Labour MP Jo Cox has died after being shot and stabbed

[Night Watchman]

Source: The Guardian (United Kingdom)

The Labour MP Jo Cox has died after being shot and stabbed multiple times after a constituency meeting.

Armed officers responded to the attack near a library in Birstall, West Yorkshire, on Thursday afternoon. A 52-year-old man was arrested in the area, police confirmed. The suspect was named locally as Tommy Mair.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/16/labour-mp-jo-cox-shot-in-west-yorkshire

[k8conant]

1. May her memory be eternal!

[shenmue]

11. Amen

[potone]

55. Amen.

[BlueMTexpat]

2. What terrible news!

The UK has its own gun problem, it seems, even though it is nothing like ours.

Why is it always the good ones?

[MrModerate]

20. Apparently the gun was 'handmade' . . .

Which is what the bad guys have to do when you have a robust gun control culture.

And it didn't work very well -- in stark contrast to the Orlando gunman's highly effective, professional set of deathtools.

[BootinUp]

3. Geez... How terrible!

Seems like she was a great advocate for liberal ideas and charity to needy people.

[melman]

4. Horrifying

[DemonGoddess]

5. This is terrible

[Purveyor]

6. Just getting crazier by the day. May her soul rest in peace...

[BooScout]

7. This is just horrible....

Fuck Brexit and all the damned racists!

[niyad]

8. requiescat in pace, jo. what dreadful news.

[Sylvarose]

9. Condolences

....so sorry this has happened. I feel for the good people of Britain.

[frazzled]

10. Tragic, and frightening

It feels like we're back in the late 19th-early 20th centuries with its anarchic disorder and individual (and now group) assassinations. Civilizations don't really move forward it seems: they just keep cycling back and forth between calm and crazy.

[passiveporcupine]

27. There will always be a contingency of right wing crazy on this planet

It just seems that the more social progress we make, it shakes them up too much and they start striking out with rage...until they are shut down for awhile and they go into remission again...the hatred is still simmering, waiting for the next explosion.

We will never be done with these people. We just have to accept this. Hopefully, some day, we will have far fewer people who think like this, than we do today.

We keep thinking we are outgrowing this, and younger generations are becoming less racist, bigoted, homophobic and misogynist, but as it is still young people doing a lot of the mass killings. It makes me wonder if there is anything we can do to stop parents from passing on this kind of fear and hatred to their kids. I keep hoping education will fix it, but it also takes tolerance from living with what you fear (no segregation). It's harder to hate someone you grow up knowing personally.

I don't know if we really can diminish it.

[LiberalLovinLug]

34. +100

And its (almost) always a right wing nut that is responsible. I don't understand their paranoid fear of commie libruls taking over the country, when they are armed to the teeth. Talking about in the US mostly.

But yeah you can always rely on a good 20% or so of diehard clueless dingbats in every country that will vote for anyone that tells them everyone else is out to get them and that its never their fault.

[anigbrowl]

28. And this is exactly why I have little time for wannabe revolutionaries

I come from Ireland, which only gained freedom from being a British colony a few years before my parents were born and which promptly devolved into a (mercifully short) civil war immediately afterwards. When I was growing up terrorism was still frequent, enough that when I later moved to the UK I had to tolerate a lot of extra security screening and social exclusion because of being Irish - something I didn't especially resent given the frequency with which the IRA was setting off bombs in London at the time. I came within moments of being caught in the blast of a car bomb myself.

Most of the wannabe revolutionaries I've met in the US have never even been in a fist fight and seem blissfully ignorant of what political instability actually looks like..

[frazzled]

32. It's always different when you experience things first hand

I'm sorry you had to endure those troubled times.

I was a child of the sixties, and like most youth of my generation, had an ideological predilection for Marxism and Mao and the rest. It was only when I came to meet and know people who had endured the troubles in their own countries (then-Czechoslovakia, China of the cultural revolution) that I came to see how ideology and practice often diverge in unsavory ways. Today, I am someone who is very suspicious of ideology in general, whether on the right or the left.

