance person who was in the building and heard the shots. He was able to escape through one of the side exit doors we had made sure was functioning," Eisenberg said.

Jeff Finkelstein of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh said local synagogues have done "lots of training on things like active shooters, and we've looked at hardening facilities as much as possible."

"This should not be happening, period," he told reporters at the scene. "This should not be happening in a synagogue."

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Trump on synagogue shooting: "We should stiffen up" death ...

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Posted By simmons on October 28, 2018

A woman kneels to place a candle outside the Tree of Life Synagogue after a shooting there left 11 people dead in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

A woman kneels to place a candle outside the Tree of Life Synagogue after a shooting there left 11 people dead in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

Updated at 12:14 a.m. ET on Sunday

Federal prosecutors have charged Robert Bowers, the 46-year-old suspected gunman who carried out a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday morning, with 29 counts in the deaths of 11 people, The Associated Press reports.

"Please know that justice in this case will be swift and it will be severe," Scott Brady, the chief federal prosecutor in western Pennsylvania, said at a news conference, according to the AP, describing the massacre as a "terrible and unspeakable act of hate."

Officials in Pittsburgh reported 11 people, none of them children, were killed in the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in what is being investigated as a hate crime. The federal charges issued to Bowers Saturday night include hate crimes and weapons offenses.

Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich told reporters six people were injured in the attack. Four police officers were among the injured.

First responders surround the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a shooter opened fire Saturday morning. Gene J. Puskar/AP hide caption

First responders surround the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a shooter opened fire Saturday morning.

Bowers surrendered to the police inside the synagogue and was taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds but officials say he's in fair condition.

His voice breaking, Hissrich said it was a "very horrific crime scene."

"It's one of the worst that I've seen and I've been on some plane crashes," Hissrich said. "It's very bad."

In a statement, the Anti-Defamation League called the shooting one of the deadliest attacks on the Jewish community in the history of the United States.

Bob Jones, FBI special agent in charge of the bureau's Pittsburgh office, said that the investigation is still in the early stages, but that agents plan to look at everything in the suspect's life, including his social media activity and movements in the last few days.

Tammy Hepps, Kate Rothstein and her daughter, Simone Rothstein, 16, pray from a prayerbook a block away from the site of a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images hide caption

Tammy Hepps, Kate Rothstein and her daughter, Simone Rothstein, 16, pray from a prayerbook a block away from the site of a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

Jones said authorities do not believe the suspect was known to law enforcement before the attack.

Reports of a shooting began at about 9:54 a.m., just nine minutes after a Saturday service was scheduled to begin at the synagogue. Officers were dispatched to the scene at 9:55 a.m., according to law enforcement officials.

Bowers was said to have been in the synagogue for about 20 minutes with an assault-style rifle and three handguns.

As Bowers was exiting the synagogue, a Pittsburgh police officer engaged with him. The officer was subsequently wounded, and as he withdrew, the suspect went back into the synagogue in order to hide from a SWAT team that was moving toward the scene, according to officials.

Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert praised the bravery of the officers who arrived on the scene.

"Watching those officers run into the danger to remove people and get them to safety was unbelievable," Schubert said.

An FBI agent stands behind a police cordon outside the Tree of Life Synagogue after a shooting there left 11 people dead in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

An FBI agent stands behind a police cordon outside the Tree of Life Synagogue after a shooting there left 11 people dead in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

On his way to Air Force One on Saturday afternoon, President Trump addressed the shooting, remarking that if there were an armed guard inside the temple, the shooter might have been stopped. He also suggested that bringing "the death penalty into vogue" would help deter such attacks.

Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, he said of the lack of an armed guard: "They didn't have any protection. They had a maniac walk in, and they didn't have any protection."

He added: "And, that is just so sad to see. So sad to see. The results could have been much better."

The president said the nation should "stiffen up laws in terms of the death penalty" in order to prevent such shootings from happening in the future.

"I think they should very much bring the death penalty into vogue," Trump said.

Police rapid response team members respond to the site of a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images hide caption

Police rapid response team members respond to the site of a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

"Anyone that does something like this to innocent people that are in temple or church, we've had so many incidents with churches ... They should really suffer the ultimate price, they should really pay the ultimate price. I've felt that way for a long time."

