US Senate Votes Down 4 Measures Meant to Curb Gun Sales

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4i6o-aDB9Z_EVBs_OpF_rWCVyfWtrSI7DIypbgarRKXnVCBUXlCezrAecaQsPxyIPRzjaYih2z8RVTPLyK0KO9sUi7KCVrl8YisyQ406GlVbItkcG0LxJpK_Dgztv-JisOQ3exJcDaPk/s1600/2nd+Amendment_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4i6o-aDB9Z_EVBs_OpF_rWCVyfWtrSI7DIypbgarRKXnVCBUXlCezrAecaQsPxyIPRzjaYih2z8RVTPLyK0KO9sUi7KCVrl8YisyQ406GlVbItkcG0LxJpK_Dgztv-JisOQ3exJcDaPk/s320/2nd+Amendment_01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">WASHINGTON — The Senate on Monday failed to advance four separate measures aimed at curbing gun sales, the latest display of congressional inaction after a mass shooting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Eight days after a gunman claiming allegiance to the Islamic State killed 49 people in an Orlando, Fla., nightclub, the Senate deadlocked, largely along party lines, on amendments to block people on the federal terrorism watch list from buying guns and to close loopholes in background check laws. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Partisanship and the power of the gun lobby played a large role in the amendments’ failure. Democrats structured their bills in a way that was almost certain to repel Republicans, while Republicans responded with bills equally distasteful to Democrats.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Democrats vowed to hammer Republicans during the campaign this fall.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCq92aOMYXR7wmXKI8WiUrouLr2I3BCBXm2iCuJ80fbruLo78UTNKUZfMVIcANUe0FN99VWC_OuV-tlHfzQL__cL9meiXs2QH2g0gvt4UPnEQoL4aKDDTH0ImDMRHDVyNjrK3Rtr3uyQ4/s1600/2nd+Amendment_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCq92aOMYXR7wmXKI8WiUrouLr2I3BCBXm2iCuJ80fbruLo78UTNKUZfMVIcANUe0FN99VWC_OuV-tlHfzQL__cL9meiXs2QH2g0gvt4UPnEQoL4aKDDTH0ImDMRHDVyNjrK3Rtr3uyQ4/s320/2nd+Amendment_02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Our constituents see a disturbing pattern of inaction,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said on the Senate floor on Monday. “Sadly, our efforts are blocked by the Republican Congress, who take their marching orders from the National Rifle Association.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, introduced one of the failed measures, which could have prevented anyone on the federal terrorism watch list and other terrorist databases from buying firearms or explosives. Democrats <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article48047225.html" target="_blank">tried unsuccessfully</a> to pass the measure after the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/03/us/san-bernardino-shooting.html" target="_blank">shooting in San Bernardino, Calif.</a>, in December.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Obama administration, which has been pushing for a variety of new gun control legislation, vowed to press on.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The view of the administration is that the American people should be engaged in the debate,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said on Monday. “So the fact that this is something that is being actively debated and considered in the Senate does represent incremental progress.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRhHbe9inlChwpPEkhHXz9TwosmrakLnltSyug1_HGjT8ZNCtHEkAnr-wczJ21DkKGyX1fgBliO4m7bDvBP6aGTva-oGOhwtYhKNhMhrGb4GJv-U0lgtKGBn_pEz9mTmzdHU0TetFjvEE/s1600/2nd+Amendment_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRhHbe9inlChwpPEkhHXz9TwosmrakLnltSyug1_HGjT8ZNCtHEkAnr-wczJ21DkKGyX1fgBliO4m7bDvBP6aGTva-oGOhwtYhKNhMhrGb4GJv-U0lgtKGBn_pEz9mTmzdHU0TetFjvEE/s320/2nd+Amendment_03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has largely supported the positions of most Republicans, who want to preserve gun rights. Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has made her support for gun control a central tenet of her campaign.<br /><br />The Senate measures seemed doomed almost as soon as they were offered. After the Sandy Hook massacre, a bipartisan background check measure failed, even though Democrats controlled the Senate. Democrats, now in the minority, replaced that measure with the amendment sponsored by Mr. Murphy, which would have expanded background checks to all gun sales except loans and gifts between family members. Republicans said it was too broad. And even Senator Jon Tester of Montana, the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, voted against it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/21/us/politics/gun-vote-senate.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Click here to read the full article</a></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: The New York Times, June 20, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div>

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WASHINGTON — The Senate on Monday failed to advance four separate measures aimed at curbing gun sales, the latest display of congressional i...

