All posts by nedhamson

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

No apologies – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.

Source: No apologies – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.

E.P.A. Official Pressured Scientist on Congressional Testimony, Emails Show – The New York Times

 

“It’s shocking and insulting to be told before you go in to alter your testimony to what the administration wants,” he said. “This just shows a certain amount of amateurishness about how these hearings work. They’re supposed to be places where you get objective views. You don’t go around telling people what to say.”Mr. Jackson and the E.P.A. communications office did not respond to emailed questions about Mr. Jackson’s communications with Dr. Swackhamer.

Kushner’s first foray into Mideast peace reveals challenges ahead – AKA: FAIL!

Palestinian officials contacted by Al-Monitor said they felt abandoned by the United States as their negotiating team left little leeway for Abbas to be able to show something for his efforts and attempts to keep the lid on the brewing public discontent with him. The biggest problem for the Palestinian president comes from families of prisoners and martyrs, as these families are worried that they will be sacrificed for an unknown process that has little chance to succeed.

Source: Kushner’s first foray into Mideast peace reveals challenges ahead

On the Side of the Road #kindness #sundaydevotions

penned in moon dust

“It’s as easy as…”

LIFE

“you fall off –

 get right back on”

bruised and bloodied

stumbling off the road

 scraping out the rocks

“Just get up” a person calls

I think I’ll just sit in the dirt

another person rolls her eyes

increasing her pace

“take the bike I won’t be needing it” I holler

I feel gentle arms around me

“let me clean that” a kind whisper

“we will get you home”

the man puts me on his bike

his wife rides my battered one

I’m awakened to fluffy white pillows

I don’t know how long it takes to heal

 there it was painted and straight

“I think I’m ready to try “

I wave at the kind couple

their hands are full so they smile

there will always be battered people

to pick up on the side of the road

The original story of the Good Samaritan…

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Good readings on the Qatar crisis

Nervana

In my latest piece, I wrote about western media’s imbalanced coverage of the recent crisis between Gulf states and Qatar.  There are, however, some balanced pieces about Qatar  that are worth reading:

First, here is Richard Spencer’s very detailed piece  published in Britain’s The Times Magazine

“It is this willingness to dally with all sides that has led to the recent rifts with its neighbours, and President Trump’s apparent preference for siding with them against the host of his own Central Command. Despite Qatari denials about terrorist funding, allegations of a relationship with al-Qaeda persist. As the group, now separate from Isis, grew prominent in Syria’s civil war through its local branch known as the Nusra Front, a similar pattern emerged. Its leader gave interviews to Al Jazeera. The group seemed suspiciously well funded – America alleged that some of the money was coming from an influential Qatari called Abdulrahman…

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This Week in Egypt: Week 25 ( June 19-25)

Nervana

Top headlines

  • Egypt to extend state of emergency for three months
  • Egypt’s Sisi ratifies contested deal handing Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia
  • Egypt’s constitutional court temporarily halts all verdicts on islands transfer deal
  • Interior Ministry kills three leading figures of ‘Hasm’ militant group
  • Egypt’s police repel major militant attack in North Sinai
  • Egypt says 7 militants in connection with recent attacks on Christians were killed in raid on desert camp

 Tiran and Sanafir via BBC

Tiran and Sanafir Red Sea Islands via BBC

Main headlines 

Monday

Tuesday

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Police release transcripts of interviews with officers in Charleena Lyles shooting | No attempt to stop her – just rely on “accepted” excuse – “feared for my life” and shoot to kill.

McNew told investigators Lyles had him trapped in the kitchen and was closing the distance between them. “And at that point, fearing for what was about to happen, what she would do to me, um, being stuck in that spot, I fired my handgun,”

Source: Police release transcripts of interviews with officers in Charleena Lyles shooting | US news | The Guardian

Kashmir: School students, women take up rocks, sticks against Indian forces – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

India and Pakistan continue to clash over disputed Kashmir, and the volatile Himalayan region has experienced an armed insurgency for more than two decades.Many Kashmiris are now fed up with both Islamabad and New Delhi.The inability of Indian authorities to rein in the separatist movement has led many Kashmir analysts to suggest that India is losing grip on the situation.

Source: Kashmir: School students, women take up rocks, sticks against Indian forces – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

In a Guardian Story About an Environmental Conflict in Kenya, the White Saviour Rides Again – Intercontinental Cry

Climate change is leading to more frequent and more punishing droughts. Add the mix of demographic pressures and politics is an explosive one. But we have to tell the story right. Framing the conflict as between a noble conservation queen and a savage mob of impoverished locals is not only irresponsible and cruel. It is also simply not the truth.

Source: In a Guardian Story About an Environmental Conflict in Kenya, the White Saviour Rides Again – Intercontinental Cry

Cecile Richards on Planned Parenthood, the Resistance, and Galvanizing the Next Generation of Activists – Vogue

Cecile Richards strides into the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, student union in a hot-pink dress and a black cardigan. As she walks past me I notice that her toenails are also pink—a color that precisely matches the “I stand with Planned Parenthood” pins and signs and T-shirts that are all around the room. She is uncharacteristically late this morning, and before she arrived I was a little worried: There was only a smattering of local media, and the energy was muted. But as soon as she walked in, the air crackled—as if, in her presence, every atom gained an electron. There is just something about Richards—her height and carriage, her husky voice, that startlingly blonde boy-cut—that makes you sit up and pay attention.

Source: Cecile Richards on Planned Parenthood, the Resistance, and Galvanizing the Next Generation of Activists – Vogue