Edmonton's Al Rashid Mosque spray-painted with racist graffiti



The hate crime unit of the Edmonton Police Service is investigating after Canada's oldest mosque was spray-painted with racist graffiti.

The graffiti at the Al Rashid Mosque was reported Monday and the hate crimes and violent extremism unit is investigating, a police spokesperson said in an email to CBC News Tuesday.

The vandalism — the latest in a string of high-profile incidents at the north Edmonton mosque — has worshippers urging the community to speak out against increasingly bold acts of hatred.

"What we're coming to realize is that there are individuals that are really wanting to create some animosity between fellow Edmontonians," Sadique Pathan, the mosque's outreach imam, said Tuesday.

"We're coming to terms that this is not simply something that's going to pass us by. I think we're going to be facing more and more of this."

Pathan said the vandalism took place around 2:30 a.m. Saturday and was caught on the building's surveillance cameras. The footage, he said, has been shared with police.

Pathan said the mosque has become a lightning rod for hatred and discrimination. White nationalists of all stripes see the building as a symbol of what they hate and fear, he said.

"I think there are some who like to band around an issue of true nationalism.

"They don't accept those who don't share their views. And I think that somehow, the mosque has become a great lightning rod to unite all of them."

One of the images sprayed near the entry doors was "114," a symbol used by white supremacist hate groups.

What Pathan described as an "Aryan star," and an acronym referencing a conspiracy theory that former U.S. president Barack Obama was a practising Muslim were also painted on the pillars flanking the main entrance.

Kansas congressman Steve Watkins charged with voting fraud offences

A Kansas congressman who had listed a UPS Inc. postal box as his residence on a state voter registration form was charged Tuesday with three felonies, including illegal voting.

The charges against Republican Rep. Steve Watkins came three weeks before the state's Aug. 4 primary election with fellow Republicans pushing to oust him from the eastern Kansas seat he barely won in 2018, even though he's largely toed the conservative policy line and supported U.S. President Donald Trump.

Watkins called the charges "hyper-political" even though the district attorney who filed them also is a Republican. The congressman said during a televised debate Tuesday evening that he hadn't seen the charges but has done nothing wrong.

"I'll get my name exonerated," he said during his closing statement.

Republicans tend to be less tolerant of our own when they cross lines such as this. Hope the fucker gets prison time out of it.

Toronto family forced to dismantle, move backyard 'pirate ship' after complaint to city



It was a labour of love when John Konstantinidis built a large "pirate ship" in his backyard to bring his kids joy in the middle of a pandemic.

But the Toronto family says in the past couple of weeks a complaint from a neighbour led to city officials knocking on their door. Now, Konstantinidis has to dismantle the structure — which is actually part swimming pool and part deck — move it, and reassemble it.

"The kids went crazy. I mean, bawling ... They were very sad about it," he said.

"Kids always tend to be victims in such situations."

Konstantinidis says he doesn't have any documentation from the city explaining the violation.

In an e-mail to CBC News, a representative from the City of Toronto explained that officials followed up on a complaint regarding a large structure with a pool close to the property line. However, Konstantinidis's next-door neighbour told CBC Toronto they were not the ones who lodged the complaint.

"For public safety, a pool such as this one requires a pool permit which ensures the pool is properly fenced in," the e-mail from the city says.

Given the size of the structure, it also requires a building permit, the city says.

Anyone who reports kids being happy and dads making them happy is a deplorable in my book.

Agreed, but...

Anybody who doesn't check with city regulation and doesn't get a permit when building something this big in their backyard is an idiot.

Agreed, but...

Anybody who doesn't check with city regulation and doesn't get a permit when building something this big in their backyard is an idiot.

That's why I live in the country.

I can build almost anything I want, without a permit. But yes, he should have at least checked. But it's not like he's building something that will need electrical or plumbing. It's just a treehouse ffs.

‘Men’s rights’ lawyer linked to attack on U.S. judge’s family had history of misogyny

A self-described “anti-feminist” lawyer found dead in the Catskills of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound is the prime suspect in the shooting of a federal judge’s family in New Jersey, the FBI said Monday.

Roy Den Hollander, who received media attention including appearances on Fox News and Comedy Central for lawsuits challenging perceived infringements of “men’s rights,” was found dead Monday in Sullivan County, New York, two officials with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press.

Read more: Man found dead may be linked to shooting at U.S. federal judge’s family home

The FBI said Den Hollander was the “primary subject in the attack” and confirmed he had been pronounced dead but provided no other details. Found among his personal effects was information about another judge, New York Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, a state court spokesperson said.

A day earlier, a gunman posing as a FedEx delivery person went to the North Brunswick, New Jersey, home of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, and started shooting, wounding her husband, the defence lawyer Mark Anderl, and killing her son, Daniel Anderl.

Salas was at home but in another part of the house and was unharmed, said the officials, who could not discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

German Jewish leaders fear rise of antisemitic conspiracy theories linked to Covid-19

Opponents of lockdown holding Jews increasingly responsible for spread of virus

Kate Connolly
Last modified on Tue 21 Jul 2020 15.26 BST
A leader of Germany’s Jewish community has expressed alarm at the spread of antisemitic conspiracy theories relating to coronavirus in the country, including attempts to downplay the Holocaust.

Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews, said Jews were increasingly being held collectively responsible for the spread of the virus and compared the situation to narratives around the plague in the Middle Ages.

At high-profile demonstrations against coronavirus measures, figures such as the Hungarian-born financier George Soros have been blamed for starting the pandemic with the help of the German government in order to gain power and influence.

