Category Archives: Apartheid

The 14 Stereotypes That Facebook Assigns To All Of Us: SFist

Zuckerberg and company seem stuck in a cushy Silicon Valley mindset that assigns actual reality to the milk-and-cookies stereotypes that investors and advertisers are comfortable with. The monster they’ve created is being used for far more sinister purposes than what falls within purview of the company advertising parameters. Facebook remains flat-footed and clumsy in response to troll accounts that literally call for U.S. violence, and internationally, use of Facebook to cause real-life mass violence.There is a popular Silicon Valley notion that tech execs like Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and Sergey Brin are the best and brightest minds of our era. But if their platforms are being used in ways they didn’t anticipate and still can’t control, well, doesn’t that inherently make them not best and brightest minds of our era?

Source: The 14 Stereotypes That Facebook Assigns To All Of Us: SFist

Men Are Killing Thousands of Women a Year for Saying No | Dame Magazine “And who mourns for them?”

On September 10, a 32-year-old man went to his estranged wife’s Sunday cookout, reportedly the first social event she’d organized since filing for divorce. He shot her and seven other adults to death before he was killed by police. That tragedy was tied for second-deadliest mass shooting of the year with another killing spree on May 27 in Brookhaven, Mississippi, in which a 35-year-old man, also angry at his “estranged” wife, allegedly killed five of her relatives, as well as a sheriff’s deputy and two children. He told the local media on-camera that he was hoping police would kill him.Surprisingly, these two incidents, with 16 victims between them, were not the most infamous domestic violence murders to make national news in the past six months. Several other intimate partner killings received more widespread attention, likely because of their unusual nature. In July, a man stabbed his wife to death aboard a cruise ship, reportedly later telling a witness, “She would not stop laughing at me.” (The statement calls to mind the famous quote attributed to Margaret Atwood about domestic violence: “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.”) Six months earlier, in April 10, a 53-year-old man walked into a San Bernardino, California, elementary-school classroom and shot to death his wife, who was a special-ed teacher there, and her 8-year-old student, before turning the gun on himself. Six days later, a 37-year-old man named Steve Stephens, apparently distraught over difficulties with his “estranged” girlfriend, shot a random older man to death on the streets of Cleveland, live-streaming it on Facebook. Before killing him, Stephens made the victim say his ex’s name.

Source: Men Are Killing Thousands of Women a Year for Saying No | Dame Magazine

Donald Trump accuses NFL players of ‘total disrespect’ as protests continue | Sport | The Guardian – “But his calling the widow of a fallen soldier a liar is not disrespectful”

On Monday morning, Trump tweeted his displeasure. “Two dozen NFL players continue to kneel during the National Anthem, showing total disrespect to our Flag & Country,” he wrote. “No leadership in NFL!” The president’s viewpoint will play well in large parts of America. Surveys have shown a majority of white Americans disapprove of the protests; in contrast a majority of African Americans view the players’ stance favorably.

Source: Donald Trump accuses NFL players of ‘total disrespect’ as protests continue | Sport | The Guardian

Israeli president accuses Netanyahu and allies of endangering democracy | World news | The Guardian

Rivlin, whose position is largely ceremonial, described proposed moves against the court by Israel’s most rightwing government ever, in particular by the far-right education minister, Naftali Bennett, and his allies, as part of “a continuous attempt to weaken the gatekeepers of the Israeli democracy”.Seated at the dais opposite Netanyahu, he said: “In this climate of delegitimisation, the atmosphere of ‘everything is political’ trickles down to the public, who receive the message that there is no more statesmanship, that there is only ruling and democracy. And in this climate, democracy means that the strong decides.”He added: “Leadership in a democratic country is the art of creating agreements, not vanquishing opponents. A democratic society is based on building processes, not revolutions.”The Israeli president continued by criticising the politicisation of Israel’s state institutions, which critics claim have gradually been placed in the hands of people regarded as loyal to Netanyahu and ministers in his coalition.Advertisement“In this revolution, the ruler is also the victim. ‘We’ll show them’ is the soundtrack of the revolution. The stateliness has gone from our country. After us the deluge.”Returning to the subject of rightwing moves to remove the ability of Israel’s top court to strike down laws passed by MPs, he added: “How can a threatened, conformist and toothless court be in the interest of the state of Israel? Of Israeli democracy?”

Source: Israeli president accuses Netanyahu and allies of endangering democracy | World news | The Guardian

Our Nation’s Love Affair With Eugenics Is Far From Over | Dame Magazine

Ensuring childbirth is a cornerstone to modern American eugenics, because eugenics is as much about building up the desired race as it is about tearing the “other” down. In addition to concern over immigration and interracial breeding, eugenicists in the early 1900s were worried about the poor and working-class breeding inferior stock that would ultimately bring down the “superior” white race. It was of paramount importance that the “right” types of white people have as many babies as possible.It’s this undercurrent that has driven anti-abortion activists to forever link Planned Parenthood with abortion, although the organization provides the only medical care some people will ever get.  Legislative efforts to defund PP serve two purposes: to deny access to safe, legal abortion and to ensure that countless men and women go without contraception, cancer screenings, and STD testing.