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Muslim cleric who advocated death penalty for homosexual acts leaves Australia

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSGJDSuCRYjluI0pd5kEmnGYBc-R2oPIhiPVnP95gxkh23EJPlnDDqy8D1kwvjmKk9VJW0RuQwDrBsrak5JrY4RnnfDLHxs2-nUl_dERbWB4-YhEtfmFxkEbGDYhBsk80sk8UpwXjIe8A/s1600/Farrokh+Sekaleshfar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Anti-gay Muslim cleric Farrokh Sekaleshfar" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSGJDSuCRYjluI0pd5kEmnGYBc-R2oPIhiPVnP95gxkh23EJPlnDDqy8D1kwvjmKk9VJW0RuQwDrBsrak5JrY4RnnfDLHxs2-nUl_dERbWB4-YhEtfmFxkEbGDYhBsk80sk8UpwXjIe8A/s400/Farrokh+Sekaleshfar.jpg" title="Anti-gay Muslim cleric Farrokh Sekaleshfar" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anti-gay Muslim cleric Farrokh Sekaleshfar</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">A British sheikh who advocated death as the penalty for homosexual acts has left Australia ahead of a decision to revoke his visa.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The immigration minister, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/peter-dutton" target="_blank">Peter Dutton</a>, told Sky New on Wednesday he had already decided to cancel the sheikh’s visa and he was unlikely to be allowed to return.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Australian government <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jun/14/visa-of-anti-gay-muslim-cleric-under-review-says-turnbull" target="_blank">chose to review the visa of the Shia Muslim cleric Farrokh Sekaleshfar after a video surfaced</a> of him telling a Michigan audience in 2013 that “death is the sentence for homosexual acts” in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/islam" target="_blank">Islam</a> and this was “nothing to be embarrassed about”.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sekaleshfar, British-born medical doctor and preacher, was <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/13/orlando-terror-attacks-muslim-cleric-death-for-homosexual-acts-sydney" target="_blank">due to give lectures throughout the Islamic holy month of Ramadan</a> at the Imam Husain Islamic centre in Sydney’s south-west.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Tuesday evening Sekaleshfar left Australia. He told the ABC the Islamic centre “thought it was in my best interests and for the best interests of the community” if he left, but said he had not been asked or directed to do so by the government.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sekaleshfar said he had been “caught up in politics” and said: “Never have I incited hatred or violence against human beings. I want [everyone] from the prime minister to the people of Australia to understand that. And 99.9% of all the stories try to misconstrue that.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dutton said: “I had made a decision last night to cancel the visa, and obviously this individual has decided to leave of his own accord last night, which we welcome. And it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for him to return to our country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Obviously this individual understood what was on the way and decided to leave before all of that process could be undertaken.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dutton explained that Sekaleshfar may have been granted a visa because he is a British citizen and may have applied electronically. “It’s difficult for the department to go through the Facebook or social media postings of millions and millions of people each year that would seek visas, and when we receive information we act quickly.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The prime minister, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/malcolm-turnbull" target="_blank">Malcolm Turnbull</a>, told 2GB radio: “The moment this man’s presence and what he had said was drawn to our attention, the minister and I spoke about it, the minister acted decisively and his visa was revoked.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The resources minister, Josh Frydenberg, added to condemnation of the Sekaleshfar’s views on Tuesday. “Certainly the views he has expressed publicly and indeed recorded on tape calling for the killing of homosexuals is completely unacceptable,” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“They’re abhorrent, they have no place in Australia, indeed no place anywhere in the world.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jun/14/visa-of-anti-gay-muslim-cleric-under-review-says-turnbull" target="_blank">On Monday Sekaleshfar told Guardian Australia</a> the point of his sermons was not that “any Tom, Dick and Harry go and exercise the sentence”, adding that it could only be carried out by the state in a country where “the majority of people want Islamic law to be exercised”.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The death sentence isn’t against homosexuals, it’s about people who, in an Islamic country, go in public and commit the act of anal copulation,” he said. “It’s only relevant when you do that act in public.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sekaleshfar told the ABC the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/12/orlando-terror-attack-50-killed-nightclub-deadliest-mass-shooting" target="_blank">Orlando massacre</a> was not justifiable and denied that his lecture could have incited such violence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“No speech, especially when you’re not inciting any hatred, it was given three years ago, that would never lead to such a massacre,” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“They’re connecting me to that … to that animal, they’re connecting me to him; not at all, he was an Isis sympathiser, a follower of [Abu Bakr al-]Baghdadi – these people are criminals.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jun/15/muslim-cleric-who-advocated-death-penalty-for-homosexual-acts-leaves-australia" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, June 15, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div>

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Anti-gay Muslim cleric Farrokh Sekaleshfar A British sheikh who advocated death as the penalty for homosexual acts has left Australia ahead ...

