Tag: tragedy

Texas is changing its gun laws just weeks after the deadly mass shooting in El Paso, but it’s how the laws are changing that’s raising eyebrows. Ali Velshi and Giffords Senior Policy Advisor David Chipman break down what we know…

California manhunt ends with the arrest of an illegal immigrant suspected of killing a police officer; national correspondent William La Jeunesse reports from Los Angeles. #SpecialReport #FoxNews FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering…

When I first heard the news that a gunman had opened fire on a synagogue in Pittsburgh during Shabbat services and a bris on Oct. 27, my heart shattered. Before we even knew the death toll or the number of people injured, I wept because this type of anti-Semitism is supposed to be a thing of the past. I was taught that America is the place we are free to practice our religion, but that we cannot be complacent if that isn’t always the case. When I saw that conversation surrounding the issue focused on political rhetoric and saw my peers posting on social media platforms to vote in the midterms in wake of this tragedy, it infuriated me and showed me that Jewish suffering is secondary to politics. In the wake of the Pittsburgh tragedy, students should take this time to look beyond politics and try to understand the history and culture of their fellow Jewish students. Hate crimes against Jewish people are still very prevalent in America. Talking to others about our different backgrounds and different experiences can bring us out of our bubbles and show us what is really important in the aftermath of a tragedy: healing and understanding. This tragedy, while it had political influences, was not about politics. As students on a campus with a large Jewish population, it is important to understand that this is an example of how Jewish people have never truly been welcomed or accepted. In the wake of this tragedy, students need to come together and help the Jewish community on campus heal and let them know that they are welcome and safe here.

WASHINGTON — Tragedy and terror have dominated the last 72 hours in American politics. While most politicians, Democrats and Republicans, see this as a problem, President Trump sees it as an opportunity. Oct. 28, 201801:55 Consider Trump’s rally in Illinois on Saturday just hours after the shooting in Pittsburgh. “This evil anti-Semitic attack is an assault on all of us. On the caravan: “Republicans want no crime, and no caravans, right?... So I can’t call her Pocahontas anymore, but I think I will anyway, do you mind?” On his critics and opponents: “You have the haters and they continue to hate. “Our political rhetoric has become much more demonizing. Actually, it is their Fake & Dishonest reporting which is causing problems far greater than they understand!” But how can the president participate in finding a solution to the division and hatred when he doesn’t see them as problems — but instead conditions to exploit? With eight days to go until the 2018 midterms, it is very possible that the pipe bomb scare and shootings in Pittsburgh are the final issue-events of this campaign season. But with eight days left… Trump, GOP defiant that incendiary rhetoric didn’t cause the recent violence The Washington Post: “President Trump and his Republican allies remained defiant Sunday amid allegations from critics that Trump’s incendiary attacks on political rivals and racially charged rhetoric on the campaign trail bear some culpability for the climate surrounding a spate of violence in the United States.” More: “Trump, who has faced calls to tone down his public statements, signaled that he would do no such thing — berating billionaire liberal activist Tom Steyer, a target of a mail bomb sent by a Trump supporter, as a ‘crazed & stumbling lunatic’ on Twitter, after Steyer said on CNN that Trump and the Republican Party have created an atmosphere of ‘political violence.’” Vice President Mike Pence told NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard this when asked about Trump’s language: "Look, everyone has their own style, and frankly, people on both sides of the aisle use strong language..." Trump “reads the dutiful words of unity and grief … that aides put in front of him, but he refuses to stick to the script” The New York Times: “The president has made clear he does not see national harmony as his mission.

