A video examined by police investigators has discovered 11 more potential victims of the three Hayward Cousins who allegedly shot a man on February 26 because they believed he was gay.
A video made by three cousins from Hayward charged with an alleged anti-gay shooting with a BB rifle last month in San Francisco shows 11 other attacks in a single night, authorities said Friday.
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The three were freed on $50,000 bail soon after their arrest. But on Friday, Mohammad Habibzada, Shafiq Hashemi and Sayed Bassam, all 24, appeared in court and were immediately rearrested. They were all being held late Friday on $450,000 bail.
They were returned to custody after prosecutors viewed a video that police found in the three men’s car when they were arrested.
Brian Buckelew, spokesman for District Attorney Kamala Harris, said the video showed the 16th Street attack and BB rifle shootings aimed at 11 other men. Police say the video depicts the suspects laughing as they fire.
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I don’t understand why these men are facing any charges. I’m sure they were only acting in accordance with their deeply held religious beliefs. Their freedoms are at stake here!
SAN FRANCISCO — Three Hayward cousins are facing hate crime charges after a man was shot in the face with a BB gun because the attackers believed he was gay, according to San Francisco authorities.
A video of the assault and other similar crimes was recorded by the attackers and is being held as evidence, assistant district attorney Brian Buckelew said.
Mohammad Habibzada, 24, Shafiq Hashemi, 21, and Sayed Bassam, 21, were arrested about 15 minutes after the shooting, when police spotted a car in the area that matched a description given by the victim. The suspects have addresses in Hayward.
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All three suspects are facing three felony counts and one misdemeanor. They include assault with a deadly weapon with a hate crime enhancement, discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, and attempted mayhem.
“Here we have a guy, shot in face with BB gun, who could have easily been shot in the eye,” Buckelew said.
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Bucklew said “multiple” other victims are on the confiscated video, and the crimes appear to have happened in San Francisco. He said they have not had anyone else come forward, but more charges may be filed if someone does.
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State Sen. Roy Ashburn, the Bakersfield Republican who was arrested in Sacramento last week on suspicion of drunk driving, came out as gay in a radio interview this morning.
“I am gay. And so, those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long,” Ashburn told radio host Inga Barks on her show on the KERN station in Bakersfield.
I positively detest self-loathing homosexual (for the term gay simply doesn’t apply to anybody of his ilk) politicians who work to harm LGBT people. They are vermin.
He defended his voting record, saying he cast votes that his constituents wanted. Ashburn represents the 18th Senate District, which covers a huge swath of the central and southern part of the state.
“I felt my duty, and I still feel this way, is to represent my constituents,” Ashburn said, adding later that “I don’t think it’s something that has affected or will affect how I do my job.”
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“I was only doing my duty”. Gee where have I heard that one before? At any rate, Ashburn didn’t just vote for anti-gay measures, he actively campaigned against LGBT rights. He was not an innocent party merely doing his job. He was personally and willingly involved in harming LGBT people. He deserves nothing but contempt.
BAD: CBS affiliate CBS13 reports that Roy Ashburn, a state senator from Southern California was arrested for allegedly driving drunk.
WORSE: CBS affiliate CBS13 reports that Roy Ashburn, a state senator from Southern California was arrested for allegedly driving drunk AFTER LEAVING A GAY BAR.
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WORST: CBS affiliate CBS13 reports that Roy Ashburn, a MARRIED state senator from Southern California was arrested for allegedly driving drunk after leaving a gay bar with another man in the car.
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WORSTEST: CBS affiliate CBS13 reports that Roy Ashburn, a married, Republican state senator from Southern California WITH A HISTORY OF OPPOSING GAY RIGHTS was arrested for allegedly driving drunk after leaving a gay bar with another man in the car.
Another source indicates that it is unlikely Ashburn was at Faces, since Tuesdays are “Latin Night” at the popular club and “A white guy would stick out like a sore thumb”. However there are reportedly numerous clubs gay and straight clubs in the area so it’s possible Ashburn was at one of them rather than at Faces.
“I am deeply sorry for my actions and offer no excuse for my poor judgment. I accept complete responsibility for my conduct and am prepared to accept the consequences for what I did.
