All posts by nedhamson

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

Penguin stolen from German zoo found headless | News | DW.COM | 18.02.2017

The penguin stolen from a zoo in the southwestern German city of Mannheim was missing its head.

Source: Penguin stolen from German zoo found headless | News | DW.COM | 18.02.2017

Donald Trump: White House flatly denies plan to mobilise National Guard troops – Donald Trump’s America – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official described the document as a very early draft that was not seriously considered and never brought to General Kelly for approval.However, DHS staffers said on Thursday they had been told by colleagues in two DHS departments that the proposal was still being considered as recently as February 10.DHS spokeswoman Gillian Christensen declined to say who wrote the memo, how long it had been under consideration or when it had been rejected.The pushback from administration officials did little to quell outrage over the draft plan. Two Republican governors spoke out against the proposal and numerous Democratic politicians denounced it as an overly aggressive approach to immigration enforcement.Democrats Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said he was appalled at the report saying, ” I just hope it’s not true”.Mr Schumer called the concept “despicable” and said even considering the proposal would be “appalling”.”Regardless of the White House’s response, this document is an absolutely accurate description of the disturbing mindset that pervades the Trump administration when it comes to our nation’s immigrants,” said US senator Catherine Cortez Masto.Arkansas Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson said he would have “concerns about the utilisation of National Guard resources for immigration enforcement”, believing such a program “would be too much of a strain on our National Guard personnel”.Utah GOP Governor Gary Herbert would have serious concerns about the constitutional implications and financial impact of activating the National Guard to round up unauthorised immigrants, the governor’s office said in a statement.Senator Richard Blumenthal said: “This administration’s complete disregard for the impact its internal chaos and inability to manage its own message and policy is having on real people’s lives is offensive.”

Source: Donald Trump: White House flatly denies plan to mobilise National Guard troops – Donald Trump’s America – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Deportations: US “dreamer” arrest fuels fears of extreme action against illegal migrants | In English | EL PAÍS

“This is a matter of concern for everyone. We cannot trust the federal government’s promises.” These words, spoken by lawyer Marielena Hincapié, illustrate the general feeling among legal experts on immigration issues following the recent detention in Seattle of a Mexican man who was protected under Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Source: Deportations: US “dreamer” arrest fuels fears of extreme action against illegal migrants | In English | EL PAÍS

#BanThis

Leila Roumani Syria-USA 34, PROJECT MANAGER, MASTERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH AT HARVARD T.H. CHAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

My father came in the late 1960s from Syria to do his urological residency in Ohio and Pennsylvania. He soon engaged and brought my mother along to join him in the U.S. After having my two sisters in Pennsylvania and finishing medical residency, they moved to Los Angeles, California where my father opened his first medical office and my parents delivered their third baby girl: me. We had several aunts and uncles who had settled in Los Angeles before us, so although my parents were far away from family, we still had a loving, progressive, intersectionality oriented, and social-justice minded Muslim and Arab community in Los Angeles to lean on. Today, six years into the Syrian civil war, I realize that my family would most likely be refugees if my parents had not moved to the US in the late 1960s when professional immigrants were encouraged and welcome to come. My parents proudly moved to a country that believed in opportunities for all and a ‘melting pot’ of diversity and inclusion. My parents have never missed an opportunity to vote since they were naturalized-something my father reminds us could not have happened in Syria. The US afforded my family opportunities and stability to build a better life.Why did your family come to the United States?They wanted to leave Syria because they wanted to raise their children in a country that upheld democratic ideals, free speech, and better opportunities.What would the U.S. be missing out on if you or your people were banned?My father’s sense of humor and Syrian-Lebanese food

Source: #BanThis

#BanThis

Rebecca A.Ethiopia – USA35, ATTORNEY BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

