Jurors found Jeremy Christian, 37, guilty of the deaths of Taliesin Namkai-Meche and Ricky Best. He also was convicted of attempted murder for survivor Micah Fletcher and other charges stemming from events surrounding the May 26, 2017, stabbings. Fletcher sat with his eyes closed as the verdicts were read while some members of the dead men’s families cried. Christian boarded the train on May 26, 2017, and began shouting racist, anti-Muslim and xenophobic slurs at the two black women. The stabbings’ racial undertones shook Portland, which prides itself on its liberal and progressive reputation. A white supremacist has been convicted of stabbing to death two men who tried to stop his racist tirade on two young black women on a commuter train during rush hour in Portland nearly three years ago. Jeremy Christian, 37, was found guilty of the deaths of Taliesin Namakai-Meche and Ricky Best after he stabbed them in Oregon on May 26, 2017. He also was convicted of attempted murder for stabbing survivor Micah Fletcher and assault and menacing for shouting slurs and throwing a bottle at a black woman on another light rail train the day before the deadly attack.
Distinguished German scholar Hajo Funke had planned to come to the University to teach two courses on right-wing populism and collective political memory this spring. German political scientist Hajo Funke, the German department’s Max Kade Distinguished Visiting Professor, is unable to enter the United States to teach at the University because the State Department has yet to issue him a visa. Funke is currently co-teaching two classes with Jeffrey Grossman, chair of the German department, on far-right populism from Berlin via videoconference. Funke’s research focuses on political culture in modern Germany and far-right extremism. He is an active public intellectual, and was awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit in November for his work. “I know Charlottesville from my last stay as a wonderful and pleasant place and even more so the colleagues and students,” Funke said. His two courses — “Right-Wing Populism and the Far Right” and “Historical-Political Memory” — are dual-listed in both the German and Politics Department. Both are continuing with the help of Grossman and a graduate assistant who will be hired shortly. (…) To date, Funke has not received any further information or explanation from either the State Department or the Consulate. “He hasn’t been given any reason … we suspect it’s because he has a stamp from Iran in his passport,” Grossman said. Funke had recently traveled to Iran to visit his wife’s family and for academic purposes. However, he used the same passport — with the stamp from Iran — to apply for a J-1 Visa in 2018, which was quickly granted to him. He had a two-month tenure as a Research Fellow at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies in Washington, D.C. There, Funke’s research culminated in an article drawing comparisons between the right-wing extremist events that occurred in Charlottesville in August 2017, and Chemnitz, Germany in August 2018. Anti-immigrant backlash was sparked in Chemnitz when an Iraqi and a Syrian asylum seeker were accused of a deadly attack on a German man. Neo-nazi protests broke out in the streets, revealing far-right frustration towards the influx of immigrants that have entered Germany since its borders opened in 2015. His article emphasizes the public and political repercussions of these events and highlights the threat these movements pose to democracy. The article is also highly critical of President Donald Trump’s response to the Unite the Right rally and its welcome reception by extremist leaders, calling it a “vindication.” “The fact that the passport was sent back for three months without further explanation — regardless of further written statements from me — seems inconsistent to me and seems to be an expression of the growing arbitrariness of the institutions concerned,” Funke said. “In any case, this arouses suspicion about the fair treatment I expect.” Grossman speculates that the cause of the visa delay “has to be” the Iranian stamp in his passport, but also raises the concern that it could be due to his research in far-right extremism.
