Category Archives: Fail!

Deadly Game: Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un Risk Nuclear War – SPIEGEL ONLINE Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dummer – #TraitorTrump, #LoserTrump – will settle for a Trump Hotel in N. Korea?

Trump sees Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal as the greatest danger facing U.S. national security, but he isn’t just inexperienced when it comes to foreign policy — he often veers into downright clumsiness. A recent example came two weeks ago, when he announced that he had directed a U.S. aircraft carrier to head toward North Korea as a warning — even though the vessel was actually heading in the opposite direction to take part in a maneuver near Australia. Whether it was a bluff or whether Trump had misunderstood something remains unclear — even as the vessel, the USS Carl Vinson, is now steaming toward Korean waters — but it does show the degree to which things can go wrong under this commander-in-chief.Following the numerous failures and defeats he has suffered early on in his presidency, Trump badly needs successes to present to his supporters as he passes the symbolically important 100-day threshold. An aggressive stance toward North Korea at least gives him the appearance of resolve and Trump hopes to demonstrate that he is able to stand up to the Pyongyang dictator. When he launched 59 missiles at Syria earlier this month, he received praise even from commentators who don’t normally have a kind word to say about this president. Because of Trump’s apparent addiction to public acclaim, it isn’t difficult to imagine the conclusions he drew.

Source: Deadly Game: Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un Risk Nuclear War – SPIEGEL ONLINE

By nixing German FM meet, Netanyahu ups Israel’s tyranny a notch | +972 Magazine

While Netanyahu’s move appears to be extreme and quite dumb, it actually fits coherently with his government’s orchestrated campaign against Israeli human rights organizations over the last two years. In recent months Netanyahu has called on European governments to stop funding and cooperating with Breaking the Silence, and Israel’s education minister Naftali Bennett has already effectively banned Breaking the Silence from giving presentations in high schools.Netanyahu’s move is situated well within the context of an increasingly tyrannical government that has now upped its authoritarianism a notch. Israel has been censoring and restricting the freedoms of Palestinians since 1948, it has been applying similar tactics to Israeli leftists for years and is now taking that strategy to its biggest European ally. And Netanyahu knows he will not have to pay any consequences for it. Gabriel has already said cancellation of the meeting would be “regrettable” but would not hurt or affect Israel’s ties with Germany in any way.The ultimatum and refusal to meet with a German diplomat is reminiscent of the tactics used by the Israeli government against peace activists who began meeting with PLO representatives in the 1970s. In this sense, Israel is now treating Israeli organizations who document occupation as if they were Palestinians: Persona non grata.  Now, anyone who wants to merely meet with or listen to these persona non grata is also an enemy. And just like in 1975, when Israel decided to legislate a law banning Israelis from meeting with PLO members, don’t be surprised if the Israeli government’s next move is to outlaw B’Tselem and Breaking the Silence.

Source: By nixing German FM meet, Netanyahu ups Israel’s tyranny a notch | +972 Magazine

Man in Thailand kills baby on Facebook Live | News | DW.COM | 25.04.2017

Police in Thailand said on Tuesday that a man killed his baby before committing suicide during a Facebook Live broadcast.The two videos reportedly showed 20-year-old Wuttisan Wongtalay hanging his 11-month-old daughter from the rooftop of a deserted building in the town of Phuket. The public was able to access the broadcast on Wongtalay’s Facebook page for roughly 24 hours after it was first uploaded.”This is an appalling incident and our hearts go out to the family of the victim,” a Singapore-based Facebook spokesperson told Reuters news agency. “There is absolutely no place for content of this kind of Facebook and it has now been removed.”

Source: Man in Thailand kills baby on Facebook Live | News | DW.COM | 25.04.2017

For Indians, Trump’s America Is a Land of Lost Opportunity – The New York Times

Generations of Indians have admired the United States for almost everything. But many are infuriated and unnerved by what they see as a wave of racist violence under President Trump, souring America’s allure.The reaction is not just anger and anxiety. Now, young Indians who have aspired to study, live and work in the United States are looking elsewhere.“We don’t know what might happen to us while walking on the street there,” said Kanika Arora, a 20-year-old student in Mumbai who is reconsidering her plan to study in the United States. “They might just think that we’re terrorists.”

No Bernie, There’s No Economic Justice Without Abortion Access

Here’s the catch: Heath Mello is a longtime opponent of abortion access who sponsored a 20-week abortion ban in 2010. It contained no exceptions for rape or incest. Mello has also co-sponsored legislation requiring doctors to perform medically-unnecessary ultrasounds, and he voted for a bill to ban insurance plans in the state from covering abortion, which would dramatically restrict access for low-income women. That’s not just “personal opposition”; it’s a clear, concerted campaign to restrict access to abortion.

