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Nashville School Shooter Praised Hitler, Said He Was ‘Influenced’ by Candace Owens in Purported Manifesto
Solomon Henderson, 17, who police say opened fire at Antioch High School in Nashville, TN on Jan. 22, 2024 before killing himself, posted neo-Nazi content on social media. Photo: Screenshot
The teenager accused of perpetrating a fatal school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday praised Adolf Hitler, shared neo-Nazi content, and said he was inspired by anti-Israel commentator Candace Owens, according to reports of the alleged shooter’s purported manifesto.
Police identified the shooter as Solomon Henderson, a 17-year-old student at Antioch High School, saying he shot and killed Josselin Corea Escalante, who was 16, and wounded two others in the school’s cafeteria before turning the gun on himself.
Authorities are also investigating a racist and antisemitic manifesto full of online writings and social media posts that emerged following the shooting that has been attributed to Henderson to determine if the materials were actually the work of the alleged shooter.
Multiple local media outlets, including NewsChannel 5 Nashville and The Tennessean newspaper, reported that the documents indicated that the suspect harbored a litany of antisemitic beliefs and drew inspiration from Owens, a far-right media personality.
“Candace Owens has influenced me above all each time she spoke I was stunned by her insights and her own views helped push me further and further into the belief of violence over the Jewish question,” the manifesto reportedly said.
Henderson, who like Owens is black, also posted a flyer from the Goyim Defense League, an antisemitic hate group which, according to the Anti-Defamaion League (ADL), has an “overarching goal to expel Jews from America.”
The suspect’s purported writings indicate he was mentally deteriorating and suffered from self-loathing. Henderson reportedly wrote that he “was ashamed to be black.” He also repudiated Antioch High School, which has a heavily Black and Hispanic student body, with the use of derogatory racial terms.
The ADL’s Center on Extremism issued an analysis of the document, saying it appears to be authentic.
“Our analysts located a sprawling manifesto full of anti-black content, references to accelerationism, and antisemitism,” Carla Hill of the Center on Extremism, told The Tennessean. “It also plagiarized from various far-right manifestos and publications, including Terrorgram Collective [a white supremacist group] and a manifesto by Matthew Harris.”
Harris, who is black, was arrested in 2022 for threatening a mass shooting against the University of California, Los Angeles, where he had worked as a philosophy instructor. He posted a manifesto that included calls for violence against Jews and white people.
In the 15 months since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Owens has established herself as a fierce critic of the Jewish state who has also been accused of antisemitism. After parting ways with The Daily Wire, a politically conservative media company, last year amid controversy over her comments regarding Jews and Israel, Owens has made those subjects top priorities in her new show.
In late July, for example, Owens said that the Star of David originated from an evil, child-sacrificing, pagan deity and has only become associated with Judaism within the past few hundred years.
In a June episode, Owens argued that “it seems like our country [the US] is being held hostage by Israel.” She lamented, “I’m going to get in so much trouble for that. I don’t care.” She also falsely suggested in the same episode that AIPAC, the foremost pro-Israel lobbying organization in the US, was behind the assassination of former US President John F. Kennedy.
Weeks later, Owens promoted a series of talking points downplaying the atrocities of the Holocaust and said experiments by Nazi doctor Joseph Mengele performed on Jews during World War II sounded “like bizarre propaganda.”
In an August interview, Owens claimed that Judaism is a “pedophile-centric religion that believes in demons … [and] child sacrifice.” She has also suggested without evidence that Israel was established to shield “pedophiles” from accountability.
As a result of her comments, Owens received the “Antisemite of the Year” award for 2024 from the US-based advocacy group StopAntisemitism. The controversial media personality happily accepted the distinction while stating that the charge of antisemitism no longer maintains “any real meaning.” Owens then claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is actually the most prominent antisemite, because he has “murdered and killed and maimed more actual Semites this year” than anyone else.
Owens issued a statement on Thursday in response to reports noting her name being mentioned in the alleged Nashville shooter’s purported writings.
“It is truly sickening that people would use the death of a young 16-year-old girl to try to quickly score political points, rather than to responsibly make sure that what they are sharing is accurate,” Owens said, calling the manifesto “an obvious troll.”
