Newtown and Guangshan county: A tale of two massacres

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:47:00 +0000

News watchers were quick to point out the two coinciding school attacks that happened Friday, in China and the U.S.: Hours before Adam Lanza began his carnage in Newtown, knife-wielding Min Yingjun went on a rampage in a central China village school. Lanza killed 28 people, including himself. Min didn’t manage to kill anyone, though he left one child with a fractured skull, and several others had to be treated for “cut off fingers and ears,” according to state news media Xinhua.

It’s probably one of the few occasions when some Americans might prefer China’s more heavy-handed rules, where private gun ownership is rare, and even sales of certain knives require permits.

But while American news media has been ablaze with stories on Newtown, Chinese mainstream media have downplayed coverage of their own domestic tragedy.

Online magazine TeaLeafNation noted that state-run China Central Television led the December 14 broadcast with news of the Newtown massacre, despite CCTV’s tradition of reporting domestic news before international news. Notes the piece: “Incredibly, days after the occurrence of the Guangshan knife attack, reporters still do not know the names of the children attacked.”

Mysterious Michigan shootings continue

Sun, 28 Oct 2012 19:20:00 +0000

Two more shootings have been reported on I-96 in southeastern Michigan today, which police believe are connected 22 other shootings that happened in the area earlier this month. “You don’t have 22 incidents and then have it all of a sudden stop,” said Livingston County Sheriff Bob Bezotte.

Bezotte told the Detroit Free Press that at 11:52 a.m. and 12:19 p.m. he received 9-1-1 calls from two motorists who had been shot at while driving (so far, all but one of the targets have been motorists). The first caller reported no injuries, but the second caller, a 46 year old man from Grand Rapids was shot in the buttocks by a bullet.

“We need the public’s help more than ever now. We now have a victim that’s been shot," said Bezotte. The New York Daily News reports that "cops believe the shooter drives on I-96 and fires a semiautomatic handgun at other motorists." He is thought to be in his 30s and could be driving a dark 1998 Toyota Camry or a 1998 Oldsmobile Alero.

h/t NY Daily news

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Newtown and Guangshan county: A tale of two massacres

Mysterious Michigan shootings continue