Trump's disparate reactions to the similar attacks in Charlottesville and Barcelona provide an obvious but inevitable study not only in double standards, but (worse) the president's actual embrace of racist terror. Whether opportunistically or not, ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Barcelona attack, in which a motorist ploughed into pedestrians on Las Ramblas, a pedestrian thoroughfare packed with tourists, killing 13 and wounding scores. Just five days earlier, a neo-Nazi did the same thing to a crowd of antifa counter-protesters in Virginia, killing one and wounding  19. Mother Jones is among those to provide a sampling of the presidential statements and tweets in response to the two like attacks, just days apart. Regarding Charlottesville, Trump blamed "many sides" for the violence, and said there were "fine people" on the side that was flying the Nazi flag and committed an act of terror. He's also been waxing maudlin about the "beautiful" statues of Confederate generals now coming down around the country. This of course squanders all credibility to tweet that he "condemns the terror attack in Barcelona." But it gets much, much worse...

A curious link to Syria was in evidence at the white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, Va., in which one person was killed and at least 34 wounded over the weekend: an admiration among some of the marchers for dictator Bashar Assad. James Fields—detained after a car rammed counter-protesters, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring 19 people—featured Assad on his Facebook page. Other marchers shouted, “Assad did nothing wrong," and wore T-shirts celebrating the regime barrel bombs that have killed thousands of Syrians:

The "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville—which brought out open neo-Nazis, Klansmen and Confederacy-nostalgists over the city's plan to remove a statue of Robert E Lee—escalated to open terror when one attendee ploughed his car into a throng of anti-racist counter-protesters, leaving one dead and 19 injured. Five are in critical condition. The deceased is identified as Heather Heyer, 32, a Virginia resident and longtime civil rights activist. The motorist, who has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder (why not first-degree?) and leaving the scene of an "accident" (sic!), is identified as James Alex Fields, 20, of Ohio. (Why always three names for these freaks?) He was earlier photographed at the rally by the Daily News bearing a shield with the black-and-white fascist insignia of the Vanguard America hate group (which we discussed here).

A maddening account on CNN April 24 informs us of the "anti-protest" bills now pending in several states around the country, and contains this utterly harrowing line: "Under a bill in the Tennessee state legislature, drivers who injure protesters blocking traffic would be exempt from civil liability..." The escape clause is "so long as they were 'exercising due care.'" But the article describes an incident in Nashville earlier this year, in which Spencer DesAuteles, working as a volunteer to keep anti-Trump protestors safe from traffic, was thrown onto the hood of a car that drove through the intersection where he was standing. Miraculously, he was not hurt—and says he had the right of way when the motorist assualted him. DesAuteles blames the pending legislation. Perhaps too generously, he says: "The sponsor was very clear that the wording of the bill is not to say that it's OK to go and hit people with your car. But that's the way that people are reading it. The only way it's being read by the vast majority of people is: 'I can hurt protesters and get away with it.'" The bill's sponsor, Republican state Rep. Matthew Hill, did not respond to a request for comment.

Four are dead, including the attacker, and 20 injured after an SUV mowed down pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge, just outside the Houses of Parliament. Prime Minister Theresa May called it a "sick and depraved" terrorist attack, although nobody has claimed responsibility and the motive remains unknown. The bloody incident does come on the one-year anniversary of Brussels airport attack. So now we will once again be treated to endless debate about whether the perp was a "terrorist" or just an angry lone nut—a question which is pathologically politicized, and denies the possibility of the hybrid phenomenon: that is, an angry lone nut inspired by jihadism. And, of course, the critical factor of car culture will be overlooked in mainstream discourse.

The Uighur people of China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region are coming under unprecedented surveillance and militarization amid official fears of terrorism in the far-western territory. In the latest draconian measure, residents of one prefecture are being ordered to install a government-developed GPS tracking system in their vehicles. By June 30, all motorists in Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture must have the BeiDou navigation satellite system installed in their vehicles, under an order aimed at "ensur[ing] stability and social harmony." Gas stations will only be permitted to serve cars that have the system. Installation is free, but vehicle owners will be charged 90 yuan a year for the Internet fees.

An Israeli soldier who killed a wounded Palestinian in the West Bank city of Hebron last March was found guilty of manslaughter Jan. 4. The three-judge military panel in Tel Aviv ruled against Sgt Elor Azaria. Chief judge Col Maya Heller gave a lengthy verdict reading in which the court ruled that accounts of the incident that he had given were "unreliable and problematic." The panel rejected the defense's arguments. "We found there was no room to accept his arguments," the Chief judge said. "His motive for shooting was that he felt the terrorist deserved to die." Israeli politicians have called for Azaria to be pardoned and this case has caused division among the Israeli population.

A fire swept through the Cantagallo shanty-town, just across the Río Rímac from downtown Lima, on Nov. 4, leaving some 2,000 residents of the informal settlement facing an uncertain future. Hundreds of homes were destroyed and a child badly injured in the blaze, which authorities say started near a leather workshop that used flammable chemicals. The settlement was established by Shipibo-Konibo indigenous migrants from Ucayali in in Peruvian Amazon in 2001. Lima's conservative Mayor Luis Castañeda is proposing to relocate the community to the Barrios Altos area east of downtown. But community leaders say they will refuse to move, and intend to rebuild where they are.