I am also truly sorry for the impact this incident will have on those who support and trust me - my family, my constituents, my friends, and my colleagues in the Senate.”
That’s right. Jeffery Joseph Czech is defending Nadia Schulman. In case you’ve forgotten or hadn’t heard, she’s the infamous “Octomom”, who had a litter of babies via artificial insemination, then tried to use them as a means of getting her own reality TV show. Czech also donated $50K to Americans United to Preserve Marriage. In Czech’s twisted fundamentalist mind committed same-sex couples who want to marry rank below a woman who’d pimp out her own infants for publicity. It’s always nice to see those Christian Ethics in action….
Speaking of anti-gay bigots with deep pockets, don’t forget to check Base8 frequently. It’s constantly being updated and what you see today is not what you’ll see tomorrow.
White House officials met with secularist and atheist groups for the first time in history. Of course since religious groups have lost their exclusive access to the WH they must have tantrums over the event.
The supporters of Proposition 8 realize how poorly their side argued their case in Perry vs. Schwarzenegger. So now, like monkeys, they are pulling yet more poo out of their backsides and flinging it in hopes that something will stick to the wall.
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The potential harms they cited included giving bisexuals a legal basis for pursuing group marriages and unmarried fathers an incentive to abandon their children.
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Bisexual means a person can be romantically and sexually attracted to either gender. It doesn’t mean they’re inclined to fall in love with both at the same time. Of course the bigots like to push the notion that it’s the latter because then they can also pimp their slippery slope fallacy. OMG, if we allow same-sex marriage it might lead to POLYGAMY!!! Yeah, and people might start squeezing the Charmin too. Please people, protect the toilet paper and vote NO on Gay.
As to the claim that same-sex marriage would give unmarried fathers an incentive to abandon their children…that’s pure horsecrap. There are already millions of “deadbeat dads” out there and it has absolutely nothing to do with same-sex marriage. It’s high time that heterosexual people stop blaming gay people and gay unions for the failings of heterosexual relationships.
A student in a Maryland middle school refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Her teacher mocked her and called her names on the first day, and had the school police escort her to the office on the second day. It’s a good thing the girl wasn’t doodling on her desk….
Yet another Christian is crying “persecution” and filing a lawsuit because he thinks they shouldn’t have to share public space with others, or be pestered with the opinions of those who think differently. Perhaps a secured commune would be a better place for him.
Finally, this “Christian” charity will stop providing aid to Haiti if they won’t turn from their evil Voodoo ways and convert to Christianity. This is exactly why I despise most “faith based” charities–they don’t truly want to help but only to push their religion on others. The aid they provide is only a vehicle to gain more bodies for their god. There is nothing moral about what they do.
Do not hold back discipline from the child,
Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die. Proverbs 23:13
That verse has been heartily embraced by many ultra-conservative religious parents and groups, particularly those who follow the teachings of individuals like James Dobson, Debi and Michael Pearl, or Jack Hyles. Many children have been harmed and even killed by parents using the “godly discipline” that’s nothing more than sadistic child abuse.
Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz apparently are of the “spare the rod, spoil the child” mindset. They are in jail after one of their adopted daughters died and the other was hospitalized following an alleged extensive “discipline” session.
OROVILLE — A fundamentalist religious philosophy that espouses corporal punishment to “train” children to be more obedient to their parents and God is now being investigated in connection with the death of a young Paradise girl and serious injuries to her sister.
Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey confirmed Thursday that other children in the home who have been interviewed told investigators “this philosophy was espoused by their parents.”
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In court Thursday, a judge granted a two-week postponement before the children’s parents, Kevin Schatz, 46, and Elizabeth Schatz, 42, enter a plea to murder and torture charges that could carry two life terms in prison.
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The Schatzes were arrested Saturday morning after their adopted daughter, Lydia, age 7, stopped breathing. She was subsequently pronounced dead.
Her 11-year-old sister, Zariah Schatz, remains in critical condition at a Sacramento children’s hospital, though she is showing some signs of recovery. The two were adopted at the same time with an infant girl, now 3, from the same African orphanage about three years ago,
Prosecutors allege the two victims were subjected to “hours” of corporal punishment by their parents on successive days last Thursday and Friday with a quarter-inch-wide length of rubber or plastic tubing, which police reportedly recovered from the parents’ bedroom.