The move is part of EU’s efforts to beef up cybersecurity, after several high-profile incidents shocked diplomats and officials. The European Commission has told its staff to start using Signal, an end-to-end-encrypted messaging app, in a push to increase the security of its communications. The instruction appeared on internal messaging boards in early February, notifying employees that “Signal has been selected as the recommended application for public instant messaging.” The app is favored by privacy activists because of its end-to-end encryption and open-source technology. “It’s like Facebook’s WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessage but it’s based on an encryption protocol that’s very innovative,” said Bart Preneel, cryptography expert at the University of Leuven. “Because it’s open-source, you can check what’s happening under the hood,” he added. Signal was developed in 2013 by privacy activists. It is supported by a nonprofit foundation that has the backing of WhatsApp founder Brian Acton, who had left the company in 2017 after clashing with Facebook’s leadership. Privacy experts consider that Signal’s security is superior to other apps’. “We can’t read your messages or see your calls,” its website reads, “and no one else can either.” While WhatsApp’s technology is based on Signal’s protocol (known as Open Whisper Systems), it isn’t open-source. Another popular messaging app, Telegram, meanwhile, faces similar concerns over the lack of transparency on how its encryption works. After a series of high-profile incidents that shocked diplomats and officials in Brussels and across the Continent, the European Union is beefing up its cybersecurity standards. In December 2018, cybersecurity research firm Area 1 Security said it found that thousands of diplomatic cables were downloaded from the EU’s COREU (or Courtesy) system, which is used by national governments and EU institutions to exchange day-to-day information on foreign policy.
Bislang hieß es, der mutmaßliche Täter von Hanau habe seine Opfer in Bars erschossen. Jetzt kommt offenbar heraus, dass er einige Menschen während seiner Terrorfahrt in Autos tötete. Zudem rückt der Vater von Tobias R. ins Visier der Ermittler. Zum Terroranschlag von Hanau werden immer mehr Details bekannt. Offenbar besuchte der mutmaßliche Todesschütze nur wenige Tage vor seinem Angriff auf Shisha-Bars und einen Kiosk einen der Tatorte, an denen er später mehrere Menschen erschoss. Das erfuhr das RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) aus Ermittlerkreisen. So soll eine Überwachungskamera einen Mann in grüner Jacke und dunkler Mütze in einer der Shisha-Bars zeigen, in denen der mutmaßliche Täter Tobias R. später mehrere Menschen erschoss. Ein Bild der Szene kursiert mittlerweile im Internet. Die Person, die auf dem Video zu sehen ist, soll ähnlich gekleidet sein wie Tobias R. in einem der Videos, die er auf seiner Homepage veröffentlichte. Auch das Gesicht der Person in der Aufnahme sei dem des Tatverdächtigen sehr ähnlich. (…) Während der Terrorfahrt durch Hanau soll Tobias R. zwei seiner Opfer in ihren Autos erschossen haben. Das sagten Behördenvertreter am Freitag in einer Telefonkonferenz Mitgliedern des Innenausschusses des Bundestages, wie mehrere Teilnehmer der Konferenz dem Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) übereinstimmend berichteten. Nicht beantwortet worden sei hingegen die Frage, wann am Mittwochabend der erste Notruf bei der Polizei eingegangen sei und wie lange es gedauert habe, bis erste Einsatzkräfte vor Ort gewesen seien. (…) Als möglicher Mitwisser der Tat soll der Vater des mutmaßlichen Schützen in den Fokus rücken. Das berichtete die “Bild”. Die Ermittler sollen den 72-Jährigen als Beschuldigten führen, obwohl sie nicht davon ausgehen, dass Hans-Gerd R. direkt an den Morden beteiligt war. Vater von Tobias R. rückt in den Fokus Es werde jedoch geprüft, ob der Vater “tatbegünstigend” gewirkt haben soll. Der 72-Jährige soll wegen falscher Verdächtigung, übler Nachrede, Falschaussage und Erpressung der Polizei bekannt sein. Ein früherer Freund von Tobias R. habe berichtet, dass er dem Sohn zu Schulzeiten verboten habe, sich mit Migranten anzufreunden.