Source: Our Nation’s Love Affair With Eugenics Is Far From Over | Dame Magazine

In the crosshairs: Israel’s war of attrition on political dissent | +972 Magazine

Breaking the Silence, an organization made up of former Israeli soldiers that collects and publishes testimonies of IDF transgressions in the occupied territories, called the bill an attempt by Netanyahu to distract the public from numerous corruption investigations that threaten to topple his rule.The claim isn’t unfounded: Netanyahu’s cronies in the Likud Party are carrying out a parliamentary scorched earth campaign to shield the prime minister from accountability, including establishing a parliamentary committee to investigate foreign government funding of left-wing NGOs. Levin’s bill, then, does away with etiquette. No longer will the Israeli Right harp on the issue of funding alone. In its war of attrition, the goal has become the total elimination of dissent.

Source: In the crosshairs: Israel’s war of attrition on political dissent | +972 Magazine

Highlighting rift between Israel and U.S. Jews, Netanyahu won’t address annual Jewish Federation confab – U.S. News – Haaretz.com – ultra-right wing everywhere cannot stand diversity and sides with bigots of worst type!

Many American Jewish leaders were livid with Netanyahu when in June, under pressure from his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners, he decided to back out of his commitment to create a special area at the Western Wall where Reform and Conservative Jews could hold mixed-gender prayer services. The overwhelming majority of affiliated Jews in North America identify either as Conservative or Reform. The decision to create the egalitarian prayer space had been approved by his government in January 2016 but was never implemented.

Source: Highlighting rift between Israel and U.S. Jews, Netanyahu won’t address annual Jewish Federation confab – U.S. News – Haaretz.com

Austria’s neo-Nazis finds friends in Israel | The Electronic Intifada

Europe’s new fascists and Israel’s right have also found an alliance in their common hatred of Muslims.In June, Strache welcomed to Vienna Likud lawmaker Yehuda Glick, a leader in the so-called Temple Movement, which aims to destroy Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque and replace it with a Jewish temple.A photo posted on Strache’s Facebook page shows the pair in a friendly meeting.European Jewish organizations have condemned Israeli outreach to Europe’s far right, including the Freedom Party. Last November, the leader of the Vienna Jewish community published a letter calling on Israeli politicians to shun such meetings and “to draw a very clear red line between us and those who represent hate, neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism.”

Source: Austria’s neo-Nazis finds friends in Israel | The Electronic Intifada

Settlers attempt to torch village mosque, south of Hebron – PNN

Israeli settlers from Ma’on settlement, which is located on West Bank lands in the southern Hebron hills, on Sunday overnight attempted to torch the mosque of Twaneh village, as part of their systematic attacks on the village to intimidate and deport its residents.According to eyewitnesses, extremist settlers stormed the area and tried to set fire to the mosque. Then, a number of citizens woke up to the noises, and forced them to leave.Locals also said that the settlers attacked the homes in the area, adding that Israeli occupation forces, who were present in the vicinity of the village, fired tear gas at the village, causing several cases of teargas inhalation.

Source: Settlers attempt to torch village mosque, south of Hebron – PNN

Agenzia Fides – ASIA/INDIA – Condemnation of the Bishops: Hindu leader offends Mother Teresa

According to the Hindu nationalist leader, “Mother Teresa organized the illegal trafficking of 50,000 women, making them work as nuns after converting them to Christianity”. Swami also said that the religious undeservedly received the highest national honor, the “Bharata Ratna” prize in 1980 by the Government of India.”Is this not an insult to the nation and to the President of India who recognized the services of the Mother to the poor, the needy, the terminally-ill, the elderly, the abandoned and the suffering?”, wonders Archbishop Bala.”The work of Saint Mother Teresa – continues the text – is recognized all over the world and in 1979 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Currently there are 5.161 Sisters of Mother Teresa in 758 Homes working in 139 countries. Besides, the comments of Paripoornananda Swamiji were not requested because the subject of the discussion was something different. It was not necessary for Swamiji to speak of the Pope and Mother Teresa”.The Archbishop notes that “Paripoornananda Swamiji’s comments and accusations on Mother Teresa not only deeply hurt the hearts and feelings of the Catholic Church and the Christian community, but also of people belonging to all regions and religions who respect her as saint and mother of the poor and the suffering”.The Indian Church condemns the attempts of those “who try to bring division in society”. Following the footsteps of Jesus Christ, “we can forgive Paripoornananda Swamiji”, the Archbishop said, recalling religious leaders of all faiths that “the primary duty of every religious leader is to foster harmony and peace in the community of our pluralist nation and safeguard the secularity and religious freedom guaranteed by our Constitution”. The Bishops ask the government to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in the future.

Source: Agenzia Fides – ASIA/INDIA – Condemnation of the Bishops: Hindu leader offends Mother Teresa