All posts by nedhamson
In the West Bank, even calling the fire dept. has an ethnic dimension | +972 Magazine
In 2004, under the cover of the Second Intifada, Sil’it’s security fence was expanded to includes S.’s land. Now there is both a fence and gate between him and his land, meaning he can no longer reach his land – no one disputes the land is his – unless he receives prior permission from the military commander. In 2009 his land was set ablaze; he believes Israeli civilians were responsible. During last year’s olive harvest, S. managed to obtain permission for his workers for three workdays – yet the IDF prevented them from accessing the land. S. kept trying to get them permits to work the land, but the IDF bureaucracy is slow, and in the meantime the harvest season passed.Half a year later S. was standing and watching his land burning from across a locked gate. He called the Palestinian District Coordination Office (DCO), which in turn summoned Palestinian firefighters. But the IDF did not allow them to enter the land; it is unlikely we will ever know the reason for the refusal.But the wind, damn it, the wind — it does not discriminate between Palestinian or Israeli property; it is indifferent to land documents and ethnicity. The wind blew the fire toward Sil’it. The distance, you will remember, is only 150 meters.And then S. beheld a wondrous sight: as the flames consumed his land while Palestinian firetrucks were prohibited from aiding him, Israeli firetrucks swiftly reached the other side of his plot and quickly began dowsing the flames. The firetrucks weren’t sufficient, so a short time afterward two firefighting planes flew overhead and extinguished the fire, which nearly reached the gates of Sil’it.Unlike the wind, Israeli soldiers can perfectly discriminate between land owned by a Palestinian and land seized by Israelis. And there you have it, the whole occupation in a nutshell.Written by Yossi Gurvitz in his capacity as a blogger for Yesh Din, Volunteers for Human Rights. This post was first published on Yesh Din’s blog.
Source: In the West Bank, even calling the fire dept. has an ethnic dimension | +972 Magazine
Meet the Characters — (H)afrocentric
(H)afrocentric stars a posse of disgruntled undergrads of color as they navigate their way through Ronald Reagan University. Follow the self proclaimed radical Black feminist, Naima Pepper (who has a White mama), as she deals with the contradictions of her own life in various ways—lashing out in Tourette Syndrome-like rants about gentrification, white supremacy, and apathy. Both she and her brother, Miles Pepper, grew up in a mostly White and Asian neighborhood. Miles Pepper reflects a popular culture aesthetic and mindset. As they navigate through the world with their best friends, Renee Aanjay Brown and El Ramirez, their identities and neighborhood start to change in front of their eyes.
Dr. Bob Sears, critic of vaccine laws, could lose license after exempting toddler – LA Times Cashing in on pimping for profit on parents’ fears catches up to to him.
Sears, 47, whose “The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child” has sold more than 250,000 copies and made him a celebrity among parents who see peril in the mandatory vaccination regime, could not be reached for comment late Thursday. The Dana Point resident opened his practice in 1998 and offered patients a delayed vaccination schedule. In “The Vaccine Book,” Sears offered his alternatives, such as delaying the start of the varicella vaccination for chickenpox from age 1 until 2 and pushing back the polio vaccination from 2 months to 9 months.His stance has been criticized by fellow pediatricians for misinforming parents about the in-depth testing of vaccines and downplaying the dangers of vaccine-preventable diseases.
Source: Dr. Bob Sears, critic of vaccine laws, could lose license after exempting toddler – LA Times
NYTimes: Government Pauses Construction on North Dakota Pipeline
A beauty contest was judged by AI and the robots didn’t like dark skin | Technology | The Guardian
The simplest explanation for biased algorithms is that the humans who create them have their own deeply entrenched biases. That means that despite perceptions that algorithms are somehow neutral and uniquely objective, they can often reproduce and amplify existing prejudices. The Beauty.AI results offer “the perfect illustration of the problem”, said Bernard Harcourt, Columbia University professor of law and political science who has studied “predictive policing”, which has increasingly relied on machines. “The idea that you could come up with a culturally neutral, racially neutral conception of beauty is simply mind-boggling.”The case is a reminder that “humans are really doing the thinking, even when it’s couched as algorithms and we think it’s neutral and scientific,” he said.Civil liberty groups have recently raised concerns that computer-based law enforcement forecasting tools – which use data to predict where future crimes will occur – rely on flawed statistics and can exacerbate racially biased and harmful policing practices.“It’s polluted data producing polluted results,” said Malkia Cyril, executive director of the Center for Media Justice.