One prominent participant in the demonstrations, the celebrity TV chef Attila Hildmann, has espoused increasingly elaborate conspiracy theories over the course of the coronavirus crisis that have praised Adolf Hitler and described the chancellor, Angela Merkel, as a communist dictator. State prosecutors say they are investigating whether they can press charges against him.

Schuster said of particular concern to him were the frequent comparisons being made between the measures taken to dampen the spread of the pandemic and the treatment of Jewish people under the Nazis. Anti-vaxxer demonstrators at so-called “hygiene demonstrations” have often worn yellow stars similar to those Jews were forced to wear during the Third Reich, but bearing the word ungeimpft (unvaccinated) instead of Jude (Jew). Their wearers have said when a vaccination against coronavirus becomes available they will refuse to be inoculated, seeing themselves as victims of a dictatorship.

Protesters gather to demonstrate against lockdown measures in Cologne in May
Protesters demonstrate against lockdown measures in Cologne in May. ‘ Maske an, Gehirn aus’ means ‘mask on, brain off’. Photograph: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
Others have worn striped clothing, mimicking the uniforms of death camp inmates, or have carried placards with the slogan “masks set you free”, a play on the slogan “Arbeit macht frei” (work sets you free), which was placed on the entrance gate of Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp where more than 1 million Jews were murdered.

“I believe that Germany’s law enforcement agencies should be taking a very close look and rigorously examining just what is hate-speech and what is freedom of speech,” Schuster told the news agency DPA. He said there were plenty of examples in history where Jews were seen as easy targets during times of crises.

“When drastic changes are taking place, for which there are no easy explanations, it’s often the case that culprits are sought and often these are minority groups, such as Jews,” he said. “In the middle ages when the plague hit, it was similar. Jews were labelled as scapegoats, blamed for poisoning wells. There were lynch mobs and synagogues burned.”

Separately, the Robert Koch Institute, the main public health advisory body to the German government, has reported receiving hundreds of emails threatening its scientists and slandering individuals. Several of the emails have stated “What a shame for those of you who are accessories of this phoney government that there are no more gas chambers” – a reference to the method of killing used at Auschwitz.

Schuster was interviewed before the trial of a man for a deadly shooting that targeted Jewish people in the eastern city of Halle last year in the worst antisemitic attack in Germany for decades. The Halle shooting and other incidents had led to “growing worries amongst the Jewish communities that Jewish life in Germany is no longer safe”, Schuster said.

“The biggest threat to Jewish life in Germany is rightwing extremism. We have known for years that around 20% of people in Germany hold anti-Jewish prejudices. But for a long time, these people did not dare to say what they think. That has subsequently changed,” he said. The coronavirus demonstrations were an example of that, he said.

The government has previously said it believes the conspiracy theories are being spread by the Reichsbürger movement - groups and individuals of a far-right and antisemitic persuasion who reject the legitimacy of the modern German state – as well as individual personalities, including high-profile doctors, Hildmann, and former journalists.

Russian state media and people working on behalf of the Chinese state were responsible for helping to spread fake news relating to coronavirus, either via diplomatic representatives or ex-pat communities, the government added in its response to a parliamentary question tabled by the Green party.

It said the basis of many of the theories was an “antisemitic thought pattern”. It warned Jewish people were in danger of experiencing intensified ostracism and discrimination and that scientists were becoming “targeted victims of criminal acts”.

Prominent virologists and epidemiologists advising the government have already reported receiving death threats.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for more than three decades, has grappled with several public health crises, including the AIDS epidemic and now, COVID-19. In an interview with CNN's David Axelrod, Fauci said the magnitude of criticism he is receiving now is different than in the past, and that he and his family have been seriously threatened.

On "The Axe Files" podcast, Axelrod asked Fauci about how he's become a target during the pandemic, as people who have suffered economic hardships have become angry.

"I've seen a side of society that I guess is understandable, but it's a little bit disturbing," Fauci said. "You know, back in the days of HIV when I was being criticized with some hate mail, it was more, you know, people calling me a gay-lover and 'What the hell are you wasting a lot of time on that?'"

Fauci said that criticism was pushed "aside as stupid people saying stupid things."

"It's really a magnitude different now because of the anger," Fauci said. "As much as people inappropriately, I think, make me somewhat of a hero — and I'm not a hero, I'm just doing my job — there are people who get really angry at thinking I'm interfering with their life because I'm pushing a public-health agenda," he continued.

Fauci said the amount of hate mail and serious threats are "not good."

"It's tough," he said. "Serious threats against me, against my wife, against my daughters. I mean, really? Is this the United States of America?" Fauci said.

When Axelrod asked if he took on security measures, Fauci said yes, he's been given security. The Department of Justice confirmed in April that federal officials were ramping up security for Fauci after threats were made against him. The increase in security came at the request of the Health and Human Services Inspector General, the officials said.

In this week's interview, Fauci called the politicization of the coronavirus, "a reflection of the divisiveness in our society at the political level." He said the coronavirus is a public health issue and "what we're talking about are fundamental principles of public health."

"I don't see how people can have animosity to that. I understand you have to be careful because of the negative consequences of shutting down – that's understandable. Which is why we are all trying to open up America again in a way that is safe, that we can do in a measured fashion," he said. "But the hostility against public health issues is difficult not only to understand, but difficult to process."

Fauci also addressed expectations for the pandemic, saying "we could start talking about real normality again" in 2021 with the development and implementation of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Fauci's comments came as the number of coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed 4 million.