Zum Terroranschlag von #Hanau werden immer mehr Details bekannt. Offenbar besuchte der mutmaßliche Todesschütze nur wenige Tage vor seinem Angriff auf Shisha-Bars und einen Kiosk einen der Tatorte, an denen er später mehrere Menschen erschoss. https://t.co/K7uPA5t2UC
In Rheinland-Pfalz hat es eine eigene regionale Sektion des verbotenen rechtsextremen Netzwerks “Combat 18” gegeben. Das geht aus einer Antwort der Bundesregierung an die Bundestagsabgeordnete Katrin Werner (Die Linke) hervor. Laut der Antwort, die dem SWR exklusiv vorliegt, nannte sich die rheinland-pfälzische Sektion “Combat 18 Rheinland-Pfalz“. Nach Angaben der Bundesregierung veranstaltete sie “regelmäßige interne Treffen im kleinen Rahmen und nahm auch an den bundesweiten Treffen der Gruppierung teil”. Außerdem geht aus der Antwort hervor, dass ein Mann aus dem Raum Trier eine bundesweit wichtige Rolle in dem Netzwerk spielte. Er sei Mitglied und ein “wesentlicher Akteur von ‚Combat 18 Deutschland'” gewesen. So habe er etwa an internen Treffen teilgenommen und sich an der Organisation rechtsextremer Konzerte beteiligt. Nach Informationen des SWR zahlte das Mitglied aus dem Raum Trier bereits 2017 mehr als 200 Euro auf das Konto des mutmaßlichen Anführers von “Combat 18 Deutschland” ein. Vermutlich handelte es sich dabei um Mitgliedsbeiträge. Die Kontodaten hatte die antifaschistische Recherchegruppe “Exif” veröffentlicht. Außerdem trat der Mann aus dem Raum Trier nach SWR-Recherchen schon vor Jahren öffentlich mit einem “Combat 18”-T-Shirt auf.
The Holocaust Educational Trust has complained to Amazon about its sale of the antisemitic Der Giftpilz. The Holocaust Educational Trust has criticised Amazon for selling an antisemitic children’s book by a convicted Nazi official. The organisation has written to Amazon to express its concern over the continued sale and promotion of Der Giftpilz. Der Giftpilz or ‘The Poisoned Mushroom’ by Julius Streicher was first published in German in 1938. Streicher was the founder and publisher of the virulently antisemitic Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer and was executed for crimes against humanity following the Nuremberg trials. Karen Pollock MBE, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: “This book is obscene. It is worrying that distinguished publishers like Amazon would make available products that promote racist or hate speech of any kind, let alone those from the darkest period of European history. We have already raised our concerns about similar issues over the past decade. “As the Holocaust moves from living history to history, our survivors regularly raise the concern that Holocaust denial and antisemitism still persist. “We urge Amazon to do the right thing and remove this material from sale immediately, audit what else it may be on sale, and review their policies to prevent this ever happening again.”
Ex-Labour members secretly recorded at meetings with Holocaust deniers. Former Labour party members have regularly met elements of the far right to discuss and propagate antisemitic conspiracy theories, an undercover investigation has found. Infiltration of the conspiracy theorist group Keep Talking found that Jeremy Corbyn supporters and confidantes of former Labour MPs have attended meetings addressed by Holocaust deniers. During one gathering in London last year, suspended Labour supporters heard James Thring, an infamous antisemite linked to the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke, speak openly and unchallenged about Holocaust denial. A covert recording of Thring at the meeting captured him claiming that no deaths were recorded at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp, where 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were systematically murdered. James Thring at Keep Talking event “The archives from the listening posts show no evidence that they heard anything about deaths in Auschwitz; we didn’t know that this was going on … because it wasn’t,” Thring can be heard saying. Nick Lowles, chief executive of Hope Not Hate, which along with the Jewish charity Community Security Trust monitored Keep Talking over three years, said: “Our investigation shows what the politics of some of the far left and the far right have in common – antisemitism. It’s important that these groups are not just seen as eccentric or harmless; they give conspiracies a space to survive and grow and they encourage people to keep disseminating falsehoods.” Lowles warned that conspiracy theories, amplified and spread online, held the potential to be transmitted into mainstream politics and could cause real-world harm.