Nation

Amazon quickly killed Parler—but was slower to remove ‘Kill All Republicans’ shirt

Published

2 years ago

January 17, 2021

Amazon sells almost everything on its website, from pie crusts to iPhones. The exhaustive catalog even includes dozens of violent and grotesque messages on clothing—including, until recently, a shirt displaying the slogan, “Kill All Republicans.”

Note that Parler was removed from Amazon Web Services—effectively taking the Twitter-alternative offline and potentially keeping it down forever—for the following reason: “A steady increase in this violent content on your website,” according to an email sent from Amazon to Parler, obtained by Buzzfeed.

https://twitter.com/ryanafournier/status/1350495494531936263?s=10

It seems Amazon’s own site has its own violent content to worry about.

The black and red shirt, sold by Florence & Partner, was first made available on Amazon on August 2, according to an archived version of the t-shirt sale page. It was recently taken down.

There are, however, hundreds of examples of shirts with terrible messaging that were/are available on Amazon. See a list published by LifeSiteNews here.

Products included a “Where is Lee Harvey Oswald now that we really need him?” shirt, a flag showing President Trump shooting himself, dozens of ACAB merchandise, and a shirt with the saying “hospitalize your local fascist” with a bloody knife—as reported by LifeNews.

The Amazon Terms of Service reads, “Amazon does not allow products that promote, incite or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views. We’ll also remove listings that graphically portray violence or victims of violence.”

The giant company owns around 33 percent of the worldwide cloud infrastructure market—giving it the ability to tank Parler during a season that would have been massive for the free speech application.

As previously reported by this site, Parler went offline on Jan. 11 because of its lack of censorship and moderation on the platform. This came after Google and Apple removed the app from their app stores.

“Over the past several weeks, we’ve reported 98 examples to Parler of posts that clearly encourage and incite violence,” an email from Amazon Web Services to Parler reads. “It’s clear that Parler does not have an effective process to comply with the AWS terms of service. It also seems that Parler is still trying to determine its position on content moderation.”

While Parler is scrabbling to find another provider to get the necessary infrastructure to get online, Amazon is taking its time taking down violent shirts and objects from its own site.

You can follow Ben Wilson on Twitter @BenDavisWilson

education

Police found maps, manifesto made by TN school shooter and former student who identified as transgender

Published

7 hours ago

March 27, 2023

Sara Carter Staff

On Monday morning a shooter entered the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee and shot and killed six individuals before police officers engaged with and killed the murderer. The shooter was soon identified as Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a Nashville resident and former student who identified as a transgender woman. Hale killed three students and three adults, including the head of the school,

The Covenant School is a private Christian grade school for students up to 6th grade, according to its website. Officials say Hale was identified as a woman carrying two AR-style weapons, including a rifle and pistol, and a handgun.

Nashville police Chief John Drake said Hale possibly prepared for the shooting, including having written a manifesto. “We have also determined that there were maps drawn of the school in detail of surveillance entry points. At one point she was a student at that school,” he said. “There was a vehicle nearby that gave us a clue as to who she was.”

Drake added that two of the weapons may have been purchased legally in the Nashville area. Investigators have been searching a home associated with Hale and are probing a possible theory for a motive but did not disclose any details.

Fox News reports the Nashville branch of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) has also deployed agents to assist the MNPD in responding to the attack.

Nashville Mayor John Cooper released a statement regarding the attack on Monday.

“In a tragic morning, Nashville joined the dreaded, long list of communities to experience a school shooting,” he wrote. “My heart goes out to the families of the victims. Our entire city stands with you. As facts continue to emerge, I thank our first responders and medical professionals.”

We are responding to an active aggressor at 33 Burton Hills Blvd Covenant School.
We can confirm we have multiple patients.
Parents coming to the school should go to 20 Burton Hills at this time. this is an active scene.

— Nashville Fire Dept (@NashvilleFD) March 27, 2023

Fox News also reported:

Police say the shooter entered the building through a side door and fired shots before moving to the second floor, where Hale was confronted by responding officers. They don’t believe she was wearing any body armor, authorities said.

Officials at the medical center say three young students were transported to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt with gunshot wounds. All three were pronounced dead after arrival. The three more adults were also pronounced dead following the attack. All three were staff at the school.

The victims were identified by police as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all age 9, Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and 61-year-old Mike Hill. Koonce was the head of school at Covenant, according to the school’s website.