Source: A beauty contest was judged by AI and the robots didn’t like dark skin | Technology | The Guardian
Chris Christie Reportedly Told Someone To Shut Up At Trump’s Classified Security Briefing: Gothamist
Donald Trump and classified intelligence briefings go together like toothpaste and orange juice. Or maybe that’s not totally accurate since healthy teeth and O.J. are good on their own and Donald Trump is a living Yahoo comments section with a toupee stapled on it. Either way, telling Donald Trump secret national security information seems like a bad idea. Adding the shy, retiring Chris Christie and shouty general Michael Flynn to the briefing would only seem to be a worse idea. And hey what do you know, NBC News reports that Christie told Flynn to shut up in the middle of the briefing. Can’t wait until all these alpha males are deciding how to run the country the old fashioned way.NBC looked into what actually happened at Trump’s August 17th security briefing, after he told a ball-gagged Matt Lauer that his amazing ability to translate body language revealed that people briefing him were pissed at Obama because he didn’t follow their policy advice. Not only was that apparently untrue, but two sources told NBC that Christie either told General Flynn to shut up or to calm down after he repeatedly interrupted the security briefing.And in what’s become a daily ritual, Donald Trump is being accused of lying about a very easily refutable statement. In this instance, one U.S. official told NBC that the briefing officers don’t give policy advice, and another official told the site that intelligence officials are specifically trained not to give away their thoughts through their body language.So, throw another one on the pile of routine lies Trump tells at his public appearances. At least he’s got a very polished and professional policy team in Washington turning his laudanum-addled thoughts into coherent policy proposals in the event he actually wins, right? Why just look right here in the Washington Post:The Trump campaign built a large policy shop in Washington that has now largely melted away because of neglect, mismanagement and promises of pay that were never honored. Many of the team’s former members say the campaign leadership never took the Washington office seriously and let it wither away after squeezing it dry.Maybe this policy expert is still available?
Source: Chris Christie Reportedly Told Someone To Shut Up At Trump’s Classified Security Briefing: Gothamist
Donald Trump’s Remarks Show He’s Mistaken on Sexual Assault in Military – The New York Times
Speaking at a candidates’ forum, Mr. Trump defended one of his Twitter posts from 2013 concerning the high number of sexual assaults in the military, and he said that he had been “absolutely correct” in sending out a message that said, “What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?”Mr. Trump also suggested that the solution to the problem was the formation of a separate military justice system — although one is already in existence. That system sits at the center of the debate over how to tackle sexual assault.His comments displayed what was apparently a misunderstanding of the Pentagon’s decades-long struggle to curb such assaults and the military justice system already in place to prosecute them.
Source: Donald Trump’s Remarks Show He’s Mistaken on Sexual Assault in Military – The New York Times
Japan and South Africa Try to Block Proposed Ban on Domestic Ivory Trade | Inter Press Service – “About money and greed”
The Great Elephant Census, an aerial survey that took almost three years and tracked 350,000 square miles, showed that savanna elephant populations in 15 countries had declined by 30 percent – equal to some 144,000 elephants – between 2007 and 2014. The rate of decline is accelerating and is currently running at an annual 8 percent primarily due to poaching, meaning that some 27,000 elephants a year in those countries are being slaughtered for their ivory. Comparative data did not exist for three countries. The sharpest declines were seen in Tanzania and northern Mozambique.
Source: Japan and South Africa Try to Block Proposed Ban on Domestic Ivory Trade | Inter Press Service
Don’t let size fool you! Meet Sweden’s tiniest firefighter – The Local
But although Carlsson demonstrably has the physical strength to handle the job, she insists the firefighter vocation is about more than just muscles and body mass.”You don’t just need to be strong, you need to have the right techniques for carrying, for lifting, for carrying big hoses, there’s a lot of technique, it’s not only about being strong,” she explains.Her first job was a call-out to a forest fire, which saw her and the team battle the blaze for 13 hours straight. But although she says she has not yet had to face the classic scenario most people imagine when they think of firefighters – boldly running into burning buildings to save someone’s life – she will be ready when it comes.”I know that I will have this kind of situation sooner or later and I don’t think you can prepare. When I’m on call, you know, it’s a role, it’s not me as my person, it’s a role and I have to act, I have to do my job, that’s what I’m hired for,” she says.
Source: Don’t let size fool you! Meet Sweden’s tiniest firefighter – The Local












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