Pennsylvania is one of 31 states where capital punishment remains legal, but it has been almost 20 years since the state has carried out an execution.

In a statement, Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the shooting "reprehensible and utterly repugnant." Sessions said the Justice Department "will file hate crimes and other criminal charges against the defendant, including charges that could lead to the death penalty."

Upon arriving at the Future Farmers of America Convention in Indianapolis, Trump again addressed the shooting in speech, saying it was "hard to believe" and "frankly something that is unimaginable."

"This was an anti-Semitic act," Trump said. "You wouldn't think this would be possible in this day and age, but we just don't seem to learn from the past."

Vice President Pence commended law enforcement officers for their swift response.

"There is no place in America for violence or anti-Semitism and this evil must end," Pence said at an event in Las Vegas.

Members of the Squirrel Hill community come together for a student-organized candle vigil in rememberance of those who died earlier in the day during a shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood. Dustin Franz/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Members of the Squirrel Hill community come together for a student-organized candle vigil in rememberance of those who died earlier in the day during a shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

He echoed Trump, agreeing that anyone who opens fire on worshippers should pay the ultimate price.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement that he was "heartbroken and appalled" by the shooting.

"The entire people of Israel grieve with the families of the dead. We stand together with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh. We stand together with the American people in the face of this horrendous anti-Semitic brutality. And we all pray for the speedy recovery of the wounded," Netanyahu said.

Neighbors around the corner from the site of a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue embrace one another. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images hide caption

Neighbors around the corner from the site of a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue embrace one another.

According to the Tree of Life website, Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers usually leads its Saturday service. In July, Myers wrote an essay for the synagogue's website titled "We Deserve Better," which focused on several issues, including gun control. Myers wrote:

"Despite continuous calls for sensible gun control and mental health care, our elected leaders in Washington knew that it would fade away in time. Unless there is a dramatic turnaround in the mid-term elections, I fear that that the status quo will remain unchanged, and school shootings will resume. I shouldn't have to include in my daily morning prayers that God should watch over my wife and daughter, both teachers, and keep them safe. Where are our leaders?"

The 11 victims killed in Pittsburgh on Saturday morning are part of the 289 people who have died so far as a result of a mass shooting in 2018, Vox reports. (The outlet cites data from the Gun Violence Archive, which defines mass shootings as incidents in which at least four people, not including the shooter, are shot but not necessarily killed.)

Residents talk to the media near the site of a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images hide caption

Residents talk to the media near the site of a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue.

This is a developing story. Some things that get reported by the media will later turn out to be wrong. We will focus on reports from police officials and other authorities, credible news outlets and reporters who are at the scene. We will update as the situation develops.

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Posted By richards on October 25, 2018

Republican Gov. Henry McMaster participates in a gubernatorial primary debate at the University of South Carolina Tuesday June 5, 2018 in Columbia,S.C.. (Pool photo by Grace Beahm Alford / Post and Courier)(Photo: Pool photo by Grace Beahm Alford / Post and Courier)

The Anti-Defamation League is asking federal officials to deny Gov. Henry McMaster's request to allow Miracle Hill Ministries and other faith-based organizations to select only Christian foster parents, calling such practice "immoral."

McMaster in March signed an executive order directing the state Department of Social Servicesnot to punish organizations such as Miracle Hill if their actions limiting clientele are due to religious beliefs, and heasked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to grant a waiver along the same lines.

Miracle Hill, which is based in Greenville,does not place foster children withgay couples or non-Christian familiesbecause of the organization's religious views.

"No child should be denied a loving foster or adoptive home simply because a prospective parent is Jewish, another faith, a different race or LGBTQ," Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the ADL, wrote in a letter to federal officials. "Granting the requested waiver is immoral because it would only serve to harm the most vulnerable in our society."

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is a civil rights organization that seeks to fight anti-Semitism and other forms of hate.

More: South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster defends Miracle Hill's Christian requirement

Brian Symmes, a spokesman for McMaster, issued a statement saying the ADL's concerns are "unfounded."