Police allege that the younger girl was being disciplined for mis-pronouncing a word during a home-school reading lesson the day before she died.
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He said investigators are researching a possible connection to an Internet Web site set up by “fundamentalist Christian people” that recommends use of the same whip-like implement “as an appropriate tool for biblical chastisement … to train a child from infancy to make them a happier child and more obedient to God because they are obedient to the will of their parents,” said Ramsey.
The district attorney said some of the Schatzes’ six biological children, who were removed from the family home for their protection following the parents’ arrest, have made statements suggesting the ridge couple shared this philosophy.
The other children in the home said the same rubber or plastic tube was used on all of them “as a standard method of discipline, but certainly not to the extent of these two girls,” Ramsey added.
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Why we continue to allow “biblical punishment” to be promoted in any way is beyond me. Some people try to frame it as religious freedom and parental rights (generally code-speak for “I own my child and can do whatever I want to him/her no matter what you bleeding hearts say”). It is not. It is clear-cut child abuse.
We’re constantly told that religion makes people more altruistic, moral, kind, etc. We’re also told that atheists are untrustworthy, immoral, depraved, and wouldn’t think twice about committing any crime (up to and including murder) because they have no “authority” to answer to. So why is it that millions of religious signs, banners and billboards go up every day without incident, while the atheist sign and billboard campaign has been met with a barrage of vehement protests, refusals by ad companies to post the billboards, vandalism and even theft?
The latest instance involves the billboards put up in Sacramento. The day I read about those billboards going up in the Sacramento area I knew there was going to be trouble and I was right. At least one thus far has been vandalized. I wonder if “god” told someone to do it.
One or more vandals used spray paint to deface part of a billboard on Interstate 80 midway between Sacramento and Davis, California, that reads “Are you good without God? Millions are.” The words “also lost?” were added below the “Millions are.”
The billboard, which was placed by the Sacramento Area Coalition of Reason last Tuesday, is one of ten such roadway ads that have gone up in and around Sacramento. They were paid for by the United Coalition of Reason, headquartered in Washington DC.
“This shows loud and clear just how necessary our message is, because prejudice against people who don’t believe in a god remains very real in America.” said Rachael Harrington, coordinator of Sacramento CoR.
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If you want to have faith or religion that’s fine. More power to you. But if your faith/religion is so weak you lash out and even commit crimes any time it is challenged in the least you have a serious problem. Any religion or faith worth a darn can tolerate opposing opinions and challenges.
Or are you actually saying your god is so effete he needs you to defend him from billboards?
Classically Liberal dissects multiple reports and studies to show what I’ve long known, and have reportedmore than once–that God and religion simply aren’t the answer to society’s woes.
A church leader declares many Christians have lost their way, and turned Christianity into a crusade against others rather than an effort to bring others to Christ and seek God’s Kingdom. It’s nice to see one of them speak up since our voices go largely ignored when we say it.
You probably saw the NYT article that claimed 50% of gay married men are in “open marriages”. What you didn’t see is how they distorted the study, and outright lied, to once again smear gay couples. Read the facts at Truth Wins Out.
SALT LAKE CITY—A film distribution company has bought the rights to a documentary about the Mormon church’s role in a California ballot initiative to ban gay marriage.
Filmmaker Reed Cowan says “8: The Mormon Proposition” will hit theaters this spring and a DVD will follow. Cowan says he sold the film’s North American distribution rights to the newly formed Red Flag Releasing.
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It’s rare that we feel a movie important enough that we’ll shell out the exorbitant fees theaters are now charging for tickets–it’s been more than a year since we’ve gone–but we will be there when this movie is in our area. Of course we’ll also get the DVD when it comes out.
“I think it’s a very important issue to us, not only gay marriage, but the issue of separation of church and state,” said Federbush. “We saw it at Sundance and felt it connected with the audience.”
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“I’m pretty excited,” said Cowan, a former Mormon who is gay. “Now the film does truly go on to be seen all over the United States and people can decide for themselves.”
I’m excited too. This is a movie that needs as much exposure as possible.