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Sacramento preacher celebrates Orlando shootings, urges more deaths

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2HR6NvyE29BrjP6au7cSTX6mFibJrViHwz0569_tN0kyMBPrQlb9nIO4UBof7wIk-7NopunKOtkmke2TJvkx0r1pwsJRmoGCTRg7A3tSkYme1qFn4wXM1-FahDrvBGysLt7jA2L79hsM/s1600/The+Victims+of+the+Orlando+Terror+Attack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2HR6NvyE29BrjP6au7cSTX6mFibJrViHwz0569_tN0kyMBPrQlb9nIO4UBof7wIk-7NopunKOtkmke2TJvkx0r1pwsJRmoGCTRg7A3tSkYme1qFn4wXM1-FahDrvBGysLt7jA2L79hsM/s400/The+Victims+of+the+Orlando+Terror+Attack.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the victims of  the Orlando shooter. <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-orlando-nightclub-victims-who-they-were-snap-htmlstory.html" target="_blank">Who they were...</a></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Sacramento Baptist preacher Roger Jimenez took to the pulpit hours after a mass shooting in Orlando, Florida that left 50 dead and dozens injured. But instead of words of comfort, Jimenez offered up praise for the killer and urged more killings of LGBT people.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today?” the pastor of Verity Baptist Church said in the sermon. “Um no, I think that’s great! I think that helps society. I think Orlando, Florida is a little safer tonight.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“We don’t need to do anything to help. As far as I’m concerned, Orlando is a little bit safer tonight,” he said. “If we lived in a righteous government, they should round them all up and put them up against a firing wall, and blow their brains out.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Local activist Sandrea Nelson, Pride director of the Davis-Phoenix coalition, gave a profound statement to the Sacramento Bee when asked about Jimenez’ comments from the pulpit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“He’s not a man of God. He is not teaching religion,” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson also condemned Jimenez’ statements in a post on Twitter.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Video of Jimenez’s “sermon” was quickly taken down by YouTube for violating the site’s hate speech policy. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: LGBTQ Nation, Bil Browning, June 14, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

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Some of the victims of  the Orlando shooter. Who they were... Sacramento Baptist preacher Roger Jimenez took to the pulpit hours after a mas...