Political operatives make snap judgments using incomplete evidence to implicate their opponents in crimes they didn't commit; reaction from the Hoover Institution's Victor Davis Hanson. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news…

President Trump welcomes pilot Tammie Jo Shults and the crew and passengers of Southwest Flight 1380 to the White House to commemorate their bravery. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as…

As is the case every year, April 10, 2018 was a day of patriotic demonstrations and memorial services in Poland, commemorating a tragic plane crash eight years ago in Smolensk, Russia. This year's events were especially important for Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), as a memorial plaque honoring his twin brother Lech — who was president at the time he was killed in the crash — was unveiled at the country's parliament, the Sejm. When addressing crowds at memorial services that are held monthly, not just on April 10, Kaczynski likes to say of his brother Lech: "He rekindled Poland's national consciousness and restored its honor." On April 10, 2010, the Polish president and a high-level government delegation were on route to Katyn, a village near Smolensk in western Russia. Zbigniew Mikolejko, a philosopher of religion at the Polish Academy of Sciences, calls the PiS leader a "chosen one" who has constructed an entire "religion of Smolensk" atop his own personal trauma. Tragedy as a political instrument That melding of pseudo-religious ritual and politics is viewed by many people as an attempt to instrumentalize a national tragedy. But Jaroslaw Kaczynski quickly realized he could use his brother's death to push his own political agenda," sociologist Jakub Bierzynski told DW. In Bierzynski's opinion, Kaczynski is "a completely rational politician" who doesn't even believe in the Russian attack conspiracy himself, but he consistently pushes that narrative because it suits his needs. Every month for the last eight years Kaczynski has promised that the cause of the crash would be found. The national tragedy and personal trauma of Poland's most influential politician have, nevertheless, left their mark on the country.

PLAINVILLE, Conn. — When William A. Petit Jr. was campaigning door to door here for a seat in the State Legislature, he did not have to worry about getting residents to remember his name. Mr. Petit gave up his diabetes practice immediately after the killings to focus on the foundation. In the 1990s, Carolyn McCarthy won a seat in Congress after her husband was among six passengers killed when a mentally ill man opened fire on a Long Island commuter train. Mr. Petit declined to be interviewed for this article; his office said that Mr. Petit wanted “to decrease his personal publicity, choosing instead to focus on his family and legislative work.” Friends and colleagues said that it made sense that Mr. Petit would seek a life in public service, pointing to his family’s longstanding involvement in politics in Plainville, where he grew up. “I’m not surprised that he entered politics at all,” said Ms. Tompkins, noting that both Mr. Petit’s father and sister served on the town council. “The Petit family is a big deal in Plainville.” Every year since the home invasion, Bob Heslin, a former high school classmate of Mr. Petit’s, and Mr. Heslin’s brother, Gary, have organized a road race to benefit the foundation. There was a time, according to interviews Mr. Petit has given, when he seemed doomed to endlessly replay his family’s suffering. In the early months of the foundation’s existence, Mr. Petit struggled to make it through meetings without crying. “I said, ‘You need to get some experience in Hartford before you run for governor,’” Ms. Bergenty recalled. “That he actually came back to life was such a good thing.”

I'm shocked by the UN’s decision to censure Saudi Arabia for its actions in Yemen. It is indeed deplorable to see children die in combat anywhere, but it is particularly hard to witness the daily murder of innocent children who, through no fault of their own, are in the wrong place at the wrong time. In fact, according to the UN Secretary General’s report on “Children and Armed Combat,” 1340 children died in 2016 alone. As someone who has spent a lifetime concerned about human rights, this is especially tragic. What is disappointing about the UN decision, however, is not that they have highlighted the terrible tragedy in the country, but that they have pointed a finger in the wrong direction. For many of us in the West, Yemen is a far away place that is a war zone, but for the Saudis, Yemen is a neighboring country overtaken by a rogue regime and uncompromising Houthi rebels who pose a threat to local and regional security. Children are dying in Yemen because the rebels prefer to work from heavily populated areas, often using children as human shields, a violation of international humanitarian law and creating unimaginable cruelty. Even the loss of one child under these circumstances is wrong and worth condemnation. Both sides should establish protections as the Saudis recently did by creating their “child protection unit” and locating it within their coalition headquarters. Ken Blackwell is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former U.S ambassador to the United Nations.