Under heavy criticism, Sanders doubled down on his support of Mello, telling NPR that Democrats “can’t exclude people who disagree with us on one issue.”

But of course, Sanders is willing to deny his support to candidates who don’t support his economic justice agenda. Just this week, he bluntly panned Jon Ossoff, a pro-choice Democrat in a tight race to flip Tom Price’s Georgia House seat, as “not a progressive.”

In his fight to define what it means to be progressive and to “radically transform the Democratic Party,” Sanders has drawn an unspoken but clear distinction between the economic issues that animate him (on which he says we must not compromise) and reproductive freedom (on which, he says, we should). It’s a vision in which single-payer and free college are essential parts of the progressive, economic justice agenda, while a woman’s right to choose is not.

 

Source: Inoreader – No Bernie, There’s No Economic Justice Without Abortion Access

Fairfield mother of four deported back to Mexico – Trump is so proud to have sent this 15 year resident packing to where she cannot see her children! #loserTrump, #TraitorTrump

Maribel Trujillo Diaz has been placed on a plane bound for Mexico, lawyers for the Fairfield mother of four, who has lived illegally in the U.S. since 2002,

Source: Fairfield mother of four deported back to Mexico

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Aircraft Carrier Wasn’t Sailing to Deter North Korea, as U.S. Suggested – The New York Times – Oops! Which end is up? #TraitorTrump does not know…

A week ago, the White House declared that ordering an American aircraft carrier into the Sea of Japan would send a powerful deterrent signal to North Korea and give President Trump more options in responding to the North’s provocative behavior. “We’re sending an armada,” Mr. Trump said to Fox News that afternoon.The problem was that the carrier, the Carl Vinson, and the three other warships in its strike force were that very moment sailing in the opposite direction, to take part in joint exercises with the Australian Navy in the Indian Ocean, 3,500 miles southwest of the Korean Peninsula.White House officials said Tuesday that they had been relying on guidance from the Defense Department. Officials there described a glitch-ridden sequence of events, from an ill-timed announcement of the deployment by the military’s Pacific Command to an erroneous explanation by the defense secretary, Jim Mattis — all of which perpetuated the false narrative that a flotilla was racing toward the waters off North Korea.

90-Year-Old Widow Whose Husband Was Shot In Front Of Her By South Bay Cops Is Suing: SFist

According to Harue Craig’s account, and a family friend who spoke to the Mercury-News shortly after the incident, the Craigs had no idea that these were sheriff’s deputies, and they were scared that intruders were attempting to invade their home. Mrs. Craig says they were in the middle of dinner and clearly were confused by what was happening, and she was in fact cowering behind her husband when the deputies came into the home and fatally shot him.That family friend, Greg Delaney, who spoke with Mrs. Craig as well as witnesses, said that his friend Gene was “freaking out” that someone was trying to break in, and that the deputies’ actions are unconscionable. “They opened the door, saw that he had a gun, and shot him. … They killed him in front of his wife,” he said. “These people were trigger happy.”

Source: 90-Year-Old Widow Whose Husband Was Shot In Front Of Her By South Bay Cops Is Suing: SFist

Satirical news show censored by Apple in Hong Kong and Taiwan – IFEX – Nothing personal, just profits before freedom of speech and thought

Since 2013, Apple has started taking down apps – including banned books and circumvention tools – from its China iTunes store in order to comply with local laws. In June 2016, China tightened its control over mobile applications with the introduction of Provisions on the Administration of Mobile Internet Application Information Service. These regulations outlaw applications that spread rumors and information deemed harmful to national security. In January 2017, The New York Times was taken down from the Apple iTunes Store because of such provisions. However, the newspaper’s app remains available in the Hong Kong and Taiwan versions of the store. In the letter to Cook, Chappell stressed that while he is aware of the restrictions in China, the management of Apple’s Hong Kong and Taiwan app stores should be different: No doubt, China Uncensored likely falls under some of mainland China’s dubious legal categories such as: Undermining national unity Spreading rumors Disrupting social order There is no point in disputing your app store decision with respect to mainland China… but Hong Kong and Taiwan are not ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. They are regions that operate under independent legal systems. China Uncensored launched a petition on April 4, urging its viewers and supporters to tell Apple to “uncensor” the China Uncensored app from its Hong Kong and Taiwan app stores. As at the time of this story’s publication, more than 5,800 people had signed.

Source: Satirical news show censored by Apple in Hong Kong and Taiwan – IFEX