Some victims in mass shooting support efforts to hack iPhone ADVERTISING Some victims in mass shooting support efforts to hack iPhone WASHINGTON (AP) — Some victims and affected families in the mass shootings in southern California will file court papers
Some victims in mass shooting support efforts to hack iPhone
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some victims and affected families in the mass shootings in southern California will file court papers in support of a U.S. magistrate judge’s order that Apple Inc. help the FBI hack into a locked iPhone as part of the terrorism investigation, a lawyer and others said Monday.
A Los Angeles attorney, Stephen Larson, said he represents at least several families of victims and other employees he declined to identify but who were affected by the shootings. He said the U.S. attorney in the case, Eileen Decker, sought his help. Larson said he will file a brief supporting the Justice Department before March 3.
The victims “have questions that go simply beyond the criminal investigation … in terms of why this happened, how this happened, why they were targeted, is there anything about them on the iPhone — things that are more of a personal victim” view, Larson said.
George Valasco, whose 27-year-old niece Yvette Velasco was killed in the shooting, said his brother — Yvette’s father — agreed to be named in the brief.
“Frankly it’s difficult to understand why Apple would not jump at the opportunity to help uncover whatever information the phone may contain,” according to a family statement. “We’re not talking about an ordinary case here — this is an act of terrorism, where 14 Americans lost their lives, and many more were seriously injured. It’s potentially a matter of national security, where other Americans’ safety could be at risk.”
Death of Treblinka revolt survivor signals post-witness era
MOSHAV UDIM, Israel (AP) — The death of 93-year-old Samuel Willenberg marks the passing of the last known survivor of the daring revolt at Treblinka, the notorious death camp in occupied Poland that is perhaps the most vivid example of Nazi Germany’s attempt to destroy European Jewry.
But the death of Willenberg, who was buried Monday, also symbolizes a looming transition in the field of Holocaust commemoration, as historians and educators prepare for a world without survivors and the challenge of maintaining the memory of the Nazi genocide without the aid of those who witnessed it.
Willenberg, one of just 67 men known to have survived Treblinka after a revolt, devoted his final years to preserving the memory of more than 875,000 people systematically murdered in a one-year killing spree there at the height of World War II.
He was a frequent public speaker, wrote a book that was translated into eight languages and led dozens of youth missions to the remnants of the destroyed camp in Poland. Later in life, he took to sculpting to describe his experiences, and his bronze statues reflected what he saw — Jews standing on a train platform, a father removing his son’s shoes before entering the gas chambers, a young girl having her head shaved, and prisoners removing bodies.
“It was his life’s mission. He saw himself as the echo of the murdered, as their loudspeaker. He lived it daily and in many ways he never left Treblinka,” said Gideon Greif, chief historian of the Shem Olam institute, who knew Willenberg well. “He was committed to making sure that the voices of the victims were not forgotten … and now that personal element is gone.”
Donald Trump’s favorite excuse? It was just a ‘retweet’
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Donald Trump has repeated inaccurate and racially charged crime statistics, reposted pledges of support from white supremacists and retweeted dubious questions about the citizenship of his presidential rivals to an online following of more than 6 million people on Twitter alone.
His response when challenged? To dismiss it all as nothing more than harmless “retweets.”
Unlike any presidential candidate before him, Trump has fueled his campaign for the Republican nomination with a seemingly endless series of eyebrow-raising statements. It’s a strategy unavailable to a conventional politician but seemingly tailor-made for the billionaire businessman and master marketer.
“We’ve gone from a 24-hour news cycle to a 24-second news cycle,” said GOP consultant Kevin Madden. “So right when you think Trump is about to endure a concentrated level of scrutiny for a false statement or the latest outrage, he is on to the next controversy.”
Yet Trump’s pattern of repeating things that are false, or just unseemly, and then refusing to take responsibility, would undoubtedly pose a challenge should he move into the White House — where a president’s casual utterance or late-night tweet could move financial markets or spark a diplomatic incident.