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50 Killed at Pulse Gay Club in Orlando; Deadliest Mass Shooting in U.S. History

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8lqdlZrPlhIDPCCkuy_fQx-hRpboylstPnZHofb7_ZV5DmB7xp07B-oGnHmsnewAG_l-RyGrimv9B6h40U8gAhHt8tsNvyOgZGSx3BqXFPuzrk2y6HCsOHgbdGRr01bTKDu9973trZpg/s1600/Pulse+Attack+Orlando+Florida+12+June+2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Pulse attack, Orlando, Florida, 12 JUN 2016" border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8lqdlZrPlhIDPCCkuy_fQx-hRpboylstPnZHofb7_ZV5DmB7xp07B-oGnHmsnewAG_l-RyGrimv9B6h40U8gAhHt8tsNvyOgZGSx3BqXFPuzrk2y6HCsOHgbdGRr01bTKDu9973trZpg/s400/Pulse+Attack+Orlando+Florida+12+June+2016.jpg" title="Pulse attack, Orlando, Florida, 12 JUN 2016" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Omar Saddiqui Mateen shot more than 100 people and took several hostage before he was killed by police in what is being called a terrorist attack. Mateen called 911 at the time of the attack to pledge allegiance to ISIS and mentioned the Boston bombers in the call. He had been investigated by the FBI in the past for possible ties to Islamic extremism.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The shooting began around 2 a.m. The gunman ran into the club and took hostages. Around 5 a.m. authorities used an armored vehicle to break down the door of the building and end the attack. "It appears he was organized and well-prepared," Orlando Police Chief John Mina said. The shooter had an assault-type weapon, a handgun and "some type of (other) device on him."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Who was Omar Mateen?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Police have identified the gunman in one of the most deadly mass shootings in modern American history as 29 year-old Omar Mateen.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Authorities say that Mateen attacked the gay nightclub pulse in Orlando, Florida with a revolver, AR15 assault rifle and a suspected explosive device. After the assault on around 320 people in the nightclub 50 were confirmed dead and 53 were taken to hospital, many in serious medical conditions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />Omar Mir Seddique Mateen was born in New York and his parents are originally from Afghanistan. He worked as a security officer at G4S Secure Solutions and while his Fort Pierce apartment was searched by police a neighbour commented to CNN that he worked as a security guard at the courthouse in Port St. Lucie, Florida.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mateen was interviewed not once, but twice by the FBI in 2013 and 2014. According to Ron Hopper, head of the FBI in Orlando, Mateen appeared on their radar after he made “inflammatory comments” to co-workers alleging possible “terrorist ties.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Ultimately,” Ron Hopper said, “we were unable to verify the substance of his comments, and the investigation was closed.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mateen was questioned again in 2014 about a possible connection with Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, an American known to have carried out a suicide bombing in the Syria conflict. The FBI, again, drew a blank and concluded that there was no “substantial relationship” between Mateen and Abu-Salha – following this, they closed both investigations on him and did not place Mateen on any terrorism watch lists.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrTOSRFadx_vSRInMuu8qnp-URR4Pjc56ciHjWQV4nvZsf4UqLh_3-cAKzcCIvDqb50Nbj6ExSlVY7mKl08_6z1ynRfk2y7ye-AdcNp9lAUQ_mraCV_OJ3xu-NgFS1zVKDAifwW1B4TOU/s1600/Orlando+12+JUNE+2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrTOSRFadx_vSRInMuu8qnp-URR4Pjc56ciHjWQV4nvZsf4UqLh_3-cAKzcCIvDqb50Nbj6ExSlVY7mKl08_6z1ynRfk2y7ye-AdcNp9lAUQ_mraCV_OJ3xu-NgFS1zVKDAifwW1B4TOU/s320/Orlando+12+JUNE+2016.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to the BBC, FBI officials said that Mateen appeared to “have leanings towards” a radical Islamist ideology.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Around 20 minutes before attacking Pulse nightclub, Mateen allegedly dialled 911 and pledged his allegiance to the terror group ISIS. According to reports, during the call he also mentioned the Boston Marathon bombers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the hours following the horrific crime, Mateen’s ex-wife, Sitora Yusifiy, told press that he was violent towards her, mentally ill and “obviously disturbed, deeply, and traumatised.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mateen’s father, Mir Seddique, told NBC News that his son had become angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami, and he believed that could be related to the shooting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Police believe Mateen rented a car and drove to Orlando to carry out the horrific attack in Pulse. TMZ report that local authorities believe Mateen specifically chose his target because it was a gay club.