Category Archives: Fail!

Qatar’s crisis is about freedom of expression – IFEX

It is not only a diplomatic crisis, but a crisis for free expression in an already restrictive region. As some analysts have pointed out, the singling out of Qatar has as much to do with the country’s alleged support of terrorism as it does with neighboring countries’ desire to shutter Al Jazeera, Qatar’s flagship media organization. Al Jazeera, a comprehensive media outlet funded by the Qatari government with several international satellite television channels, websites, and online video operations, is not exactly a beacon of free expression – it rarely reports negatively on Qatar or other Gulf countries, for example – but it has stood strong in its reporting on the Arab region and much of the world, covering topics that other outlets often ignore.

Source: Qatar’s crisis is about freedom of expression – IFEX

Uber Board Member Makes Sexist Joke During All-Hands Meeting | Hollywood Reporter AKA: A jerk is a jerk, is a jerk, is a jerk – even when he says he is sorry he was caught being a jerk!

Fellow board member David Bonderman, who founded TPG Capital and currently serves on a number of board, then interjected, “Actually what it shows is it’s much likely to be more talking.” Huffington responded by saying, “Oh, come on David. Don’t worry, David will have a lot of talking to do as well.”Bonderman, whose TPG owns a majority stake in CAA, later sent an email apologizing for the remarks, which New York Times reporter Mike Isaac first tweeted. The statement reads, “I want to apologize to my fellow board member for a disrespectful comment that was directed at her during today’s discussion. It was inappropriate. I also want to apologize to all Uber employees who were offended by the remark. I deeply regret it.”

Source: Uber Board Member Makes Sexist Joke During All-Hands Meeting | Hollywood Reporter

Whitewashing by brown hands – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.

Kendall Jenner on the cover of Vogue India’s tenth anniversary edition is the tip of the iceberg. There are more disturbing goings-on in India and colourisation. The colour-struck media industry is seeking to destroy the idea that brown skin is beautiful by integrating more foreign actresses who have only the skill of light skin, through promoting skin whitening creams via Bollywood heavyweights and devoting entire shows to the idea that nobody would ever consider a darker skinned girl beautiful.Before we can confidently wage war on the lack of diversity in Western countries, we must work together to ensure that brown countries aren’t the first to jump at the chance to wash out brown beauty and talent.

Source: Whitewashing by brown hands – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.

Inoreader – Monday Open Thread | Update on the Legislation Evil Known As Trumpcare- Fighting the Senate

The Legislative Evil known Trumpcare is going forward in the Senate.I will remind you, now, and always…Trumpcare is a TAX CUT BILL MASQUERADING AS A HEALTHCARE PLAN.THE TAX CUTS DECIMATING MEDICAID are the foundation to giving tax cuts to millionaires and bilionaires.They want to cut 880 BILLION from Medicaid..then LIE that cutting 880 BILLION from a program WILL NOT MEAN CUTS IN SERVICE?THE EVERLOVING PHUCK??!!?They are going to STEAL HEALTHCARE FROM THE MOST VULNERABLE IN ORDER TO GIVE RICH PEOPLE A TAX CUT. They are crafting Trumpcare in the Senate, in secret, with no hearings.

Source: Inoreader – Monday Open Thread | Update on the Legislation Evil Known As Trumpcare- Fighting the Senate

We Don’t Need Megyn Kelly To Shine a Light On a Dumpster Fire | Dame Magazine

The way Jones sees it, shadowy groups within the U.S. government orchestrated—or at least refrained from preventing—the 9/11 attacks, the Boston Marathon massacre, the bombing of Oklahoma City’s Murrah federal building, and the mass shootings in Aurora, Colorado, and at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. He has even suggested that President Obama was responsible for the 2013 Oklahoma tornado outbreak. When Jared Lee Loughner went on his January 2011 rampage in Tucson, killing six people and severely wounding U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), Jones told Rolling Stone: “This whole thing stinks to high heaven. … My gut tells me this was a staged mind-control operation. The government employs geometric psychological-warfare experts that know exactly how to indirectly manipulate unstable people through the media.”Kelly’s assertion that many don’t know him is probably true. He only has around 600,000 followers on Twitter (though that number will likely jump post NBC interview). And even though that may be true it is irrelevant. In fact, it is actually a good thing.Shining a light? Honestly, Kelly missed the boat on that one. Jones has been outed, debunked, marginalized, and ridiculed into relative silence. And anyway, according to Jones’s divorce lawyer the Alex Jones on Infowars is just a persona, a character:

Source: We Don’t Need Megyn Kelly To Shine a Light On a Dumpster Fire | Dame Magazine

IRIN | Cholera can kill quickly. In Yemen, it’s taking one life an hour – Thanks to #TraitorTrump ally Saudi Arabia at war against Yemen!

