All posts by nedhamson

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

Mike Pence Disavows Donald Trump’s Earlier Proposal Barring Muslims – The New York Times

“Governor Pence’s flagrant attempts to mislead voters on his running mate’s positions aren’t fooling anyone,” said Zara Rahim, a spokeswoman for the Clinton campaign. “Not only has Trump proposed an unconstitutional immigration ban on an entire religion, but he’s suggested creating a database that tracks Muslims in this country.”She added, “Pence has not disavowed anything, he’s just lied to the American people once again.”Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that Mr. Trump could not simply turn the page on the Muslim ban.“Whatever the Trump campaign claims is the current version of its Muslim ban, the original absolutist language of a ‘total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States’ — along with other bigoted statements — reflect a systematic and toxic use of Islamophobia that has had a tremendously harmful impact on the lives of ordinary American Muslims and on the unity of our nation,” Mr. Awad said.Despite efforts to quietly backtrack on the proposal, the Trump campaign has continued to face questions about the ban because the news release from last December announcing the proposal has not been removed from Mr. Trump’s website.“Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on,” the release said.

Source: Mike Pence Disavows Donald Trump’s Earlier Proposal Barring Muslims – The New York Times

Want to Know the Crucial Areas for Clinton? Follow Michelle Obama – The New York Times

Four taps of the microphone were all Michelle Obama needed to take down Donald J. Trump.“Hillary Clinton is tough,” Mrs. Obama, the first lady, told a crowd of several thousand in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday. “See,” she continued, “I’ve watched her when she gets knocked down — she doesn’t complain. She doesn’t cry foul.”Tap, tap, tap, tap.It took a second for the audience to catch on: Mrs. Obama was mocking Mr. Trump’s complaint that a faulty microphone had hindered his performance in his first presidential debate with Mrs. Clinton. But as Mrs. Obama continued — “No, she gets right back up, comes back stronger” — the mostly young and heavily African-American crowd let out a deafening howl.They called her “the closer” during Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, like a go-to relief pitcher used sparingly but with devastating effect. Mrs. Obama preferred spending time with her daughters over attending political rallies. But when she was unleashed before a pivotal caucus or primary, her story of growing up on the South Side of Chicago and falling in love with a young community organizer had an unmatched, almost magical power to turn out voters, campaign officials discovered.Eight years later, Mrs. Obama is playing a similar role for the woman whom she helped her husband defeat in that race.

Source: Want to Know the Crucial Areas for Clinton? Follow Michelle Obama – The New York Times

I Didn’t Realize How I Felt About Abortion Until I Chose to Get Pregnant | Dame Magazine

Donald Trump only switched his abortion stance while running for president and gone so far as to say that women who seek abortions should face “some form of punishment.” He later recanted this statement, but last month’s letter and Pence’s language are a testament to how far the candidates are willing to go to deny women access to safe and legal reproductive health care in the name of growing a conservative base. What’s more, Trump’s letter was released via the Susan B. Anthony List, a group that seeks to make abortion illegal. Trump has dangerously aligned his campaign with SBA list President Marjorie Dannenfelser, an anti-choice activist whom, according to Dr. Gunter’s findings, “has stated that contraception and family planning are the cause of abortion.”Legislation like what Trump proposes is dangerous because it denies the facts of reproductive health care as it relates to American women and persecutes against those with limited financial resources.It’s worth remembering that one can be pro-choice while still having compassion for the sanctity of life. I didn’t know what it felt like to be pregnant until I was, and I quickly realized that legal abortion care is an absolute necessity for all women, everywhere. What grows inside of me is a responsibility, and for reasons that should never need to be public, some woman cannot withstand this responsibility. I can love the life that grows inside of me yet understand, maybe now more than ever, why women must have a choice.

Source: I Didn’t Realize How I Felt About Abortion Until I Chose to Get Pregnant | Dame Magazine

Stand Up To Racism: Stand Up To Rape Culture

Stand up!

Media Diversified

An earlier version of this open letter was initially addressed to several of the headline speakers, it has since been adapted since many have now cancelled their plans to attend.

We, the undersigned, want all planned speakers and delegates to withdraw their attendance from Stand Up to Racism’s conference on 8 October. We ask because the speakers will share the bill with Weyman Bennett, Stand Up To Racism’s co-convenor and a central committee member of the Socialist Workers’ Party.

This must include refusing to lend any support to the Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP) either directly, or indirectly through its front organisations including “Unite Against Fascism”, “Unite the Resistance”, “Stand up to UKIP” and “Stand Up To Racism”.

