Breaking-Pittsburgh police confirms active shooter at synagogue, multiple victims reported

[INVAR]

Not sure if Gab is fully-up right now, I'd follow some of the "Britain First" website who I don't believe ever posted outright objectionable horrible things, I know they got booted from other social media.

Gab was yanked down, Paypal has revoked their contract and reports are that the site owner said their Provider has given them until midnight tonight to find another host.

In short, Gab is toast - and will not return.

Good news for Facebook, Google and Twitter who do not want any kind of alternate social media vehicles to exist out there.

[TomSea]

Muslims crowdfund for victims of Pittsburgh synagogue attack

Crowdfunding has become a go-to effort for relief following hate crimes and mass shootings in the US.

Muslims crowdfund for victims of Pittsburgh synagogue attack

Crowdfunding has become a go-to effort for relief following hate crimes and mass shootings in the US.

Read more at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/10/muslims-crowdfund-victims-pittsburgh-synagogue-attack-181028112649520.html

Allegedly, this link shows the money they have raised.  https://www.launchgood.com/project/muslims_unite_for_pittsburgh_synagogue#!/

[mountaineer]

Good news for Facebook, Google and Twitter who do not want any kind of alternate social media vehicles to exist out there.

Exactly.

[mountaineer]

Victims identified:
The 11 victims that were killed in the shooting were identified as:

    Joyce Fienburg, 75-year-old, of Oakland
    Richard Gottfried, 65-years-old, of Ross Township
    Rose Mallinger, 97-years-old, of Squirrel Hill
    Jerry Rabinowitz, 66-years-old, of Edgewood
    Cecil Rosenthal, 59-years-old, of Squirrel Hill
    David Rosenthal, 54-years0old, of Squirrel Hill
    Bernice Simon, 84-years-old, of Wilkinsburg
    Sylvan Simon, 86-years-old, of Wilkinsburg
    Daniel Stein, 71-years-old, of Squirrel Hill
    Melvin Wax, 88-years-old, of Squirrel Hill
    Irving Younger, 69-years-old, of Mt. Washington
KDKA

Cecil and David Rosenthal were brothers and both perished in the rampage, according to Allegheny County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Karl Williams. Bernice and Sylvan Simon were married and were also among the dead in the rampage, he added. ... FOX

Mr. Wax, the Simons, Mrs. Mallinger - all old enough to have lived through WWII and, wherever they lived at the time, to know of the Germans' attempts to annihilate them. How infuriating that they were killed where and when they were, in the greatest nation on earth, by a guy who lived just a few miles away.

[Applewood]

Many of the Jews in Squirrel Hill are Holocaust survivors or descendants of Holocaust survivors.  There are also many Jews who fled persecution in countries such as the former Soviet Union.  According to the stories out there, Bowers was fixated on HIFA -- the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society which assists Jewish immigrants/refugees with basic needs such as housing, food, clothing, education and job opportunities.  Bowers apparently thought these immigrants were ruining the country.  Congregations such as Tree of Life work with HIFA to assist the refugees and I guess Bowers thought he was destroying HIFA by shooting up the congregation. 

I really hope this guy fries and doesn't occupy a prison cell for the rest of his natural life at taxpayer expense.  What he has done is unforgivable.

[Formerly Once-Ler]

I get lots of my news through twitter and youtube, but I see a lot less rat content pushing gun control than I though I would by now.  Maybe the rats think blaming Trump is the better attack, or they have something better to reveal locked in last minute. 

If some rat has a plan to stop gun violence, protect synagogues, or enhance background checks I ain't hearing it yet.  Anybody else notice this?

Maybe it's just too soon but I can't believe everybody took the weekend off.

[Applewood]

I get lots of my news through twitter and youtube, but I see a lot less rat content pushing gun control than I though I would by now.  Maybe the rats think blaming Trump is the better attack, or they have something better to reveal locked in last minute. 

If some rat has a plan to stop gun violence, protect synagogues, or enhance background checks I ain't hearing it yet.  Anybody else notice this?

Maybe it's just too soon but I can't believe everybody took the weekend off.

Well, my liberal anti-gun friends were all over this massacre before the bodies were cold.  I refused to engage them.  Told one of them -- "you know how I feel and nothing is going to change my mind.  If anything, as a result of this tragedy, I'm more pro-Second Amendment than ever."