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Less than 24 hours after the attack on Pulse, the terror group ISIS claimed responsibility for the killings.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a message posted on a site associated with the ISIS news agency Amaq, they described the attacker as “an Islamic State fighter.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">US officials have cautioned that they had no conclusive evidence of any direct connection with foreign extremists.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“So far as we know at this time, his first direct contact was a pledge of bayat [loyalty] he made during the massacre,” a US counterterrorism official told The Telegraph. “This guy appears to have been pretty screwed up without any help from anybody.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: CNN, June 12, 2016, Gay Times, June 13, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">"LGBTQ people face the threat of terror daily. The terror of those who sustain heterosexual and cisgender supremacy. The terror of religions that condemn us. The terror of political parties that work to deny us full citizenship. The terror of elected officials and candidates who attack us. The terror of school authorities who look the other way as we are being bullied. The terror of media that spread hate speech. The terror of families who turn their backs on us or who in words or silence make it clear they see us as inferior. All of them have blood on their hands."</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">-- G. Koskovich, LGBTQ historian and activist</blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">"We cannot fathom the sheer hatred that would lead someone to shoot down more than a hundred complete strangers gathered in their community’s own safe space to innocently celebrate. Last night’s massacre at an Orlando gay bar is the latest senseless tragedy to befall our country and, poignantly, one of our many minority communities who continually struggle for their basic freedom and security. We cannot overstate our sorrow and grief on behalf of all the victims and all who love and care about them.<br /><br />Sadly, attacks of this nature do not require “radicalism.” Anti-LGBTQ+ hatred is simply too engrained in our country and around the world to be explained away as an exception. Violence of this type happens several times every day in the U.S., but usually on a smaller scale that escapes most of our notice. This crime has brought it once more to our full attention. Be it Orlando, or Charleston, or Colorado Springs, we are reminded all too often that we can be chosen as victims for merely seeking to be our authentic selves."</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">-- Jason Marsden, Executive Director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation</blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">“This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school or a house of worship or a movie theater or a nightclub. We have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be. To actively do nothing is a decision as well.”</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">-- President Barack Obama</blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Across The World, Shock And Condemnation At Orlando Massacre</span></b></div><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS5jFx2SFiJ2BlgwfFLVSUksPFwHSAYu84qCns-DnjYaAn8Nw37OYg3NR3PuSLUQpv8yUZWOL7DIXtngsww4rcH6Hx8bx0Shru0dGP8GQFhOIEx2xkw0NGtxOsJWMJqszCy2ForswhH6g/s1600/The+%25E2%2580%25AACastro%25E2%2580%25AC+%2528San+Francisco%2529+mourns+%25E2%2580%25AAthe+Orlando+victims.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The Castro (San Francisco) mourns the Orlando victims" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS5jFx2SFiJ2BlgwfFLVSUksPFwHSAYu84qCns-DnjYaAn8Nw37OYg3NR3PuSLUQpv8yUZWOL7DIXtngsww4rcH6Hx8bx0Shru0dGP8GQFhOIEx2xkw0NGtxOsJWMJqszCy2ForswhH6g/s320/The+%25E2%2580%25AACastro%25E2%2580%25AC+%2528San+Francisco%2529+mourns+%25E2%2580%25AAthe+Orlando+victims.jpg" title="The Castro (San Francisco) mourns the Orlando victims" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Castro (San Francisco) mourns the Orlando victims</td></tr></tbody></table>NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — From across the world, officials and public figures are expressing condemnation and shock over the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando that left 50 people dead and dozens more hurt.<br /><br />The massacre Sunday at the Pulse Orlando nightclub is now being called the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.<br /><br />In France, the Eiffel tower will shine in the colors of a rainbow on Monday night to honor the victims. Paris City Hall will pay its respects when American and rainbow flags will fly.