We call on people to do this because the SWP’s well documented failing of two women members who accused the then central committee member of the SWP, known as

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A modest opinion – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.

Listen to Professor Snape ‘Lower your gaze’. These ignorant men do not even observe hijab themselves. Wearing tight jeans outlining their nether regions, short shirts, and not a daari (beard) in sight. Hijab is meant for all Muslims: I repeat ALL MUSLIMS.  In the times of Trump, and the aftermath of the Burkini Ban, Muslim men should be dressing in solidarity with Muslimahs instead of addressing topics beyond their expertise. It’s frustrating when media outlets conduct experiments where participants challenge themselves to observe hijab. These participants are praised for being brave, while Muslimahs are being cornered by two opposing parties.Instead of telling women how to dress, why don’t you sit down and take a note on how you can be a gentleman. One is not liberated if she is forced to forfeit her right to meet a personal ideal. Beauty standards should not be defined by what we choose to wear. A piece of cloth should neither cheapen our bodies nor make them more valuable. It is the intention and devotion that makes wearing hijab valuable. Muslimahs must go against the norm to create an identity for themselves and expressing that identity through a variety of outlets.The trolls’ ultimate purpose is to create a divide within the female community. These crucial moments are when females should follow the motto ‘sisters before misters’.  Having a united stance against bigoted ideas is an aspect of pro-choice activism: in other words the F- word: Feminism. Emancipating ourselves from a fatal patriarchal chokehold that seeks to scorn, scold and ostracize anyone with a vagina.  Dawah is not just oral communication; the best dawah comes from actions, and practicing what’s been preached. No one can do it better then the Muslimahs on Youtube.

Source: A modest opinion – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.

Jewish anti-Zionist removed as Momentum vice chair | The Electronic Intifada

 

Walker had written in February that the transatlantic slave trade had been an “African holocaust” and that “many Jews (my ancestors too) were the chief financiers of the sugar and slave trade.”Walker has since elaborated that the comments applied only to “a certain economic point, in specific regions where my ancestors lived.”Although she made the original comments in what she says was a private conversation among friends, unknown to her, her Facebook privacy settings at the time meant the comments were publicly visible.In May, the Israel Advocacy Movement sent the comments to pro-Israel paper The Jewish Chronicle, which then published selected excerpts from the conversation, creating another media storm.Without investigation, the Labour Party suspended Walker as soon as “the JC brought her comments to the party’s attention,” the paper boasted.Witch huntBut after an outcry from supportive Labour members, Walker’s suspension was lifted at the end of May.Party officials wrote to her saying she had no case to answer and she was readmitted, to the dismay of the JLM, which claimed she was an anti-Semite.Walker has since then been active in speaking out against the “witch hunt” of left-wing and pro-Palestinian Labour Party activists. This video of Walker was filmed at the Free Speech on Israel meeting at the Labour Party conference last week.

Source: Jewish anti-Zionist removed as Momentum vice chair | The Electronic Intifada

US Chess Champion: I’d Rather Sacrifice My Career Than Be Forced to Wear a Hijab | Heat Street

Nazi Paikidze, one of the nation’s best-ranked players, swore to boycott the 2017 contest, which is being held in Iran and will have an enforced Islamic dress code.Paikidze admitted that the decision will harm her career, but said that doing the bidding of an oppressive regime in order to compete is not a price worth paying. In an interview with the founder of My Stealthy Freedom, a campaign against Iran’s hijab laws, she said: “I will NOT wear a hijab and support women’s oppression. Even if it means missing one of the most important competitions of my career.”

Source: US Chess Champion: I’d Rather Sacrifice My Career Than Be Forced to Wear a Hijab | Heat Street

Google’s Decision To Sponsor Visa Of Anti-Gay Kenyan Activist Creates Internal Conflict: SFist

Ezekiel Mutua is the head of the Kenyan film classification board, and in that capacity has repeatedly condemned homosexuality and worked to ban music and film that depict it. “Kenya must not allow people to become the Sodom and Gomorrah through psychological drive from such content,” he told Mamba Online in reference to a cover of the Macklemore song “Same Love” which addressed the queer community in Kenya.In a country where homosexuality is punishable by up to 14 years in prison Mutua’s words carry weight, and the KFCB outlawed the music video in question.

Source: Google’s Decision To Sponsor Visa Of Anti-Gay Kenyan Activist Creates Internal Conflict: SFist