[anigbrowl]

37. Yeah that's about where I come from

Of course I still think Marx offered wonderful critique of what's wrong with capitalism, and in many ways we're seeing the working out of that today. On the other hand he was unable to articulate a convincing alternative (and in fairness he was in no position to anticipate many subsequent historical developments) but that doesn't seem to have sunk in with many of his adherents.

[Recursion]

12. Holy shit (nt)

[2naSalit]

13. ...

[TeamPooka]

14. Assassination. RIP MP Cox.

[pampango]

15. Attacker shouted "Britain First" ("a far-right, anti-Muslim group"). Victim advocated for refugees.

Authorities did not immediately address possible motives for the attack on Jo Cox, a member of the center-left Labour Party who has been outspoken in advocating for civilian victims in Syria. In Parliament, Cox has been outspoken about the need to do more to protect civilians in Syria, and had argued in the House of Commons for Britain to accept 3,000 child refugees.

But British media organizations including the Guardian and Sky News quoted witnesses as saying that the assailant had shouted "Britain First!" during and after the attack.

Britain First is the name of a far-right group that stages provocative anti-Muslim demonstrations. Following Thursday's attack, the organization posted a statement on its web site denying involvement, and saying it "would never encourage behavior of this sort."

The attack came as the country heads into the homestretch of a campaign to determine whether to stay in the European Union, with a vote scheduled next Thursday. Both the pro- and anti-E.U. camps announced that they were suspending their campaigns for the day following the attack. Cox is a supporter of keeping Britain in the 28-nation bloc.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/british-member-of-parliament-reported-to-have-been-shot/2016/06/16/a9b988de-33c4-11e6-ab9d-1da2b0f24f93_story.html

Of course, Britain First supports the UK leaving the EU.

[passiveporcupine]

23. Christian Patrols

invading (in its own words) mosques or driving military armoured cars up and down Brick Lane to no apparent purpose. Its thugs then swayed outside the East London Mosque in Whitechapel, swigging cans of lager under the auspicious mantle of countering Anjem Choudary’s “Muslim patrols”, with their own “Christian patrols”.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/25/truth-britain-first-facebook-far-right-bnp

Yes, we have Christian hate groups that inspire people to kill in the name of hatred too.

Britain First is not just some group of simple-minded patriots with too much time on their hands. Instead it was founded by a Belfast-based businessman with a rather canny knack for building up protest groups and movements on the basis that it was your Christian duty to follow his work.

That man is Jim Dowson, a firebrand Protestant preacher and anti-abortionist who is a former member of the British National Party.

Dowson quit the group in July of last year, claiming that he was shocked to discover that Britain First was full of “racists and extremists”.

Conservatism grows these kinds of movements. No one will ever convince me that being more "conservative" in policy or politics is a good thing. Conservatism breeds fear, hate and greed.

[Lucky Luciano]

24. This makes the killer a terrorist. nt

[Melissa G]

16. ...

[Helen Borg]

17. Brexit goons...

Not saying they are all like this, but the core of their mentality leads to this: hate and fear of "the other". The only way they can resolve things is to silence the other. This is just an extreme embodiment of that mentality.

[Night Watchman]

22. If they lose in the 23rd...

they can probably get jobs with the Trump campaign.

[anigbrowl]

30. The one silver lining is that the Leave crowd are now much more likely to lose

This will bring a lot of people out to vote for the Remain campaign, and I think this makes it more likely to succeed. If so, that will shut down anti-EU momentum in the UK for probably 25 years.

I hope so; if the Leave campaign succeeds then then the EU is in major danger and so are the UN and the whole international order. That might seem wildly dramatic but historians have little problem with tying the outbreak of World War 1 to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, even though the underlying causes of the war are far more complex.