The post Nashville School Shooter Praised Hitler, Said He Was ‘Influenced’ by Candace Owens in Purported Manifesto first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany’s Scholz Rebukes Vance, Defends Europe’s Stance on Hate Speech and Far Right
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks to the media after he met former prisoners following the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West in decades, at the military area of Cologne Bonn Airport in Cologne, Germany, August 1, 2024. Photo: Christoph Reichwein/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered a strong rebuke on Saturday to US Vice President JD Vance’s attack on Europe’s stance toward hate speech and the far right, saying it was not right for others to tell Germany and Europe what to do.
Vance lambasted European leaders on Friday, the first day of the Munich Security Conference, accusing them of censoring free speech and criticizing German mainstream parties’ “firewall” against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
“That is not appropriate, especially not among friends and allies. We firmly reject that,” Scholz told the conference on Saturday, adding there were “good reasons” not to work with the AfD.
The anti-immigration party, currently polling at around 20% ahead of Germany’s February 23 national election, has pariah status among other major German parties in a country with a taboo about ultranationalist politics because of its Nazi past.
“Never again fascism, never again racism, never again aggressive war. That is why an overwhelming majority in our country opposes anyone who glorifies or justifies criminal National Socialism,” Scholz said, referring to the ideology of Adolf Hitler’s 1933-45 Nazi regime.
Vance met on Friday with the leader of AfD, after endorsing the party as a political partner — a stance Berlin dismissed as unwelcome election interference.
Referring more broadly to Vance’s criticism of Europe’s curtailing of hate speech, which he has likened to censorship, Scholz said: “Today’s democracies in Germany and Europe are founded on the historic awareness and realization that democracies can be destroyed by radical anti-democrats.
“And this is why we’ve created institutions that ensure that our democracies can defend themselves against their enemies, and rules that do not restrict or limit our freedom but protect it.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot added his voice to the defense of Europe’s stance on hate speech.
“No one is required to adopt our model but no one can impose theirs on us,” Barrot said on X from Munich. “Freedom of speech is guaranteed in Europe.”
UKRAINE
The prospect of talks to end the Ukraine-Russia war had been expected to dominate the annual Munich conference after a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week, but Vance barely mentioned Russia or Ukraine in his speech to the gathering on Friday.
Instead, he said the threat to Europe that worried him most was not Russia or China but what he called a retreat from fundamental values of protecting free speech – as well as immigration, which he said was “out of control” in Europe.
Many conference delegates watched Vance’s speech in stunned silence. There was little applause as he delivered his remarks.
Asked by the panel moderator if he thought there was anything in Vance’s speech worth reflecting on, Scholz drew laughter and applause in the crowd when he responded, in a deadpan manner: “You mean all these very relevant discussions about Ukraine and security in Europe?”
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Trump Team to Start Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks in Saudi Arabia in Coming Days, Politico Reports
US Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) speaks on Day 1 of the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, July 15, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar
Senior officials from US President Donald Trump’s administration will start peace talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Saudi Arabia in the coming days, Politico reported on Saturday, citing sources familiar with the plan.
US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Saudi Arabia, the report said. Special envoy for Ukraine-Russia talks, Keith Kellogg, will not be in attendance, according to the report.
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UN Peacekeeping Mission Deputy Commander Injured After Convoy Attacked in Beirut
FILE PHOTO: A UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicle is seen next to piled up debris at Beirut’s port, Lebanon October 23, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
The outgoing deputy force commander of the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) in Lebanon was injured on Friday after a convoy taking peacekeepers to Beirut airport was “violently attacked,” UNIFIL said.
The mission demanded a full and immediate investigation by Lebanese authorities and for all perpetrators to be brought to justice, it said in a statement.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun condemned the attack on Saturday, saying that security forces would not tolerate anyone who tries to destabilize the country, according to a statement from his office.
The French government also condemned the attack.
“France calls on the Lebanese security forces to guarantee the security of blue-helmet peacekeeping forces, and calls on Lebanon’s judicial authorities to shed all light on this unacceptable attack and to go after those responsible,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Lebanon’s Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar called for an emergency meeting before noon on Saturday to discuss the security situation, Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.
“He affirmed the Lebanese government’s rejection of this assault that is considered a crime against UNIFIL forces,” NNA reported, citing the minister.
He also gave instructions to work on identifying the perpetrators and referring them to the relevant judicial authorities.
The minister told reporters on Saturday that more than 25 people had been detained for investigation over the attack.
The United States earlier condemned the attack. A State Department statement said the attack was carried out “reportedly by a group of Hezbollah supporters”, referring to the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon.
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