All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

From Fake News to Enemy of the People: An Anatomy of Trump’s Tweets | Inter Press Service

The president’s tweets can have an impact and consequences for the press both at home and abroad. His rhetoric has given cover to autocratic regimes: world leaders from Cambodia to the Philippines have echoed terms like “fake news” in the midst of crackdowns on press freedom. And the rhetoric has sometimes resulted in harassment of individual journalists in the U.S., where CPJ is aware of several journalists who say they were harassed or threatened online after being singled out on Twitter by Trump. CPJ’s database of tweets can be viewed here and our methodology can be found here.

Source: From Fake News to Enemy of the People: An Anatomy of Trump’s Tweets | Inter Press Service

Health Department Warns South Asian NYers About Lead Risks In Spices And Powders

Health Department Warns South Asian NYers About Lead Risks In Spices And Powders

The South Asian community in New York City is at high risk for lead poisoning, the Health Department warned on Wednesday with the launch of a new campaign to raise awareness about lead poisoning. The initiative is part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s recently-announced LeadFreeNYC initiative, which aims to screen apartments and eliminate lead exposure among children over the next two years. [ more › ]

From books to bullets: inside Amazon’s push to ‘defend’ America | US news | The Guardian – it’s the cloud

In the not too distant future, US soldiers may rely on Amazon-run systems to trade intelligence, relay orders and call for help. Drone footage might be scoured for wanted men and women by Amazon software. Defense department quartermasters would use Amazon technology to move ammunition and supplies.

Source: From books to bullets: inside Amazon’s push to ‘defend’ America | US news | The Guardian

Fish and chip shops are selling endangered sharks, DNA tests prove

yuck

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People buying generic fish such as rock could in fact be eating a range of shark species

Fish and chip shops and fishmongers are selling endangered sharks to an unwitting public, according to researchers who used DNA barcoding to identify species on sale.

Most chip shop fish sold under generic names such as huss, rock, flake and rock salmon turned out to be spiny dogfish, a shark species classified as endangered in Europe by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s red list.

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European parliament recognises Guaidó as interim Venezuelan leader

Imperialism redux and deja vu – grab some oil!

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Vote in Brussels comes as arrest and expulsion of foreign journalists in Venezuela draws condemnation

The European parliament has recognised Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaidó as de facto head of state, heightening pressure on Nicolás Maduro, amid condemnation over the arrest of foreign journalists reporting on the country’s turmoil.

MEPs voted 439 in favour to 104 against, with 88 abstentions, at a special session in Brussels to recognise Venezuelan congress head Guaidó as interim leader. In a statement the parliament urged the bloc’s 28 governments to follow suit and declare Guaidó “the only legitimate interim president” until there were “new free, transparent and credible presidential elections”.

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Kamala Harris laughed about jailing parents over truancy. But it’s not funny | Nathan Robinson

You can tell the wannabe elitists and bots recognize Kamala is a winner by their lockstep faux-progressive digs that ultimately favor throwing away votes in the name of faux-idealism and… giving loser Trump a lift.

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Recently resurfaced videos of Harris defending her decision to lock up parents over truancy are disturbing

For progressives, there are good reasons to be suspicious of the idea that former prosecutors make good politicians. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and its criminal punishment system disproportionately punishes poor people and people of color. Prosecutors have a leading role in sustaining this injustice, in part because they tend to view prisons as solutions to social problems.

That worldview is fully on display in recently unearthed video footage of Kamala Harris, defending her decision to criminally prosecute parents for their children’s truancy. In the video, taken at the Commonwealth Club in 2010 when Harris was district attorney of San Francisco, Harris says that because “a child going without an education is tantamount to a crime”, she decided to treat parents with absentee children as criminals.

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Matteo Salvini mocks move to tackle racism in Italian football | World news | The Guardian

Italian football hooligans, knowns as ultras, tend to be well-organised, extremely violent and racist. Last year Daniele De Santis, a notorious ultra, was jailed for 16 years for the murder of a Napoli fan, Ciro Esposito, before the 2014 Italian Cup final game against Fiorentina.

Source: Matteo Salvini mocks move to tackle racism in Italian football | World news | The Guardian

Apple leaves Facebook offices in disarray after revoking app permissions | Technology | The Guardian

The revocation didn’t just hit the Facebook Research app. Every app the company built using its EDC was rendered inoperable, with users reportedly unable to even open the programs from their home screens. That included internal test versions of Facebook and Instagram, widely distributed to employees so that they can experience newer features before they are released to the general public. Following the revocation, those employees had to download released versions of the iOS apps from Apple’s App Store. But Apple’s response also hit some of the basic infrastructure built into Facebook’s offices, particularly its HQ in Menlo Park, California. According to an internal memo, obtained by Business Insider, apps including Ride, which lets employees take shuttles between buildings on the company’s sprawling campus, and Mobile Home, an employee information portal, were down.

Source: Apple leaves Facebook offices in disarray after revoking app permissions | Technology | The Guardian

H.R. 891: To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make changes related to family-sponsored immigrants and to reduce the number of such immigrants, and for other purposes.

Trump’s relatives got in so now close the door? Another racist think small and fear dufus! Introduced: Sponsor: Rep. Jody Hice [R-GA10]

This bill was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary which will consider it before sending it to the House floor for consideration.