By the way, the dopey Pittsburgh mayor (liberal/socialist Democrat) was whining about Trump's call for armed guards at houses of worship.  Earlier in the week, the city school board rejected a proposal to arm security guards at the schools.  these people have their heads in the sand.  This isn't the 1950s.  Terrorists of all kinds are out there determined to enter public places and kill.  We cannot afford to be unarmed anymore..

[Formerly Once-Ler]

Well, my liberal anti-gun friends were all over this massacre before the bodies were cold.  I refused to engage them.  Told one of them -- "you know how I feel and nothing is going to change my mind.  If anything, as a result of this tragedy, I'm more pro-Second Amendment than ever."

By the way, the dopey Pittsburgh mayor (liberal/socialist Democrat) was whining about Trump's call for armed guards at houses of worship.  Earlier in the week, the city school board rejected a proposal to arm security guards at the schools.  these people have their heads in the sand.  This isn't the 1950s.  Terrorists of all kinds are out there determined to enter public places and kill.  We cannot afford to be unarmed anymore..

I don't think I would feel comfortable in an armed congregation, although you could be correct that is where we are ultimately headed.  I too remain unwavering in the 2nd amendment.

Gun control isn't a winning issue in red areas but it plays in blue areas...some safe rat should be championing it by now as a stepping stone to 2020 I think.

[Fishrrman]

From what I've read, this killer had essentially no previous criminal record at all.
He probably acquired the weapons he owned legally.

Sadly, in a nation of over 300 million, incidents like this have become "the price we pay" for having a Second Amendment.

That is to say, with the right to own weapons guaranteed by the Constitution, every now and then someone who owns them is going to go completely bonkers and commit an atrocity like this.

Once they have, there's nothing left to do but clean up the misery they leave behind, and wring our hands and consciousness wondering "how could this have happened"?

But there's little that can really be done to prevent it from happening again.
You can turn churches, synagogues and schools into fortresses, and it will still happen.

Again -- it's a "price to be paid".
Nothing more. Nothing less.
"The bill" falls due now and then, and nobody likes it.
But.. we still have to pay.

[mountaineer]

Today at church, I was especially vigilant. I was in the choir loft, but Mr. M told me he felt the same way on the main level of the sanctuary. Both of us looking around, planning our course of action if someone burst in ...
Just a little on edge. 

[berdie]

I think it is a sad state of affairs when we have to arm schools and religious institutions....but it is what it is .  The kooks are running amok.

[INVAR]

I think it is a sad state of affairs when we have to arm schools and religious institutions....but it is what it is .  The kooks are running amok.

Even sadder still is that the vast majority of people who pay lip service God in America, refuse to see or acknowledge the correlation of a culture and society that has removed God from the public and cultural square with the violence and mayhem that now dominates the cultural and societal square.

The kooks are running amok because the hedge of protection was no longer desired or wanted to maintain the culture, and the door was opened to all kinds of evil that we are consigning ourselves to treat as the everyday normal now.

So we're just witnessing the collapse and dissolution of the civil society which will be replaced with something far more sinister and totalitarian at the demand of a people for the promise of security and safety.

And of course we shall have neither.

[TomSea]

It's really unbelievable, someone would have this kind of hate in their hearts.

Columbine and all of those, done by a lot of video playing kids who really don't know anything.  Yes, they are as tragic, of course.

[Applewood]

http://wtae.com/article/squirrel-hill-synagogue-shooting-suspect-robert-bowers-arrives-at-courthouse-for-hearing/24402994?src=app

The suspect has been arraigned.

[TomSea]

Reportedly GAB is down for now.

https://boingboing.net/2018/10/29/alt-right-social-network-gab-d.html

But they have a statement up that assures everyone, they will be back.

[Applewood]

…

But there's little that can really be done to prevent it from happening again.
You can turn churches, synagogues and schools into fortresses, and it will still happen.
… 

You are correct that we cannot prevent this kind of carnage 100%, but I think we all are going to have to face reality and realize we need to be as protected as we possibly can.  And the best way to do that is to be armed -- armed guards or packing your own.   Most of these shootings occur in public places where everyone is a sitting duck.  You don't hear of someone storming, say, a federal office building with its metal detectors and armed guards.  Someone hell bent on killing a lot of people will pick a target where there are no such security measures in place.  He's not going to want to run the risk of engaging someone else who is armed.