<br /><br />France feels deeply the horror of deadly attacks after the November terror attacks on a music hall, restaurants and bars and the main sports stadium killed 130. That was preceded by attacks on a satirical newspaper and a kosher grocery store. All were claimed by the Islamic State group.<br /><br />Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister David Cameron have sent messages of condolence from Britain for the attack, which killed 50 people at a gay nightclub.<br /><br />Buckingham Palace says the queen sent a message to President Barack Obama saying: “Prince Philip and I have been shocked by the events in Orlando. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who have been affected.”<br /><br />J.K. Rowling also said one victim of the Orlando killings worked on the Harry Potter Ride at the Universal Studios theme park.<br /><br />The author tweeted a picture of 22-year-old Luis Vielma in a Hogwarts school tie, and said: “I can’t stop crying.”<br /><br />German Chancellor Angela Merkel says it’s important to continue with “our open, tolerant life” following attacks such as the mass shooting at an Orlando gay club.<br /><br />Speaking during a visit to China on Monday, Merkel said that “we have a heavy heart” over the fact that “the hatred and malignancy of a single person cost over 50 people their lives.”<br /><br />She added: “We are firmly determined, even when such murderous attacks put us into deep sorrow, to continue with our open, tolerant life.”<br /><br />Israeli President Reuven Rivlin says in a letter to President Barack Obama that Israel stands “shoulder to shoulder with our American brothers and sisters” after the attack on the LGBT community.<br /><br />Rivlin sent his condolences, saying there is “no comfort for those who have had their loved ones torn away from them.”<br /><br />The Orlando attack has dominated news in Israel, which has seen a wave of Palestinian attacks in recent months. On Wednesday two Palestinian gunmen killed four people at a popular shopping and restaurant area in Tel Aviv. LGBT groups in Israel planned rallies and other support for the community in Orlando.<br /><br />Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah says the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history is a “senseless act of terror and hate” and that “Palestinians stand with the American people in this difficult time.”<br /><br />The statement made no direct reference to the LGBT community. Homosexuality is deeply taboo in the conservative Palestinian society as it is throughout most of the Arab and Muslim world and in Saudi Arabia, judges can issue the death penalty for same-sex relations. Gay Palestinians tend to be secretive about their social lives and some have crossed into Israel to live openly safely.<br /><br />Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah told the Cabinet as he opened the weekly meeting live on television on Monday morning that the Orlando attack “tells us that terrorism knows no religion, boundary and geography. Terrorism must be eliminated.”<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitRc0yi_p0yumztFESFjPnCXFFD6ETaFOfFKY2O-jhgCwA2mF4wB5M7WQetaMp6IchPyFP_qajiFydZDb9fg86cVq9aEVf0zP8q0VPLVRBqON_bazAavC6wTOUMyEzA3Duz6UsxG6CWM8/s1600/Eiffel+Tower+Rainbow+Flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitRc0yi_p0yumztFESFjPnCXFFD6ETaFOfFKY2O-jhgCwA2mF4wB5M7WQetaMp6IchPyFP_qajiFydZDb9fg86cVq9aEVf0zP8q0VPLVRBqON_bazAavC6wTOUMyEzA3Duz6UsxG6CWM8/s400/Eiffel+Tower+Rainbow+Flag.jpg" width="353" /></a></div>He says that Afghans “do not support terrorism but the victims of terrorist attacks” and offered his condolences to the people and government of the United States. “Our hearts and minds are with our U.S. partners.” He also urged “collective actions to end such attacks.”<br /><br />Pakistan’s former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf condemned the Orlando shooting, saying “this is a sobering reminder that extremism and terrorism are on the rise.”<br /><br />Musharraf, who is facing court cases at home but left Pakistan in March for treatment abroad, says on his Facebook page the world must “address the root causes of global terrorism to suck the oxygen out of the extremist narrative of hate, intolerance, bigotry and the promotion of obscurantist ideology that is radicalizing vulnerable Muslims around the world.”<br /><br />Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry says the government strongly condemns the “terrorist attack” that took place in Orlando, adding that the escalation of such assaults requires a doubling down of efforts on the part of the international community to eliminate “this disgusting phenomenon.”<br /><br />Last year, 27 people were killed by an Islamic State suicide bomber in Kuwait during prayer at a mosque in the capital.<br /><br />Qatar’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the Orlando mass shooting and called for concerted international efforts to “face criminal acts that target civilians.”