The governor believes the concerns raised in this letter are both unfounded and off-base," Symmes said. "The issue is the constitutionally protected religious beliefs of all South Carolinians, regardless of their faith. The governor would fight just as hard on behalf of Miracle Hill if they were a Jewish organization, a Muslim organizationor an organization of any other faith. We need more organizations engaged in finding foster care home for children, not less."

Greenblatt argued that federal taxpayers should not be asked to pay for discrimination.

"The prospective, publicly-funded discrimination sought by the waiver is not only grossly unfair, but it raises serious legal issues," he wrote. "For example, a child placement agency refusing, based on its religious beliefs, to place a child with an otherwise qualified Jewish, Muslim, African-Americanor Hispanic family could violate 42 U.S.C. 1981 (U.S. code of law providing equal rights)."

Greenblatt also wrote that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act does not allow discrimination while protecting religious freedoms.

Granting such a waiver request also might violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by improperly advancing or endorsing the religious missions of faith-based foster care agencies, Greenblatt argued.

More: Scrutiny of Miracle Hill's faith-based approach reaches new level

"Our nations religious liberty protections such as RFRA are intended as a shield for exercise of religion, and not a sword to harm or discriminate against others," Greenblatt wrote. "In light of the detrimental impact granting the requested waiver would have on the neediest children and the serious legal issues raised by the waiver request, we urge its rejection in the strongest terms."

McMaster argued last week in a gubernatorial debatethat Miracle Hillshould be allowed to exercise its faith. "They are not hurting anybody," he said.

But Democratic gubernatorial nominee James Smith countered that in addition to protecting religious freedom, the government should also not allow discrimination.

"South Carolina's values don't reflect saying we're going to deny you access to being a foster parent because you're Jewishor because you're Catholic or because you are gay or lesbian," Smithsaid.

Read or Share this story: https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/south-carolina/2018/10/23/anti-defamation-league-seeks-denial-governors-miracle-hill-request-religious-freedom-discrimination/1740414002/

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Posted By simmons on October 19, 2018

NEW EDITIONOF THEBABYLONIAN TALMUDOriginal Text Edited, Corrected, Formulated, and Translated into EnglishBYMICHAEL L. RODKINSONFirst Edition Revised and CorrectedBYTHE REV. DR. ISAAC M. WISEPresident Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, O.

Rodkinsons' ten-book edition, the only extensive one currently in the public domain, contains complete translations of the 'Festivals' and 'Jurisprudence' sections of the Talmud. Rodkinson only finished about a third of the Talmud. All ten volumes were prepared at Sacred-texts and are available here in their entirety.

Rodkinson has been widely criticized, both from traditionalist Jews who feel that translating the Talmud is not an acceptable practice, as well as from those hostile to the Talmud and Judaism in general. As often seems to be the case, the political spectrum seems to be a Mobeius loop. All of these viewpoints are abundantly represented on the Internet. Some quote material out of context, or ascribe hostile intent to innocent passages. The most hurtful critics are those who claim that Rodkinson deliberately left out material to conceal an evil Jewish agenda. After completion of this etext, I can unequivocably state that this is hogwash. Rodkinson's Talmud is, by definition, an abridgement for modern readers. He left out only the sections where the debate spins off into complete obscurity, and was careful to document where he did so. Now that this incredible text, lovingly translated, is on the Internet perhaps these criticisms can finally be put to rest.

Bibliographic note on Rodkinsons' TalmudRodkinson's translation went through at least two editions. The sacred-texts version was prepared from the second edition. All of these were from the 1918 printing, with the exception of book 1, which was scanned from a 1903 printing. The numbering of the volumes changed radically between the first and second edition; to add to the confusion the second edition was bound into a ten book set, two volumes per book. This numbering is consistent, for instance, the second edition book 1 contains volumes 1 and 2; book 5 contains volumes 9 and 10, and so on. However, the volume sequence of the first edition was completely shuffled in the second edition; for instance, volumes 9 and 10 of the second edition (in book 5) correspond to volumes 1 and 2 of the first edition. This confusion will be evident if you shop the used book market for individual books of this set (which are fairly abundant at reasonable prices).

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Babylonian Talmud.dctx.exe - Bible Support

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