Western-style democracy is in a deep existential crisis right now; market capitalism has failed as an organizing economic principle, there is no clear substitute (and I say that as a European who grew up with and likes democratic socialism - it's great but it also has some severe shortcomings in practice) and there's a huge democratic deficit because so many people have lost confidence in the political process as it is steamrollered by information technology. Power vacuums like this are very very dangerous.

[ancianita]

41. k & r with thanks

[JawJaw]

44. Not so sure.

I REALLY hope that you're right, but I fear that the anti-EU (read: anti-immigrant) sentiment has become too deeply embedded in too many people, particularly in the Labour Party's traditional left-wing heartlands.

The mainstream media has laid the groundwork for this situation with years of relentless anti-EU front-page lies and negative propaganda.

As the austerity cuts of recent years have hit hard in deprived areas, the media has successfully spun the myth that service breakdowns are being caused by "the immigrants" rather than central government cuts.

It's a convenient scapegoat, and many people have been seduced by its simple appeal.

We can only hope that the younger generation, who generally have a positive/ambivalent attitude to the EU can be galvanised into actually getting out to vote to remain. It's the older generation (who ironically have benefited the most from EU membership) that seem to be hell-bent on giving the government "a bloody nose".

I'm all for protest votes, but not when you're undoing the work of decades and introducing instability into a Continent that's surely seen enough of it.

[anigbrowl]

49. Neither am I

I also really hope I'm right and I'm basing my hunch that this shooting death with galvanize the Remain campaign on both my experience growing up next to and living in the UK for the first 2/3 of my life, and seeing the public reaction in somewhat similar contexts such as the assassination of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn back around 2001. but it's no sure thing and the strength of the xenophobic Leave campaign in the UK surprises and worries me. Like you I am very skeptical that that Britain's departure from the EU would go smoothly.

[melman]

18. Statement from Jeremy Corbyn

https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/status/743477687839232001

[OnDoutside]

19. Is he one of the Damascus Mairs ? ......

[Loki]

21. Hatred in all its forms

is deadly. How horribly sad and sickening.

[nolabear]

25. What a nightmare the world is becoming. We have to figure a way out of this.

No, I don't know how, but if I don't believe I can only despair.

[LisaM]

26. I just saw this.

Sick.

[Sand Rat Expat]

29. ...

And the world grows a little darker every day.

[brooklynite]

31. Of course..."'a quiet loner who kept himself to himself'"

[Bluenorthwest]

33. In Parliament just one year.

Just horrible. And this will shake Britain to the core.

[Pacifist Patriot]

35. Oh no!

[George II]

36. Sad. What is this world coming to?

[LittleGirl]

38. Just awful. RIP MP Cox. n/t

[eastwestdem]

39. So tragic. So sad. nt

[mountain grammy]

40. Right wing goons

I expect to see more of this here. Democratic legislators in Texas have been bullied and threatened and it happens elsewhere too. Remember Gabby Giffords?

[OnDoutside]

42. More a mentally ill person .... see report here

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/16/jo-cox-mp-everything-we-know-so-far-about-thomas-mair/

[villager]

43. More a mentally ill person succumbed to stochastic terrorism deliberately sparked by the right

...as per the magazines he subscribed to:

The club describes the magazine’s editorial stance as being against “multi-cultural societies” and “expansionist Islam”. A blog post attributed to the group, dated January 2006, described Mair as “one of the earliest subscribers and supporters of S. A. Patriot.”

[OnDoutside]

45. meh, he could just as easily be stoked by some far left crowd.

[villager]

46. meh, he was stoked by the far right crowd.

[OnDoutside]

47. They were the stokers of choice on his council estate, the fact is that he was mentally ill.

[villager]

48. I take it you're not familiar with the phrase "stochastic terrorism?"

[Throd]

52. Are you?

[villager]

53. Evidently more than a couple posters here, yes. nt

[OnDoutside]

56. No, I was busy having a life at the time.

Are you familiar with the phrase "mentally ill person living on a sh1tehouse council estate in the arseh0le of nowhere" ? It could have been any group influencing him, it just happened to be right wing nutjobs.