Cholera is now killing more people than bombs and bullets in Yemen, in a raging outbreak that is out of control thanks to the inability of the country to cope after more than two years of war.According to the latest (and always growing) numbers, 923 people have died of cholera in Yemen since the end of April, 532 in May alone. For comparison, the UN recorded violent deaths of 98 civilians in May.When IRIN first reported on Yemen’s cholera outbreak in the middle of last month, it was bad: hospitals in the capital of Sana’a were overflowing, and humanitarians were racing to contain the disease.

Source: IRIN | Cholera can kill quickly. In Yemen, it’s taking one life an hour

Ex-U.S. Attorney Bharara tells of ‘unusual’ calls he received from Trump | Reuters

The third call, however, came two days after Trump’s inauguration. That time, he said, he refused to call back.”The call came in. I got a message. We deliberated over it, thought it was inappropriate to return the call. And 22 hours later I was asked to resign along with 45 other people,” he said.

Source: Ex-U.S. Attorney Bharara tells of ‘unusual’ calls he received from Trump | Reuters

Masquerading as Reporter, Assassin Hunted Putin Foes in Ukraine – The New York Times – Trump’s friend Putin, whom he admires, ordered the hit.

 

A shot hit Mr. Osmayev on the right side of his chest. But he was not immediately incapacitated and struggled with the shooter for control of the gun. Ms. Okuyeva, however, long fearful of assassination attempts, was carrying a pistol under her coat, as well as a tube of the blood-clotting agent Celox in her purse. She shot Mr. Denisultanov-Kurmakayev four times as he and her husband fought. Both were gravely wounded but survived.“I will always be thankful,” Mr. Osmayev said in an interview of his wife’s quick draw. “Because of her reaction, we are both alive today.”The survival of the assassin could elevate the importance of the case, should investigators obtain his cooperation.In March, a former Russian lawmaker who fled to Ukraine, Denis N. Voronenkov, was gunned down on a sidewalk outside the Premier Palace hotel in Kiev. Mr. Voronenkov’s bodyguard shot and killed the attacker. Last year, a car bomb killed a journalist, Pavel Sheremet, on a central street of the capital, and no arrests were made.After the attack on Mr. Osmayev and Ms. Okuyeva, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry and lawmakers blamed the Russian intelligence services. Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency, however, has said there is insufficient evidence to determine whether the killer pretending to be a journalist was a Russian agent, but it has not ruled out that possibility.“For the world community, what is important is we have proof Russia is committing terrorist acts in other countries,” said Anton Gerashenko, a lawmaker. “His tongue may loosen to say who sent him here and why,” he said of Mr. Denisultanov-Kurmakayev.

Kansas man indicted on hate crime charges for killing Indian national | US news | The Guardian

A man accused in a bar shooting in suburban Kansas City that left one Indian national dead and another wounded was indicted by a federal grand jury on hate crime charges, the US justice department announced Friday. The indictment against Adam Purinton, 52, comes after a 22 February shooting at Austin’s Bar and Grill in Olathe, Kansas. Witnesses have said Purinton, who is white, yelled “get out of my country” at two 32-year-old Indian nationals, Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani, before he began shooting. Kuchibhotla died and Madasani was injured. A third man, Ian Grillot, was wounded when he tried to intervene.The shooting raised fears of more attacks on immigrants following Donald Trump’s election and his push for a ban on immigrants from some countries. Officials in India also expressed concern about their citizens’ safety in the US, where many work.An affidavit released in March said Madasani told detectives that the gunman asked if their “status was legal” before he opened fire.

Source: Kansas man indicted on hate crime charges for killing Indian national | US news | The Guardian