<br /><br />Egypt’s Foreign Ministry condemned the Orlando attack “in the strongest possible terms,” and offered condolences to the American government and people. “Egypt stands next to the American people in these difficult times, offering sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wishing the injured a speedy recovery.”<br /><br />Egypt’s statement urged for international solidarity and a “firm, comprehensive approach to confronting terrorism, which knows no borders or religion, and is incompatible with all humanitarian principles and values.”<br /><br />The United Arab Emirates, home to the Western-friendly metropolises of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, condemned “the terrorist attack” in Orlando, expressed its solidarity with the United States and called on the international community to work to “eliminate the scourge of terrorism.”<br /><br />China’s official Xinhua News Agency issued a statement saying President Xi Jinping had telephoned his American counterpart Barack Obama to express his condolences over the Orlando shootings.<br /><br />Xi was quoted as saying that “on behalf of the government and people of China, I convey to President Obama and the American government and people my deepest sympathies, sincere condolences and deep grief for the victims.”<br /><br />Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has condemned the Orlando nightclub attack and expressed condolences to the victims and their families.<br /><br />Abe told reporters Monday in Oita that “Japan stands together with the people of the United States” and that “this despicable act of terror cannot be tolerated.”<br /><br />Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that the Orlando mass shooting was “an attack on all of us, on all our freedoms, the freedom to gather together, to celebrate, to share time with friends.”<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7xAFPJoEPj95DH05WZryHhRdpx2ce1cT4VPlIBF2Z7YUJu_CO9AAuRCt3ts6EjfihFI6TaKlYC7tt4aVBKhyDzfaL1FsHxPLvsc8fWLXn_npBpz562iXG9nz2B3ZjRTJ-dRoHzS9IG8o/s1600/Orlando+attack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7xAFPJoEPj95DH05WZryHhRdpx2ce1cT4VPlIBF2Z7YUJu_CO9AAuRCt3ts6EjfihFI6TaKlYC7tt4aVBKhyDzfaL1FsHxPLvsc8fWLXn_npBpz562iXG9nz2B3ZjRTJ-dRoHzS9IG8o/s400/Orlando+attack.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>He said he spoke with the U.S. ambassador to Australia, John Berry, “and formally conveyed to him Australians’ sympathy, condolences and resolute solidarity in the face of this shocking act of hate and terror.”<br /><br />“Together, at home and abroad, we continue the fight against terrorism and stand up for the values of our free nations,” Turnbull said.<br /><br />The mass shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub happened shortly after a same-sex kiss was removed from a production of the musical “Les Miserables” in Singapore, and after the government said it would look into rules of foreign funding for gay pride parades like Pink Dot.<br /><br />Law Minister K. Shanmugam said on Facebook: “Another senseless shooting. — It just goes on and on. The madness is not going to stop.”<br /><br />The prime minister of Muslim-majority Malaysia, Najib Razak, said he was “horrified” by the Orlando mass shooting. “Islam abhors killing of innocent people,” he tweeted.<br /><br />A few Malaysians, using pseudonyms, wrote on social media that they approved of the attack at the gay nightclub because the victims were “sinners,” but they were quickly condemned by many others.<br /><br />Source: CBS, June 13, 2016<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Islamic scholar says the government - not vigilantes - should have executed Orlando gays</span></b></div><br />Less than 3 months ago, Islamic scholar Farrokh Sekaleshfar gave a talk at the Husseini Islamic Center just outside Orlando where he said that the sentence for people who are found guilty of homosexuality should be death. Despite this, he is condemning Orlando shooter Omar Mateen for massacring 50 gay people in a club this weekend.<br /><br />In an <a href="http://fusion.net/story/313063/orlando-terror-attack-muslim-lgbt/" target="_blank">interview with Fusion</a>, Sekaleshfar explained that even though he believes in the death penalty for homosexuals, he doesn't think that gives anyone the right to go out and massacre them at a nightclub. He also noted that four people need to witness a gay person having sex in order for them to be convicted of sodomy and sentenced to death.<br /><br />"I never gave the call to a death sentence," he said, while claiming that his remarks had been taken out of context. "I was explaining what Islamic law - in a country whose people democratically desired Islamic law to be exercised - states in relation to NOT homosexuals, but rather in relation to when the act of anal copulation is executed in such an aforementioned public."