[villager]

58. Nice obfuscation for "no." But I'll take the "no." Thanks. nt

[OnDoutside]

64. You're welcome. Happy sidetracking.

[villager]

66. "Suspect bought gun manuals from Neo-Nazi Groups"

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/17/jo-cox-suspect-thomas-mair-bought-gun-manuals-from-us-neo-nazis-group-claims

[muriel_volestrangler]

50. Suspect linked to hard-right South African-related group that has campaigned against the EU

The man arrested over the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox is believed to have had long-term links with a hard-right group based in London which had been campaigning for many years for Britain to leave the European Union.

Thomas Mair was named as a supporter in an online publication of the Springbok Club, an organisation which has defended the white supremacist apartheid regime in South Africa.
...
The link between Mair and the Springbok Club goes back ten years when its online magazine, the Springbok Cyber Newsletter, was inquiring about the whereabouts of “Thomas Mair, from Batley in Yorkshire [who] was one of the earliest subscribers and supporters of “S.A. Patriot” who has moved from his address in the Fieldhead Estate district of the town.”

The leading article for June 2016 Springbok Cyber Newsletter, which describes itself on its website as being pro-free market capitalism and patriotism and anti-political correctness, was, however, devoted to Britain and the referendum. It started: “On Thursday, 23rd June 2016 all British voters will have the opportunity to vote on the future of their country. They can vote either to remain entrapped in the artificial and retrograde European Union, or to regain their sovereign independence....”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/jo-cox-dead-thomas-mair-suspect-south-africa-apartheid-a7086426.html

[Behind the Aegis]

51. Tragic.

I am sure this was a shock to the UK.

[Odin2005]

54. A political murder by Fascist blackshirts.

[forest444]

57. Or possibly by Cameron himself.

If the murderer seems like the perfect patsy, it could be because he is.

[melman]

59. Or possibly not

Please keep conspiracy nonsense out of this.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

60. David Cameron is supporting Remain

And has campaigned with both Labour and Tory MPs who support remain, including Cox.

There are even some Labour politicians who support Brexit.

You're gross.

[JI7]

61. bs

[Gomez163]

62. Jesus F*ck

[smirkymonkey]

63. Horrible. So sad.

You never expect to hear about this type of thing in the UK. Our national sickness is spreading.

[pampango]

65. Indeed. 'Suspect "had longstanding ties to a U.S.-based neo-Nazi organization".'

The man detained by police in connection with the killing of a rising star of British politics had longstanding ties to a U.S.-based neo-Nazi organization and, in the past, had ordered a how-to guide for assembling a homemade gun, according to a watchdog group that tracks extremist behavior.

The revelation came as police on Friday continued to investigate the motive behind the killing of the British lawmaker, Jo Cox, who was stabbed and shot midday Thursday in an attack that stunned the nation and led to a suspension of the European Union referendum campaign just a week before the vote. Cox had been a strong advocate of an inclusive and multicultural Britain amid a wave of hostility toward immigrants that is helping to fuel the anti-E.U. campaign.

According to documents obtained by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the U.S.-based organization that tracks extremist groups, Mair was a long-time supporter of the National Alliance, a once-prominent white supremacist group. In 1999, Mair bought a manual from the organization that included instructions on how to build a pistol, the center said.

Officials have not commented on a possible motive for the killing. But British media organizations including the Guardian, the BBC and Sky News quoted witnesses as saying that the assailant shouted “Britain first!” during and after the attack. Britain First is the name of a far-right group that stages provocative anti-Muslim demonstrations.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/suspected-killer-of-british-lawmaker-jo-cox-ties-neo-nazi-ties-group-says/2016/06/17/2067ea0a-33ef-11e6-ab9d-1da2b0f24f93_story.html

"Inclusion", "multiculturalism" and diversity are anathema to the far-right everywhere. They only accept "REAL" (native-born and of the 'correct' race/ethnicity) Americans, Britons, French, Swedes, etc. as acceptable citizens.