I was born in Ethiopia and remember having most of my mother’s family close by as I grew. Some aunts and uncles were already in the US, specifically to further their studies, and my sister (the only one I have) went on a trip with my grandparents to visit those aunties and uncles in Boston. Unfortunately, or fortunately as it were, my sister had an accident that brought her under the scrutiny of specialist doctors who diagnosed her with scoliosis. She needed surgery and so she, along with my grandparents, stayed longer than expected to find her medical care.At the same time, my parents were more directly feeling the repression of the current authoritarian regime in Ethiopia. It was 1986 and Mengistu Hailemariam was in power then. My father was most targeted and suffered through detention before it was decided that we could no longer stay there with out risking further harm. My mother and I left my father and traveled to Boston on our own. There, we were met by my sister, whom I hadn’t seen in what seemed to my 5 year old self as years. We lived with my mother’s parents and her brother and sister for a couple of years until my father was finally able to travel and join us. Since the my parents have worked on creating a new life for themselves. My father worked various jobs: cashier, taxi driver, security guard and my mother did the same (except for the driving part, she has always been a nervous driver). And my sister and I grew up in the US. Somewhat local, but the feeling that we were foreign or different ever present in our lives. I spoke to my mother right after the Executive Order banning Muslim travel came into effect. She lamented how she thought she had left a place like this. She was sad that she now has to encounter a world order that she was much too familiar with 30 years ago; a repressive and discriminatory government that she desperately needed to escape, but somehow has followed her still.Why did your family come to the United States?My family came to the United States to escape government persecution and repression.What would the U.S. be missing out on if you or your people were banned?A family who doesn’t feel like the holiday season has started until they have seen Die Hard at least 3 times. A mother and father who regularly help with their weekly church service. Two young black sisters who watch Seinfeld still and feel it resonate in their lives.

Source: #BanThis

#BanThis

Jeanette F.Italy-USA72, RETIRED WASHINGTON, DC

My parents left Italy in the 1920’s as teenagers. My father traveled alone. My mother traveled with her mother and four siblings. They traveled in steerage class, crossing the Atlantic, and in about two weeks arriving at Ellis Island. They faced intense discrimination when they arrived. However, they were so grateful to be in the US, they never complained.Why did your family come to the United States?My parents came to the US to escape the poverty of their small town.What would the U.S. be missing out on if you or your people were banned?If my parents had been banned from entering the US, this country would have missed a woman who cooked and sewed exquisitely. The country would have missed a man who worked every day, no vacation days for 50 years. The country would be lacking a grandson who became mayor of a world class city.

Source: #BanThis

Inoreader – Immigrants and Their Children Respond to Trump: #BanThis

There is so much we risk losing when any of us are banned. Unlike what is claimed by the administration, we are not banning the unknown, the evil, the ever illusive ‘other’. This order  is banning us – people who have been a part of the United States for generations and who make up this nation. Trump’s oversimplified rhetoric on immigration is a false depiction of our country, its history of immigration, and our struggles. #BanThis resists this erasure.To see more of this project and contribute to the campaign, follow them on Instagram at @banthiscampaign or check out their website at banthisthecampaign.org.

Source: Inoreader – Immigrants and Their Children Respond to Trump: #BanThis

Trump’s American Dream: You’ll Have to Be Asleep to Believe It – In The Fray

While there are many reasons why Donald Trump won the election, it’s clear that the movement of the white working class away from the Democratic Party had something to do with it. Given that this demographic seems to have put Trump over the top in the Electoral College, what do we expect his administration’s policies to do for this group—and for the working class (which, importantly, is increasingly nonwhite) more broadly?First, his proposed tax plan will dramatically increase income inequality in this country. It will be a windfall for elites—particularly the richest 0.1%, America’s corporate executives and Wall Street financiers—who already have rewritten the rules of the economic game to favor them. Meanwhile, it will punish millions of low-income and single-parent families by stripping away some of their tax deductions. (Ironically, the white working class that broke decisively for Trump has been increasingly falling into this latter camp.)

Source: Trump’s American Dream: You’ll Have to Be Asleep to Believe It – In The Fray