<br /><br />For the record, this is what Sekaleshfar had to say in late March about the proper Islamic penalties for homosexuality:<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Death is the sentence. There's nothing to be embarrassed about this. Death is the sentence ... We have to have that compassion for people. With homosexuals, it's the same. Out of compassion, let's get rid of them now.</blockquote><br />It's entirely possible that someone could hear this declaration and use it as justification to take it upon themselves to kill gay people - after all, if an Islamic scholar says "let's get rid of" gay people now, most people listening won't be attuned to the nuances of when it is or isn't purportedly "appropriate" to kill homosexuals just for being themselves. The easier path is to just say, "Killing homosexuals is wrong."<br /><br />Source: rawstory.com, June 13, 2016<br /><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">Was Orlando Gunman Omar Mateen a Self-Hating Gay Man?</span></b><br /><br /><i>Former wife of Omar Mateen says he might have hidden his gay identity out of shame</i><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUXcyS5PoPkJz3ZgNugRDjX0sWwAEprh8_xbT8BHi2ZOVfHTPruVBH9STCuLT3es2SBu76m92FdANPp8VZIB-ONTiFsRraFsgGZdDrgl0mX0ufuaxlBpWDg_kCzbZqN09gbdkHiKAY5g4/s1600/Orlando+Victims.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUXcyS5PoPkJz3ZgNugRDjX0sWwAEprh8_xbT8BHi2ZOVfHTPruVBH9STCuLT3es2SBu76m92FdANPp8VZIB-ONTiFsRraFsgGZdDrgl0mX0ufuaxlBpWDg_kCzbZqN09gbdkHiKAY5g4/s400/Orlando+Victims.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The former wife of the Orlando gunman, Omar Mateen, has told The New York Times that her ex-husband might have been gay and closeted, reinforcing reports that Mateen was a regular at Pulse nightclub and that he’d kept profiles on gay dating apps like Grindr and Jack’d.<br /><br />Mateen, who killed 49 people and injured 53 in the early hours of Sunday morning, was a frequent patron at Pulse according to several people interviewed by the Canadian Press.<br /><br />“Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent,” said Ty Smith, adding that he didn't believe Mateen could be enraged by the sight of two men kissing. “That’s straight-up crap,” he said. “He’s been around us. Some of those people did a little more than [kiss] outside the bar. ... He was partying with the people who supposedly drove him to do this?”<br /><br />Smith's husband, Chris Callen, told The Canadian Press that Mateen had frequented Pulse for the last three years.<br /><br />And 71-year-old Jim Van Horn, who lost three friends in the shooting, told the Associated Press that Mateen was a “regular” at the Pulse nightclub. “He was a homosexual and he was trying to pick up men,” he said. “He would walk up to them and then he would maybe put his arm round them or something ... That’s what people do at gay bars.” He added, “I think it’s possible that he was trying to deal with his inner demons, of trying to get rid of his anger of homosexuality.”<br /><br />Meanwhile, two men have now come forward to claim having communicated with Mateen on gay dating apps. One, Kevin West, described meeting Mateen on the app Jack’d a year ago, and then again within the last three months. Another man, Cord Cedeno, said he'd seen Mateen at the bar in Pulse with a drink. “He was open with his picture on the sites; he was easy to recognize,” Cedeno told The Washington Post.<br /><br />The revelations, if true, sow more confusion around Mateen's motives. Was he in Pulse because he wanted to kill LGBT people in particular, or because it was a place with which he was familiar? In the bathroom of the nightclub, where many of his victims died, Mateen talked a lot about Islamic State and Syria, but not at all about gay people, according to a survivor who gave his name to The New York Times only as Orlando.<br /><br />Yet if he was gay or bisexual, Mateen was clearly not at peace with who he was. In a video interview posted to Facebook on Monday, Mateen's father, Seddique Mateen, expressed bewilderment at his son’s attack, only to then suggest that it was for “God [to] punish those involved in homosexuality.”<br /><br />It’s the kind of language we hear from Bible-thumping pastors as often as from radical imams. How that culture played into the toxic stew of influences that drove Mateen to commit his appalling crime it may be too early to know, but the more details that emerge, the more complex this story becomes.<br /><br />Source: OUT, Aaron Hicklin, June 14, 2016<br /><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

D. Tsarnaev Daesh Executed for being gay Florida Homosexuality ISIS Islamism LGBT Mass shooting Orlando attack USA 50 Killed at Pulse Gay Club in Orlando; Deadliest Mass Shooting in U.S. History

Omar Saddiqui Mateen shot more than 100 people and took several hostage before he was killed by police in what is being called a terrorist a...

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